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Roundups and Resources

HTML Entity Reference for Common Characters

HTML Entity Reference for Common StuffThere are lots of references online where you can quickly search and find the necessary HTML code for embedding all sorts of symbols and characters into your web pages.

I find that most of the references I’ve seen are far too exhaustive. So for my own personal use, I put together a chart of the character entity references that I’ve needed the most.

jQuery/JavaScript Tools and Plugins Worth Checking Out

jQuery/JavaScript Tools and Plugins Worth Checking OutSure, recently I mocked the fact that our industry is inundated with scripts, boilerplates, libraries, and frameworks. But that was just a light-hearted look at the state of our industry. I still think there are tons of tools that are valuable and worth knowing about for front-end developers.

So here’s another list of tools and other goodies that might be of interest to JavaScript developers.

Some Useful Docs and Guides for Front-End Developers

Some Useful Docs and Guides for Front-End DevelopersMy “saved for later” link lists are getting bigger, so I thought I’d post another one of these little roundups. This time, I’m mostly focusing on some interesting guides and docs that I’ve found recently.

As always, I can’t necessarily vouch for the quality and accurateness of all of these sources, but they are all certainly worth a glance. Enjoy.

Some JavaScript Resources for Web App Developers

A Few JavaScript Resources for Web App DevelopersI’ve been bookmarking quite a few guides, docs, and other resources, some of which I thought I’d share here. (Oh and when I say “bookmarking”, I mean saving to a text file. I’m so high tech, dude.)

In particular, if you’re developing large-scale JavaScript-driven applications, some of these might be useful for you. Beginners be warned: Most of these are uber-intense, so not for the faint of heart. Nonetheless, I think beginners can still learn a few things despite the high-level of most of this information.

Roundup of HTML-Based Slide Deck Toolkits

Roundup of HTML-Based Slide Deck Toolkits & LibrariesI recently looked into some options for building a slideshow presentation for display in the browser. While there are options like Slideshare and Speaker Deck that let you upload your slides in PowerPoint or PDF format to convert them to online slides, there are also a ton of options for libraries, toolkits, and APIs that let you create your own non-Flash, full screen, responsive presentations.

Usually these presentations are HTML5-based, use JavaScript and/or jQuery, and often require a modern browser. But some of them are simpler and offer deeper browser support. Here’s a list of all of the ones I’ve been able to find, with a brief description of each.

Learn to Program

Learn to ProgramIn Divya Manian’s controversial post on Smashing Magazine discussing HTML semantics, something that she said got somewhat overlooked in all the debates that ensued.

At the end of the article, she pointed out that rather than wasting time debating HTML tag use, developers should focus on learning how to program. I think this is great advice. So to that end, I’ve compiled a roundup of sources where beginners can expand their skills past HTML and CSS.

Some HTML5 Resources Worth Checking Out

Some HTML5 Resources Worth Checking OutAs the weeks go by, I find tons of new developer resources, tools, and things worth looking into.

I wrote a similar roundup of JavaScript resources, so this time I’m covering stuff related to what we commonly call “HTML5” (even though a lot of this stuff could easily fall under a “JavaScript” umbrella too).

How Page Speed Increases Website Conversions (Sources)

The Importance of Page SpeedLately in some of my writing projects I’ve had to hunt down sources to demonstrate the importance of web page speed. Usually a quick Google search will pull up some pretty good ones, and I have a few others on file that I can refer to.

I thought I would put together a roundup of some of the ones I’ve been able to find. Web development bloggers, who are constantly promoting the importance of web page speed, should have these types of authoritative sources at their fingertips.

So consider this post the collective evidence for the importance of page speed. Posts are listed from oldest to newest.