2024
- Doing things that don't scale is about finding value
When you do more manual work, it can be slow, but more valuable than you think. - 33 of my own joke concepts that have never seen the light of day
For my 33rd birthday, please enjoy some partially written jokes - Ship it anyway
You have a unique voice, and you should use it to build what you can. - Writing good words for tech folks
Writing content for developers can be challenging, and there's some tips that might help. - Combining tools for fun and profit
I put some tools together to make something handy, and you can do the same! - The what and the what now: note-taking
Sometimes we take notes just to have notes, rather than for a purpose. - Fighting open source spam with interaction limits
You can limit how people interact with your repositories to fight spam! - Being forced to upgrade
Planned depreciation of hardware is annoying when you don't need a new device. - Haunted by my own projects
Sometimes the new and shiny thing is way more fun than the thing that I genuinely want to ship... later. - Two months at GitHub
I've been working at GitHub for two whole months! - I fell asleep in a driverless car
I tried out the Waymo driverless car service and it was pretty nice. - A note on the future of Jumblie
Being a puzzle editor is fun, but incredibly hard, thankless work, and it's time to move on. - Sleep is the most magical thing in the world
Never take sleep for granted. Never. - Side quests
It's good to have some side quests and passive hobbies in your back pocket. - Time containers
I keep busy, because I know no other way! - Voice lessons taught me that I should be... true to myself
How karaoke preparation turned into self-discovery, through singing lessons! - Making a simple React microphone component
The browser has some nice built-ins for building a microphone recording component, so you don't have to use third-party libraries! - Why JavaScript variables don't always update
The way JavaScript assigns and references variables is sometimes weird, let's learn why. - Layering CSS gradients
You can layer CSS gradients as background images, even for text! Check out how I did it for making a marker-like highlight. - Traveling to technical events: A guide
Here's my current recommendations and gear for traveling to events as a techie! - Analog girly
I like being able to do things without relying on the algorithms and connections in the world! - Building the Micro Journal
I built myself a digital typewriter! - Getting paid is weird and sometimes hard
I should make more money, right? - Actually try on your job applications
It can be a pain to put in more effort on job applications, but it takes you further than you think. - The Productivity apps I use in 2024
Cassidy's current "stack" of task-tracking, calendar, and note-taking apps - Figma Config recap
I spoke at Figma Config 2024 in San Francisco! - Being funemployed, and all that jazz
What is a girl to do when her startup goes kersplat? Why, she blogs about it, of course! - Greetings, future billionaires
Sometimes I am floored by how much money some people have. - The Merge in Berlin recap
I went to Berlin for the first time and spoke at The Merge, a developer experience conference! - Nice keyboards make me want to write blogs
I don't actually have anything to say, but I want to type on my keyboard right now - I rewrote my blog! And website! They are one!
I merged my personal website and my blog into one beautiful baby—er, website. - Front-end Design Conference recap
I spoke at Front-end Design Conf in St. Petersburg, Florida, and it was great! - Seattle and the internet
The internet today reminds me of when I used to live in Seattle. - Non-traditional push presents
New parents often are given very baby-oriented gifts, and here's some that are more about them. - I love reading fantasy again
Brandon Sanderson books have brought me back to loving a good adventure story! - Building W-9 Crafter
I built an app for generating Form W-9s for U.S. contractors and freelancers, here's how! - Styling a CSS pseudo-element with JavaScript
JavaScript can't target pseudo-elements, but that doesn't mean you can't mess with them! - Jumblie has a database!
Using the power of Supabase and Netlify Build Plugins, I was able to make Jumblie a bit cleaner under the hood! - Tips for posting on LinkedIn
I took a workshop from LinkedIn about how to post well, and they had helpful insights! - How to test a browser extension locally
Here's a step-by-step guide for quickly testing browser extensions locally in Edge or Chrome. - Sorting Git branches
If you're tired of your git branches being alphabetically sorted, you can change that! - Use CSS accent-color to style your inputs
If you want a quick styling win, you can set a color for your input and progress HTML tags! - HTML "self-awareness" with sibling indexing in JavaScript
Make your HTML more "self-aware" with a fun little trick to get its own index. - Base CSS for your text-based pages
Sometimes the defaults your web browser gives you aren't very cute. Here's a lil snippet I use to fix that. - Kind of annoyed at React
Just a little ranty rant about my fave JS library, ya know. - I miss human curation
Where are my internet friends? And where are their weird blogs? - Jumblie 100
Today is the 100th Jumblie puzzle day! - Experimenting with AI voice
I tried out the ElevenLabs Beta! - Cassidy Williams... who is she
Cassidy Williams, this one, here, is the real one, don't listen to the others!
