May 2021 Summaries

Gitpod is revolutionizing the way developers code by providing cloud-based environments accessible through a web browser. These environments are customizable and remove the need for managing dependencies on multiple projects. As Gitpod scales, maintaining reliability becomes crucial to ensure user satisfaction. The company aims to focus more on reliability than feature velocity, with metrics such as Workspace startup latency and errors being monitored proactively. Service Level Indicators (SLIs) and Objectives (SLOs) will be implemented to set clear expectations for Gitpod's stability. While the initial targets are subject to change based on experience, Gitpod is committed to enhancing its users' happiness by striking a balance between reliability and feature development.

Gitpod recently rebuilt their website using Svelte and SvelteKit instead of React & Gatsby. The team chose to start from scratch due to the tight deadline and the belief that Svelte and SvelteKit provide a superior developer experience. They also used Tailwind CSS, mdsvex, and the adapter-netlify. Some lessons learned include dealing with differences between development and production environments, using automated preview deployments for each pull request, and testing locally with the generated production web app. Overall, the team is excited about the future of web development with Svelte and recommends starting with SvelteKit in production.