Headline writing for small teams
The gap between knowing this and actually doing it is where most teams lose ground. Most advice about headline writing assumes a team…
1 min read
Blog
Notes from the workshop
Short, practical notes on building and running software — one a day, 2,407 of them so far. Everything we find ourselves explaining twice ends up here.
Why response compression matters more than it looks
Most teams know this matters. Fewer have decided who owns it. Response compression is easy to treat as a detail, and that is exactly why…
1 min read
Three myths about featured snippets
The gap between knowing this and actually doing it is where most teams lose ground. A few things about featured snippets that get…
1 min read
Feature flags: the questions we get asked most
Teams tend to reach for this after something has already gone wrong. The questions about feature flags that come up most often on our calls.
1 min read
Signs it is time to revisit testimonial sections
This is cheap to get right at the start and expensive to retrofit. A few signals that testimonial sections is due some attention.
1 min read
Getting started with secrets management
There is no clever trick in this one, just a handful of decisions worth making deliberately. A short on-ramp to secrets management for…
1 min read
Signs it is time to revisit heatmaps
Teams tend to reach for this after something has already gone wrong. A few signals that heatmaps is due some attention.
1 min read
Getting started with serverless
The gap between knowing this and actually doing it is where most teams lose ground. A short on-ramp to serverless for teams who have not…
1 min read
A practical checklist for semantic HTML
The advice here is unglamorous, which is probably why it gets skipped. Run through this the next time semantic HTML comes up.
1 min read
Why navigation design matters more than it looks
Teams tend to reach for this after something has already gone wrong. Navigation design is easy to treat as a detail, and that is exactly…
1 min read
A practical checklist for featured snippets
We end up explaining this on discovery calls often enough that it deserved writing down. Run through this the next time featured…
1 min read
The real cost of ignoring code documentation
It comes up on almost every project, usually later than it should. Nobody bills you for neglecting code documentation. The cost shows up…
1 min read
Why content governance matters more than it looks
This is one of those topics that looks small until it costs you something. Content governance is easy to treat as a detail, and that is…
1 min read
Getting started with product photography
There is no clever trick in this one, just a handful of decisions worth making deliberately. A short on-ramp to product photography for…
1 min read
Duplicate content: what to get right first
The gap between knowing this and actually doing it is where most teams lose ground. If you only fix one thing about duplicate content…
1 min read
Why the checkout flow matters more than it looks
This is cheap to get right at the start and expensive to retrofit. The checkout flow is easy to treat as a detail, and that is exactly…
1 min read
Three myths about brand consistency
Most teams know this matters. Fewer have decided who owns it. A few things about brand consistency that get repeated more often than…
1 min read
When reduced motion is worth the effort
The gap between knowing this and actually doing it is where most teams lose ground. Reduced motion is not free, and pretending otherwise…
1 min read
The real cost of ignoring password policies
Teams tend to reach for this after something has already gone wrong. Nobody bills you for neglecting password policies. The cost shows…
1 min read
Web typography for small teams
It is rarely the thing that gets a project approved, and often the thing that decides how it goes. Most advice about web typography…
1 min read
A practical checklist for container orchestration
This is one of those topics that looks small until it costs you something. Run through this the next time container orchestration comes up.
1 min read
Prototyping: the questions we get asked most
Teams tend to reach for this after something has already gone wrong. The questions about prototyping that come up most often on our calls.
1 min read
Choosing hosting, explained without the jargon
We end up explaining this on discovery calls often enough that it deserved writing down. Here is choosing hosting without the vocabulary…
1 min read
Signs it is time to revisit incident response
This is one of those topics that looks small until it costs you something. A few signals that incident response is due some attention.
1 min read
The real cost of ignoring web typography
It is rarely the thing that gets a project approved, and often the thing that decides how it goes. Nobody bills you for neglecting web…
1 min read
Writing for the web for small teams
We end up explaining this on discovery calls often enough that it deserved writing down. Most advice about writing for the web assumes a…
1 min read
Five mistakes teams make with application logging
The gap between knowing this and actually doing it is where most teams lose ground. These are the ones we run into repeatedly when we…
1 min read
How to get backups right
This is one of those topics that looks small until it costs you something. The short answer to backups is that it is mostly a sequence…
1 min read
A short guide to tax calculation
The version of this that works is simpler than the version most people imagine. Everything we would tell a client about tax calculation…
1 min read
Canonical URLs for small teams
The version of this that works is simpler than the version most people imagine. Most advice about canonical URLs assumes a team that…
1 min read
Signs it is time to revisit screen readers
This is cheap to get right at the start and expensive to retrofit. A few signals that screen readers is due some attention.
