The Spinneret: Issue #5

I'm back! I let these newsletters fade as I worked through transitioning all my content to my new website. Now that I'm comfortably up and running (and continuing to improve), I figured it was time to bring this thing back.

For now, the format will remain the same, with the same general sections and coming to your inbox about once a month. As I gain new subscribers, I'm guessing the format will shift.

As always, if you have ideas, questions, criticisms, please open a GitHub issue. Or, if you just want to chat, I'm @seancdavis29 on Twitter.

What the Buzz!?

Last month I did something a little scary. I quit my super awesome job at Ample to work for a brand new startup. As their first employee.

The startup is called Grouparoo. They are working to build a little niche in marketing data automation that isn't currently being realized to its full potential. The move intrigued me for a plethora of reasons, so I did it. I jumped.

I don't suspect that will change what I write about too much. I still plan to build with and teach about the Jamstack and its surrounding tools and philosophies. In other words, reader, I'm not going anywhere!

In other news, ES12 (or ES2021) has been announced and has several new features! The expected release date is June 2021.

In My Words

I was pretty quiet on my blog in the autumn. Much of that was to prepare for my Next.js Conf talk. I also spent some time working through what is to be a rather large series of posts all around components.

Nevertheless, I got back to writing in January, and here's what I put out in the last month:

• Components: Server-Side vs. Client-Side (CSS-Tricks)
• 3 Ways to Render Server-Side Components with Eleventy
• How I Add Sketches to Blog Posts
• Use Cmd+K Terminal Trick to Stay Organized
• Leaving a Job the Right Way
• 3 Ways to Add an Image to GitHub README

Resources & References

I didn't come across many great references over the last month. The coolest thing I found is that you can edit your Slack sidebar on paid accounts. Game-changer!

New (to me) Tools

In starting a new job, I came across several new tools that I hadn't before heard about.

• Excalidraw: After posting about how I add sketches to blog posts, I was pointed toward this tool, and I'm hooked. It has the perfect number of options. It's super fast and simple and has had everything I've needed it for so far. I see myself using this regularly over the coming months.
• Jamboard: A Google sticky note board tool. It's simple, but it gets the job done.
• Riverside: Recording platform for remote interviews. I haven't used it yet, but I'm planning to start it for a new show I'm working on!
• Tuple: They call it "The best remote pair programming app on macOS." I have to say I haven't tried many others out, but this thing is amazing. The video is super clear, flexible, and the pairing controls are easy to use. 100% worth the cost.
• Upptime: An open-source uptime monitor and status page. I haven't used it, but it looks pretty slick.

In the boring business category, there are these tools:

• Guideline for 401(k)
• Gusto for payroll

I share these because the experience of onboarding to this company was less painful than any other job I've had. That's in part due to the people and the state of the company, but I also think it has something to do with how user-focused these two services are (Guideline and Gusto).