Nathan Knowler / is on Nostr

Building websites. Interested in #Accessibility, #ProgressiveEnhancement, and #WebComponents. Currently at the intersection of #CSS and the #ShadowDOM. Proudly #Métis.

Website: https://knowler.dev
GitHub: https://github.com/knowler
Location: Treaty 1 (Winnipeg)
Pronouns: he/him/his

Last Notes

2024-06-18 16:57:23

There’s a large difference between the grain of how things have been done or even what works best today and the grain of the web. The claim that the Shadow DOM is not with the grain of the web is absolutely absurd. Claims like these hurt the web platform and its adoption. Don’t use the Shadow DOM today if you don’t need it or if it doesn’t meet your requirements, but there’s no need to damn its future.

2024-06-15 01:40:04

I love that in #CSS you can totally become a specialist at different things. Some are typography specialists, some are animation specialists, some are layout specialists, and so on.
The tragedy is that the industry barely even hires for CSS specifically. It’s considered a marginal skill at best.

2024-06-13 16:12:15

🌶️ “HTML Web Components” are an antipattern if our goal is to create custom *HTML* elements like what we find in *HTML*.
https://knowler.dev/blog/html-web-components-are-an-antipattern
#HTML #WebComponents #ShadowDOM

2024-06-12 16:04:19

I never remember how to zoom/scrub the timeline in Chrome’s Performance panel (or any timeline in any app for that matter).

2024-06-12 15:58:46

Ok, this might be heretical, but defining some (most?) custom elements should probably be render blocking? Especially if that’s how we expect declarative custom elements to work (even then we might still have a lever like `blocking=render` to make that call as authors). With that being said, if we do block render for our definitions it becomes vital we don’t do any weird shit in them. The goal still remains the same: write a custom element with the grain of the web so that the platform can forgive you later (i.e. it’ll eat your JS tech debt when you can rewrite as a DCE—which admittedly is a bit of a bet). This isn’t advice, just me thinking out loud/speculating. #WebComponents

2024-06-12 15:58:46

2024-06-10 19:09:18

I think it’s pretty laughable that with the web an idea like: build the app and it works on mobile, desktop, wherever is very old news, while on native platforms it’s like, “Oh, hey, you can see the app running on your phone on your computer now, but it still looks like it’s on the phone.” Invest in the web — we’re waaaaay past that.

2024-06-08 05:06:45

- reply

Deprecated and doesn’t work in strict mode or modules, but it might work?
var smallObject;
with (bigObject) {
smallObject = { foo, bar }
}

2024-06-08 04:41:44

- reply

AFK right now, but this doesn’t work does it:
```javascript
var smallObject = {foo, bar} = bigObject;
```

2024-06-07 16:56:02

Please keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the custom element. How to avoid accidental dismemberment and death when you build custom elements. And some thoughts on sciophobia.
https://knowler.dev/blog/please-keep-your-hands-arms-and-legs-inside-the-custom-element
#WebComponents #ShadowDOM #HTML

2024-05-31 18:32:12

I practice Error Driven Development:
If it worked before and doesn’t work now, I clearly broke something and hopefully there’s a good error message.

2024-05-31 17:37:29

New engineering problem: currently on Deno Deploy I’m using BroadcastChannels to create a sort of P2P object cache between isolates so I can avoid too many KV reads. That’s been working pretty well for the last 4 months or so, but it seems with my most recent blog post I’ve discovered a new limit — the max size of BroadcastChannel messages. Seems like I could just batch the messages, but this is pretty exhausting. I’m honestly considering ejecting all the content from the KV store and putting it in the repo at least until I find a better solution.

2024-05-31 02:39:05

Write your custom element’s JS in such a way that when the declarative form of custom elements show up you get to delete all or most of your code (or keep it around as a polyfill). How do you do that? Pay close attention to how HTML elements work and keep the weird shit to a minimum. The weird shit is your tech debt that the web platform isn’t going to forgive you for.
Until then your custom element is a progressive enhancement for something else. And remember that’s not about providing the same experience, but an equitable one. When you start with a base experience that’s proven to work, sometimes you realize you don’t need an enhanced one. Win-win.
#WebComponents #ProgressiveEnhancement

2024-05-24 18:43:03

I think there needs to be a group therapy session for everyone that ever used a v0 Web Components API.

2024-05-08 04:31:50

I’ve given up on this kid’s matching socks. Why do they make them all different?

2024-05-03 01:46:17

I love how adaptable #Towerfall is. I can play against a 4 year old and be sufficiently challenged while still making the game fun for everyone. Forever the best couch multiplayer.

2024-04-16 15:04:33

How and why I’m self-hosting my code demos.
https://knowler.dev/blog/self-hosting-code-demos
#IndieWeb