https://abbeyperini.com Welcome to Abbey's Garden! Dig through my articles individually, by topic, or by series. © 2022 Abbey Perini. All rights reserved. https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=surviving-cancer My post-treatment recovery has been a period of joy, connection, and rest. 2026-01-06T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=GoF-1 There are five creational design patterns - they cover the instantiation of objects. 2025-08-14T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=state-2 This part of the series assumes that you need a state tool that uses the actions, dispatch, and reducers pattern. 2025-07-12T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=state-101 Learn where to keep your variables to improve your app design, performance, and readability. 2025-07-12T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=first-rule Multiple times, I have suggested an aria-label, and heard "I thought I was never supposed to use ARIA because the first rule of ARIA is don't use ARIA." 2025-04-14T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=adopt The challenge is getting people to use whatever system you come up with. 2025-03-28T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=cancer-treatment Patients like me are so rare that healthcare professionals struggled to hide their surprise. They sincerely and reflexively blessed my heart. 2025-03-18T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=beginning-2025 Last time, I was tired. This time, I'm angry. 2025-03-07T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=10-conferences I attended 10 conferences this year, spoke at 6 of them, and I'm not in DevRel. Here are are my top 10 tips - one for each conference! 2024-11-30T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=HTML-toggle When designing my digital garden, I knew I wanted a cute dark mode toggle. 2024-10-22T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=talk Take it from someone who barely passed their college public speaking course - you can definitely give a tech talk. 2024-09-30T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=cancer Even after I started tweeting about cancer, I debated writing about it. 2024-07-29T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=sharing When I encourage people to share their experience via writing or talking, their response usually implies I'm more naturally suited to speaking and writing then they are. I'm not. 2024-05-31T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=3-year I officially have three years of experience and a mid-level job title. My best advice has changed significantly since I wrote 12 Things I learned During My First Year as a Professional Developer two years ago. 2024-04-17T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=love-letter Dear "Underrepresented," 2024-03-01T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=slots Slots turn components into wrappers that enhance your dynamic content. 2024-02-23T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=trenchCoat In technical roles, we want to believe everything has a technical solution. However, software development involves humans, so what can seem like a technical problem is often three human problems in a technical trench coat. 2024-01-25T05:00:00.00Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=2023 From getting answers for pain I'd struggled with all my life to starting a new job in November - my 2023 has been a bit of a roller coaster. 2023-12-29T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=conference Conferences are filled with fun and opportunities. Do a little prep beforehand to set yourself up for success. 2023-11-15T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=cognitive-load Let's talk about Cognitive Load Theory, how some disabilities affect it, and designing a developer environment around it. 2023-10-17T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=interview We put a lot of time and energy into interviewing, so giving feedback is the least an interviewer can do. 2023-09-14T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=new-codebase Whether it's contributing to open source or starting a new job, the first step is familiarizing yourself with the codebase, and it can be daunting. Here are some tips to help you hit the ground running. 2023-08-16T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=treeWalker NodeIterator and TreeWalker are usually more powerful than you need. However, if you have to do something complex with a collection of DOM nodes, you will love what you can do with these iterator APIs. 2023-07-31T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=live-regions When using aria-live, there is one simple rule to follow for reliable live region updates. 2023-06-26T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=design Here are some practical tips on how to get from your idea to minimum styling without knowing anything about design. 2023-05-16T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=color-scheme When I wrote An Accessible Dark Mode Toggle in React back in 2021, @grahamthedev suggested I implement a prefers-color-scheme check in my theme setter. I finally got around to it. 2023-04-21T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=support This International Women's Day, I have regained a teensy bit of optimism, so it's all about how to support the women developers in your life. Basically, if you see something, say something. 2023-03-08T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=research Here's how to take research and turn it into reference material. 2023-02-07T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=modules Here's how to tell these module types apart at a glance. 