Everything that was old is new again
My journal
This is a collection of some work-related thoughts and ideas. You’ll also come across posts related to my hobbies and interests outside of work.
Two years on the job
Today marks almost exactly two years since I started my current job working for Quint at InQbate. From learning Vue.js to travelling to the UK, it seems like a good time to reflect on a whirlwind experience so far.
Water wise car wash with a Kärcher high-pressure cleaner and harvested rainwater
Washing your car in Cape Town is difficult due to the ongoing drought for well over a year now. But, I worked out how to use my Kärcher high-pressure clear in gravity feed mode with rainwater that I harvested. 🎉
Full stack developer
I’ve had a job titles such as PHP developer, Java developer and front-end developer. But can I call myself a full stack developer?
Writing meaningful GitHub issues results in better commit messages
I have made a concerted effort to write better GitHub issues of late. Surprisingly, this has resulted in more meaningful commit messages in Git.
My 2018 Cape Town Cycle Tour review
After the disappointing cancellation of the 2017 Cape Town Cycle Tour, organisers and participants were treated to ideal weather conditions this year.
Two thousand and seventeen
Last year was a busy year and I am only taking stock of it now. This is my recap of the year that was 2017.
2017 Sanlam Cape Town Marathon review
This past weekend I ran the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon for the second year in a row. Having (only just) achieved my goal of sub-4 hours, I thought I’d share my experience of the race.
How to change your FNB OTP method (in theory)
Log into FNB’s online banking and then browse to: Online Banking Settings → Security → OTP → and select “Change”. That is the theory anyway, unfortunately it does not work as intended.
Mind over matter: running 5km for 5 days in a row
This week I decided to run 5 kilometers for 5 days in a row. Starting on Monday, I ran the first of the 5km runs and ended today with the 5th consecutive 5km run.
Performance optimisation of YouTube’s iframe for embedding video
I created this case study to show how you can optimise the performance of embedded video on your website.
2017 FNB Cape Town 12 ONERUN review
The 3rd edition of the now annual FNB Cape Town 12 ONERUN took place this year. Having now participated it in all 3 events, I’m going to share my thoughts on the most recent one.
Using ESLint in PhpStorm
ESLint is a linting utility for JavaScript which PhpStorm 2017.1 now supports.
The Next chapter
Today marks the end of my time at Next. An exciting opportunity awaits, but now is a time for reflection.
Better design critique: learning from Facebook
Without proper design critique, you run the risk of building great looking products that no one is going to use. Whilst asking for feedback is easy, ensuring it is the right feedback is a challenge.
My 2016 Cape Town Cycle Tour
On Sunday the 6th of March, 2016 I took part in my fifth Cape Town Cycle Tour. My excitement for this year’s race was at an all time high, having not taken part in the previous two.
Cross-channel user experience with FNB
A few weeks ago I upgraded to a Samsung Galaxy S6, but had difficulties with FNB’s online banking application after re-installing it. Instead of just complaining about it, I thought I’d take the effort to document the process. And in doing so, find ways which could make it a better experience in future.
Race report: Ultra-trail Cape Town 2015
I entered the 65km ultra-trail run at the beginning of the year having never run a full marathon. Upon reaching the finish of the race, I felt as much relief as I did joy in completing this challenge.
Displaying key value pairs in Jekyll from YAML Front Matter
I have just added the company handbooks to our Jekyll-powered website at Next. We used Markdown to write the content of the handbooks so that anyone in the company would be able to update them.
Running the 2015 PPC Cement Riebeeck Bergmarathon
I finished the 2015 PPC Cement Riebeeck Bergmarathon on my first attempt at a road marathon. That’s a whole 42.195 kilometres or 26 miles and 385 yards (if you are that way inclined).
Generating my static site with Jekyll and GitHub Pages
I recently converted my website to use Jekyll and GitHub Pages. Jekyll allows you to generate static websites from templates and Markdown files.
Twitter: one degree of separation
For a while I’ve been trying to spend less time on my phone browsing social media networks. The easiest way for me to do this was to remove the majority of those types of apps from my phone.
Front-end Style Guides
A style guide is a set of rules and standards to help enforce consistency and improve communication. They used to be exclusive to journals and publications, but they are now popular in web design.
How to restore the Personal Hotspot on your iPad in iOS 8
A few weeks ago I upgraded my 4th generation iPad (retina) to iOS 8. However, I was recently working remotely and found the option to create a personal hotspot on my iPad was missing.
PhpStorm performance optimisation tips
My first experience of JetBrains products was back in 2006 with IntelliJ when I was doing Java development. Over the last few years I’ve been using PhpStorm, but I’m always looking to optimise it’s performance.
Cape Town UX Craft – August Meetup
The topic for the most recent meetup was: “Content’s Forgotten Corners”. Content strategist Kerry-Anne Gilowey presented her topic.
Cape Town Front-end Developers – July Meetup
“Building a front-end style guide with Jekyll” was the topic for the Cape Town Front-end Developers meetup. Justin Slack who currently works at New Media Labs, presented his topic.
Cape Town UX Craft – July Meetup
The Cape Town UX Craft is a group on the popular service, Meetup. They held their second meetup on the 23rd of July at Ogilvy’s office in Cape Town.
Accessing a Grunt connect server on your WiFi network
Before I get started, if you’ve heard of Grunt but haven’t tried it out, I’m not going to be able to do it the justice it deserves. I do recommend Chris Coyier’s excellent tutorial on 24 ways: “Grunt for People Who Think Things Like Grunt are Weird and Hard”.
Working remotely can work
I spent last year freelancing, but received a great opportunity to work at Joe Public n (now known as Next) on a full-time basis this year.
Tips for freelance front-end web developers
I just reflected on my year of freelancing and I thought I would look back and share some of things that helped make my year a successful one.
Reflecting on a year of freelancing
When I began the chapter of my life as a freelance front-end web developer, I had the best of intentions, but had no idea on how it would pan out. I didn’t even know if I was even being realistic in my expectations. But looking back on the year that was, I think I can say that I made the right decision from both my personal and career perspectives.
Hello World!
Welcome to my small, but growing footprint on the Web. I have over 10 years of industry-related experience and decided to specialise as a front-end web developer at the end of last year.