Be The Browser’s Mentor, Not Its Micromanager
I switched up my attitude because Josh invited me to speak at the legendary All Day Hey! in Leeds. I couldn’t refuse speaking there—especially in my home city (I’m from Bradford but spent way more time in Leeds in my youth).
I needed to write a new talk, so I thought I’d finally formalise what I’ve been obsessed with over the last few years: doing as little work as possible and instead, letting the browser do it for me. Browsers are smart as hell now: why do all the work yourself when they can, right?
I like to do stuff with a real-life context, so I designed a website and built it. You can see it here. The original plan was to break the site down and build key sections live, but luckily, sense took over and I opted for code screenshots and video-based demos of the sections instead.
The reason for this is I am an incredibly nervous speaker. You might not notice while I speak, but I am a trembling mess before and after I go on stage. Live-coding is very risky—especially when you get nerve-induced brain fog like I do. I didn’t want the added pressure and I’m so glad I did that, because showing code samples allowed me to explain them thoroughly to the audience, which I think turned out much better.
