Monthly Digest July 2020
Tags: javascript, webdev
Published: 2020-08-06 07:39:42

---
title: Monthly Digest July 2020
published: true
date: 2020-08-05 00:00:00 UTC
tags: javascript, webdev
canonical_url: https://www.stefanjudis.com/blog/monthly-digest-july-2020/
---

Hello everybody, 

this month was hectic because I was heads-down recording [a GraphQL video course for Contentful](https://www.contentful.com/developers/videos/learn-graphql/). Luckily this is now done, and I'm ready to catch up writing and I am already excited about August!

Let's jump into my favorite content of July!


## Landing pages done right

[Rob Hope shared 100 tips on how to build high-quality landing pages](https://twitter.com/robhope/status/1265278107088347136). While this seems to be a very marketing-related topic (and it undoubtedly is), his Twitter thread includes a lot of wisdom on building great websites in general.

## The problem with deploying to the web

Jake Archibald went deep down the rabbit hole of what deploys and version updates mean for our users. His article ["Different versions of your site can be running at the same time"](https://jakearchibald.com/2020/multiple-versions-same-time/) describes the problems of updated bundles, changed API endpoints, and users that have one site open in multiple tabs (and we all do that...). Great read!

## Three excellent articles to read

- [Marginwidth/marginheight – the unexpected cross-origin communication channel](https://research.securitum.com/marginwidth-marginheight-the-unexpected-cross-origin-communication-channel/) by [Michał Bentkowski](https://www.linkedin.com/in/micha%C5%82-bentkowski-5870a8166/)
- [Quickly delete old git branches with fzf and zsh](https://peterp.me/cli-tips-interactive-branch-delete/) by [Peter Piekarczyk](https://twitter.com/peterpme)
- [Referer and Referrer-Policy best practices](https://web.dev/referrer-best-practices/) by [Maud Nalpas](https://twitter.com/maudnals)

## Three useful projects to have a look at

- [sindresorhus / css-in-readme-like-wat](https://github.com/sindresorhus/css-in-readme-like-wat) – Style your readme using CSS with this trick 
- [terjang / tiny-xss-payloads](https://github.com/terjanq/Tiny-XSS-Payloads) – A collection of tiny XSS Payloads that can be used in different contexts. 
- [open-wc / locator](https://github.com/open-wc/locator) – A Chrome extension to find custom elements on a page


## This month I learned

- [git commit accepts several message flags (-m) to allow multiline commits](https://www.stefanjudis.com/today-i-learned/git-commit-accepts-several-message-flags-m-to-allow-multiline-commits/)
- [Downloads can be triggered via HTTP headers](https://www.stefanjudis.com/today-i-learned/downloads-can-be-triggered-via-http-headers/)
- [npm init uses npx under the hood](https://www.stefanjudis.com/today-i-learned/npm-init-uses-npx-under-the-hood/)
- [:defined can be used to target not yet defined custom elements](https://www.stefanjudis.com/today-i-learned/defined-can-be-used-to-target-not-yet-defined-custom-elements/)
- [The ex unit in CSS](https://www.stefanjudis.com/today-i-learned/the-ex-unit-in-css/)
- [GraphQL Playground offers a protocol handler](https://www.stefanjudis.com/today-i-learned/graphql-playground-offers-a-protocol-handler/)

You can find 126 learnings in [the "Today I learned" section](https://www.stefanjudis.com/today-i-learned/) on my site.

## This month's devsheets

- [Custom properties and the cascade](https://twitter.com/stefanjudis/status/1285076766437117953)
- [The `ex` and `ch` unit in CSS](https://twitter.com/stefanjudis/status/1285094958886682624)

You can find more [#devsheets on Twitter](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23devsheets).


## A talk to watch

For the VSCode users under us – [Matt Bierner](https://twitter.com/mattbierner) shared a lot of VSCode tricks in [his MS Build session "Visual Studio Code tips and tricks"](https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2020/BOD103). That's a well-spent hour, trust me!

![Visual studio tricks talk cover](//images.ctfassets.net/f20lfrunubsq/1KlNigWlbGTHAerqWp1uLW/277185f2a4d8eeafe148b8d07ac30fec/Screenshot_2020-08-05_at_23.17.06.png)

## A quote to think about

> The Truth Is Paywalled But The Lies Are Free

[Nathan J. Robinson wrote a lengthy article](https://www.currentaffairs.org/2020/08/the-truth-is-paywalled-but-the-lies-are-free/) on the problems of content creation and its monetization. It's a good read with an exceptional good title, that made it my quote of the month.


## A song that makes you stop coding

I came across this song on Twitter, and while I'm not really into Taylor Swift, I do like Bon Iver a lot. ["exile" is a beautiful song with a fantastic hook line and beautiful piano tunes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osdoLjUNFnA).

![exile Taylor swift cover](//images.ctfassets.net/f20lfrunubsq/2BGLfzpcngltyJu3pQlWWB/96df219b58d8d0ba9c7c6d7aedd10903/Screenshot_2020-08-05_at_22.55.08.png)

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And that's my favorite content of July 2020, friends! 🎉 👋

Have a great August, and stay safe!

And if you have any feedback about this newsletter, please [let me know](mailto:stefanjudis@gmail.com).