A little bit about me

I consider myself part of a group of people who want to build a human-centered web. As Michelle Barker states in her manifesto, I strive to make all my projects accessible, inclusive, sustainable, safe, secure, resilient, reliable and independent.

Me, in front of my desk, not directly looking into the camera. I'm smiling and wear a blazer I wouldn't normally wear when I'm working

Hi, I'm Lene. I have been doing web design and development (mainly frontend) for a living since 2008. I was born in Berlin and have been living for over a decade in Madrid. I work with clients all over the world.

I write code according to the principles Content over code and Rule of Least Power: HTML first, everything what’s possible with CSS, and JavaScript only for selected interactivity, polyfills and accessibility.

I like to organize my projects well so that I and others can always manage them with ease. I share insights that I think might be of interest to the community on a blog on my website lenesaile.com. I’m a big fan of Eleventy and build most of my projects with it.

Lately I have been diving deep into (HTML) web components and I’m integrating them everywhere I can.

Tools

These are some tools I work with or have worked with in the past. Bold indicates in most cases what I prefer, still use, or, in some cases, I am more proficient with. Strike through indicates that even though I have experience, I'd rather not work with that anymore.

Languages

  • Semantic HTML
  • CSS
  • JavaScript, Node.js
  • SVG
  • PHP
  • Bash
  • Python

CSS & JS-Frameworks

  • I prefer everything vanilla
  • Tailwind CSS
  • Svelte
  • Alpine.js
  • React
  • Bootstrap
  • jQuery

Site generators &, web- & meta-frameworks

  • Eleventy
  • Astro
  • Enhance
  • SvelteKit
  • Next.js

API

  • REST
  • GraphQL

CMS

  • Cloudcannon
  • Wordpress
  • Decap CMS
  • Shopify
  • Tina
  • Storyblok
  • Strapi
  • Sanity

Templating Languages

  • Markdown
  • Nunjucks
  • Liquid
  • webC
  • Twig
  • Pug
  • Blade

Bundler / Build tools

  • vite
  • esbuild
  • snowpack
  • parcel
  • webpack

CSS & JS preprocessors

  • PostCSS
  • Lightning CSS
  • Typescript
  • Sass

Version Control, Hosts

  • GitHub/GitLab
  • Netlify
  • Neocities
  • Siteground

Design

  • Figma
  • Penpot
  • Adobe products (not working on Linux)

Discover / Monitoring

  • Plausible.io
  • Fathom
  • ahrefs
  • Google Analytics

Recommendations

I love good technical books and courses. I am not going to list everything I have 'consumed', instead I share only what really made a difference for me. All following books and courses are my most sincere recommendation for everyone who wants to learn frontend.

The cover features the title as well as authors Eric Meyer and Estelle Weyl, as well as a lifelike illustration of three salmon

Image description: The cover features the title as well as authors Eric Meyer and Estelle Weyl, as well as a lifelike illustration of three salmon

CSS: The Definitive Guide, 5th Edition

... have I read it completely? Of course not! It has over 1000 pages. But I'm on it. I'm actually planning to read it cover to cover, and I'm somewhere on page 240, but I keep reaching for it to look up a particular chapter. It's a treasure trove, and also lovingly and humorously written. A must have.

The cover displays the book title and authors Adam D. Scott, Matthew MacDonald and Shelley Powers, as well as a lifelike illustration of a little egret (Egretta garzetta).

Image description: The cover displays the book title and authors Adam D. Scott, Matthew MacDonald and Shelley Powers, as well as a lifelike illustration of a little egret (Egretta garzetta).

JavaScript Cookbook, 3rd Edition

By far my favourite Javascript book and the one I recommend to anyone with basic knowledge. At no point did I have the feeling of being left behind, the code examples are simple and true to life and wonderfully comprehensible. There's but one foo-bar-baz example (and I think it got in there by accident), which I really appreciate. The book even shows a sense of humour. I really enjoyed reading it and I always have it near me to look something up.

The black and white cover says 'Every Layout - Relearn CSS layout by example. 3rd edition', with the authors' names Heydon Pickering and Andy Bell below.

Image description: The black and white cover says 'Every Layout - Relearn CSS layout by example. 3rd edition', with the authors' names Heydon Pickering and Andy Bell below.

Every Layout

A book by two individuals that share a deep understanding of the web in general and CSS in particular. I love how it's written and how much it teaches me. It gets occasional updates and provides access to invaluable code.

A robot happily dumping Linux knowledge into its mouth - it looks like dozens of scraps of paper with 'grep', 'chown' or 'cat' written on them, among other things.

Image description: A robot happily dumping Linux knowledge into its mouth - it looks like dozens of scraps of paper with 'grep', 'chown' or 'cat' written on them, among other things.

The Linux Command Line

This is one of the books that was a real eye-opener for me. I have always used the command line very dubiously and without much background knowledge, and this book has opened up a world for me. I really enjoyed reading it, it's entertaining and doesn't get unnecessarily complex at any point.

'Inclusive Components', framed by a electrical circuit illutstration that illuminates a light bulb. Subtitle: Accessible web interfaces, piece by piece. The author is Heydon Pickering.

Image description: 'Inclusive Components', framed by a electrical circuit illutstration that illuminates a light bulb. Subtitle: Accessible web interfaces, piece by piece. The author is Heydon Pickering.

Inclusive Components

Inclusive Components is all about accessible patterns like accordions, dropdowns, sliders and modals. I use Heydon's component solution for cards in literally every project.

Practical accessibilty.today with Sara Soueidan. A self paced, get-right-down-to-it video course designed to demystify web accessibility and equip you with the knowledge you need to create more accessible websites and web applications today.

Image description: Practical accessibilty.today with Sara Soueidan. A self paced, get-right-down-to-it video course designed to demystify web accessibility and equip you with the knowledge you need to create more accessible websites and web applications today.

Practical Accessibility

Great in depth accessibility course by Sara Soueidan. I learned an incredible amount and felt an urgent desire to immediately revamp all my existing websites.

A gradient from yellow to red, saying CSS for JavaScript developers in uppercase latters.

Image description: A gradient from yellow to red, saying CSS for JavaScript developers in uppercase latters.

CSS for JS

Very long, detailed, interactive and comprehensive course made by Josh Comeau. It's made especially for JavaScript developers that started off on a wrong foot with CSS, which doesn't apply to me at all, but it's nevertheless very worthwhile.

'You Don't Know JS Yet' written between two simplified black illustrations of faces that seem to scream at each other. On the bottom are some chess figures, some of them knocked over.

Image description: 'You Don't Know JS Yet' written between two simplified black illustrations of faces that seem to scream at each other. On the bottom are some chess figures, some of them knocked over.

You Don't Know JS Yet: Get Started

Another Javascript book that I enjoyed very much. Kyle Simpson explains the basic workings of Javascript with comprehensible code examples. The book was crucial for me to understand concepts like closure, prototypes and scope. It's the first book of a series, it can be read for free on GitHub.

Screenshot of the course UI, the challenge from chatper 69: Advanced imports.

Image description: Screenshot of the course UI, the challenge from chatper 69: Advanced imports.

learnjavascript.online

This course comes with an interactive environment. The short lessons are directly followed by challenges. Exercising anywhere is possible with a special flashcards app, based on your progress. It took me ages to understand Javascript. This course definitely helped me with that.

A book apart cover in dark pink, displaying author David Demaree's 'Git for Humans' in white letters.

Image description: A book apart cover in dark pink, displaying author David Demaree's 'Git for Humans' in white letters.

Git for Humans

I understand Git a little better thanks to this book. Like all A book apart publications it's nice and short.