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Culture

Make Remote Work Human: Building Culture from a Distance

Many projects are done with hybrid or remote teams, and that calls for fostering what’s always mattered most: human connection.

Sam Laidlaw Software Consultant & Delivery Lead at Atomic Object Ann Arbor. Innovator, strategist, value creator, soccer aficionado.

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The Software Life • Sep 30

3 Tips to Get More Out of Postman

Postman isn't just for sending requests—it’s a powerful debugging tool. Three features have made my workflow faster and less painful.

Flutter • Sep 29

Here’s How I Built a Virtual Pet App in Flutter

Building a reliable app in Flutter starts with managing state. What better way to practice than by building a cute, virtual pet?

Game Development • Sep 28

Here’s What Made My Scratch Games Go Viral

Let's look at 3 Scratch games I made that went viral after being featured on Scratch's homepage. Here's what I learned from making each.

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Developer Tools View more Developer Tools posts →

Post title: A Guide to Browser DevTools - The Debugger

Developer Tools

A Guide to Browser DevTools – The Debugger

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Pictured is author Teagen Kiel with his development team. Post title: Build Static Pages with Strapi in Next.js

Developer Tools

Build Static Pages with Strapi in Next.js

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Pictured is author Jing Fan writing on a whiteboard. Post title: How and When to Use Feature Flags in NextJS

Developer Tools

How and When to Use Feature Flags in NextJS

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Pictured is author Patrick Bacon with co-workers. Post title: Log Your Entire ZSH History

Developer Tools

Log Your Entire ZSH History

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UX/Design Tools View more UX/Design Tools posts →

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React / Redux View more React / Redux posts →

Pictured is author Jared Surato. Post title: Smarter Data Fetching with TanStack Query: Reusable Patterns and Optimistic UI

React / Redux

Smarter Data Fetching with TanStack Query: Reusable Patterns and Optimistic UI

Here are a few especially helpful patterns for real-world projects, including reusing query configuration across components.

Use React Hook Form with Zod Validation: Part One

React / Redux

Use React Hook Form with Zod Validation: Part One

React Hook Form is a library that smoothly handles forms in React. Let's look at examples of how to use React Hook Form with Zod validation.

Improve Asynchronous State UX in React with useOptimistic

React / Redux

Improve Asynchronous State UX in React with useOptimistic

React 19’s useOptimistic hook helps reduces annoyances by providing a built-in hook for Optimistic Updates.

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Web Apps View more Web Apps posts →

Web Apps

Build a 3D Product Configurator with Babylon.js

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How to Build and Publish Browser Extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari

Web Apps

How to Build and Publish Browser Extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari

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Embedding Payload CMS 3.0 Admin UI in Your Next.js App

Web Apps

Embed Payload CMS 3.0 Admin UI in Your Next.js App

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About a year ago, I used Remix on a short prototype app to that displayed a series of reports and I loved it. For those who don’t know. Remix is a framework for building websites. It uses React JS as a base and adds some specialized compiling. The app was a great use case for Remix for a few reasons. First, the pre-built stacks got the app deployed quickly. The main parts of Remix that shined were its prefetching, directory-based routing, and its loader functions. The prefetching helped the reports load faster because some data would be retrieved before the user navigated. The directory-based routing made it easy to setup the structure of the app. Last, Remix’s loader functions were able to retrieve small amounts of data each as it was needed. I am now using Remix on a second website that has a different structure than the prototype and we aren’t able to use the same features to the same degree. This time around, I am finding myself using fewer of the features mentioned previously. We aren’t using perfecting because we have a single page with a lot of complexity. We have fewer loader functions retrieving lots of information at once which makes them perform worse. The main difference that I found between the two projects is that the prototype was a multipage app and the second has been turning into a single page app (SPA). Based on Remix's documentation and my experience the best use cases for Remix are ones that can be modeled as multiple pages. Challenges for single page apps For this post, when I refer to a single page app I am referring to an app that tries to pack a variety of behaviors onto a single route. An example would be Google Calendar. Pictured below: In order to render this page, we need to load a few different things. We need to load all the events for this month, all the calendars for the user, and the details for the apps along the lefthand side. Then to use the app, we need to track which event is selected. When the user drags an event, we need to keep track of the calendar it is on. Then when it is placed, an alert is displayed if there are any conflicts. This state and behavior may need to be done in one component, which means one loader function. We may also want to perform component tests which are only partially supported in Remix, based on this git conversation. Make it optimal Instead, let’s talk about structuring an app to leverage Remix’s strengths. I am assuming we want to make use of Remix’s speedy loading while getting around some of its component testing limitations.The files that are used for routing should each be responsible for retrieving, displaying and mutating a limited set of information. As an example of a UI structure that could work well in Remix let’s look at Slack. Slack's UI can be visually broken down into three sections. The workspaces are on the far left. Then the channels within the selected workspace are listed, and lastly, we have the current chat for the selected workspace. A Remix app with this UI could have a URL like: slack/workspace2/proj-new-website. The root of the app would get the list of all workspaces, then /workspace2 would load the details for the selected workspace. Lastly, the chat window for /proj-new-website would load the chats and display them. This app can be modeled as a multipage app because the responsibilities are spread at different levels of the page instead of being concentrated in one component, like with the Google Calendar example. This would be a Slack-like app, and a better use case for Remix than a calendar app. Use the right tool for the job Remix is a powerful tool for web development. It can produce polished prototypes quickly and can build performant production apps. However, an app in Remix needs to keep Remix's design principles in mind. This means splitting the app's pages into pieces that can be loaded and rendered separately and keeping components as simple as possible in order to limit component testing on the frontend. Designing an app this way will enable the app to leverage the performance benefits promised by Remix.

