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We should all invest more in smaller developer communities, or at least, try to

As a GDE, I recently traveled to the Isle of Man. It’s probably not the first place you would think of when talking about conferences, meetups, and developer communities in general. You’ll probably think about motor races in narrow streets and beautiful hills. This event was once again an eye-opener for me to realize we should probably try to do more for smaller community groups whether that is government sponsorships, or just doing that - maybe literally - extra mile as a speaker.

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Time for a little break - summer 2024

The last few months have been crazy. I had a blast visiting conferences, speaking at meetups, and working on new things. But now it’s time to recharge some of those batteries and have some family time. In this article a little throwback of the last month or so and some of my holiday plans.

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This was CSS Day 2024 - the 10th edition

iO tech_hub

Another year, another CSS Day. I’m always happy to return to Amsterdam for this occasion, It’s one of the things I look forward to every year. So naturally, I’m happy that iO still allowed me to go there with my training budget, and the least I could do, is write a summary of this event on the tech_hub.

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Why I care about a Google Developer Expert certificate and Web communities

Google Developer Experts logo

A few weeks ago, a cool little package was delivered to my home. When I opened it I couldn’t stop smiling, it was a Google Developer Expert certificate to hang on my wall. But why did this make me so happy? Well,... it’s all about being self-taught and believing that communities are important. In this (non-technical) article, I’d like to share some thoughts about communities, what they gave me, what I hope to return, and what scares me.

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Happy holidays and a popping start of 2024!

Fireworks above skyline made with CSS

This year has been a crazy ride, from my first appearances in public speaking to becoming a Google Developer Expert and speaking in Berlin. It’s time to reflect a little on the past year, write a little recap and have some time with family and friends to kick-start the year of 2024.

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I'm officially a Google Developer Expert

Google Developers Expert logo

I'm extremely happy to announce that today, I've officially joined the Google Developer Expert program. I'm looking forward to the opportunities it has to offer such as expanding my own horizons as well as providing some support for other developers. An interesting step to take for the future of helping out the developer community.

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Recharging batteries - Taking breaks is important

Drawn hills and sun in CSS

It's been an eventful first half of the year with giving my first presentations, writing a lot of articles, learning a bucketload of new CSS and following along with Open UI. It's been great fun and I do these things with a passion, but even so, it's time for a good break.

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This was CSS day 2023

Speakers on stage at css day

Another year, another CSS day. I'm not joking or exaggerating that this conference has and always will be one of my highlights of the year. Welcoming, top speakers accompanied with just totally geeking out with other CSS people around food and drinks. This was CSS day 2023 - a short summary.

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Chrome DevTools tricks that deserve a spotlight

Chrome Devtools logo

A lot of developers use Chrome as their main browser and I'm one of them. There are a few tricks in Chrome DevTools that don't seem to get enough attention. So for this article, I wanted to highlight some of the features that I love and actually use in DevTools, that some of you might not know about.

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Recap of the year, some thanks and best wishes for 2023

X-mas tree

As we’re slowly entering the end of the year, it’s the perfect time for a little recap. I started this blog somewhere near the end of 2021 and continued this journey in writing about the web in 2022. Some important lessons learned, goals achieved and ideas for the future made.

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Age 35: slowly becoming an "old developer"

Cake built with CSS with a candle

I’ve turned 35 years old and that gives me the excuse of playing the old geezer for a bit…, just for a day… maybe? Not a technical topic this time, just me reminiscing of what I miss of my early days of development, what I’m worried about, and how I see the future. Before I bore you with too many blasts from the past, let’s get those away right now.

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Coding on a Chromebook - part 2

2 Dinos with heart in html

I purchased a Chromebook for my little coding projects. In the first part I wrote about the basic development setup. In this post, we're taking a bit of a deeper dive: installing git, node, filezilla, some browsers, Docker and updating the terminal on ChromeOS. So let's open the terminal and dive right into it.

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Coding on a Chromebook - part 1

Dino with heart

A few months ago, I purchased a Chromebook for my little side projects. I'm used to working on a Macbook, but I wanted to work with something that has a different feel, to make my little creations on the side feel more relaxing, and less like work. I have gained a lot of love for ChromeOS. This will be an article in two parts. In the first part, I want to talk about the first experiences, my basic ChromeOS setup and enabling developer mode.

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Introducing a Mini Static Thingy Wingy

Little purple head with lightning around it - static thingy wingy logo

The world is full of frameworks and content management systems, we're very spoiled when we want to create an application, but sometimes, you just need something static, simple and fast, so I created a Mini Static Thingy Wingy.

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CSS Day 2022: A small recap

CSS Day conference room

After a long break because of Covid-19, CSS Day is back. In a new location at the Zuiderkerk in Amsterdam. Once again trying to create the perfect line-up for everything design and CSS, and boy, they delivered just that.

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A love letter to the CSS-developer

A heart between brackets

It's valentine's day and so the perfect time to write a love letter. This one is to all the CSS-developers out there. For those who love the cascade, pseudo elements and all the new nifty things entering the language.

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Another one enters the webspace!

me, Brecht De Ruyte

So, here it is, my new blog. It took me a bit longer than I expected, but it was worth the journey. I can’t wait to fill this up with content that might be beneficial for others, or with things that I just want to share in general. So here are a few things you can expect…

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