How to make great use of the new C# Source Generators
Introduction
Since the beginning of C# MVC, developers struggled with finding the best way to generate URLs within their views. Some people write down the whole URL with string interpolation while others use @Url.Action("Action", "Controller") . With ASP.NET Core, Microsoft introduced tag helpers, but that still lacked in IntelliSense features as it yet uses magic strings.
In this article, I will show you how you can easily generate links within an ASP.NET core MVC application by the use of a very useful package called UrlActionGenerator. …
Having an effective website takes more than just putting up a bunch of social media buttons.
Introduction
Over 40% of people will leave your site if it takes over 4 seconds to load. Yeah, your site’s performance is really that important. Your site’s performance is a crucial part of your overall online presence. Slow-loading websites automatically create a poor user experience, which will only reflect negatively on the success of your site, and diminish your chances of building a loyal fanbase. Plus, you’ll also rank lower in the search engines.
Luckily, optimizing your site for speed and performance isn’t that difficult. In this piece, I’ve put together a list of 5 ways to improve your site's performance…
PART 2
Improve your skills in web development, programming, UI, automation and more with these projects
Introduction
A few weeks ago I wrote my about programming project, “5 Programming Projects to Get you Through the Darker Months". This post got me lots of very nice reactions. So today I decided to dig a little more and wrote down 5 more challenging programming projects to keep you busy indoors.
Working on one — or multiple — of these projects is an amazing way to improve yourself as a programmer. You get the opportunity to broaden your skillset by trying out new techniques or programming languages. So let’s get going!
The projects:
- Automatic image optimizer
- Automate your smart home
- Create your…
Finding the perfect vector art for your projects can be a challenge. So here are 7 free quality vector resources.
Introduction
Vectors are great and oh so versatile.
They can be used in your user interfaces as graphics. You can use them on a landing page to give it a breath of fresh air. Or maybe even use them for marketing by printing them on merchandise and products.
However, finding the perfect vector art for your projects can be a challenge due to the many low-quality resources out there. With that in mind, I’ve decided to weed out the weaker sources myself. In this piece, I’ve put together a list of the 7 best websites to find free vector art online…
Graphics are an important field of your visual identity but can also slow down your website. In this story, we dive into SVG usage within C# .NET
Introduction
As you may already know, nowadays images are a big part of the web and, yet, they can cause a lot of challenges for the user experience if not properly optimized or delivered. This could dramatically slow down your site and according to Google: “Two seconds is the threshold for website acceptability. At Google, we aim for under a half-second.”
This means, if you are creating a website yourself, it’s important to optimize images as much as possible to improve the user experience. One technique of optimizing graphics on a website is to use Scalable vector graphics (SVG). …
Using a Smartphone or tablet app is not the only way to control your smart lighting. You can also do this from your PC, laptop or tablet.
Introduction
A few weeks ago, I was introduced to the Philips Hue Light. It seemed a little pricy for a lightbulb. Nevertheless, it tickled my curiosity enough to give it a shot. I bought the white ambience starter pack — as I really do not like the pure white glow — together with two Hue Play Light bars.
If you have read any of my other stories, you already know that I like to automate publishing websites, pipeline adjustments and Instagram embeddings. So of course, I wanted to automate the controlling of my smart lights as well. …
Automating web development and deployment to Netlify by utilizing Azure Pipelines
Introduction
In one of my previous stories, I explained how you could use Netlify to host websites for free — and create a domain for just $1 — . However, oftentimes you also want to update your site with new features or, in the case of a blog, add new stories. Unfortunately, deploying this website takes time. So why not automate your website deployment process?
When you host your source code on GitHub or BitBucket it is super simple to create a Netlify release pipeline for your website. …
Improve your skills in web development, programming, UI, automation and more with these projects
Introduction
As Game of Thrones character Jon Snow would put it, “Winter is coming”. As we edge closer to the holiday period, the days are becoming shorter and the nights longer. This presents the perfect opportunity to find ways to keep yourself busy inside. As the COVID-19 pandemic makes it difficult to catch up with friends, I thought it would be a nice idea to investigate ideas for how to stay busy if you’re by yourself.
That’s why I created a list of five programming projects that can be worked on right now to help get you through the dark months…
Creating new year resolutions is one thing, but achieving them is another
So it’s a new year and you commit to improving your health, career, or relationships, and after a week, you give up. “I just can’t get myself motivated,” you say.
We often tell ourselves this is true without knowing what the real motivation is, or should be. Motivation is the reason — or reasons — for acting or behaving the way you do.
The problem is that most of our motivation is temporary. Some days we feel super motivated in the evening, but in the morning when the alarm goes off, all our motivation will simply be gone.
You can…
The pandemic can cause a lot of stress, as all sorts of things are changing rapidly. But how do you deal with stress?
Introduction
At the beginning of this year, I began with my graduation project as a software engineer. There was one small problem, a pandemic was rising as well. In the beginning, I thought that it would soon all be over — but I was wrong. During the entirety of the graduation project, I was working by myself. This was not something I was prepared for during my education, but we all had to deal with it.
It was a tough 6 months but eventually, I graduated! Finally, but what now? No graduation party for me. No holiday. I decided to directly…
Koen van Zeijl
I help you keep up to date with C#, Azure DevOps and all sorts of nice to know tools.
