Jens Oliver Meiert
Articles and books on the craft of web development (specifically, HTML and CSS optimization and maintainability) as well as on engineering management and leadership. (Exceptions prove the rule.)
Eleventy: A GitHub Workflow to Check if an Automated Dependency Update Would Break Your Site
A little safety measure to prevent updates to package.json, package-lock.json, and .nvmrc (or similar) from causing a hiccup.
How I Run Eleventy (It’s Complicated?)
Aliases, debug mode, non-versioned builds as part of a centralized, versioned site exports repo—and the thinking behind it all.
5 Ways to Reduce HTML File Size on Your Website, Step 0
The journey begins with an unpopular step.
Empathy
Lack of empathy is not a sign of strength, but a liability for all of us.
New Book: Tara (A Utopia)
A human-inspired, AI-generated, human-edited story about refusing to live in a dystopia—and transforming the world instead.
Micro-Scrum
Decide on one thing to ship, then ship (or learn).
Markup Languages
Just something to remember HDML, DHTML, WML, and cHTML.
Where to Put a Mouse or Trackpad
On a setup that is standard on notebooks but that seems unpopular on desktops.
Where Frontend Dogma Gets Its News From
On sources for news and views that approach 4,000 items per year.
Utilization
Why don’t we talk more about queueing theory.
Prisoner’s Dilemma
On “tit for tat” with about 10% more forgiveness.
Forwarding Appreciated: A WhatsApp [and Signal and LinkedIn] Link Sharing Bug That Cannot Be Reported
There’s an issue with WhatsApp link sharing that cannot be brought to WhatsApp’s attention. If you know someone at WhatsApp, please help (support appreciated with Signal and LinkedIn, too).
A Moratorium on Men Making Major Decisions
On the many news you’ve read today about a woman or a non-binary person invading another country, driving into a crowd, firing workers to maximize profits, raising taxes for low-income people, denying help, cutting benefits, beating someone up, setting a homeless person on fire, raping someone, making the life of a minority hell, endorsing or escalating a genocide, slashing education funding, or doing other WTF.
DeepSeek and HTML
“What is the most minimal valid HTML document?”, DeepSeek-R1 edition.
On Ethics in Web Development (With a Brief Overview of Ethical Theories)
When we read and talk about ethics in technology, it’s rare that we’re explicit about the school(s) of thought we’re following. Surprisingly, this lack of clarity often works—but it’s relevant, interesting, and useful to be more clear about our ethical theories.
Website Optimization Measures, Part XXX
Everybody ♥️ website maintenance. On trimming input, updating WordPress ping services, cleaning up Eleventy architecture, reorganizing redirects, synchronizing server log configs, replacing dependencies by native Node functionality, adding minimal dark mode (HTML edition), and unfancying error pages.
New to Web Development? Run Your Own Website
On the perhaps shortest advice for anyone entering the field (which is also sound for everyone in it).
On Deciding Who We Are
When a country cannot agree to “advancing a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in Ukraine” (or other countries).
Order Force in HTML?
Do you, too, find certain ways of ordering attributes to be more natural than others?
Testing 10 JavaScript Frameworks on Their HTML Defaults
When you validate the demo and starter projects of popular frameworks like React, Vue, Angular, Svelte, Astro, &c., what do you find? On challenging the idea that JavaScript frameworks could fuel the HTMLÂ crisis.
On Making Sure Everyone Is Taken Care Of
For our own sake.
DORA, SPACE, DevEx, DX Core 4
Key metrics of and casual thoughts on four engineering productivity frameworks.
The Donkey and the Rabbit
A rabbit goes for her daily run. This day, she decides to try a new route. At an intersection she meets a donkey. When the donkey is about to eat a nail—
On Building AI Understanding and Automation Muscle (With 18 Random Problems Solved With AI)
If you’re like me, you’re also optimizing your use of AI in development, distinguishing your capabilities from AI, and improving your routine to build strong automation muscle. Thoughts and examples.
Private Property
A quote, from Daniel Loick, that isn’t new, that isn’t all.
About Me
I’m Jens Oliver Meiert (short: Jens), and I’m a web developer, manager, and author.
Apart from engineering management and leadership, I specialize in minimal, tailored frontend development, contribute to web standards, and write technical books, like The Little Book of HTML/CSS Frameworks, On Web Development, CSS Optimization Basics, the Upgrade Your HTML series, and The Web Development Glossary.
I also study and occasionally write about philosophy.
Get a good look at web development? Try WebGlossary.info—and The Web Development Glossary 3K. With explanations and definitions for thousands of terms of web development, web design, and related fields, building on Wikipedia as well as MDN Web Docs. Available at Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play Books, and Leanpub.