Good news, textua11y updates, and my plan for future writings

#goodnews #textua11y #writing

🎉 I got a new job

In two weeks, I start a new position as a front end software engineer. I've been looking for a couple of months for a change of pace, and last week I accepted an offer! Not too sure of what exactly I'll be doing yet, but it's a really exciting opportunity to work with a great team and be part of an awesome community in Indianapolis.

🖍️ textua11y: what's coming

Unfortunately, a couple of factors let me little choice but to make textua11y a private repository. I need to work out a license and contributing guide before I open it back up again. If you have any questions or suggestions; however, get in touch on Twitter or drop a comment below.

As for the more exciting things—features and functionality, here's what I have on my to-do list (in no particular order):

1. Fix the layout and make the sidebar/content scroll separately.

This'll be a quick one. What's currently up works fine on most screen heights, but if you happen to want to make your window smaller, it's not very pretty anymore.

2. Make the sidebar collapsible/expandable on mobile.

This tool isn't intended to be a mobile one. I assume that most people spend their time designing web applications and sites from their computers. That said, it should minimally work on mobile. Most of the shares for the link are through the DEV Community site or Twitter, and that means most people are previewing the app through their phones. I want to make a good first impression.

3. Improve the color picker component.

The color pickers work just fine, but I think they need to be a little easier to use. There's no way to "start over" after you've chosen your color except for refreshing the page. That's too much work. Should be an easy fix: handling an extra click after the last step of picking a color. Additionally, I'd like to add a little bit more text to give users more information about their choice or what they're hovering their mouse over.

✍🏻 Upcoming writings

My 30-day blogging challenge taught me a new writing habit. I'm not stopping any time soon! 😇 The past week or so showed me that I also need to take breaks and spend more time on my own well-being. That said, I will only be posting Monday through Thursday¹ for a while. I might partake in Screenless Saturdays, but at a minimum, I will avoid all social media on Saturdays. This gives me a perfect opportunity to work on my new craft love: hand embroidery!

As for what I'll be writing, that's changing a little bit too! I'm making my first series and it'll be about software architecture since that's the online class I'm taking this summer. I plan on making two posts per week for the series: one on Monday and one on Thursday. We're covering a ton of material in the course so this should be no problem. As for Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I'll be doing my regular: sharing interesting ideas I encounter online, writing about my own experiences as a disabled front end web developer, etc. Here's a couple of my most popularly liked posts if you need an idea: