ShopTalk Show

This week we were joined by Sam Kapila. Sam teaches at Texas State University, focusing mainly on Responsive Web Design and Typography. We talked about (roughly in order): Q & A: 12:50 What did you guys study in college? Would you change your mind if you could go back? What kinds of studies do you recommend or do not recommend, and can you share any experiences? 23:30 I’m not in a position at work where it’s practical/needed to get into Yeoman or Bower, even though I like to stay at the forefront of web trends. Am I becoming a dinosaur? 32:20 I created a website with a small app for a client, and now they want the source code for the app so another developer can work on it. What should I do? 36:05 I’m intrigued to use CSS Calc in my private projects (modern browsers) but am not sure about the performance. It’s not a big deal, but i’d love to know if it’s a good thing to use, or should avoid it? 47:45 I really like the idea of embedding above-the-fold CSS in the head and including the rest at the bottom of the page. Do you see any drawbacks with this method? 57:04 How can I finally get started with contributing to open source projects? Sponsors: 30:18 Campaign Monitor – We’ve got a free eBook available with our Top 100 email campaigns, it’s a great dose of inspiration for 2014. We’re built for designers and agencies. To find out how you can rebrand and offer our service to your clients, at your own prices, check out campaignmonitor.com/agencies. Need to send an email campaign in a hurry? Try your hand at our template builder and have a responsive email template ready in 60 seconds. 43:30 E4H – CSS Summit – Environments for Humans brings together some of the Web’s most notable experts in and for an all-new, three-day online conference, the CSS Summit 2014! Bring the experts to your desktop July 15-July 17, 2014 from 9AM to 4PM (CT). Use coupon code “SHOPTALKSHOW” for 20% off your ticket! Show Links: Sam Kapila Sam on Twitter AtoZCSS.com Yeoman Grunt Bower Poylmer CSS Calc caniuse.com Understanding Comics Nicely Said Have a tricky front end problem you need help with? Ask us anything!

This week it’s another RAPID-FIRE!!! Nothing but the best darn question and answer you’ve ever heard! We talked about (roughly in order): Q & A: 1:28 How can I achieve HTML includes or imports without using any php or javascript? I know that Codekit has a Kit language that can do this but I don’t have a mac yet. Is there a HTML preprocessors that can do this? If so, can I use only the import function and still use regular HTML on it? 8:56 Picture this: Client organization has a CMS and puts all their ‘news’ content in. Monthly they need to generate a paper newsletter… They push ONE BUTTON and a multi-page pdf, at least as beautiful as the site, is generated with all of their news content… Has anyone tried this? 17:03 What’s the best way to compress a vector graphic from Illustrator for the web? There used to be a SVG option for “Save for Web and Devices” but it’s gone in CS6. What SVG specs are best to use? 22:43 I’m starting to hear the phrase “Tech Bubble” a lot and it’s very disheartening. Do you guys believe we’re in a tech bubble? If so, is it we the web developers/designers who have to worry? Or is it more threatening to investors, entrepreneurs, and 30 y/o billionaires? 32:30 I’m about to start working at a full time job where the team uses Git. Do you have any advice about workflow or etiquette? 39:34 I’m a developer at a mid-sized SaaS company and we have a pretty successful product. Our product has an API and there are several other companies that sell web site integrations & 3rd party plugins to our customers. Our company even receives fees to recommend certain “preferred partners”. Do you think it would be unethical or a conflict of interest for me to develop my own premium WordPress plugin on my own time? 47:47 I’m currently working in a project and the design calls for use of full-screen image backgrounds, in order to optimize this for mobile devices I’m using media queries to call the appropriate background, it works like a charm, however there is something that bothers me, if I resize the window there’s a small bit of time where the webpage has no background while the image get’s loaded. Any way around this? 51:51 Why aren’t box-shadow and text-shadow shorthand properties like background and font? Why don’t the properties box-shadow-color, box-shadow-offset, etc. exist? 58:09 My question is about Print Stylesheets. Are they still relevant? How do you approach them? Sponsors: 14:15 Campaign Monitor – Need to send an email campaign in a hurry? Try your hand at our template builder and have a responsive email template ready in 60 seconds. While you’re browsing their site, grab a free eBook about the Top 100 email campaigns and get inspired! 28:50 Environments for Humans: Craft CMS Summit – Environments for Humans brings together some of the Web’s most notable experts in Craft for an all-new, one-day only online conference, the Craft CMS Summit 2014! In this inaugural one-day conference, we look at the State of Craft and deep dive into a series of presentations to give attendees smarter and faster ways to build the web. Bring the experts to your desktop June 17th from 9AM to 5PM (CT). Use coupon code “Shoptalk” at checkout for a special discount! Environments For Humans: WP Summit – Environments for Humans brings together some of the Web’s most notable experts in for an all-new, one-day only online conference all about WordPress, the WP Summit 2014! Bring the experts to your desktop June 18th from 9AM to 4PM (CT). Use coupon code “Shoptalk” at checkout for a special discount! Show Links: CodeKit: THE Mac App For Web Developers Grunt XOXCO: Packagr Codepen Radio 012: VC Woofoo: The Online Form Builder Getting started with Git Try Git: Codeschool Interactive Tutorial Image Alpha: Photo Compression Web P: a new image format for the web Nifty CSS animation tricks

This week it’s another RAPIDFIRE!!! Nothing but HOT question & answer action. We talked about (roughly in order): Q & A: 2:08 I have a question about running Sass in a corporate environment. I’m really interested in using Sass at work but since it requires Ruby there’s no chance of running a ruby server on my system. Is there any way to run a Sass processor from a thumb drive? 7:48 How long does it take for you to write a blog post from the first day you experience the problem (or get the initial idea of what want to write about) to when you actually hit the publish button? 16:42 Are there any good low cost alternatives to Engine Yard or Heroku for hosting test or small web apps? 22:20 What is the best way to validate html and css? 32:45 Are there any WordPress shopping carts that have a token feature or do you know of another way to accomplish this? 41:02 Is it worth offering IE6/7/8 support for a responsive design project? Sponsors: 11:34 Blend Conf – BlendConf is a generalist conference featuring 60 diverse speakers sharing ideas and conversations about user experience, design, and development. September 11-13 in Charlotte, NC. 4 tracks: UX, Design, Front-end, Back-end. Keynote speakers are Mike Monteiro, Jennifer Palka (Founder Code for America), and Kimberly Bryant (founder, black girl code). Use coupon code “shoptalk” for 10% off! 38:41 Environments for Humans – CSS Dev Conf: the first conference devoted to CSS, the design language of the web, returns for its third year on October 13-15, 2014, this time to New Orleans! Tons of great speakers, including Chris Coyier, Rebecca Murphy, Dan Cedarholm, Estelle Way, Jonathan Snook, Rachal Nabors, and more! Go vote for your favorite talk, and pick up tickets today! Show Links: Linode Rackspace Serve Chrome Dev Tools Symbolset Icons Google Page Speed Test Grunt Strip MQ Require JS

This week it’s another RAPIDFIRE!!! Nothing but HOT question & answer action. We talked about (roughly in order): Q & A: 1:48 I have a question(s) about loading JS files in a WordPress environment. Is there a rule of thumb for when async should be utilized? If I script is loaded in the footer does ‘async’ not matter as much? 7:50 What software do you two use to create your slides for when you do talks at conferences? 15:50 I have a question about deciding on a development stack. What are some of your recommendations when making these kinds of decisions? 29:12 Why use static site generators? Are there any good tutorials out there for those of us who have never used one before? 34:28 Is there a way to make a line of text fill the width of a parent container as if it were justified? 38:28 In job advertisements I’ve been seeing lately, all of the best jobs have Angular JS listed as one of the requirements. I really love creating websites that work everywhere. The idea of using the latest tech at the expense of accessibility, and progressive enhancement doesn’t sit well with me. How can I keep my career advancing, while maintaining those core beliefs? 43:45 How long does it normally take you guys to build a website from start to finish, for instance microsoft.com or css-tricks.com? Sponsors: 14:00 One Month Rails – Build your first Ruby on Rails web app in just one month. Easy to follow videos with step-by-step instructions. Enrollment is typically $99, but if you join now you’ll get a one time discount of 25% off for joining, so go learn how to make web apps now! Editor’s note: I actually just bought this and I’m working through it now: it’s awesome! So easy to follow and I love the teacher’s style and the way he breaks everything down into easy to follow along with steps. Highly recommended. – Aaron D. 33:00 Environments for Humans – CSS Dev Conf: the first conference devoted to CSS, the design language of the web, returns for its third year on October 13-15, 2014. This time to New Orleans! Tons of great speakers, including Chris Coyier, Rebecca Murphy, Dan Cedarholm, Estelle Way, Jonathan Snook, Rachal Nabors, and more! Go vote for your favorite talk, and pick up tickets today! Show Links: Keynote Reveal.js Knockout Jasmine Handlebars YAML Bower Grunt Modernizr Jekyl Getting started with Jekyl Kirby Fittext.js Slab Text Big Text Adam Clark Goodstuff.fm

This week it’s another RAPIDFIRE!!! Nothing but HOT question & answer action. We talked about (roughly in order): Q & A: 2:25 With this trend of big background images and full with slider, which size of images do you recommend to have a balance between size and weight? 7:56 What’s the best way to handle SVGs? 23:37 Why don’t browsers just include various versions of jquery within the end user machine, loading it as they encounter usage? 27:36 You’ve mentioned Harvest as a tool for time-tracking and invoicing; are there any other tools you would suggest, specifically for expense tracking? 36:36 What do all of you think of Netflix disabling the developer console in Chrome? Will this become popular in the future? Is it unethical? 40:35 Inline-block grid systems won’t render correctly in Safari 7. It works fine on Safari 6, ffox and Chrome but fails miserably on Safari 7. Any solutions or advice? 43:50 I have recently started to do some freelance web design, I am confident in my pricing however when writing up emails to a potential client giving them an estimate I feel that there is room for improvement. How does Dave/Paravel approach this, do you send some kind of template or something else? 49:25 Going back to something raised in podcast #103 about getting server-side variables into javascript, what is the most pure way of putting server-side data into javascript? 54:37 I’m curious how you manage passwords when working with clients. How do you securely send passwords to clients? 59:19 I’m in my 40’s and to be honest, agencies are looking for people on their 20’s. Is this web design world a place for only youngsters? Sponsors: 20:16 Campaign Monitor – Campaign Monitor makes it easy to attract new subscribers, send them beautiful email newsletters and see stunning reports on the results. We use it for our Shoptalk newsletter. Check out their free eBook available with their top 100 email campaigns, it’s a great dose of inspiration for 2014. 33:52 Environments for Humans – CSS Dev Conf – The first conference devoted to CSS, the design language of the web, returns for its third year on October 13-15, 2014. This time to New Orleans! Tons of great speakers, including Chris Coyier, Rebecca Murphy, Dan Cedarholm, Estelle Way, Jonathan Snook, Rachal Nabors, and more! Go vote for your favorite talk, and pick up tickets today! Show Links: Jeremy Keith – Deconstruct Site Less Accounting Billings App Legal Zoom Nic Gallaghers Griddle 1Password 1Password Multivault

This week it’s another RAPIDFIRE!!! Nothing but HOT question & answer action. We talked about (roughly in order): Q & A: 1:47 Could you recommend any good WordPress plugins to work with for a bilingual support? 10:38 Is it possible to have a single page website perform well in terms of SEO? 19:03 When starting from scratch on a smaller site I tend to work first on the markup, then once happy I begin the styling. This usually means going through all selectors in the DOM and pasting them into the stylesheet. Have you found a tool to scan a DOM and spit out all the classes (and maybe IDs) for styling with? 25:12 How should I handle vertical rhythm? 33:18 Have you guys had any luck using MAMP on Mountain Lion? 35:07 I’m having problems with version control. Do you have any advice? 42:49 When or why it would be better to use @extend in certain instances versus creating a mixin and using @include? 49:15 My client expects pixel perfection when translating PSD to website. What do you think is a reasonable level of fidelity to the mockup to expect from a developer? 57:51 In responsive web design, what are the advantages and disadvantages of including media queries “inline” in your CSS versus putting them in separate CSS files? Sponsors: 17:05 lynda.com – The best online learning resource. Check out great courses like: SVG, JavaScript for Web Designers, Designing a Logo for a Band, Writing Press Releases, Monday Productivity Pointers, and so much more. Get a free 7 day trial now! 54:41 E4H – Craft CMS Summit – Environments for Humans brings together some of the Web’s most notable experts in Craft for an all-new, one-day only online conference, the Craft CMS Summit 2014! Bring the experts to your desktop June 17th from 9AM to 5PM (CT). Get your tickets now! Show Links: Multilingual WordPress Microsoft English Microsoft Hebrew Smartling.com – Website Translation Create Crawlable Link Friendly AJAX Websites Using Push State EmberJS.com Angular JS Baseline Grids on the Web – Jason Santa Maria The Extend Concept (SCSS) Craft CMS

This week we were joined by Bryan Jones and Guy Meyer. They are the creators of the fantastic web development app Codekit. We talked about (roughly in order): News’n’Links’n’Drama: 10:15 WordPress mentorship initiative going on at http://wpmentor.org 13:25 GiantConf blows up Q & A: 23:09 I use Grunt, but I also own a copy of CodeKit (1 & 2). I can never figure out a decent workflow: is there a plan for some Grunt integration in CodeKit? 43:07 What are your thoughts on HTML pre-processing languages? 49:30 What is your workflow when deploying from local to remote, and how do you handle working with another developer on a WP project, for version control especially again with the DB? 56:22 Have you had any success or desire to template in Jade within WordPress? Sponsors: 22:05 E4H – AccessU Summit – A one day conference on May 12th, a full day ONLINE conference about accessibility. Learn all about accessibility with talks like Mobile Accessibility, Accessible Media for the Web, and more! Get your tickets today! CSS Dev Conf!!! An awesome in-person conference all about CSS. Taking place on October 13th-15th in New Orleans. VOTE for the talks you want to see! Register today 41:00 Campaign Monitor – Campaign Monitor makes it easy to attract new subscribers, send them beautiful email newsletters and see stunning reports on the results. We use it for our Shoptalk newsletter. Check out their free eBook available with their top 100 email campaigns, it’s a great dose of inspiration for 2014. Show Links: Codekit Bryan on Twitter Bryan Jones Website Guy on Twitter Guy Meyer’s Website WP Mentor “Gracefully Bowing Out of Giant Conference” – Sarah Parmenter Grunt Kit Language Harken Press