Defining our industry's methodologies, standards, and culture have long been a part of Happy Cog's values.
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I always hear stories of managers pushing employees to “think outside the box”—to go beyond their day-to-day and find that idea that is unlike anything else. This is a tall order and maybe even a bit unrealistic. If our comfort zone is A, B, and C, how can we expect to find X without first understanding D–W? Because of this, I like to think in terms of “expanding the box” instead of jumping entirely outside of it.
If you’ve surfed the web, you’ve likely stumbled upon adult content or some reference to it. For the purpose of this article, I’d like to ignore the content shown on adult sites in favor of the content type, video, which makes these sites relevant to hosting and hosting issues. Adult content can be traced back to the early 1980s (when dial-up bulletin board systems served all the illicit content), so it’s safe to say it has been a part of the internet from the start. Neither Happy Cog nor Happy Cog Hosting work with sites that serve or publish adult content, but wherever you stand on the morality of porn, it is enlightening to consider the role it has played in shaping standards for online commerce and the way hosting providers do their jobs.
Design conferences are complicated beasts. They are weeklong marathons and single-day sprints. They are hotel ballroom affairs and intimate gatherings. They teach new skills and polish old ones. They appeal to the novice, expert, academic, and hipster alike. And, to add to their intricacy, depending on the marketing angle, we call them symposiums, conventions, festivals, and even the casual [insert word here]-cons.
On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. A few hours later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped onto the lunar surface—the first time humans set foot on another planetary body. The astronauts were explorers. Yet, if they did not share their experiences, their expedition would have provided no meaningful benefits to anyone but themselves. True exploration isn’t just going somewhere or doing something new; it is experiencing something new and communicating that back to those who care.
This can be absolutely anything. Go ahead and think about it for a minute. I recently posed this question at my dConstruct talk (slides / audio) a couple of weeks ago and received a variety of answers. Learning a new language was a popular response. So was learning how to cook, garden, ski, and do “The Robot.”
A while ago I wrote a little post discussing my dive into CSS preprocessing, and, at the time, I wasn’t totally convinced that this hot newness was the best approach for my workflow. I shared my internal struggle with bloated output and questioned if this preprocessor business really did save me that much time. When I wrote the article, I had only worked with LESS, one of several popular CSS preprocessors, as it was a project requirement. Many of you fine folks suggested (both on Cognition and off) that I try Sass. Well, I did. Fast-forward 10 months and HOLY TOLEDO THIS FRONT-END DEV IS SERIOUSLY SASSY AND LOVING IT.
While cruising the boardwalk with my family this weekend, I was struck by what the boardwalk has in common with web design and development: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
“Agile” is one of our industry’s favorite buzzwords. Everyone’s doing it! If you’re working Waterfall, you are so 2009. I understand why people love this buzzword— the name alone sounds like something we should be using in the web industry, because it seems to mean we’re working faster. You may be working faster with an altered Waterfall process, but if you’re a web development agency working with clients, chances are you’ve altered Agile to work for you. I am no Agilista, but if you’re not using true Agile, please stop calling it that.
I once believed that great design was created inside of a secret creativity chamber. Armed with a knapsack full of snacks, I’d lock myself inside, and work long, hard, tedious hours until I emerged with a “masterpiece.”
In the 1960s and 70s Ajax, a Dutch soccer team, captivated people with long stringy hair, scruffy sideburns, and a legendary tactical system known as ‘Total Football.’ Don’t worry, non-sports-loving nerds, I’ll get to my point soon. What was remarkable about Total Football was the ability of everyone on the team to change position and tactics with fluidity and speed. Anyone, it was thought, could play anywhere on the pitch. Attackers converted to defenders. Defenders converted to attackers. Back and forth in the blink of an eye.
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