2023
- Buh bye, 2023
2023 is over, let's recap. - Stock options, vesting, and exercising, oh my
Here's some advice around stock options and why they are... the way that they are! - Publishing to my blog from Obsidian
This is how I publish to my Git-based blog straight from Obsidian (kind of) - Loving and hating the streak
I have a love/hate relationship with my GitHub streak. - Ideal fishing spots
Sometimes our success is pushed to the side when the conditions aren't right, but that's okay. - Geek mama... saying no
I can't "do it all" right now, but I can do some. Sometimes. - Making a single line break in markdown
Here's how you can add single line breaks in your markdown documents! - Cassidy's Gift Guide 2023
I've got some gift suggestions for the nerds in your life! - Jumblie Build Log
I built Jumblie, a jumbled word search game. Here's how! - A use-case for CSS :has()
I found an unexpected use case for the newly, fully supported :has() selector! - My first go tournament
I participated in the 2023 Chicago Rapid Open! - Adding co-authors to TinaCMS's Git commits
You can add co-authors to the TinaCMS bot now more easily - How and when to use keys in React
When you render lists in React, you need to use keys. - Thirteen Potions Build Log
I made a game called Thirteen Potions for js13kgames, here's how I did it! - Trying out TinaCMS
I'm trying out TinaCMS to make it faster and easier to post here! - Calling an imported API at runtime in Astro
When you want to call an API at runtime in an Astro component, you have to import it in a different spot! - Co-authoring Git commits
Sometimes you want to be able to credit others in a single Git commit, and luckily that's possible! - Why I like Astro
Astro is the latest framework on the block that I've really been liking! - Maternity TV
The shows that I've watched during my maternity leave - Dear Cassidy of 2 months ago
A letter to my past self about the roller coaster of emotions I've been through. - Open standards, trust, and Google
We should build and use software that uses open standards, and be careful about the companies in which we place our trust. - Removing trailing space underlines from groups of anchor tags
Sometimes when you have a bunch of anchor tags, the trailing spaces around them are underlined. Here's how to fix that. - Turning todos into tadas
Learning to focus on what I did do, rather than what I didn't. - My c-section experience
I had a c-section recently and delivered my first baby! It was a lot. - Three ways to set headers with Netlify and Astro
If you need to set headers in your Astro site to deal with CORS or custom requests, here's a few ways how! - The Productivity apps I use in 2023
My current 'stack' of task-tracking, calendar, and note-taking apps - Memorize quotes
Memorizing quotes is probably one of my favorite easy 'life hacks'. - When useEffect runs
useEffect can be challenging to understand, and manipulating exactly when it runs is a good skill to have! - Quirky local delights
I love the weird things that remind you that you're home. - Setting up Netlify Redirects with Astro
Making Netlify Redirects work with Astro is a quick one-line change! - The small, private wins
Sometimes I can't really share what I work on, and I just gotta deal with that and be happy! - Importing SVG files as React components with Vite
With create-react-app, it was easy to import SVG files as components. Now with Vite, you can do the same!
2022
- See ya, 2022
2022 is over, taking a lil look back on how it was. - My language brain is... broken?