2023-01-31T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=writing-2 I found myself reflecting on how I get my ideas and turn them into published technical blogs. 2022-11-30T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=security-2 Never trust anything a user puts into your app. 2022-11-30T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=security-1 Starting my web security series by sharing my secrets - just kidding! Let's talk about keeping our secrets safe. 2022-11-29T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=garden The more I read about digital gardens, the more I wanted to build one, so I started drawing plants. 2022-11-29T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=gitPanic-10 A list of tools you can use with git to make your life easier. 2022-11-29T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=gitPanic-9 Turns out git will always track file name changes, moving files, and deleting files ...if you tell it about them. 2022-11-22T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=gitPanic-8 When you think you've lost work, don't #gitPanic. As far as your commit history goes, git may as well be Ironborn, repeating "what is dead may never die." 2022-11-22T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=gitPanic-7 Documentation in GitHub goes far beyond a repo README. 2022-11-18T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=gitPanic-6 Just realized you've been working in the wrong branch? Forgot to pull before you started working? Think of git stash as stuffing your working directory in your pocket for later. 2022-11-17T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=gitPanic-5 Once you understand this powerful tool, people will think you're a git wizard. 2022-11-16T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=gitPanic-4 Understanding HEAD and refs helps with reading git logs and using git commands. 2022-11-16T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=gitPanic-3 I was surprised to find out how much I had to interact with other developers to get my code deployed. Let's talk about expectations when working with other developers in a repo. 2022-11-08T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=gitPanic-2 what if other developers are working in the repo at the same time as you? How do you add changes from one branch to another? 2022-11-07T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=gitPanic-1 Look, git is hard, and it's almost inescapable in software development today. #gitPanic will be an open ended series on all the git things I've learned - mainly by making git mistakes. 2022-11-04T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=tabbing-3 Take typical focus indicator styles and turn them totally tabbular! 2022-10-14T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=tabbing-2 I've been tackling tabbing trouble a lot recently, so I thought I'd share some debugging tips. 2022-08-22T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=tabbing-1 Try your hand at HOCUS :FOCUS or spend today tabbing instead of your typical mouse navigation. Frustrating? Let's talk about tabbing on the web. 2022-08-08T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=ADHD-6 While being aware of our struggles and finding healthy coping mechanisms are necessary, we receive enough negative messaging on a daily basis. This article is all about how ADHD traits can be a benefit when you're coding. 2022-06-22T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=ADHD-5 Gabor Maté has described ADHD as "forgetting to remember the future." If it's not written down, I'm not getting it done. 2022-06-04T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=ADHD-4 I find "hyperfocus" and "flow state" to be analogous with one key difference - when hyperfocusing, I struggle mightily to stop. 2022-06-03T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=ADHD-3 The idea that anyone should be able to sit down and focus for four hours on command is a dangerous myth. ADHD brains add an extra hurdle when you're trying to focus on a schedule. 2022-06-02T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=ADHD-2 I want to start the task. I know I need to start the task. Why can't I start the task? 2022-05-31T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=ADHD-1 What is ADHD? How do ADHD brains work differently? 2022-05-31T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog==== Accessibility is the core philosophy of the web. 2022-05-19T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=commit With my ADHD, my motto is always be writing it down, so I was delighted when my coworker told me about git commit message templates. 2022-05-17T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=HTTP-5 Let's talk about the common ways to get your app authenticated for public APIs. 2022-05-14T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=favicons Let's dig into how to leverage favicons to their fullest. 2022-05-08T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=ico I didn't even know about this image file format until I went to make my first favicon. What's the deal with ICO? 2022-05-03T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=jpegxl The JPEG has been an integral image format since 1992, but the Joint Photographic Experts Group didn't stop there. 2022-04-27T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=avif What are the benefits in using this file type? 2022-04-26T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=webp What is this Google-made open source mage file format? 