When I was a new front-end developer first learning about preprocessors I wrote “Learn SASS” on my whiteboard in my home office. Later that day my wife came in and, upon seeing the note, laughed and said, “I can teach you how to be sassy!” To my wife’s disappointment, I…

Pray, then, in this way: Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread… (Matthew 6:9–11) Bread is as old as civilization. Nomadic groups who turned from hunting…

How to ensure a statistically random distribution — Whenever I play cards there’s a complaint commonly uttered by friends and family alike: Who shuffled these? Whether the disgust in their voice is genuine or they are merely bluffing to conceal a good hand I wonder about the art of shuffling. …

Demonstrating the value of functions by determining the timing of a train wreck Two trains leaving from different cities head toward each other at different speeds. Train A, traveling 80 kilometers per hour, leaves Philadelphia heading toward New York, 150 kilometers away. At the same time Train B, traveling 120 kph, leaves New York heading toward Philadelphia. When will the two trains meet? …

Surviving without a ubiquitous modern accessory — The following is a fictional account detailing the aftermath of a traumatic occurrence in the life of a millennial. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental. Prologue I never thought it would happen to me. It’s the sort of thing you assume will happen to someone else. …

A Creative Mashup of Skill and Interest — I’m a big fan of side projects; they are a great way to cultivate creativity and learn new things. However, successfully completing a side project requires more than passing interest. I’ve found that the best way to learn a new skill is to couple it with a preexisting talent. …

Writing CSS Selectors Like a Boss — Modern websites are built around the concept of separating content from presentation: HTML defines the structure of a page while CSS applies the styling. The page that users interact with is the result of multiple files of code working together in unity. Separating content and presentation is valuable for many…

Extending the functionality of a common UI element — Web interfaces borrow from real world examples to create familiar visual metaphors that are easy to interact with. Content is presented as pages, data is collected in folders and buttons are used to navigate or input information. …

Cost Friendly Design Tools — Design software is expensive. Aspiring creatives looking to get their feet wet in design often get sticker shock when researching industry standard programs. For someone new to the field the cost of these tools can be difficult to swallow. Adobe’s monthly subscription model alleviates some of the upfront cost and…