I think in one language when I hear another, and... I have no idea why. - Two(ish) months at Contenda
I've been at Contenda for about two months! - Passing Markdown components to React or Preact in Astro
When you want to pass Markdown components to a non-Astro component (while using Astro itself), you need slots! - Hello, world
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet (but for real) - Saying goodbye to my crappy vision
My vision sucks... for now, with LASIK on the horizon! - Moose facts
I learned a lot about moose and need to tell people, namely you, about them - Customizing my Zsh Prompt
Cassidy updated her Zsh prompt to have some fun colors, the date, and git information. Here's how! - Renaming a folder on the GitHub website
Sometimes when you're working with the GitHub UI, you need to rename a folder before cloning it to your computer. Here's how! - Make line breaks work when you render text in a React or Vue component
Sometimes you just want those pesky newline characters to actually work! - Use Unicode characters for bullet points in CSS using ::marker
If you don't want to use plain bullets, the ::marker psuedo-element is for you! - The Productivity apps I use in 2022
Cassidy's current "stack" of task-tracking, calendar, and note-taking apps - Adding a lang attribute to your Next.js site
Updating your Next.js sites to have a language set for screen readers is important for accessibility, and only takes a few lines of code!
2021
- Build wicked fast sites with Astro: An Introduction
Astro is the latest new framework that seems pretty dang nice! - React 18 Alpha is out! Now what?
They kept us in Suspense!! - Shallow Routing in Next.js
Shallow routing isn't a deep topic. Heh. Heh heh. - Pursuing Passive Learning
A little update on how some of my learning is going! - Making a virtual credits sequence for your video calls with OBS and CodePen
It's always good to lead with pizzazz when you're ending a call.
2020
- An Incredibly Serious Discussion about Next.js at Reactathon
Next.js is very, very serious and you should never, ever joke about it. Ever. - Enabling AMP in your Next.js projects
You must appease the SEO gods. - Adding Babel presets and plugins in Next.js
Babel presets and plugins help you add even more functionality to your code! - React Children: The misunderstood prop
Both human and React children could use some help being understood. - Query an API at both build time and runtime with Next.js
There's pros and cons to calling APIs at different times! - How to turn off telemetry in Next.js
Don't let 'em catch ya! - Add Web Monetization to your sites with Snippet Injection
You can use Netlify's snippet injection to add web monetization to any of your apps! - Logging in Next.js
Where will your logs be? Depends on where you call them. - Deploy from CodePen to Netlify in less than 30 seconds
It's faster to deploy from CodePen to Netlify than it is to read this blog post. - React Strict Mode in Next.js
Strict mode helps you, help yourself. - Environment variables in Next.js and Netlify
Environment variables in Next.js are pretty straightforward, and importing them to Netlify ain't too bad either! - Global Styles in Next.js
Sometimes you'll want some styles that can be applied across your Next.js applications. - Making a custom 404 page in Next.js
Don't be lost, don't be unfound, a 404 page gives you steady ground! - Absolute Imports in Next.js
Get rid of those long, gross import statements in your Next.js apps! - Why you should code together: Mob Programming FAQs
Our team at Netlify loves coding together, remotely! - Building a custom React media query hook for more responsive apps
CSS only gets you so far, sometimes, when you want to pay attention to window sizes! - "Escaping" Next.js to access the browser
When things are server-side, there's some tricks to get back to client-land! - What is React Fast Refresh?
Hot module reloading has a new look! - Next.js: Should I use SSR or SSG?
Next.js allows you to both server-side render and statically generate websites. Why would you choose one over the other? Read and find out! - Using React Context for state management in Next.js
Ever wondered how you should manage state information across your Next.js applications without installing anything extra? Look no further!
2018
- Follow your dreams (literally): How I designed and launched the Official Scrabble Keyboard
The Scrabble keyboard has been a passion project of mine, and now it's real!
2017
- Building todometer: a meter-based to-do list
Just released my latest side project with Electron, React, and Redux! - Building My S60-X Keyboard
After a bunch of trial and error, I built and programmed my first mechanical keyboard!
2016
- L4 Digital: First Impressions
This week was my first week at L4 Digital! - Writing Practice: The Agua Caliente Airport
I did a writing exercise using a random Wikipedia page. And puns. - Subconscious Learning
I've been learning about... learning lately, specifically subconscious learning. Here's what I've found! - Pure CSS3 Text Carousel
I built a pure CSS text carousel because I couldn't find one I liked. Here's how I did it, and tweaks for later. - Closures in JavaScript
Closures in JavaScript are an important concept that all JS devs should know. So here's a summary for you. - Messing with Sketch Club
I got the app Sketch Club and have really enjoyed making some fun drawings!
