What is HTML All The Things

HTML All The Things is a web development podcast and discord community which was started by Matt and Mike, developers based in Ontario, Canada.

The podcast speaks to web development topics as well as running a small business, self employment and time management. You can join them for both their successes and their struggles as they try to manage expanding their Web Development business without stretching themselves too thin.

Guest Introduction

Today we’ll be speaking with Kilian Valkhof, a frontend developer, user-experience designer and generalist. He builds tools for developers and designers and likes to write about his development process, design tools and accessibility.

He’s recently created a browser for developers called Polypane which shows the developer how their website will look on multiple screen sizes at the same time. It packs in other great features as well which will be discussed in the episode.

Show Notes

2:45 - Kilian Valkhof introducing himself

8:00 - Starting at the lowest level language you can

12:00 - jQuery to JavaScript

14:20 - What is Polypane

23:40 - How does Polypane help or hurt the beginner developer

33:45 - How does Polypane help with accessibility?

39:15 - Where to start with learning accessibility?

50:55 - What was the jump off point for making Polypane a Paid app?

56:45 - How to balance your time between development and the other tasks required in maintaining a SaaS application?

1:07:55 - Work life balance

1:13:00 - How to make a developer more productive

1:15:50 - Asking questions when you get stuck

1:17:35 - The tech stack behind Polypane

Key Takeaways

• jQuery led to what we have in modern JavaScript
• Accessibility is the bedrock of a good website
• Use the tool that accomplishes the task with the least powerful technology. Don't use JavaScript when CSS or HTML can accomplish the same thing.
• If you're on the 3rd page of google looking for answers, that is when you know you need to ask for help.

Social Links

You can find us on all the podcast platforms out there as well as

Instagram (@htmlallthethings)
Twitter (@htmleverything)
Facebook (Html All The Things)