January 2020 Summaries

Kushagra Gour is an independent product maker who has created Hint.css and Web Maker. Hint.css is a tooltip library that allows users to create tooltips in CSS easily, while Web Maker is an offline browser-based web playground used for teaching students programming in areas of low network connectivity. Gour's open source journey began during college when he discovered Git and GitHub. He encourages people to use Web Maker by highlighting its speed and offline availability, making it suitable for teaching frontend web development at schools with limited network connectivity. Currently, Gour is focusing on improving the accessibility of his projects and learning from other developers through online networking.

In a webinar hosted by Todd Eaton and Vikas Thange, they discussed how weather.com revamped their test-and-release process to increase test coverage, reduce test failure rate, and release multiple times a day. They achieved this through 90% automated testing (up from 30%) and a hybrid framework for high-level testing that is now a benchmark in the industry. The team also shared best practices for manual teams moving to automation, stages of code merge, their QA and release tech stack, test case execution, device testing, scaling from monthly releases to daily releases, gaining confidence in automation, handling pushback, and how organizational structure can affect the testing process.

Microsoft has released Edge 79, which is based on the Chromium engine instead of its previous EdgeHTML engine. This change brings Microsoft Edge closer to Google Chrome in terms of functionality and compatibility, potentially increasing user adoption and market share. Web developers are encouraged to test their websites for compatibility with the new Chromium Edge browser. The partnership between Microsoft and BrowserStack allows users to access unlimited live testing on Edge 79. Switching to Chromium benefits both Microsoft and its users by improving web standards alignment, reducing bugs, enabling faster releases, increasing OS contribution, and fostering collaboration opportunities with the global Chromium community.

A company of computer enthusiasts went on a trip to Dubai, where they experienced various activities such as Dune Bashing, visiting the Burj Khalifa, and exploring local attractions. Despite their tech-focused backgrounds, the employees enjoyed socializing and bonding with each other during the trip. Upon returning to work, productivity and efficiency increased, and excitement for future company trips grew. The company is currently hiring for its next adventure in 2020.

John Leider is the creator of Vuetify, a Vue UI library with a material design component framework. He emphasizes community and connection in growing the user base of Vuetify. For developers on the fence about contributing to open source, he advises starting with projects that interest them or are part of their development stack. John suggests surrounding oneself with smart people for support and maintaining momentum in open source contributions. Quality is a top priority for Vuetify, which relies on an engaged development and contribution team. He believes maintainers are public servants and cherishes the opportunity to help others through open source projects.

"Testing for Fragmentation" is a blog series that explores the importance of cross-browser testing for ensuring compatibility in software development and testing. Despite open standards from W3C, browser fragmentation remains an issue due to different design philosophies among vendors. Each vendor interprets these standards differently, leading to variations in end-user experience across browsers. Cross-browser testing is crucial as it helps developers account for differences in browser layers such as the engine, features, support for popular web technologies, and update frequency. Continuous testing for cross-browser compatibility minimizes errors and ensures a consistent quality experience for users regardless of their browser choice.