2015
- 5 applications of linear regression that will drive him crazy
Push these sexy applications in his mind to spice things up and drive him nuts. - Adding Keyboard Shortcuts to your React Apps
Using the Mousetrap library, you can add keyboard shortcuts to your React apps. - Making the Whitney Houston API
I made a Whitney Houston API. Because why not. - Picking your brain: Cold call email etiquette
I get a LOT of emails from people asking to "pick my brain." Here is how I wish people would approach this. - One year at Venmo
I've been at Venmo for a year! - A Brief History of the PNG
The PNG file format has been around forever... sort of. Not really. - The CSS Image Values Spec
The CSS Image Values Spec allows you to cleanly blow up pixel art on the web. - Finding a Mentor
Finding a mentor isn't always as explicit as it seems. - The positives coming from the negatives
From the negatives we see and experience online, together we can create positives.
2014
- A Weekend at BattleHack Boston
I had my first hackathon experience as a Venmo employee this past weekend, and boy was it fun! - My last days at ISU
I'm leaving Iowa State in a few weeks, which is both a bummer and very exciting. - How to ask for help
Some people don't know how to ask for help. Luckily, there's a proper way to do it. - 10 Tips for Successful Public Speaking
Public speaking is the number 1 fear out there. Let's conquer it together. Lovingly. - The laptop you need for college
Too often people go for the biggest and best laptop out there, when there are reasonable, affordable options. Let's talk about it. - HackISU Hackathon!!
We had the first ever Iowa State hackathon! - How to Ace an Interview
Interviews are scary, but they don't have to be. When you're on the spot, it's best to be prepared. Let's prepare you. - Things you should have on your LinkedIn profile
As much as I'd like to say that your looks will get you far, sometimes actual information is good to know too. - What is Computer Science ACTUALLY like?
You might question CS as a major, but I'm here to tell you not to! - Feedback is awesome
I love getting feedback from people. You learn most from it. - My Talk at TEDxDesMoines
I spoke at TEDxDesMoines, come hear what I had to say! - My "romantic" Valentine's Day plans!
Don't be fooled, I'm coding on Valentine's Day. - HTML+CSS Tutorial, Part 2
This is part 2 of a two-part tutorial for beginners as an introduction to HTML and CSS. - HTML+CSS Tutorial, Part 1
This is part 1 of a two-part tutorial for beginners as an introduction to HTML and CSS.
2013
- Here come the 2013 Mashups!
Here's some of my favorite mashup music of the year! - Inspirational quotes to get you through the day
These are some great quotes that have really helped me out! - I am better than you at everything
(I'm not, actually) - Things you should have on your LinkedIn profile
People should know what you're about! - Finding your dream major in college
What if you could study exactly what you wanted to? - Crushing Procrastination in 3 Steps
You should be doing that thing. You know that. - Design Your First iPhone App
It's not too bad to start building the phone app of your dreams! - Tips for remembering names
Because we've all panicked about this at some point or another. - 5 Questions to Ask Your Boss
The squeaky wheel gets the grease! - Networking as a college student
Networking is one of the most important skills you can develop! - A Weekend at PennApps
I went to PennApps to hack some apps and take some names! - Crushing the Impostor Syndrome
Sometimes you don't feel like you're good enough, and that you're fooling everyone. You're not alone. - Startup Weekend Ames
We built some fun things at Startup Weekend! - Happy Pi Day!
It's the mathiest day of the year! - I went to the White House!
My sister and I were so thrilled to be included in such a cool event! - What's a house that's white in Washington D.C.?
My sister and I got some exciting news!
2012
- Grace Hopper in Baltimore!
I'm at a huge women in tech conference! - Facebook's 2012 Summer of Hack
I got to check out the Seattle Facebook offices for their summer hackathon! - This is how a rock star feels
I had an incredible day!! - How my big bod broke a bus
I am a real Spaniard now!
2011
- System.out.print("My Major");
I'm studying computer science!
2010
- The T in Often
Don't pronounce it! - Amazing and Free Software
Here's some great free software!
2009
- The Wrist Keyboard
Someone made a wearable keyboard! - Hello.
Wee a blog!
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