# Jonathan Snook Everything and Nothing This is one page of public article previews, not the complete archive. Follow Next page to continue. Summaries are not the original full articles. ## Forever a Student DevFeed: [Forever a Student]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2026-08-26T00:00:00Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Jonathan Snook]() Topics: [Web Development](), [Learning](), [CSS](), [browsers](), [Testing](), [Database]() Tags: [blog](), [browsers](), [css](), [development](), [learning](), [testing](), [web-development]() ### AI overview The author reflects on learning web development, sharing work in progress, and accepting that mistakes are part of learning. They describe how writing, prototyping, browser testing, and research help deepen understanding, and argue that people should not be discouraged from sharing what they are learning. ### Source excerpt When I was learning CSS's grid feature (oh gosh, nearly ten years ago), I posted a few short videos talking about my understanding of the feature and how it worked. I was surprised to get scolded for sharing inaccurate information, "especially as a teacher". Wait, what?! Who, me?! I get things wrong all the time. That's part of learning. But it was the teacher remark that threw me because I've never considered myself a teacher. Yes, I've spoken at conferences and put on workshops but the label of teacher isn't one that I feel comfortable with. Perhaps I associate the word with all-knowing authority figures standing in front of a class and I'm far from all-knowing, or an authority, or have much of a figure. I have stood in front of classes, though. I imagine myself more like Stuart from the Mad TV sketch saying "look what I can do!" When I first got into web development, I built a web page that displayed a table pulled from a database. When I showed my friend, he wasn't all that excited. "Is that it?" It was, after all, just a table on a page. (Which, hey, it was 1996. Everything was just a table on a page.) This blog has been a 25+ year journey of me saying "look what I can do" over and over again. I enjoy the process of learning new things and sharing what I've learned. Writing about what I've learned helps me learn even more because I build prototypes and test in different browsers as I try to understand all the nuances of something in my effort to write about a topic. Even with the research and prototypes and testing and writing, I'll get things wrong but one of the things I have learned is not to admonish people sharing what they're learning, even if they get it wrong. We should all be forever a student. Have something to say? Tell me about it. ## Connections, Part One DevFeed: [Connections, Part One]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2026-08-14T00:00:00Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Jonathan Snook]() Topics: [sessions](), [Networks](), [zoom](), [Web]() Tags: [conference](), [isolation](), [networks](), [sessions](), [social-media](), [twitter](), [zoom]() ### AI overview A personal essay reflects on how pandemic-era Zoom calls provided connection and how the return to offline routines, reduced conference attendance, and fragmented social networks have made maintaining weaker social ties more difficult. ### Source excerpt When the pandemic hit and nobody could travel anywhere, I, like many others, found connections through Zoom calls. I had multiple scheduled calls with different groups: a daily morning call, a weekly Friday call, two board game groups, a poker night, a Call of Duty group, and semi-regular calls with various individuals. I am very grateful for the friends I have made over the years and that those friends were there over the pandemic helped avoid the feelings of isolation many felt. Now that most people have moved back into old (or perhaps new) routines, the regular online calls have mostly disappeared. And with a decision pre-pandemic to stop speaking at conferences, I haven't been attending them, either. That has meant missing out on one particular avenue of connecting and reconnecting with people that I've known for years. Long gone are the days of hanging out in the hallway of a conference chatting with people in between sessions. Or going out for tacos and then to a bar where somebody is dancing in a head-to-toe Batman costume. (Yes, that happened.) But even conference attendance is down. Pre-pandemic, I'd often be visiting a city and then put out word on Twitter that I'd enjoy meeting up with people and sure enough, I'd be at a table with a handful of fellow web practitioners enjoying a lovely meal and listening to their experiences and sharing mine. The scattering to the smattering of social networks along with those abandoning social media altogether has made this, too, more difficult. It takes a more concerted effort to stay connected. Yet Another Social Media Site doesn't seem like it's going to solve this. This was one of the factors that spurred me to re-engage with social media: to maintain these loose connections, albeit perhaps more loosely than before. I have close friends with whom I speak to near daily. I have friends with whom I speak with every few months. And then I have those people with whom I'd normally have connected with in person and those i ## Why the author is using slash pages on Snook.ca DevFeed: [Why the author is using slash pages on Snook.ca]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2026-08-07T00:00:00Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Jonathan Snook]() Topics: [RSS]() Tags: [blog-post](), [rss]() ### AI overview The author introduces the RSS Club on Snook.ca and explains the purpose of slash pages such as /now and /where. The post describes them as a way to share current activities and relevant site information without requiring extensive background, and notes the addition of a privacy policy. ### Source excerpt Hey, it's the inaugural post for the RSS Club on Snook.ca! I was working away on my site, adding content that I thought might be relevant to some, like an AI statement and a privacy policy. Most people probably don't care but for those that do, it's there and it shows that I care about those things, too. I never really had a name for these types of one-off pages but I came across slash pages and with this redesign, I've been considering what felt relevant to include or not include on my own site. Why Now? Some of the items like /now seem like they should be actual blog posts. Like this one. This is what I'm