Front End News #11: Your First Year in Code, HTML Handbook, GitLab 12.1
Tags: news, frontendnews
Published: 2019-07-27 22:25:22

---
title: Front End News #11: Your First Year in Code, HTML Handbook, GitLab 12.1
published: true
tags: news, frontendnews
canonical_url: https://medium.com/frontendnexus/front-end-news-11-front-end-news-11-your-first-year-in-code-html-handbook-gitlab-12-1-57d22540150c
series: Front End News 
---

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*gyyqD5XG1uAFR2w2Wc8iZg.png)<figcaption>View on YouTube at <a href="https://youtu.be/lod_N5b2OOY">https://youtu.be/lod_N5b2OOY</a></figcaption>

Hello everyone and welcome to another round of Front-End News. Here is what I have prepared for you today:

- The DEV Community Published a Book titled “Your First Year in Code”
- The HTML Handbook available now on freeCodeCamp
- GitLab advances to version 12.1

There are also some software updates to mention and a brand new #DeveloperOfTheWeek.

As always, I have also prepared a video version for those that prefer listening instead of reading. If you enjoy this format, I would appreciate it if you would subscribe to the YouTube channel as well.

{% youtube lod_N5b2OOY %}

### Your First Year in Code

Starting your career as a developer can be a very daunting task. And it’s not just about coding. That’s the easy part. The hard part it’s about all the things nobody tells you. Stuff like how to deal with meetings, with new colleagues, with the culture of a new workplace and many other things.

That’s where the Dev.to community comes to the rescue. Isaac Lyman, one of the veteran members, has spearheaded a team effort that culminated in the publishing of “Your First Year in Code”. This is more than a simple compilation of blog posts — there is a lot of feedback saying this was the guide they wished they had when they started their career.

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/400/1*CEFGma1KXkVXdFbQ0Z3xUQ.jpeg)<figcaption>Buy this book at <a href="https://leanpub.com/firstyearincode">https://leanpub.com/firstyearincode</a></figcaption>

The book is available on a pay-what-you-can pricing model, with a recommended price of $15. The income will be distributed among the co-authors, while 10% of all proceeds will go directly to Girls Who Code movement. While you can get it for free, Isaac and all the co-authors have spent much of their time and energy in putting the book together so all contributions are appreciated.

The book is available for purchase via LeanPub. I already got my copy and I will get back to you with more details as soon as I’m done reading it.

- [https://dev.to/devteam/the-dev-community-published-a-book-your-first-year-in-code-1ejk](https://dev.to/devteam/the-dev-community-published-a-book-your-first-year-in-code-1ejk)

### The HTML Handbook

There is a new handbook available for all front-end developers. This one is on HTML and it was compiled by Flavio Copes and published on the freeCodeCamp news portal. Flavio is a prolific author of handbooks, on topics like CSS, JavaScript, React, NodeJS, or VueJS.

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1000/1*D9dFpTKbxlvCkwyp4qLYYw.png)

The handbook is useful for developers of all levels. The beginners will find a brief but comprehensive way to learn HTML. Experienced developers will get a refresher of their knowledge as well as some obscure bits of information, that will make you say “I didn’t know HTML could do THAT!”

Use the link below to start reading the handbook online or to download a copy for your favorite e-reader.

- [https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-html-handbook/](https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-html-handbook/)

### GitLab 12.1

For those few that didn’t already know, GitLab is a complete DevOps platform, delivered as a single application. It offers an all-in-one solution to develop, deploy and maintain projects of all sizes. Chances are the codebase of the application you are developing is managed using GitLab.

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*o-fb3_CKyF-eClnC2q5oZg.png)

GitLab makes a point of pride in releasing new features every month. This brings us to the latest release — 12.1. The star features of this version are Parallel Merge Trains and Merge Requests for Confidential Issues. It is also now possible to get automatic HTTPS certificates for Pages using Let’s Encrypt.

The full list of new features, the list of deprecated ones, as well as instructions on how to perform the upgrade are available on the release blog post in the link down below.

- [https://about.gitlab.com/2019/07/22/gitlab-12-1-released/](https://about.gitlab.com/2019/07/22/gitlab-12-1-released/)

### Software updates and releases

Today I have a larger number of items for the software notification section.

**NodeJS 12.7.0**

NodeJS is the platform that brought “JavaScript everywhere”. This week the codebase got updated to version 12.7.0. Full details are available in the official release notes in the link down below.

- [https://nodejs.org/en/blog/release/v12.7.0/](https://nodejs.org/en/blog/release/v12.7.0/)

**Vuetify 2.0.0**

Vuetify is a semantic component framework that makes Material Design available for all developers using VueJS. Version 2.0 opens up a new chapter in the lifecycle of the framework, bringing compliance with the Material Design 2 specification, new components, and many other improvements. For the full list, you can check the release notes linked down below.

- [https://github.com/vuetifyjs/vuetify/releases/tag/v2.0.0](https://github.com/vuetifyjs/vuetify/releases/tag/v2.0.0)

**Atom 1.39**

A new version (1.39) of the Atom code editor has been released, bringing faster find-and-replace operations, faster loading of large single-line files and everything now runs on Electron 3.1. Again, the full set of updates, as well as a sneak peek at the features upcoming in the 1.40 Beta version, are available in the release announcement linked down below.

- [https://blog.atom.io/2019/07/23/atom-1-39.html](https://blog.atom.io/2019/07/23/atom-1-39.html)

### The Developer of the Week

Another episode means another #DeveloperOfTheWeek. Today I’m presenting to you…

…trumpets…

> “Sara of the House Soueidan, First of her name, Bender of SVGs, Champion of accessibility & Chieftain of the CSS clan”

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*2Pe8D3sA9LD9oaSN9sJcug.jpeg)

Sara is an independent front-end developer, trainer, author, and speaker, from Lebanon. Her track record is impressive. She runs workshops on front-end development and writes technical articles on her blog and for various big publications. Sara wrote the Codrops CSS Reference, co-authored the Smashing Book 5, and has been voted the Developer of the Year in the 2015 net awards.

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/900/1*nrOPFowxw1g9iKMHb-HJAw.jpeg)

Some less known things about Sara is that she loves birds, prefers green tea over coffee and she used to draw with charcoal long before she started her web career.

Thank you, Sara, for being awesome and keep up the good work!

- [https://www.sarasoueidan.com/](https://www.sarasoueidan.com/)
- [https://twitter.com/SaraSoueidan](https://twitter.com/SaraSoueidan)

### Question of the Day

Who is the next person that you would like to see mentioned in our “Developer of the Week” section? Please leave your recommendations in the comment section or on [https://twitter.com/frontendnexus.](https://twitter.com/frontendnexus.)

That’s all there is in this edition. Follow Front End Nexus on Twitter at [https://twitter.com/frontendnexus](https://twitter.com/frontendnexus) to be notified as soon as a new update happens. I also want to encourage you to subscribe to the YouTube channel at [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgACtqiDmnSaskDIBsK54ww](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgACtqiDmnSaskDIBsK54ww). I can unlock some more options once the channel hits 100 subscribers, so your support is highly appreciated.

Have a great and productive week and I will see you next time!

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