Sara Viera and the Power of CSS!
While waiting for the Codemotion Milan 2015 gates to open, we continue this quick chat mini series. We had the pleasure to meet Sara Vieira (Kaymu), She is going to give a talk on Saturday 21st: “CSS3 Layouts: Flexbox vs CSS Grid”.
Sara is a freelance Front-End Developer from Portugal. She’s one of those few people in the world who love what they do and believe that the internet is something we are building and making better on a daily basis, may that be through education websites or simply by creating useful one page applications. She is also a blogger on the weekend and has her work featured on Developer Drive and Webdesigner Depot. When she isn’t on the internet she’s a total TV Show addict and video game lover.
Hi Sara, could you give us a quick introduction to your talk?
Of course , I will talk a little about the evolution of CSS when it comes to layout building.
Introduce the new ways to create a layout with flexbox and CSS Grid with ease, get into some of the benefits of these approaches and also debunk some false ideas people have mainly when it comes to flexbox.
I hope everyone enjoys and grows to love these new layout techniques as much as me.
The way we write CSS has changed a lot in last few years (OOCSS, ACSS, BEM, SMACSS) and even #cssInJs . What’s going on there?
CSS is evolving, we used to have a couple of CSS files per app not we have a lot more and use all the CSS in a clean way is not so easy anymore so as it happened with JS. So these different ways of writing CSS started making their way into our life to separate the code and make it reusable.
I think this will only grow as CSS itself grows, when a language evolves so does the complexity.
Don’t you think this explosive growth of paradigms could be harmful or disorienting?
In some way yes, I know that if I was starting now I would definitely get overwhelmed by all the choices, you just need to stop everything and see what is better for you, in what way you would like to write your CSS, after you realize that you can quickly choose or even create your own to fit your own needs.
In your opinion, what would be the technique or patterns that will emerge?
I wouldn’t be true to myself if I didn’t say flexbox, in my opinion when it comes to CSS this will be a true game changer that will catch on even more.
I’m pretty confident that CSS in JS will also be something we will see a lot more.
We are expecting to draw about 2000 people at Codemotion Milan, what’s your feeling about it?
That is a little overwhelming, my nervous system is feeling all of that right now but I am going to do my best to have everyone leave the talk with knowing it was awesome.
Any tips to the youngsters interested in frontend web development?
Don’t get overwhelmed, always choose what you like and not what people tell you it’s better.
The way people program is different and every programmer likes different things and that is totally okay.
Also if you are a girl and you want to get into programming please do, we thank you.
Is there any book you would suggest related to your professional role?
I’m more of one of those people who learn by seeing and doing so I mostly view video courses because that is what works best for me. When it comes to that I think threehouse and Laracasts are some great ones.
If you could improve one thing in tech conferences, what would it be?
I can’t say I have ever had a bad experience in any tech conference I have been to, but one problem I keep seeing in various tech conferences in the lack of a code of conduct or the inability to enforce that code which sometimes results in bad outcomes mainly for women and I think feeling safe is one of the most important things you have.
So maybe that I would be my choice.
What is the favourite soundtrack of your coding sessions?
I know that right here I am supposed to say I listen to something calming but I in reality I am rock person, so give me some Rise Against or Halestorm and I will be coding for hours.
Which dish should I definitely try if I visit Portugal/Porto?
If you come please try Bacalhau à Brás, it’s basically cod with french fries and scrambled eggs and it’s just amazing.
Also try francesinha, it’s the typical Porto dish and not meaning to brag the town but we are pretty good at doing it but beware because it’s pretty spicy.
Sounds super yummy! Thanks for the tips, see you at Codemotion Milan 2015.
