WeAreDevelopers LIVE - 50 years Microsoft, Web Readiness Report, The German Web Community and more

Bill Gates just shared the original Altair BASIC source code. We reflect on 50 years of Microsoft and the evolution of developer operating systems.

#1about 5 minutes

Recalling early web development and 3D animation

A look back at creating websites in 1997 and the challenges of early 3D web technologies like VRML and Second Life.

#2about 3 minutes

Exploring the new split screen feature in Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge's new split screen feature allows viewing two pages side-by-side, with a potential API using `target="_split"` for programmatic control.

#3about 2 minutes

The risk of misusing new web platform features

New browser features risk being abused for advertising, similar to how popups and notifications became intrusive and were eventually blocked by browsers.

#4about 5 minutes

Reflecting on 50 years of Microsoft and developer hardware

On Microsoft's 50th anniversary, developers discuss switching to Macs for Apple Silicon's performance and navigating different international keyboard layouts.

#5about 5 minutes

Legacy code, BASIC, and modern scrollytelling UIs

Early BASIC source code reveals programming challenges like line numbers and GOTO statements, which contrasts with modern interactive 'scrollytelling' web designs.

#6about 7 minutes

Celebrating 20 years of Git and version control workflows

Reflecting on the evolution from SVN to Git highlights the importance of modern developer workflows using IDE integrations over the command line.

#7about 5 minutes

Boosting developer productivity with IDEs and keyboard shortcuts

Mastering your IDE and learning keyboard shortcuts are essential soft skills for developers to improve efficiency by reducing context switching.

#8about 10 minutes

Analyzing the new Web Readiness Report and modern CSS

The Web Readiness Report highlights browser support for new features, leading to a discussion on vendor prefixes and the increasing power of CSS as a language.

#9about 5 minutes

Tools for accessible color and understanding display technology

An accessible color picker helps developers with contrast ratios and color gamuts, while 'Retina display' is now more of a marketing standard than a technical term.

#10about 5 minutes

Optimizing keyboards and dealing with mobile UI challenges

A discussion on optimized keyboard layouts transitions into common mobile UI frustrations, like virtual keyboards obscuring input fields in web apps.

#11about 5 minutes

Progressive enhancement for JavaScript-dependent UI elements

A better approach for progressive enhancement is to create UI with JavaScript or ship elements with a `disabled` attribute, rather than relying on `noscript`.

#12about 4 minutes

Remembering web standards initiatives like CSS Naked Day

Community initiatives like CSS Naked Day promoted semantic HTML by encouraging developers to disable stylesheets for a day to test their site's structure.

#13about 4 minutes

The history of the German web development community

A look at the German web community's history highlights foundational resources like SELFHTML, which served as an early MDN for German-speaking developers.