Who publishes an article on the last day of the year? This guy! I felt like I should honor the tradition of at least recapping the past year by writing one final article in 2024. So this time, there will be no tutorials or hidden code gems. I already created my holiday CSS greeting card. This is just a little personal reflection and future plans for 2025.
A record in writing articles this year
This year, I will have written 22 articles, and taking into account that I want to write a minimum of one article/month means that I’m way above target. This is something I try to think about going into next year. I might not achieve that number in 2025, especially combined with giving more presentations and some other goals (more on those later), I want to be realistic about that.
Articles were spread on my blog, iO tech_hub, and Smashing Magazine, and they were mentioned in many newsletters by so many people I look up to… I am a complete social (media) awkward person from time to time, still, it does mean a lot to me. All the shares, the likes. It’s not my prior reason for writing, which is still mostly about documenting and pushing myself to learn more and help others. But the love does help me to go the extra mile: The extra demo, some screenshots, some video, etc…
I had articles translated into Japanese, which was a fun thing to happen for sure. I went to Japan a decade ago and want to go back someday… (just dropping a hint here)
Next year: articles.
As stated before, I’ll keep it realistic, one article each month is still the idea. We’ll see if I write more. I hope so. I still didn’t use any ads or sponsored posts and will keep it that way. Some might have noticed that I added a “buy me a coffee” button. I don’t expect much of it, but 😀you’re always welcome to.
Presenting. Am I a “public speaker” now?
If you’d told me a year ago If I would speak at such a variety of conferences, I probably would’ve laughed. It’s been great… I’m not going to be falsely modest and I do realize that I must be doing some things right. I handle speaking with the same care as articles, making sure it’s something that people can enjoy, giving it a personal tone while at the same time trying to be as informative as possible.
From Middlesbrough to the Isle of Man, to Catania, and some conferences in Belgium and The Netherlands. It was a pleasure doing all of them. I had food poisoning in one of them, Took an 11-hour train ride due to problems, and even had to update demos an hour before a workshop because Chrome Canary updated (once again, thank You Luke Warlow for helping on that one).
I’m always honest about this… I stress, every time, whether it’s for 20 people or 200 people. But I believe that’s a good thing, as long as I stress about it, it means that I want to give attendees everything I got, with correct info and a laugh or two.
The people I meet during those conferences, that’s probably the best thing about it. I meet so many interesting people. From people I look up to (and be star-struck when meeting them) to people who just do the most amazing things such as teaching kids and making a difference in the world. And yes, visiting a few new places while I’m at it is a great bonus of course.
I did about 10 presentations (small and big), but I still don’t consider myself a public speaker… I feel like the guy who writes some stuff that wants to share a little story. So what’s next?
Next year: speaking.
I’ll keep doing it and I have a few announcements soon. First up: NDC in London at the end of January.
I’m mostly giving my Open UI talk about popovers, invokers, and the upcoming customizable select. It seems to be a bit hot topic at the moment and I love talking about it, but I have some other presentations I’d like to share with people. We’ll see… no real resolutions on this.
Books read in 2024
I started reading again in 2024. Although not that much I did read a few books:
- Solve for happy - Mo Gawdat
- how to win friends and influence people - Dale Carnegie
- Ted Talks - Chris Anderson
- the subtle art of not giving a f*ck - Mark Manson
- Problemen die er geen zijn - Herman Brusselmans
I usually like non-fiction books, there is one exception in this list, a book with some short stories by Herman Brusselmans. The reason I don’t like reading big novels is time and distractions…
I didn’t really like “How to win friends and influence people”, even though this is one people call a classic. I’d recommend each and every other one on this list.
Future books!
- Engineering management for the rest of us - Sarah Drasner
- Bounce - Matthew Syed
- The Last Wish - Andrzej Sapkowski
Long overdue to read the book by Sarah Drasner, looking forward to it. Bounce came recommended and for my short stories, I’ll be reading a bit about The Witcher… loved the games, and the series, should at least try and read the books a bit.
2024 was good, highlights.
- My father got a bit better from cancer. That’s the number one on the list right there.
- Me and the wife took our first trip by plane together with our daughter. A trip to Lisbon and it was fantastic.
- During my job, I got the chance to work on improving the developer experience and community inside the company. It’s a work in progress, but I love doing it.
- The people I met, and those I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting.
- The work done in W3C Community groups (CSS-Next, Open-UI). Kudos to the new CSS logo!
My daughter loves taking pictures… I love doing the same thing, I think mom felt a bit lonely from time to time with those two amateur photographers
So… no real New Year resolutions?
There are, but this time they aren’t that web-related. My focus will still be on family. But to give you an idea here are the resolutions:
- Losing weight… yes, a typical one, but I’m going for it this time. Even though I am quite active when it comes to sports, It’s hard… My genes don’t even allow me to look at a pizza without gaining a pound.
- Learn to draw better My daughter loves drawing and coloring. I’m going to join her. I never was any good at drawing and I’m going to try and get better, together with her.
- Write better Yes… handwriting… a lost art. Improve it!
- Journaling In 2024 I started journaling. I love doing it, and now that I look at my little book at the end of the year, it’s a real treasure. I want to do it again, but better and a bit more consistent. It was a good first run though.
- Get my “GVB” - Golf licence
- Be a bit less social media awkward - I really should pay more attention to socials…
- Tell more people I love them (period)
We already started on the drawing part!
When it comes to web-related things. Keep doing what I’m doing for now. Maybe learn a new programming language (If I find the time) but I definitely want to spend some more time for the W3C communities which might come at the cost of some articles, we’ll see.
I hope 2025 will be great. Every year has its ups and downs, but there were many positives in 2024 so the bar is set quite high. Even though the resolutions list isn’t small, it’s mostly about some lifestyle changes. But in general, I just want a bit more of the same, nothing wrong with that, right?
What I wish for
A world with less conflict… Not only less war in the world but also less screaming and more decent conversation. The term “woke” already has a negative ring to me because it makes me think of people screaming instead of conversing. Those screaming people should know that sometimes, they actually do more harm to their cause than helping the world move forward. I know that in the end, screaming might be all that is left to do, but really, for the sake of a better world:
Converse, be patient, converse some more, scream later
I also wish that we for a free web because the web belongs to everyone. A better web, that is more performant and accessible.
It’s the World Wide Web, not the Wealthy Western Web. - Bruce Lawson
Special thanks
To you… the person reading this.
I am grateful, the list is long. I hope that most people that should know…know. If not, well, it’s in my 2025 resolutions.
But now, it’s time to close off and have a great start to the New Year with some friends.
Wherever you are, no matter which part of the world, no matter which holiday you were celebrating, I hope you are safe, that you have the warmth of family and/or friends around you, and that if you had a bad year, the year switch makes you hopeful and gives you energy, if you had a great year, the next will be just as well.
Happy New Year!
Brecht
