It's been awhile! I've started a business around Design Systems, Basalt, and became the maintainer of Pattern Lab!
Hi! I almost titled this post "Hello World, again!" – it's been far too long since I've posted... but, I don't feel too bad: I've been busy! I've had a lot to share lately and want to start sharing more again, but before I started (and damn it: I'm going to keep up the habit of blogging this time!), I felt it necessary to give an update; here's a summary of what's gone down in the past year:
In Twig Pattern Lab, instead of Pseudo-Patterns with sidecar json use this better approach
I've always loved the Pseudo-Patterns feature of Pattern Lab - which is the ability to have a component of
card.twig
and then to demo several variants by passing in different data by having files named card~a.json
, card~b.json
, and card~c.json
. This would show each of them as an item in Pattern Lab. It's awesome! I made a 1Writer JavaScript action for opening files in Dropbox.com =>
I really like the iOS Markdown app 1Writer, especially since it's recent improvements to allow previewing image attachments. I wanted to be able to get to the other assets I often have sitting next to my Markdown files in Dropbox and so I made this Open at Dropbox.com 1Writer JavaScript Action that let's you do just that. I've also posted the source code at GitHub if anyone's curious or wants to report bugs. Enjoy!
Sharing my Code Highlighting Bookmarklets Utility =>
I've made these handy bookmarklets that adds syntax highlighting to source code examples on any site and are useful if the site does not have any syntax highlighting at all (like Medium) or bad highlighting. There are dark and light varieties along with the ability to build one with any color scheme you'd like. Hope you find them useful!
Preflight Check, a new utility to keep developer's dependencies in sync
Keeping developer environments up to date and in sync with each other can be a challenging thing as a web site's environment is so much more than just code that can be pulled down. I've seen a common scenario play out that I wanted to help solve with a utility that I had been mentally concocting for awhile and am now releasing,
preflight-check
. Before I share what the tool does, let me share the pain of the common scenario I've often seen.EvanLovely.com v6 - A Total Refresh
Everything has changed!! The whole site has been re-written from the ground up with a completely different front and back end.
I made a tool for opening a Google Map where the photo was taken =>
I made an easy way to take a geotagged photo and copy it's latitude and longitude and open that spot in a Google Map using either Bash (Terminal command line) or via Alfred. Check it out!
I made an Alfred Workflow for Text and Code Snippets =>
I made a nice Alfred workflow for searching through a folder of plain text file snippets that copies the contents and then inserts it into your current focus point. Additionally, it's easy to see, search, and set Mavericks tags on the snippets. Since the whole storage of snippets is done with the file system, it makes it really easy to add and edit the snippets with other means. Go check it out!
I put together some of my utilities in a new site section! =>
I make lots of little utilities often, so I decided to grab them all put them into a new utility section of the site! I'm happy they finally have a home :) Looking forward to making that list grow!
Alfred Workflow for Brett Terpstra's `doing` CLI
The Mad Scientist Brett Terpstra is at it again, this time with a nifty script for "Scatterbrains" that captures what you are doing, and provides an easy way to find out what it was once you get off track and need to mentally re-orient yourself when coming back to a project – super handy in my opinion. Check out his project page for
doing
. New Note about Fav Alfred Workflows =>
I started a list of my favorite Alfred Workflows after someone asked about them, so I put them up on my site! I'm sure I'll add more as I go, but so far these are my favorites. Don't worry - it's not the full list of installed ones! :)
Finding out the time on the East and West Coast with Alfred
I got sick of trying to figure out what time it is on the East Coast, so I made this easy Alfred Workflow that tells me (and copies it). Works for West Coast time too. Download it here and then just type
time
after invoking Alfred.Getting Dropbox Direct Links via Shared Links with Alfred
When you share an image (or any file) with Dropbox, it sends people to a page that wraps that file in an HTML page that is Dropbox branded. Here is an easy way using Alfred (with it's paid Powerpack) to get a link that links directly to the file. This is useful for using as the
src
in an <img>
tag. I often use it in a wiki or a task management site like Jira or Redmine to show a screenshot. All we need to do is replace www.dropbox
with dl.dropboxusercontent
in the share link, like my friend Ryan points out.I added a Review Section to my site! =>
Well, the new Review Section is more of a page at the moment as it's simply a list of products that I like a lot. I try and add a bit of commentary where needed. I've started with some basic sorting to break things into Outdoor Gear, Drinks equipment (apparently I'm really into different drinks...), and Tech Gear (though I don't have software recommendations – I keep those here). I'll keeping this one page up to date with the gear I'm loving; hope you get some use out of it!
Creating a Featured Posts Lists Limited in Count in Jekyll
I was having problems getting a list of Jekyll blog posts that had a specific property declared in the YAML front matter (a simple
featured: true
) and limiting the list. If you do what I did at first: I'm now at Phase 2 as a Drupal Developer! =>
I'm incredibly pleased to come onboard with one of the best Drupal agencies, Phase2! I'm looking forward to pushing my front end web development and responsive web design skills to another level, and I can't really think of a better spot than there. Being a freelance contractor allows a wonderfully flexible situation to work on the skills you want to grow, but once you know what you want to do, you want to do it with the best around. I'm excited to learn and share from such a passionate, driven team as Phase 2. Here's to my next phase! ;)
Double Border Button with Negative Border Radius
I'm working on a project and I get the designs for this button style and I am really happy how it all came together. At first I thought that a CodePen I came across talking about double border buttons would help, but it didn't ultimately. Then I came across the excellent negative border radius example by Lea Verou and it really helped, but it didn't address the double borders.
Great article on work/life balance for high stress jobs and prioritizing family =>
Starting your own business can throw a wrench in your work/life balance. If you’re not careful, the relentless focus on work can deteriorate your home life and personal relationships. Scott Weiss, parter at VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, writes about how he was a jerk during his CEO years and what he learned. “While I was focused, motivating, articulate, and decisive at work, I was inconsiderate, preoccupied, self-centered, and lazy at home,” he says noting that when he got home he just wanted to veg out and watch TV. He then outlines a few adjustments that helped him restore the sanity.
Great Sublime Text plugin for better file browsing =>
Ditch sidebar and browse your files in a normal tab with keyboard, like a pro!
Fantastical 2 for iPhone on sale =>
An essential and totally favorite iPhone app (though I wish they'd do an iPad version!) is on sale for $2 (normally $5). I love how they have Reminders support as well as I use it for the days tasks after pulling it from the master task list in OmniFocus. Anyway, check it out; it's a great one!