Attending my first web conference was a lot of fun. I learned a lot of valuable information and met some pretty cool people along the way.

For those of you who don’t know, my wife is a journalist – a real journalist. Recently she wrote an outstanding column about finding one word that accurately defines you.

At the time, I didn’t know she was interviewing me when she asked, “What’s the best word that describes you?” I immediately gave her my response…

Recently I was asked the question, "What does web standards mean to me?" To me, web standards means that a website is accessible and compatible, while being separate, yet cohesive. Imagine the website you view in your browser is a building, and each floor of that building holds an important component that contributes to the completed structure — such is the case when you are working with HTML. For example, CSS, Javascript and HTML should be coded separately and linked to the main HTML document in order for the browser to execute its instructions more efficiently. At the same time, when you separate those components, the code becomes cohesive and begins to work together in a systematic way when called by the browser.

If you were to reverse the situation and include all your components in the same place, the browser would take longer to carryout its orders. Not to mention if there is a rogue bug in your javascript code, it could cause your browser to stall entirely.

However, in order to be consistent in web standards, you must do more than just separate components and code markup that is valid. Additionally, it’s vital that you do not bound or limit yourself by the code you write. Let me explain…

Ever since I stumbled on the {LESS} framework to extend CSS dynamically, I couldn’t help but notice Toto. The Toto platform was created by Alexis Sellier who is more commonly known as @cloudhead. Toto is a minimalist blogging engine that packs quite a punch in regards to what an actual one man blog should be while staying nimble…