Jens Oliver Meiert
Articles and books on the craft of web development, with a focus on HTML and CSS minimization and optimization.
Declining 1:1 Meetings Without a Message Is Rude
It happens everywhere, but it sets a bad example.
Sustainability Trap
On the need to take and at the same time reassign responsibility for consumption and pollution.
Exploitation
What and who is easiest to take advantage of and exploit, how is that being justified, and what can be done about it? On one piece of the puzzle what the fewest things are that need changing, to change everything.
Julia and Sybil
The early manuscript of a novel I started in 2015, and that will still take a few years to be finished.
On the Gift of OKR for Company Culture
“OKR,” short for aspiration, candor, and accountability.
Building Websites and Building Websites Well
On exercises, orthogonality, and—choice.
The Next Adventure
On leaving Germany again, and the next big chapter of my life.
How to Counter Provocation and Rumor
Are there effective responses to being provoked, picked on, blamed, attacked? Absolutely—but they’re not all being taught or shared a lot. A few quotes that I’ve found useful.
“Web Design as a Process” in Charts: Maintenance, Decay, Tech Debt, and Big Bang Launching
Web design is a process. This process relates to the quality and completeness of a given website, as observed over time. We can chart and understand different types of this process.
Why I Like Scrumban
Over the past years, I’ve become a fan of Scrumban, a mix of Scrum and Kanban. But what is Scrumban here, and what is there to like about Scrumban?
Website Optimization Measures, Part XXII
Web design is a process, running our own websites is awesome, and together it means there’s always something to tweak and improve and optimize. Select things I’ve done over the last few months.
On the Well Astonishing Verdicts on Social Media
We may speak anything from 470,000,000 to 860,000,000 words in our lifetime. The tiniest fraction may be too much.
Performance and Stay Questions in 1:1s
On a set of questions that are useful to ask every few weeks, for close alignment and connection, as well as well-being.
My Web Development Wishlist 2024
Respect, UX before DX, quality output that starts with conformance, running one’s own website, and adding as much as necessary, but as little as possible to web standards—five wishes to benefit our field, our users, and us as professionals.
Stop Closing Void Elements
Some developers believe in closing all HTML elements. Some have to close all HTML elements. Others don’t believe in doing so, or aren’t forced either way. In Upgrade Your HTML IV, I wrote a little about closing void elements.
2023
My professional and personal highlights from the last year. (Happy 2024!)
Incident, Mitigate, Learn
We can’t just pick two.
“HTML First” Is Not HTML First
On what is and what isn’t “HTML First.” (It’s not just a hunch: It should start with HTML.)
Something to Know About Defensiveness
“The first rule of effective debate, argument, or heated conversation is to never, ever, get defensive.” On what we label as defensiveness, and a story that appears more complete and empathetic.
26 Other Web Development Terms You May Not Have Heard Of
From ActionScript (psst) to linearizability to the Z shell.
Why Online Communication Is So Not-Great
Why is online communication so, meh? An approach that considers context, training, and world views, for a much more complicated topic.
The 9 HTML Elements That Have an Attribute of the Same Name, or: The 9 Attributes That Have an Element of the Same Name
There are nine HTML elements that have an attribute of the same name. You’ll never guess what follows next.
Letter and Spirit of Web Development
In the realm of law, there is the notion of letter and spirit of a law. It seems we could benefit from letter and spirit in web development, too.
14 Tips for Becoming an Indie Author
After a few books with a publisher and a few more as an independent author, some tips and thoughts on how to publish your own books (if that’s what you’re excited about doing, too). From starting with ebooks to not writing overly much to not using AI tools—all sorts of advice you would or wouldn’t expect to get.
Website Optimization Measures, Part XXI
Who hasn’t had enough of style sheet reviews, editor performance optimizations, ad removals, CTA revisions, pseudo-class refactorings, blocked AI crawlers, custom search engines, social graphics, or server log configs.
About Me
I’m Jens, and I’m an engineering lead and author.
I’m open to a new remote frontend leadership position. Feel free to review and refer my CV or LinkedIn profile.
Apart from engineering management, I specialize in 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 love and write about philosophy.