Web Design

The modern front-end development world is far too complex... Or is it? The narrative seems to be that React (and other complex frameworks) should not be used for simple sites or small projects. But why? And is there even a downside? Depending on which programming circles you frequent, you might be aware of this issue which often comes up when discussing the complexity of modern web-development: the overuse of complex frameworks (namely React, Vue and Angular) for simple projects like blogs and personal sites. Specifically, this article was inspired by

Netlify CMS is one of the best options when working with Statically Generated sites and Markdown. The only major downside is that it can be quite difficult to install outside of Netlify. So today we'll go over exactly how to set up Netlify CMS on Vercel with Next.js. Recently I decided to move Ironeko from WordPress to a statically hosted site out of frustration of having to manage a web server. After looking at a lot of alternative CMS I finally s

Learning how to store access tokens is one of the most confusing parts of web development, especially when you're just starting out. This article is all about the do's - and don'ts - of storing Access Tokens, with easy, beginner friendly examples. Access tokens are a hugely important part of any web-app. They contain sensitive information about your user and if someone got their hands on one they would be able to pretend to be someon

Finding your first web development job, be it for programming or design, is one of the hardest things you'll ever have to do. Obviously there's no exact science to it, but here's some advice from someone who had to go through it - and learned a lot along the way. About my experience and training For an article like this I think it's fairly important I give some background, so: hello! I'm Leonardo, a front-end developer in Glasgow, Scotland. This is my third software development job since finishing uni. I studied

From their signature colour scheme to their email domain, Octopus Energy's modern branding never fails to come across as effortlessly cool and novel. Here's why... What had to change? Stagnation in Energy Brand Design Founded in 2015, Octopus Energy is younger than 5 of the "Big Six" energy providers in the UK. This is probably why their site is completely devoid of hackneyed early 2000s design trends. But what is it tha

Knowing how to structure a blog post is a skill of its own. Much like any kind of writing, there are a set of rules you must follow if you want to optimise SEO and make sure people find the article easy to read. You can't just go on a 50 paragraph stream-of-consciousness rant - even if you're able to! You need to get concise. And today I'll go through how to do just that. How important is bold text? Contrary to popular belief, bold keywords - or any bold text for that matter - aren't

When naming your product, app or business, we all know to go for something, short, snappy and concise. But where do you go from there? How do you narrow down your options to something that's not just easy to say and iconise but something that gives the right feeling? Today, I'm going to give you some key tips on how to name an app (or anything you want!) with confidence. 1. Vowels and Consonants A word's unique "vibe" comes from much more than just its definition and connotations. It's about

CI/CD pipelines are a cornerstone of modern web development. Unfortunately if you can't afford an Azure or AWS server it's not always clear how to implement them. In this article we'll go over how to create a CI/CD pipeline with Github and a simple Ubuntu server. Preface Before we get into the solution I want to make it clear that we will not be using any outside dependencies outside of Ubuntu and Github. This guide is meant to be specifically for small teams who need a lightweight pipeline

jQuery is one of the most used Javascript libraries on the web, but does it need to be? In this article we'll explore whether you really need it and how to replace it. jQuery was the de-facto library if you were doing any website development in the 2010's. It simplified Javascript and made DOM manipulation easy even for inexperienced developers. But if it's used so much, why would you want to switch away from it? Why would I want to replace jQuery? Here's the thing: jQuery is great for certain things. It

Let's face it, your company needs a website. Unfortunately nowadays it's not just about getting a website online though. You need to be smart about it. To avoid a website scam and make sure you're getting your money's worth, here's a checklist to follow. It's true: every business should have a site. Even small businesses can reap the benefits of online purchases or new custom through being ranked highly by Google. Back in the day it was al