HTML All The Things - Web Development, Web Design, Small Business

In this episode we dive into the toughest situations web agencies face. From budget cuts and impossible deadlines to social media crises and viral success, Matt and Mike discuss practical strategies for managing stress, negotiating with clients, and maintaining quality. Learn from the guys' experience as they explore real-life scenarios like “The Budget Slash,” “The Perfect Storm,” and “The Design Diva,” offering insights and solutions to keep your agency thriving. Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/navigating-difficult-situations-as-a-web-agency   Thank you to this episode's sponsors! Check them out below. Limited Time Magic Mind Discount: Up to 48% off your first subscription or 20% off one time purchases. Use our link and code (at checkout) to claim the discount! Link (affiliate): https://magicmind.com/HTMLPOD20 Discount Code: HTMLPOD20 Wix Studio: The Web Platform for Agencies and Enterprises Give Wix Studio a try today: https://www.wix.com/studio

In this episode, we dive into the challenges companies face when balancing rapid feature development with maintaining stability and processes. We explore what it means to build fast, including establishing a tech stack that allows for quick iteration, easy rollback, and efficient database management. We discuss the importance of getting ideas from concept to production swiftly, while ensuring quality through early QA involvement. The episode also covers why it’s sometimes okay to break things, especially when dealing with a small user base, and the critical areas where building fast is not advisable, such as user data security. Join us as we unpack strategies for maintaining velocity without compromising on quality. Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/build-fast-and-break-things Thanks to Wix Studio for sponsoring this episode! Check out Wix Studio, the web platform tailored to designers, developers, and marketers.

In this episode, Matt and Mike discussed time management and time respect as a web developer, specifically diving into their thoughts on different types of billing, invoicing, and availability requirements. Some freelancers feel as though they should charge for every minute that they're on the clock since they're trading their time for money - while others believe more in the project angle, they're dedicated to getting the job done and therefore will often work "unpaid overtime" or will essentially be on-call for no additional pay. For small business owners, the duo also discussed their thoughts on invoicing, comparing and contrasting invoices will very little detail, versus ones that describe every thing that was done and how much those items cost. Then towards the end of the episode, the guys zoomed in on package deals - and how loose or strict you should be when enforcing the confines of a package deal (ie website maintenance package). Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/do-you-respect-your-time-as-a-web-developer   Limited Time Magic Mind Discount: Up to 48% off your first subscription or 20% off one time purchases. Use our link and code (at checkout) to claim the discount! Link (affiliate): https://magicmind.com/HTMLPOD20 Discount Code: HTMLPOD20

Learning web development is not a clear linear path. At the highest level there's frontend development and backend development...but these categories break down into a tonne of different technologies including (but not limited to) React, Vue, Svelte, SvelteKit, HTML, CSS, JavaScript....and the list just keeps going on. For a beginner, this spider-web of technologies seems like an insurmountable learning path. In this episode, Matt and Mike discussed where they think you should start learning web development, touching on different pathways, and eventually laying out their preferred path in detail. Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/where-the-f-ck-do-i-start-learning-web-development Scrimba 20% discount - time limited, details in show notes: https://scrimba.com/?via=htmlallthethings

The classic 5-page website is often called a "small business website" or a "basic website" among web development agency owners. It's a staple of the industry because it symbolizes a basic site that many businesses will start their online presence with, and it can easily be sold as a package deal alongside hosting to onboard new clients. As the web has matured, other tools such as Squarespace, Wix, and Webflow have come up with DIY solutions that bring the power of web design, ecommerce, and hosting to users with often a single affordable monthly fee. In this episode, Matt and Mike discussed the small business website landscape to-date in 2024. Through their discussions they debate whether it's worth it for a web dev agency to offer 5-page small business websites anymore, if there's any value in a 5-page website in today's SEO, and whether a business' budget makes a difference which direction they should go. Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/do-small-businesses-need-web-dev-agencies-in-2024 Learn with Scrimba: https://scrimba.com/links/htmlallthethings