2022-04-26T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=HTTP-4 This part of the series will cover evaluating APIs other people have built and getting their data on your page. 2022-04-22T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=1-year Here are the top 12 things I've learned and a bonus Notion database of the resources I've found useful. 2022-04-04T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=HTML What is Semantic HTML? Why use it? How do you use it? 2022-03-15T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=beginning This is not a blog I anticipated writing. My plan was to let Women's History Month pass me by as much as possible. ...but I'm tired. 2022-04-04T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=HTTP-3 In this part of the series, I'll demonstrate generating HTTP requests from a simple React app using XHR, Fetch, and Axios. 2022-02-22T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=HTTP-2 In this part of the series, I'll demonstrate generating HTTP responses from a simple Node.js Express server. 2022-02-16T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=HTTP-1 I'll cover HTTP terms, tools, and the structure of HTTP messages. 2022-02-04T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=coding Part of what's kept me going has been learning what other parts of my life I can't ignore and not losing sight of what made coding so fun for me in the first place. 2022-01-04T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=audit-6 Finishing up with a final round of testing, a final fix, a brief mention of things I'd like to revisit, some main takeaways, and my final thoughts on this series. 2021-11-28T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=writing How to write a 3-3-11 paragraph, an essay based off that structure, and how to apply it to technical blogs. 2021-11-21T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=audit-5 Making the full blog page on the main page of my portfolio site more accessible 2021-11-20T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=audit-4 Making the blog preview component code on the main page of my portfolio site more accessible 2021-11-11T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=audit-3 Fixing my portfolio's dark mode toggle during my accessibility audit. 2021-11-06T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=audit-2 This article is comprised of several accessibility vignettes. It's a collection of short stories about quick fixes - some amuse-bouches, if you will. 2021-11-04T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=audit-1 Todd said "No site is 100% accessible, especially as you update it, but we can aim to get close," so let's aim for close. 2021-11-02T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=legacy My first dev job threw me into a huge legacy codebase. My last big ticket involved getting a modern library to work within the deprecated UI framework it uses. After that journey, I wanted to share some tips I've learned along the way. 2021-09-16T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=images Demystifying sourcing images for your website 2021-08-30T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=shibas When I updated the blog section of my portfolio site, I realized I had a great opportunity to draw some cute SVGs and take my loading and error messages to the next level. 2021-08-30T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=serverless When you're just starting out, it often feels like senior devs already know what the end result will look like when they start. While you, on the other hand, can't even name a place to begin. With that in mind, I wrote this post bit by bit as I was building. 2021-07-31T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=panini-bot Here's how I built a bot that will insert a new word starting with 'p' for every instance of 'pandemic' in a Discord message. 2021-06-02T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=confidence Or How I Stopped Self-Rejecting and Embraced Self-Promotion 2021-05-10T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=breaking In March 2021, I accepted my first developer role. 2021-04-05T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=toggle When I rebuilt my portfolio site, I knew I wanted to have some fun with the design, and a dark and light mode fit the bill. 2021-03-05T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=knitting Or How I Learned Programmers Owe It All to Fiber 2021-02-10T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=trio We'll use a shifting background gradient, a simple transform: translate animation, and a button styled like text. 2021-01-28T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=100 Today I finished the #100DaysOfCode challenge — a public commitment to code an hour on personal projects every day for 100 days. 2021-01-19T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=OOP Object Oriented Programming (OOP) languages, like JavaScript and Python, organize software design around data, formatted in objects, rather than function or logic. 2021-01-18T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=reload How do you get the whole page to reload to show the updated data every time a user makes a change? 2025-07-12T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=animated I'm a believer in finding joy in the little things, and during my last project, that little thing was this button. 2020-12-16T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=accessibility Accessibility considerations in React 2021-01-07T05:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini https://abbeyperini.com/blog.html?blog=embrace Wrapping up my 3rd week of a 16 week coding bootcamp, I can tell you that there is no substitute for staring at a coding problem while your brain struggles. 2020-09-25T04:00:00.000Z Abbey Perini