jsx

PostCSS is the new thing that everyone is talking about. I have only used it on CodePen, but I wanted to use it in a project from start to finish to see how the install process was and to see how it could fit in for my next project. I also like the option to write maybe some of my plugins. Installation

The best way to install it seems to be adding this to your build tools. According to the PostCSS GitHub, there are plugins for Grunt, Gulp, webpack, Broccoli, Brunch, ENB, Fly, Stylus, Meteor, Duo andConnect/Express.

I am going to use gulp for getting started with postcss. if you have never used Gulp before head http://gulpjs.com/here for details. npm install —save-dev gulp-postcss This NPM module will install postcss for your project. Now, you can edit your gulp file with a few variables.

var gulp = require('gulp'); var postcss = require('gulp-postcss');

Next, time we will we start finding some plugins to add to our gulpfile

I was working on a project this morning, and I got stuck. I had trouble finishing off the design of it. I wanted to try and do something that that is a similar type of work, but that might shake something loose in my head and would help me finish off the original project.

I set a timer for two Pomodoro and I went into Evernote and found and idea I had wanted to see what I could come up with in that time. I used a lot of free resources and templates to get going.

I am in the middle of building my first Javascript based application. I have never successfully finished an application of this scope. I have user authentications and some API access and some other feature list.

I am going to use ionic to compile the final application out to be able to be published into the App Store and in Google Play.

Before, I started this I did a few tutorials with Angular, and I ran through a few Udemy classes, and I never did much more than that. I sat on some of this for awhile, and I didn’t spend much time in code.

Then this project came at me, and I saw it as an opportunity. It forced me to get out of my comfort zone and to try and start building and attempt to work on those skills.

Everything that I have read always said to stop eventually tutorials and start coding. I am always struggling to find a project to do. I always want to do things that are massive in scope. But, since this was at my day job. This was a bit of a different animal, and I had been forced into it and had to come up with some answers and to be able actually to finish the product.

Throughout the whole process, I struggled. Each day there was a new set of problems or a new set of errors in my console. Errors I had no idea how to solve and a lot of trial and error. The thing that amazed me most about this process was how much I learned setting out to complete a goal. I know it seems like common sense to a point. But, there was no better experience than getting into the grind and starting to code.

The process of seeking out documentation and ask questions. It is also amazing how helpful people are. Just posting a few questions on Twitter and Stack Overflow.

The most important lesson I learned this month for me is that the best way for me to learn is just start doing things. I need to be experimenting and trying out new things and seeing where things go.

Writing has always been something that I have loved. I started a blog in college. I had no experience writing, and I just loved sharing my opinions and being able just to tell the world something. The writing was something that was liberating to me; it was a medium where I felt comfortable. THE WHY

I also loved writing, and I always had some concepts and some ideas down. I have notebooks and folder in google docs of thoughts and ideas. These are just things swirling around in my head.

Writing is a personal thing, and that is what makes it such a hard thing to talk about openly and freely with other people online. I would continue to write and just never post and never share anything.

I knew what I was skilled at as a writer and I also knew my weakness. But, I was just scared to let that all out there. Plus, you will not find a person much worse with grammar than me. Rise Of Slack

Over, the past year I have joined nearly ten different Slack groups. These groups are communities for various things. Everything from making products, learning javascript and designing in Sketch.

Spending some time in these groups I have developed some relationships and have made some friends. It has helped me in some of those areas. They have been helpful in each of their way.

That was the thing that amazed about joining these communities was that what you got out of it. Some, of it, was new relationships and friendship starting. Other times it has just been fascinating content discovery and new tips and hacks. Mentobi

I started Mentobi to bring some of those relationships and moments around writing. I wanted a place where people can discuss, ask for help, get tips or anything at all about the craft. We are using Slack as a base for all communications. There will be an email newsletter, but that will be something that you can opt in.

I wanted to use slack because it is something that a lot of people are quickly becoming comfortable with, and it is easy for someone to always been connected to it if they wanted to.

The service is still in its early stages, and we have a few users. I have a roadmap of something that I would like to implement, but I want to take a poll of the current users and see what they want out of the service. I want to make it an all-inclusive and people vote on what they need and what they would like to see out of it.

After it is all said and done, all I want to see out of Mentobi is a place where writers met to discuss the craft.

So, whether you are writing a novel or just trying to start a blog. Please, sign up on mentobi.com and join the group.

Today was day 80 of my new habit. A heard about a concept called morning pages a few months back, and it seemed like something worth a shot. There was something about writing that I always loved but could never get into a confident rhythm with it.

In honor of the 80th straight day of writing 750 words, it felt like it was time to go back and see. Today was the first time that I dug into these writings in detail. I wanted to see what could I learn about me. What could I learn about how I see the world? Also, is this an activity worth keeping up.

The first few days were rather awkward getting going. A blank canvas can be uncomfortable and scary to start.

I had a few rules that I wanted to build this habit with, and one was I wanted to begin with a blank screen. I wanted to get my thoughts out of my head every morning. At the risk of making it seem like a journal. I wanted just to dump and not to worry about the content.

