The Web in March - Mindless Newsletter
Tags: webdev, javascript, css
Published: 2020-03-31 18:08:34

> Taken from my monthly newsletter. [Subscribe](https://buttondown.email/agney) to receive in your inbox every month.

March is coming to an end and it seems like every month is one upping the other on disasters. 

I'm not going to waste [talking](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxAaO2rsdIs) [about](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54XLXg4fYsc) [flattening](https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus) the [curve](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/) [because](https://meltingasphalt.com/interactive/outbreak/) [there](https://twitter.com/marcelsalathe/status/1242430736944201730) are so [many](https://www.ft.com/coronavirus-latest) [people](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtN-goy9VOY) who are [doing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHP0UIdZyI4) it [better](https://twitter.com/gregjames/status/1241838854891622401) than I can.

But let's talk about something that has left me wondering. The effects of this on the remote working landscape. Absolutely all of the IT service sector companies have gone remote now and it is said that it will help drive more companies remote after this crisis. Well, not so much. 

* A lot of people are feeling negative with the current work scenario which not just puts them remote but also barrs them with social interaction. 
* Companies and Managers who have no experience with remote are putting out [severe](https://twitter.com/benyt/status/1238555167932506116) 
restrictions on people and I have heard friends who are afraid to move from the computer screen for lunch. 

I wonder if more people will associate remote work with the loneliness that they experience now and seek to move away from it. People have been trying to help though:

* [Cultivating Empathy in times of Coronavirus](https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/20/03/cultivating-empathy-coronavirus-crisis) 
* DHH gave their [Remote: Office not Required](https://basecamp.com/books/remote) book for free
* Shopify have their employees [1000$](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/12/coronavirus-shopify-gives-employees-1000-stipend-to-work-from-home.html) to setup their home systems.

Even though these companies would not go fully remote, I'm thinking there would be employees that are currently doing remote who realise the option and decide to go remote when they start their own companies. I'm actually excited at the prospect. 

----

When the month started, Zoom won everyone over (well, not [*everyone*](https://www.digit.in/news/apps/kids-reportedly-review-bombing-apps-like-zoom-to-get-them-booted-off-the-play-store-53057.html)). People compared it to where Skype stood and how Zoom has taken over. It has been used for online clases, work, meetings, conferences, family talks and even a [G20 summit](https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/g20-video-call-virus-era-summits-virtual-69811751). But then came the (slight) blip! Zoom was sharing data with Facebook and of course your employer and you had no control over it. Lots of alternates in discussion and it seems [Jitsi](https://jitsi.org/) and [Whereby](http://whereby.com/) stand clear winners.

> People even go [fired on Zoom](https://twitter.com/mjnblack/status/1243641637420453889)!

> [Custom backgrounds for your messy remote room](https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/30/21199628/zoom-backgrounds-free-virtual-conference-calls-video-remote-work)

## Releases

* [Linux 5.6](https://lore.kernel.org/wireguard/CAHmME9qOpDeraWo5rM31EWQW574KEduRBTL-+0A2ZyqBNDeYkg@mail.gmail.com/T/#u) - [Features](https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=linux-56-features&num=1)
* Everyone released a COVID-19 visualiser. You might not even be a developer if you haven't tried. Here's [Google](https://www.google.com/covid19/), [Apple](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/03/apple-releases-new-covid-19-app-and-website-based-on-CDC-guidance/), [Microsoft](https://www.bing.com/covid).
* [Acrobat on the Web](https://medium.com/adobetech/acrobat-on-the-web-powered-by-webassembly-782385e4947e) - Adobe now has a version of Acrobat reader on the web powered by Webassembly - At 865kB main module Gzipped that's pretty impressive.
* [NPM is joining Github](https://github.blog/2020-03-16-npm-is-joining-github/) - NPM is joining hands with Github and by extension by Microsoft. Microsoft now has VS Code, TypeScript and NPM. Some wild azure extensions with Github and NPM are coming very soon.
* [Apple Macbook Air 2020](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWVqn2qc2ls) - After iPad with a keyboard, Apple comes with a product that closely resembles, the Macbook Air. The Air is a product that has held strong after a 7 years of neglect, even after Apple [on stage admitted](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA8vDBY6bCs&feature=youtu.be&t=4478) buying a Pro would be better. Like most of the new Macbook products, there is nothing new about it, but hey! at least the keyboard is older.
* [Prettier 2.0](https://prettier.io/blog/2020/03/21/2.0.0.html) - Prettier launched 2.0 with `trailingComma: es5` and `singleQuotes: true` as default. I can finally use *zero-config*
* [Wikimedia is adopting VueJS](https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T241180) - After lots of discussion, they have settled on VueJS, while we won't be seeing Wikipedia soon, other stuff could be ported over.