1 min read
When data retention is worth the effort
The advice here is unglamorous, which is probably why it gets skipped. Data retention is not free, and pretending otherwise leads to bad…
1 min read
Getting started with form spam
This is cheap to get right at the start and expensive to retrofit. A short on-ramp to form spam for teams who have not touched it before.
1 min read
A short guide to navigation design
Teams tend to reach for this after something has already gone wrong. Everything we would tell a client about navigation design in the…
1 min read
Getting started with content clusters
The gap between knowing this and actually doing it is where most teams lose ground. A short on-ramp to content clusters for teams who…
1 min read
Why product pages matters more than it looks
There is no clever trick in this one, just a handful of decisions worth making deliberately. Product pages is easy to treat as a detail,…
1 min read
When robots.txt is worth the effort
The version of this that works is simpler than the version most people imagine. Robots.txt is not free, and pretending otherwise leads…
1 min read
How to get performance budgets right
Teams tend to reach for this after something has already gone wrong. The short answer to performance budgets is that it is mostly a…
1 min read
Why analytics setup matters more than it looks
The version of this that works is simpler than the version most people imagine. Analytics setup is easy to treat as a detail, and that…
1 min read
The real cost of ignoring keyboard navigation
The advice here is unglamorous, which is probably why it gets skipped. Nobody bills you for neglecting keyboard navigation. The cost…
1 min read
A short guide to third-party scripts
We end up explaining this on discovery calls often enough that it deserved writing down. Everything we would tell a client about…
1 min read
Before you invest in data modelling
This is one of those topics that looks small until it costs you something. Before you spend anything on data modelling, it is worth…
1 min read
Three myths about accessible forms
We end up explaining this on discovery calls often enough that it deserved writing down. A few things about accessible forms that get…
1 min read
Master data management: the questions we get asked most
The gap between knowing this and actually doing it is where most teams lose ground. The questions about master data management that come…
1 min read
Caching layers for small teams
This is one of those topics that looks small until it costs you something. Most advice about caching layers assumes a team that does not…
1 min read
Build versus buy: what to get right first
There is no clever trick in this one, just a handful of decisions worth making deliberately. If you only fix one thing about build…
1 min read
When eventual consistency is worth the effort
There is no clever trick in this one, just a handful of decisions worth making deliberately. Eventual consistency is not free, and…
1 min read
Background jobs: the questions we get asked most
Every audit we run turns up some version of this. The questions about background jobs that come up most often on our calls.
1 min read
Three myths about cloud cost management
This is one of those topics that looks small until it costs you something. A few things about cloud cost management that get repeated…
1 min read
A short guide to eventual consistency
Most teams know this matters. Fewer have decided who owns it. Everything we would tell a client about eventual consistency in the time…
1 min read
When REST and GraphQL is worth the effort
Teams tend to reach for this after something has already gone wrong. REST and GraphQL is not free, and pretending otherwise leads to bad…
1 min read
The real cost of ignoring documentation and handover
There is no clever trick in this one, just a handful of decisions worth making deliberately. Nobody bills you for neglecting…
1 min read
Environment configuration: what to get right first
Most teams know this matters. Fewer have decided who owns it. If you only fix one thing about environment configuration this quarter,…
1 min read
Data retention, explained without the jargon
It comes up on almost every project, usually later than it should. Here is data retention without the vocabulary that usually surrounds it.
1 min read
A practical checklist for automated testing
There is no clever trick in this one, just a handful of decisions worth making deliberately. Run through this the next time automated…
1 min read
How to get vendor lock-in right
This is cheap to get right at the start and expensive to retrofit. The short answer to vendor lock-in is that it is mostly a sequence of…
1 min read
Getting started with a headless CMS
Most teams know this matters. Fewer have decided who owns it. A short on-ramp to a headless CMS for teams who have not touched it before.
1 min read
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