Web Apps

Remix is Incredible — If It Fits Your Use Case

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Development Practices View more Development Practices posts →

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DevOps & System Admin View more DevOps & System Admin posts →

Hot Reloading Kubernetes with Skaffold

DevOps & System Admin.

How to Hot Reload Kubernetes with Skaffold

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Docker Compose Dependency Management Isn't a Silver Bullet

DevOps & System Admin.

Docker Compose Dependency Management Isn’t a Silver Bullet

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Working with Docker Containers Made Easy with the dexec Bash Script

DevOps & System Admin.

Working with Docker Containers Made Easy with the dexec Bash Script

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How and Why You Should Add Color to Your Scripts

DevOps & System Admin.

How and Why You Should Add Color to Your Scripts

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Extracurricular Activities View more Extracurricular Activities posts →

Backup viewed in Proxmox Backup Server

Extracurricular Activities

An Ansible Role to Install my Proxmox Backup Client Scripts

I recently authored a new Ansible role for installing and configuring the scripts onto a target machine. Here's how to use the new role.

Pictured is the Atomic Object sign inside the company's Ann Arbor office. Post title: Side Projects Don't Need to Be a Grind - Let AI Do the Heavy Lifting

Extracurricular Activities

Side Projects Don’t Need to Be a Grind – Let AI Do the Heavy Lifting

Most side projects fizzle out before they start. But this one combined a favorite hobby with the chance to build something with a friend.

A close-up shot of an illuminated NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics card installed in a desktop computer. The "GEFORCE RTX" branding is prominently lit in white on the side of the card, while the background is dark with subtle pink and blue lighting reflecting from other components inside the PC case.

Extracurricular Activities

Jellyfin Hardware Transcoding with Nvidia Graphics Cards on Unraid

If you're migrating from Plex to Jellyfin, one of Jellyfin’s biggest advantages is free hardware transcoding without requiring a Plex Pass.

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.NET / WPF View more .NET / WPF posts →

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Personal Optimization View more Personal Optimization posts →

The author is pictured writing on a whiteboard. Article title: Why DurableTaskClient is Critical for Long-Running Azure Functions

Personal Optimization

Use the Elimination Method for Identifying Stressors

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Pictured is author Nate Gittlen. Post title: Tame JIRA and GitHub Email Spam with Gmail Filters

Personal Optimization

Tame JIRA and GitHub Email Spam with Gmail Filters

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Core node from previous image is now flanked on left and right side by blue boxes that contain the example child nodes text defined in the previous paragraph. The boxes are connected by arrows.

Personal Optimization

Map the Path To Your Long Term Goals

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Pictured is developer & post author Joe Chrysler. Post title: Habits & Tools for a Smoother Digital Life

Personal Optimization

Habits & Tools for a Smoother Digital Life

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TypeScript View More TypeScript posts →

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React Native View more React Native posts →

Don't Reinvent the Wheel or the Modal. Use React Native Reusables Instead.

React Native

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel or the Modal. Use React Native Reusables Instead.

React Native Reusables is a toolkit that lets you instantly add pre-built, customizable, and time-tested components to your React Native app.

How to Style MUI Line Chart Components

React Native

How to Style MUI Line Chart Components

Styling an MUI component can be challenging. This guide shows ways to customize the LineChart component to achieve your desired look.

Embrace App Monitors: A Solution for State Changes in React Native

React Native

Embrace App Monitors: A Solution for State Changes in React Native

Let's look at why relying solely on useEffect might make your code a bit of a puzzle and how App Monitors can alleviate this issue.

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Growing as Makers View more Growing as Makers posts →

Pictured are buttons with Atomic Object's values written on them, including "Share the Pain."

Growing as Makers

Embrace Uncertainty: Tips for New Atoms

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A red-bellied woodpecker. Post title: The Power of Awareness

Growing as Makers

What Are You Looking At? The Power of Awareness

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Growing as Makers

Game On: A Roundup of Fun Tools for Learning Tech Skills

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Getting Hired: Online Class or Personal Project?

Growing as Makers

Getting Hired: Online Class or Personal Project?

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Atomic Thinking View more Atomic Thinking posts →

Pictured is author Jing Fan talking to a co-worker. Post title: 3 Tips to Get More Out of Postman

The Software Life

3 Tips to Get More Out of Postman

Postman isn't just for sending requests—it’s a powerful debugging tool. Three features have made my workflow faster and less painful.

Pictured is a Giga Pet device. Post title: How I Built a Virtual Pet App in Flutter

Flutter

Here’s How I Built a Virtual Pet App in Flutter

Building a reliable app in Flutter starts with managing state. What better way to practice than by building a cute, virtual pet?

A scene from a Scratch Game called Fractured Forest. Title: An Overview of My Viral Scratch Games and What I Learned

Game Development

Here’s What Made My Scratch Games Go Viral

Let's look at 3 Scratch games I made that went viral after being featured on Scratch's homepage. Here's what I learned from making each.

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