Q&A
everything. Everything is organised to the nth degree
and related to that, I couldn’t recommend bullet
journalling and Notion (notion.so) more if I tried.To date, which of your tools has got most traction
and why?
I think one of the most talked about tools was Hylia
(https://hylia.website), which is an Eleventy starter kit.
It was something I wanted to make for a while because
I saw a gap for a tool that anyone could use to publish
their own content – even if they couldn’t code.
I also wanted it to be really modular and easy to
extend, which I achieved with a straightforward Sass
setup that is powered by design tokens. The combo of
this and its ease-of-publishing seems to have gone
down really well with the web community and beyond.How is your screencast course, CSS From Scratch,
coming along and why should people sign up to it?
Glad you asked. That course is actually being
amalgamated into a bigger project that’s being put
together at the moment: Piccalilli (https://piccalil.
li). Piccalilli started life as a CSS newsletter but it’s
evolving into a brand new project that will be focused
on tutorials, articles and courses that I produce along
with, of course, the newsletter.
Along with my other related project, Front-End
Challenges Club (https://front-end-challenges.club), my
focus is increasingly in education, which is exactly
where I want to be.What can we expect from you in the future?
Education is certainly taking a front seat. I’m hoping
to release two or three courses this year, along with
the rest of the Piccalilli tutorials and Front-End
Challenges Club challenges. The aim is for education
to be the primary part of my business, with making
websites for clients, the secondary part. A complete
flip from where it currently is.
We’re also going to be adding some cool stuff to
Every Layout (https://every-layout.dev), including a
potential print version. Lots of work to do on that
front, though!What else is exciting you most in the field of web
design right now?
It’s got to be JAMstack. Very much related that,
something that really excites me more than any tech
or tools is that performance and accessibility seem to
be getting a front-row seat, which I’m very much on
board with.
Static site generators seem to be leading this charge
and my favourite, Eleventy, is definitely doing great
things to help people produce incredibly lightweight
websites. I see a very bright, speedy future.ANDY BELL
Q&ACould you briefly introduce yourself to anyone who
doesn’t know you?
I’m Andy, an educator and web designer from the UK.
I’m trying to help people learn how to make high-
performing, accessible and inclusive digital products
and websites. I do this while also running a freelance
design and development client-services business.You’ve released a LOT of side projects to help the
community: what drives you to do so and how do
you find the time?
A lot of the time, these projects come from my own
selfish need rather than trying to help the community.
It’s usually when I get part of the way through the
project that I think, ‘Huh, maybe the community could
really benefit from this. I’d better share it’.
A good example of this is my modern CSS reset
(https://github.com/hankchizljaw/modern-css-reset),
which spent so many years being tinkered with in
private. Eventually, though, I gathered some folks
might find it handy. Turns out they did!
In terms of finding time: I’m just one of those
annoying, hyper-organised people that has a plan forMeet the educator and web designer who’s
helping the community via an astonishing
array of side projects
INFO
job: educator and web
designer
w: hankchizljaw.com
t: @hankchizljaw