### Libraries 

I managed to put out two libraries this month.

* [React Avatar](https://agneym.github.io/react-avatar/?path=/docs/) - For some easy avatars and avatar stacks.
* [Ionic React - Imperative Toast](https://github.com/agneym/ir-toast) - Easier toasts for ionic and react integrations.

## Tutorials

* [Perils of Rehydration](https://joshwcomeau.com/react/the-perils-of-rehydration/) - There are things we miss when write Server side/static rendered react applications. *Why does the console say a class name is different and why does it care?*
* [CSS Landscape](https://codepen.io/ivorjetski/full/xxGYWQG) - Out of this world.

### My Content

* [Introduction to MDXJS] - MDX has been a magic component powering my blog for sometime now. Accidentally while pitching an advanced topic on MDX, I got to write the introduction for it and here is it on CSS Tricks. 
* [Theming with Styled Components](https://blog.agney.dev/theming-on-styled-components/) - Tools and Techniques to use for theming your application with Styled Components.
* [How things can easily go out of the window with CSS Grid](https://blog.agney.dev/grid-blowout/) - Using Grid, I learned something crucial, 1fr does not always mean that.

### What am I learning?

Don't know, not sure. Do you have something interesting you think I would like? Let me know by replying or tweeting at me at [@agneymenon](http://twitter.com/agneymenon/)

## In Other News

* [Glitch - Remote work](https://glitch.com/remote/) - Glitch wrote a guide for remote work as well as many other people, but this looks good. 
* [Great Impractical Ideas in Computer Science - Powerpoint Programming](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3loq22TxSc) - I watched this guy program on Powerpoint for an hour and was absolutely mindblown!
* [CoreJS maintainer goes to prison](https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/03/26/corejs_maintainer_jailed_code_release/) - The guy who was always asking for a job in your terminals is now in jail and the community is pondering over who is to maintain CoreJS from now.
* [Free courses](https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/coursera-free-online-courses-6d84cdb30da/) - With Coursera and EDX helping out with COVID, there are lots of free courses out there are interesting, you just have to look. Meanwhile some of the free services like Khan Academy are [asking for donations](https://www.khanacademy.org/donate) because their servers are at 250% normal load. More people learning is a good thing I suppose.
* [Dark mode on Stackoverflow](https://twitter.com/aaronshekey/status/1244680796214046721) - SO finally gets in on the act with their most upvoted feature ever. Not as good as I thought, but definitely a good start. 

### What am I doing?

I watched [Promised Neverland](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8788458/) this month. It's about a group of young kids who escape an orphanage only to find life outside isn't as rosy as seems. Comes with my highest recommendations if you like dark stories.

I have been rewatching [The Community](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1439629/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0) and I have to say, I'm still impressed by the ingenuity that Russo Brothers and Dan Harmon showed in some of these episodes. I mean, look at [Remedial Chaos Theory](https://community-sitcom.fandom.com/wiki/Remedial_Chaos_Theory) - who else does that?

---

What are some interesting stuff you are reading/writing/watching/building? Let me know your suggestions/improvements by replying to this newsletter or find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/agneymenon)

Until next month, 

[Agney Menon](https://blog.agney.dev)

> Taken from my monthly newsletter. [Subscribe](https://buttondown.email/agney) to receive in your inbox every month.