Because the people crafting quality typefaces deserve to be paid — While working on my redesigned personal website sidney.me, I chose to use a paid font, Klim Type Foundry’s The Future Mono. It was my first time using a paid web font for a project, so I read (skimmed) the web font licence agreement. Curiously, it included this clause (emphasis mine): …

Deep linking in React, as simple as useState — Have you ever used a complex web app with many features, modal windows, or side panels? Where you get to the perfect state with just the right information on the screen after a few clicks through different screens, but then you accidentally close the tab? (Or Windows decides to update?) …

From outline icons to switch designs, the UIs of major OSes are all starting to look similar. — If you’re like me, you get excited by major new software releases and enjoy reading roundups of every new feature and UI tweak, comparing them to the previous version. With the release of Windows 11, Android 12, and iOS 15 this year (and last year’s macOS Big Sur), I’ve noticed…

Know the how, the when, and the why behind our refactoring — When working on any project, especially in the MVP stage, we as developers often prioritise one thing above all else when writing code: making sure it works. Unfortunately, this can mean writing code hyper-focused on the MVP’s requirements, so we end up with code that is hard to maintain or…

And how we stopped our React context from re-rendering everything — Refs are a seldom-used feature in React. If you’ve read the official React guide, they’re introduced as an “escape hatch” out of the typical React data flow with a warning to use them sparingly. They’re primarily billed as the correct way to access a component’s underlying DOM element. But alongside…

Behind the scenes from Antler’s virtual Demo Day — As in-person events continue to be held online amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, many events are finding new ways to connect with their audiences and deliver more personal, engaging experiences. …

I made the same web app in Gatsby and Next.js and found Gatsby performed better — With the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and social distancing measures, many events have been forced to migrate to online virtual events. …

Almost a year ago, I started my first proper job as a web developer at 2hats: a Sydney startup that connects work-ready university students to startups that need their talents. Over the past few months, I’ve had the time to have a real reflection on this wild story — how…

Developing a passion, enduring an interview from hell, and finding an opportunity by luck — If you told my 11-year-old self as he was writing his first line of CSS that he would be starting his career as a web developer at 18, he wouldn’t believe you. …