Front-end Foundations Newsletter 001 - Getting Started
Tags: newsletter, frontenddevelopment, tools
Published: 2018-07-23 21:03:04

---
title: Front-end Foundations Newsletter 001 - Getting Started
published: true
description: This newsletter is a place for me to share interesting resources that I have found to be helpful in my own journey as a developer. You will find a mix of articles, podcasts, screencasts, and quotes throughout the newsletter. Without further ado, lets get into it.
tags: newsletter, front-end development, tools
canonical_url: https://buttondown.email/alexcarpenter/archive/7eb6a6b5-2a75-46d5-867b-203204d34c7b
---
**NOTE: This is a cross-post from [my newsletter](https://alexcarpenter.me/newsletter/). I publish an issue every Monday. Subscribe to never miss an issue.**

Hey there!

Welcome to the first issue of the Front-end Foundations Newsletter. I'm Alex Carpenter, a front-end developer who is passionate about CSS, performance, and accessibility.

This newsletter is a place for me to share interesting resources that I have found to be helpful in my own journey as a developer. You will find a mix of articles, podcasts, screencasts, and quotes throughout the newsletter. Without further ado, lets get into it.

## Read ¬

### [Getting Started With CSS Layout](https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/05/guide-css-layout/)

> Whether you’re fairly new to CSS or an experienced developer from elsewhere in the stack who wants to make sure your understanding of layout today is up to date, this guide covers everything you need to know about CSS Layout today.

If you are interested in learning more about CSS Grid, i'd recommend subscribing to [Layout Land](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7TizprGknbDalbHplROtag) by Jen Simmons on YouTube as well.

### [My Accessibility Journey: What I’ve Learned So Far](https://alistapart.com/article/my-accessibility-journey-what-ive-learned-so-far)

Be sure to make it to the end of the article to discover links to a bunch of great resources, newsletters, and books Manuel Matuzović has found helpful during his accessibility journey.

### [Inclusive Components](https://inclusive-components.design/)

> A blog trying to be a pattern library. All about designing inclusive web interfaces, piece by piece.

I love these deep dives into building accessible components by Heydon Pickering.

### [What kind of ethics do front-end developers need?](https://hiddedevries.nl/en/blog/2018-07-05-what-kind-of-ethics-do-front-end-developers-need)

> Now that the technology sector of the world is rapidly transforming all of the world’s things into digital things, many have called for more ethics in our field. That is in many instances quite a vague goal, so let’s apply it to one part of digital: front-end development. How can we be more ethical as front-end developers, what kinds of things can we do? I thought I’d try and make a list.

It is an interesting topic that I enjoy seeing being covered lately. [Anselm Hannemann](https://helloanselm.com/writings) has been writing about this as well lately.

## Watch ¬

### [Resilient CSS: 7-part Series](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbSquHt1VCf1kpv9WRGMCA9_Nn4vCLZ9Y)

Jen Simmons breaks down how to write CSS that works in every browser at the same time – old and new in this 7-part YouTube series.

### [How to Contribute to an Open Source Project on GitHub](https://egghead.io/courses/how-to-contribute-to-an-open-source-project-on-github)

Kent Dodds is most well-known for his open source project work at Paypal. In this free egghead course, he teaches you how you can start contributing to open source projects on Github.

### [How CSS and JavaScript can affect page rendering](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeMDXlJ051s)

I'll admit that I didn't fully understand exactly how CSS and JavaScript can affect page rendering until I watched this introductory video by Umar Hansa. Umar also produces some handy [dev tips](https://umaar.com/dev-tips/) as well.

## Listen ¬

### [Advice For Beginners - Tech Skills, Applying for Jobs, Focus, Imposter Syndrome + More](https://syntax.fm/show/058/advice-for-beginners-tech-skills-applying-for-jobs-focus-imposter-syndrome-more)

Wes Bos and Scott Tolinski share their best advice for beginner developers. Here are a few tips that stood out to me:

* Start small
* Start with what excites you and let that drive your exploration
* Evaluate things for yourself - don't blindly follow the loudest voices on the internet
* Health and Hobbies - don't let yourself burnout

### [Our VS Code Workspaces](https://spec.fm/podcasts/toolsday/161302)

One of my favorite web development tool related podcasts, Una Kravets and Chris Dhanaraj share their VS Code settings, themes, plugins, and resources.

## Tools ¬

### [Eleventy - a simpler static site generator](https://www.11ty.io/)

Eleventy has been one of my favorite tools to start using recently. It is a Javascript based static site generator similar to Jekyll and Hugo. I recently built [Front-end Foundations](https://github.com/alexcarpenter/frontend-foundations) and my own [personal site](https://github.com/alexcarpenter/alexcarpenter.me) with Eleventy. Take a peek at the source code.

I am also making a short YouTube series on how to build your own personal website with Eleventy. Subscribe to [my channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2jJoQlzvLPvnYfowAEVaOg) to get notified when it launches.

### [mybrowser.fyi](https://mybrowser.fyi/)

A new browser based tool to quickly gather information about your browser to help resolve your tech support issue or bug by [Andy Bell](https://twitter.com/hankchizljaw).

### [Netlify](https://www.netlify.com/)

> An all-in-one workflow that combines global deployment, continuous integration, and automatic HTTPS. And that’s just the beginning.

I know I just mentioned that Eleventy has been one of my favorite recent tools, but Netlify is right up there as well. Netlify makes deploying, hosting, and securing your static site straightforward and simple. If you are using a tool like Eleventy, Jekyll, or other similar static site generator, i'd highly recommend Netlify for your hosting needs. 

## Quote ¬

### "It's simple until you make it complicated."

– Jason Fried