This week we had the pleasure of sitting down with Clark Sell, the creator of THAT Conference to discuss the importance of community among developers, and different relationships that you can have with your community. We also discussed at length the who, what, where, when, and why of THAT Conference - diving into Clark's inspiration when creating THAT, what the event is all about, and what the speaking landscape is like there. We even talked a little bit about Clark himself and what he used to do before THAT. Get 10% off Wisconsin 2024 tickets with promo code: HTMLALLTHETHINGS Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/what-is-that-conference-w-clark-sell Learn with Scrimba: https://scrimba.com/links/htmlallthethings  

JavaScript has seen its fair share of insults and critiques over the years, with some developers outright refusing to touch it and other skirting around the edges by relying heavily on the server-side of things (ie PHP). Love it or hate it, JavaScript is what the web runs on and it's been that way since 1995. Vanilla JavaScript runs in the client's browser, bringing interactivity to user interfaces, while keeping the server out of calculations and computations. With the introduction of Node.js, JavaScript escapes the client-side, and moves it's way into the backend scene. With such a versatile language, why does JavaScript get so much hate? Is JavaScript really that bad? Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/is-javascript-really-that-bad Learn with Scrimba: https://scrimba.com/links/htmlallthethings

Creating a website is not a one-size-fits-all scenario, as projects can vary wildly in complexity and amount of work needed. Over the years we have come up with a process that defines a clear structure while providing enough flexibility to accomodate most web development projects for small to medium businesses. The process helps keep development on-track, payments flowing, mitigates working with clients that aren't serious about their project.  Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/our-website-creation-process-2024 Learn with Scrimba: https://scrimba.com/?ref=htmlallthethings

Sometimes web development deadlines can come up faster than expected, or even worse, your workload may overwhelm the amount of time you have left until a deliverable is due. When this happens, it's easy to panic, procrastinate, or even quit altogether. Thankfully, development has a lot of wiggle room in how tasks are performed and can typically be worked on anywhere (in office, at home, on-the-go). This week, Matt and Mike discussed how to save time when you're working on your website's UI, more specifically, Matt reflected on a recent busy week where he pulled out all the stops on time saving while doing front-end development. Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/time-saving-tips-for-front-end-developers Learn with Scrimba: https://scrimba.com/?ref=htmlallthethings

This week we had the pleasure of sitting down with Jacob Jackson, the creator of TabNine and Supermaven to discuss AI as a whole. It's no surprise that LLMs are taking over most of the current chatter in the tech world, but their rapid rise in popularity has also led to a rapid rise in concern. Many people believe that AI is coming for our jobs, working to replace human developers and other workers. On the other side of the fence, people are using AI to boost their productivity both at work and at home. Developers seem to be getting a great deal of this productivity boost with the creation of tools like Supermaven that can help speed up coding. If you've ever had any questions or doubt surrounding AI, or LLMs in general, then you're not going to want to miss this episode. Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/will-ai-replace-us-w-the-creator-of-tabnine-and-supermaven-jacob-jackson Learn with Scrimba: https://scrimba.com/?ref=htmlallthethings  

Web development is a multifaceted field that demands the integration of numerous technical skills for success. Given its complexity, it's common to encounter various pitfalls while navigating the terrain. In this episode, Mike divulges a list of insights he wishes he had known before embarking on a career in web development—advice that could have spared him time and frustration. This includes mastering your tools to fully leverage them (such as AI), recognizing the importance of completing projects, the advantages of engaging with a community, and many other valuable tips. Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/things-i-wish-i-knew-before-becoming-a-web-developer Learn with Scrimba: https://scrimba.com/?ref=htmlallthethings

What should you do when you need to build a website quickly? While Matt and Mike often say that you should take the time to create a website that you're happy with and will last a long time, sometimes your situation demands that the job be done quickly. In this episode the guys discussed how to build a website quickly using not just ready-made solutions like no-code tools and templates, but also productivity drivers such as hiring out developers while you and your team work on content at the same time. Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/how-to-build-a-website-quickly Learn with Scrimba: https://scrimba.com/?ref=htmlallthethings