Posts about web applications

Software developers never want to do hourly time tracking. I’ve seen team leads who fill out the time tracking for their whole team to spare them the trouble. I’ve seen developers agonize over what to write down: they feel like they’re estimating even when it should be a simple matter of hours. Why is it […]

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Why hourly time tracking doesn’t work for software

• Tagged in:
• productivity

I’ve always been a huge proponent of building sites that work everywhere — any user, any browser, any device, any context. Websites work everywhere by default, and they stay that way so long as we know how not to break them. That’s what the Open Web means to me: ensuring that entire populations just setting […]

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The Bocoup Open Device Lab

• Tagged in:
• mobile,
• open source,
• performance,
• testing

Update: This proposal now has two open bugs for implementation, on V8 and SpiderMonkey. https://code.google.com/p/v8/issues/detail?id=3915 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1135708 In this article, I’ll explore the process of adding syntax to a programming language by going through the process of designing a new JavaScript exponentiation operator, which I’ve submitted to TC39 for consideration in ES7. In many programming languages, […]

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Designing an Exponentiation Operator for JavaScript

• Tagged in:
• performance,
• web standards

I’m honored to have been named lead maintainer of JSHint. Following in Anton‘s footsteps, I’m excited to carry on his vision for the project and see it forward. In addition to overseeing regular maintenance of the project, my primary goal will be to prepare JSHint for ES6. Stewarding this work will be an exciting challenge, […]

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JSHint At Bocoup

• Tagged in:
• open source,
• tools and workflow,
• web standards

CSS is awful, but it doesn’t have to be that way. For example, new languages that compile to CSS like Stylus, Less, and Sass have made it much less painful to lay out and style web projects. However, these projects are limited: they provide delicious, delicious sugar, but ultimately they are using the same core […]

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New Experiments in CSS Tooling

• Tagged in:
• design,
• tools and workflow

For many developers, writing tests is a hassle that would be best put off till tomorrow. For one, nothing can compete with the direct impact of writing great application logic. No user ever shared feedback like, “The UI was really pleasant and the functional tests were well-organized and readable.” There’s not much I can say […]

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Improve Your Tests by Breaking the Rules

• Tagged in:
• performance,
• testing

Back in January, we announced the receipt of a Prototype Fund grant from Knight Foundation to explore the question: how does one design data visualization for mobile devices? Why are we asking this question? Data Visualization is common in everyday communication online and in print media. As consumers shift to mobile devices for their daily […]

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Announcing MobileVis – Data Visualization on Mobile Devices

• Tagged in:
• data analysis,
• data visualization,
• design,
• mobile,
• responsive

One of the best parts about working at Bocoup is the freedom we have to explore ideas and open source projects. The diverse range of experience and interest we all bring to the table means there are always interesting open conversations taking place in the office; both about the implementation of specific ideas and the […]

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Git Workflows For Successful Deployment

• Tagged in:
• deployment,
• git,
• software development process,
• tools and workflow,
• web applications

Life on the cutting edge can be treacherous. At any moment, your web browser may dramatically update its user interface. Your e-reader might take your books away. Your favorite snack cake could disappear from store shelves. For many, the uncertainty of this lifestyle just isn’t worth it. Fortunately, when it comes to Node.js development, you […]

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Proactive Node.js Development with Travis CI

• Tagged in:
• deployment,
• performance

One of my favorite things about programming in node is the package management system. In almost all instances, the practice of locally installing modules for each project has simplified my life as a developer. However, as a long time contributor to Grunt, I have become intimately familiar with one edge case where this practice breaks […]

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Building Command Line Tools in Node with Liftoff

• Tagged in:
• deployment,
• open source,
• tools and workflow