Russ Cahalan Demo

Netlify Deploys 101

A 1-hour intro to deploying on Netlify and why it's awesome.

GitHub UI workshop

Getting into the JAMstack with Static Site Generators

An all-day workshop presented at JAMstack_conf_london

Lessons Learned in a Year of Docs-Driven Development

What we learned when our company decided to move our product development process from “docs or it didn’t happen” to “docs or it won’t happen.” Presented at Write the Docs Portland 2019. Video at https://youtu.be/WDYQoZ-QDRM

Static Site Generators: A 2-hour Intro

A 2-hour intro to static site generators

Sauntering Beyond Swagger with Open Source Tools

Presenting at API the Docs Chicago 2019

Mini-Workshop: Static Site Generators for Documentation

Static Site Generators have become increasingly popular for publishing documentation in a docs-as-code workflow, as evidenced by many projects and products like Docker, Kubernetes, React, MongoDB, Twitch, 1Password, and the U.S. Web Design System. In this mini-workshop, you’ll get an introduction to the static site generator landscape, and apply what you learn by publishing your own site in class. Presented at Write the Docs Australia 2018: https://youtu.be/2RCqk-nEn90

Finding a Home for Docs (Tool the Docs version)

Where docs are stored can impact open source projects in a variety of ways. This talk will present some options, considerations, and guidelines for making an informed decision when choosing a path for docs in current and future projects. Presented at FOSDEM 2018. Video at https://fosdem.org/2018/schedule/event/finding_a_home_for_docs/

The Smart Shiba's Guide to Image Formats: WTD Lightning Talk Edition

JPG, GIF, PNG, SVG? How do you choose the right file format for your image, and why does it matter? Find out how while enjoying pictures of my shibas. 🐕

Finding a Home for Docs

Where docs are stored can impact open source projects in a variety of ways. This talk will present some options, considerations, and guidelines for making an informed decision when choosing a path for docs in current and future projects.

Slashkeys: Serverless Slack ASCII Art with Firebase Functions

Slack slash commands are fun to make, but require a server component to receive the commands. FaaS services like Google Cloud Functions abstract this to individually deployable functions, and Firebase makes them easy to manage and deploy.

Buying the Hype: Abridged WaffleJS Edition

Stock compensation is complicated, especially with private, venture-backed startups. I’ll give a quick but thorough explanation of terms, pitfalls, and negotiating points for a common type of offer: private company ISOs. I’ll also share resources for learning about other types of equity and sharing this info with others. This version was shortened for WaffleJS. A more complete version, which I plan to turn into an open-source hands-on workshop, can be found at https://github.com.verythorough/stocks-workshop

Buying the Hype: Evaluating Equity and Stock Offers

Companies often justify lower salaries with promises of huge stock returns, but the laws and options are complex, and values are difficult to evaluate against an uncertain future. How do you evaluate the potential and comparability of the offer you've received? What options do you have for negotiating an offer to your advantage, and how can you make the most of it? I'll help you wade through the sea of terms, options, and outcomes so you'll feel prepared to make these choices for yourself when you receive your next equity offer, or in leveraging options you already have. Presented at Write/Speak/Code 2017 and Google IWD SF 2018.

The Smart Shiba's Guide to Images on the Web

Images take up roughly 60% of average page weight, making them a huge target for performance improvements. I’ll go over several aspects of improving image loading, from choosing the right file type (including some new type on the horizon), to writing markup for responsive image loading, to making sure your images are cached properly. All concepts will be demonstrated with images of my pet Shibas, Monty and Petunia. Presented at SacJS on July 25, 2017

The Best of Both Worlds: A Git-Based CMS for Static Sites

API documentation is necessarily a collaboration between writers and developers, and merging the disparate workflows of these groups can be a challenge. With static site generators that build sites from Git-committed markdown code, text-editor-bound developers are starting to show interest in joining the party. On the other hand, technical writers still reach for a tool where they can focus on writing, where they don’t have to think about whether they need to have a space in their ## Heading to make it format properly, and where they don’t have to worry about esoteric Git commands. Netlify CMS helps bridge this gap, by providing a simple UI wrapper for Git functions, with a real-time markdown preview. All actions in Netlify CMS are translated to regular git commands on the repo, viewable and editable by traditional Git functionality as well as the editor UI.

Post-Monolithic Content Management

Static site generators have offered exciting new options for web developers, but until recently, they lacked a user-friendly interface for content editing—what many would call a CMS. There's now a handful of viable solutions out there, and as they gain traction, it's leading to some interesting confusion about what a CMS means when the architecture isn't all in one giant server app. I’ll present some different approaches to the problem, including Netlify CMS, an open-source, Git-based approach that's built with React. Presented at ForwardJS and SFHTML5: https://youtu.be/UgHSqXeoOiY

The Speedy Shiba's Guide to Images on the JAMstack

One of the biggest advantages to JAMstack projects is their speed, but much of this can be lost if images aren’t optimized. I’ll cover some basic tricks of the trade, including choosing the right image format and writing markup for responsive images, along with JAMstack-specific strategies like using an asset host so you don’t have to store all of your images in your project repo. There will also be lots of adorable pictures of my pet shibas.

My First PWA: Lessons Learned

Progressive web apps signal exciting new potential for the web, but the process of setting one up can be a little intimidating. With new tools, it turns out that some parts are quite easy, while others still pose some difficulty.

The Smart Shiba's Guide to Image Formats