Why use Hooks? Class components aren’t going anywhere so the old way of working with is still completely legitimate. So why is everyone telling you to hop on the bandwagon and start using hooks instead? Reduce the need for more than one type of component (no more class components) Save time refactoring components…

What An enum is a special data type that allows you to declare and query data with string variables but stores an integer in the database. You can think of an enum as being able to set a variable to a value (for Ruby on Rails, its an integer value). …

Positioning lets you take specific elements our of the normal document flow and change their behavior. Below is guide on how each one works, with examples to boot. Syntax The CSS code looks pretty similar regardless of the type of positioning your design requires: .positioned { position: relative…

While it’s easier (and better practice) to design and style your app for various screen sizes from the beginning, it IS possible to add responsive design to your projects after you’ve begun. Want to retroactively add responsiveness to an existing app? Here are 6 tips to get you started. Background Learning…

The Polymorphic association is a Ruby on Rails feature that gives us the freedom to structure model relationships based on real life. This means building cleaner more semantic databases. In a polymorphic association, a model (Model A) can belong to either one model or another (Model B, Model C, Model…

What is a CSRF Attack? CSRF stands for a Cross-Site Request Forgery attack. Through malicious links on websites, popups, emails, etc., users are tricked into unknowingly performing malicious actions of the attacker’s choosing. Because it sneaks malicious actions into requests of users that are authenticated, I like the think of CSRF attacks as parasitic. The…

Last week, a freelance web design opportunity fell into my lap. An author/friend-of-a-friend found out that I was, in fact, a web developer and she asked me to build her website. Like most things in life, you don’t know what you don’t know, and this project for me was no…

If you’re familiar with my other writings or coding projects, you already know that styling is a source of joy. However, even while embracing CSS in all it’s complexity, I was still quite intimidated by animations until recently. If you are like me, finally mustering the courage to tackle CSS…