It’s time for the annual best of again! Let’s have a look back and look at what’s worth remembering from the software, books and movies world.
Software
GatsbyJS - is an open-source static site generator, built on top of React. It’s part of a new theme called the JAMstack. Gatsby comes with a lot of cool stuff, but also have some drawdowns. In short, this is my take on it:
Extremely fast, and overall user-friendly. Gatsby pulls data (from any source) using GraphQL. It comes with a nice set of tools to get to know your data, and even query it from a web interface that you run locally in your browser.
Currently, I find it the best option if you need to create content without storing it in a database. This is possible due to the headless/non-headless CMS options that work with Gatsby, such as Netlify CMS. This also enables non-tech people to write and commit content to any Gatsby site, without having to write any code at all.
The official Gatsby page has got a huge example library that makes the most use cases for regular blogs and websites easy to achieve. If you want to go custom, you will need JS skills. Luckily, there are loads of NPM packages to solve most features you’d want.
The hosting options for static sites like these created with GatsbyJS are very good. It’s extremely easy to deploy, as these modern hosting companies connect directly to your Git-repo.
Netlify - is modern hosting service, that provides you with all the tools you need to serve your GatsbyJS (and probably lots of other tech) very smoothly. It’s actually the best “simple” hosting service I’ve seen so far. Why? Because not only is the admin interface easy, nicely designed and quick, but they’ve also thought about all the small details that you will need while running a real site in production. User management, forms, file uploads, split testing and many other neat features. I’m impressed by that service.
Paprika App - ****A tool to plan, manage and make grosseries and food recipes. As you add food types to a list, it will automatically sort them in the correct category. This has drastically reduced the time I spend in the store. Extremely handy if you’re doing e.g. weekly shopping.
Foodora - ****When this service first came to town, I could not see myself using it. I was wrong.
Freshdesk - Running a small business? This tool is great to handle customer support. Don’t rely on email. Let Freshdesk handle it. Store frequently userd responses, track and assign tickets between co-workers.
Books
I managed to read 13 books this year. I am quite happy with that, as my Goodreads Reading Challenge of the Year was 12.
- Trailblazer Marc Benioff
- Educated - Tara Westover
- Damn Right! Charlie Munger
- Deep Work - Cal Newport
See full list here
Movies & tv shows
- Mandalorian
- Babylon Berlin
- Knives out
- Green Book
- The Irishman