Naturally, a lot of my early documents started off with “I am tired” or the amazing “I am not hungry right now am I ok?”

Also, I wanted to try to do it as close to the same time every day as possible. That was the one rule. I want the constancy plus the time. If I knew 6 am to 630am was just time for that. It would help me build that habit and get it into my day.

Finally, I did want to write more, and I thought I could use this to get that process going and maybe even generate some new ideas and thoughts.

I think that it was hard early on to get into a rhythm, so just the process of doing something made me count those as a win.

The quality of the content seemed to range from a particular number of factors. If I had a “bad” day the day before the writing turned more into a rant and an exploration of the problem. It was going back so that I could go forward that day. It helped me sort out of the issue.

There were days when the creative juices were flowing, and I was almost doubling up on my word count totals. There are a list and detailed ideas and concepts that were worth extracting and getting into their records for future examination.

It was interesting going through all this content because at times it felt like a journal and at times it felt like it was an insight into my mind and what was going on at a time. Things I was thinking and things I was feeling. The journal stuff is also cool to see because it puts everything into a little capsule. I now have this backlog of dated files where I can piece together the Secret History of Me.

I think the most important thing that I learned is that practice and more practice can only help. I feel like I could write and write with a sense of confidence now. I think it is good to get into your head that hey 30 minutes or and hour a day. You are going to be creating. It is not going to be golden and it, won’t be pretty but sitting down every day and showing up and producing.

John Siwicki

Apple Music’s launch a few weeks ago reinvited the streaming wars. Apple Music has given out a generous free trial that I am sure made a lot of people sign up to give a go. Music services, unlike video streaming apps you only want one. I don’t mind switching between Hulu/Netflix and Amazon Prime.

I tried Apple Music and after about 5 minutes I just wanted to go back to Spotify. Itunes is just an application that I don’t desire to spend time with.

There was always a dark horse app in this race that I loved. Rdio was always one of those startups that I admired. Rdio’s web app is the best out of all the streaming services out there. The UI and Design are so clean and simple. It is just one of the few music apps that are a joy to use. The there design team has done some amazing work on their apps. There is something so clean and welcoming about the UI.

The thing that I loved about Rdio was it one of the few apps that I felt just got out of my way, and it was always just a pleasure to use. I never used it as extensively as I used Spotify.

The thing about Rdio was that I couldn’t seem to convince people to sign up for the app. The people were flocking to Spotify. That is what Spotify is amazing at the sharing and collaborating settings.

There have always been rumors around how Facebook wants to get in the music game in some form. The last was something about music videos coming to the news feed. The focus on music videos would be really confusing. As it makes sense why Google is trying to combine its music streaming service with youtube as videos on their own are not an attractive option.

I would love to see what Facebook could do with Rdio. Apple is winning on price and being able to cook into millions of devices right way. Spotify is winning overall and has a good hold on features, and their design is getting momentum.

Facebook could integrate Rdio in some ways. The killer Spotify feature is the ability to share and collaborate on playlists with your friends. Messenger is becoming a huge platform. I would love to be able to listen to a song in messenger and take an action on that. Add it to a playlist or forward the track to another friend.

The thing that I love most about CSS is there is always something new that I learn about. I feel like at least once a week I hear about something that I have never used before. There might be a browser supporting something new or an updated spec being proposed.

I also think that Microsoft upgrading Windows and IE at a much faster rate is going to open a new world for a lot of us. Most of the time I think I assume that I can’t use a lot of the new specs.

I started playing with CSS columns the other day while trying to manage a large list. I think that sometimes you get stuck using what you know, and you can easily forget some of these new toys exist. Now, I just created the most basic example of all time. But you can see from the syntax there are a few awesome potentials. It could help with manipulating lists and even creating some new and layouts.

.example-list { list-style:none; columns: 10px 4; column-gap: 0; }

See the Pen Column-count by John Siwicki (@siwicki) on CodePen.

CSS 3 Spec

Lately, I feel like everyone has been talking about PostCSS. Just as I started to get comfortable writing and working with SASS.

PostCSS processes CSS with JS plugins. On its own PostCSS doesn’t do a whole ton of stuff. It is all about the plugins. I didn’t set up a project. I just started playing on Codepen since they allow you to use PostCSS with a limited number of plugins.

The plugin echo system is rather large but I started only playing with a few. I started with the “for and “each” plugin. The “for” plugin allows for loop syntax in your CSS. The “each” so that you can iterate through values.

@use postcss-for; @use postcss-each; @for $i from 5 to 50 by 5 { .b-$i { width: $(i)px; } }

See the Pen PostCSS Playground by John Siwicki (@siwicki) on CodePen.

Obviously, I was just messing around with some syntax and didn’t really use PostCSS to build anything. The power of PostCSS is there and easy to see. I think for certain projects this is going to be something amazing to use. I like the plugin system for some projects because you can use only what you need. I think there will be a place in the tool chest for both SASS and PostCSS.

A few plugins worth saving. DoIuse - Lint CSS for browser support against caniuse database

Conditionals - Adds support for if-statements

StyleGuide - generate a style guide automatically