thinking about now. My next blog post will be about what I'm thinking about then, which will be now. Want to know what I'm up to right now? I'm writing now. But when you read this, I'll no longer be writing this. I'll be doing something else. Maybe I'm sleeping, or making coffee, or out walking somewhere, or sitting on the toilet. Why Not? I realize I'm being silly. Sometimes it's nice to catch up with what somebody is up to. It's answering the question, "hey what're you up to these days?" It's surfacing information without requiring people to understand the entire lore about what led you to this moment in time. For example, I subscribe to a couple newsletters that are like a /where page. They update people on their travels while also giving a life update around why they might be on a particular trip, or why they might be at home. Maybe my friends would like to hit up my /where page to see where I might be given all my travels. (I don't have a /where page.) Slash away For now, I have my slash pages plus a couple undocumented ones like my old /speaking page that remains more like a historic artifact found just under the surface. Today, I added my privacy policy. I think that'll be it for now. Have something to say? Tell me about it. ## Secret RSS Posts DevFeed: [Secret RSS Posts]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2026-08-04T00:00:00Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Jonathan Snook]() Topics: [RSS Feed](), [Web]() Tags: [blog-post](), [posts](), [rss](), [technical]() ### AI overview The author introduces an RSS Club for posts that appear in the RSS feed without being linked from the site's home or index pages. The article explains how 11ty collections and tags control whether content appears in the RSS feed, on the site, or in both. ### Source excerpt I've seen Dave Rupert do posts that only appear in the RSS feed. He called it the RSS Club. In his words, It's like a newsletter delivered to your feed reader to celebrate the medium of RSS and breakaway from social media. I like that ethos and am choosing to do the same. What posts will qualify as part of the RSS Club remains to be seen. Maybe they'll be more personal. Maybe they'll cover topics that don't need to be directly linked from home pages and index pages. Maybe I'll get bored of the idea and we never hear of this again. And it's not like they'll be sooper-dooper secret because there will still be a web page that will be generated. You could still share and link the page, if you wanted. At least, for now. It's just that they won't be linked to from any of the index pages. Perhaps one day I'll look into creating content purely for the RSS feed that doesn't have a permalink generated for it. That'll require some tweaks to the RSS feed since it relies on the URL for things like the ID. Consider this an invitation to subscribe to the RSS feed--if you haven't already--and perhaps some interesting content will find it's way to you. Technical Bits This site is built with 11ty. Every file--okay, not every file; I'm simplifying here--gets added to a collection. Files can be added to a specific collection using tags. When I first built this site, every blog post was tagged as a post. Then, I told the home page to grab the most recent posts. And the index view to grab all of the posts. And then the RSS feed should grab the ten most recent posts. What I've done is added a new collection called rss and I changed the RSS feed to only grab items from the rss collection. tags: - post - rss This allows me to create content that only appears in the RSS feed or only appears on the site or appears in both. This system will be used for any new thing that I add. For example, if I add photography, I can create a photo tag and add the photos to the RSS feed or choose not to. I can ad ## Mid-Summer Update on Site Design, Publishing Workflow, and a New MacBook DevFeed: [Mid-Summer Update on Site Design, Publishing Workflow, and a New MacBook]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2026-08-02T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [Jonathan Snook]() Topics: [Development](), [Git](), [Markdown](), [configuration]() Tags: [configuration](), [development](), [git](), [markdown](), [update]() ### AI overview A personal mid-summer update covering refinements to a website redesign, possible future use of view transitions and content-specific themes, a Git-based desktop publishing workflow, and the purchase of a 13-inch MacBook Air for portable publishing. ### Source excerpt We're into the thick of summer and the days have been long and hot--just the way I like it. Pushing the One and Only Edge Back in March, I mentioned having some ideas but wanting at least one edge to push. Turns out, the only edge I pushed was using scroll-based animations. Dullest edge pushing ever. I did the bare minimum and what do you know, I'm happy with it. I'm happy to have the new design, the new tech, and being able to write more regularly and feeling less constrained--especially tech-wise. I've continued to tweak things since the launch. Still on the to-do list is to update the favicon and take a look at view transitions. I'm also considering different post styles or themes that are specific to content types. Some of the ideas I have might mean that I toss out the scroll-based animation on the logo but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. New MacBook Speaking of tech, in my long running series of "how can I simplify my life", I had given away or sold my old Mac gear, leaving me with just a Mac mini for my day-to-day computing and development needs. For writing, I can use my iPhone or iPad, since I can write markdown pretty much anywhere. But the new post publishing process uses a desktop (or laptop) computer configuration to handle updates via Git and sync them to the server. I'm sure I could jury rig a setup that would allow me to publish from a mobile device but I imagine those solutions are going to feel like sandpaper and I want buttery smooth. That means that if I want a portable post publishing process then I need a portable post publishing personal computer. Like, say, a MacBook. I've had this Mac mini for about five years now, so I don't feel like I'm being frivolous with a new purchase. I stopped in at the local Apple store and after reviewing sizing and features, I settled on the 13" Air. They didn't have the configuration I wanted in stock so I ordered online and will need to wait a couple weeks for its arrival. Travel Speaking of portabilit