35 YEARS OF WWW Working as a Content Creator, Designer and Developer With the Coolest Medium Ever CHRIS HEILMANN (@CODEPO8), C3DEVFEST, AMSTERDAM 06/2024

Christian Heilmann @codepo8 😃 VP DevRel at WeAreDevelopers 😃 Wrote a few books and hundreds of articles 😃 Worked on some of the biggest web products 😃 😃 😃 😃 ex-Yahoo(4y), ex-Mozilla(4y), ex-MSFT (8y)… Presented at 100 conferences Trainer LinkedIn, Skillshare… Worked on Firefox, Microsoft Edge, VS Code and Chromium DevTools No university degree No finished job education

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MAN, I WAS AWESOME! (I GOT A BIT BETTER)

IT ALL STARTED WITH A FLOPPY…

I SUCKED AT PLAYING GAMES AND IT WAS FRUSTRATING.

TCS ➜ RUN ➜ ENDLESS LIVES!

THOSE CRACKERS MUST BE SOMETHING REALLY SPECIAL!

OPEN SESAME!

FREEZE GAME ➜ EDIT SCREEN ➜ FIND LIVES COUNTER ADDRESS (F.E. $0410) ➜ HUNT MEMORY FOR CE 10 04 (DEC $0410) ➜ REPLACE WITH EA EA EA (NOP NOP NOP) ➜ ENDLESS LIVES!

THE DOOR WAS OPEN, AND I TOOK ONE STEP AT A TIME AND KEPT EXPLORING! LET’S GO

THINGS I LEARNED

• Nothing can hold you back when you are good at analysing and repeating THINGS I LEARNED • Everything you see on screen came from somewhere - it is never set in stone • It is much more fun to explore and tweak than to get something handed to you

• Working in a limited/unknown environment is a wonderful challenge THINGS I LEARNED • You don’t need to feel limited by the environment you target you can use whatever you want to create for it • The more people do this, the more best practices can be shared.

160 × 200 PIXELS (ON A 320 × 200 PIXELS DISPLAY) 16 PREDEFINED COLOURS 1 SCREEN-WIDE BACKGROUND COLOUR. 3 COLOURS IN EACH 8 × 8 (4 × 2) PIXEL SQUARE

160 × 200 PIXELS (ON A 320 × 200 PIXELS DISPLAY) 16 PREDEFINED COLOURS 1 SCREEN-WIDE BACKGROUND COLOUR. 3 COLOURS IN EACH 8 × 8 (4 × 2) PIXEL SQUARE • MUCH BETTER TOOLING • EXPERIENCE • SHARED TRICKERY AND KNOWLEDGE • LOVE FOR THE PLATFORM

HELLO, WEB

• A big part of my success on HELLO VIEW SOURCE the web was using view source and reverse engineering • We all did, don’t let people tell you otherwise • The lack of distance between creation and consumption was really down my alley…

• You learn best by teaching • Sharing and making people THINGS LEARNED IN MY CAREER… grow with you is the best feeling ever • If you feel down and “not good enough”, create something - anything!

• Languages, platforms and tools come and go… THINGS LEARNED IN MY CAREER… • The main goal is to build things people can use, regardless of setup and ability…

• Analysing, fixing and THINGS LEARNED IN MY CAREER… optimising code is much more important than writing it… (especially in this GenAI world) • Clever solutions get you famous/promoted but hurt you in the long term…

• Closed platforms – they move fast and die young THINGS I SAW FAILING • People fixing the current web by patching it instead of contributing • Products built in a hurry promoted to be fully useful

VIEW-SOURCE ON STEROIDS…

• Developer Tools have replaced view source DEVELOPER TOOLS MAKE THE DIFFERENCE… • We have incredible insight into what our code does in the browser • Of course, not everybody is ready for this…

Open sesame! WELCOME TO CYBER SPACE, HELP THE CYBER POLICE!

• We are at the forefront of web media HERE IS WHERE WE COME IN. • We are creators and makers - not consumers • We have the privilege of open tools, an open platform and openly available documentation.

• Use GitHub to host your code, GETTING STARTED HAS NEVER BEEN EASIER… collaborate, execute your projects, write collaborative documentation and books… • Use social media to promote these products, share knowledge and invite people to learn…

• Don’t start from scratch - YOU’RE BUILDING ON EXISTING SOLUTIONS… contribute to existing projects. • You don’t even need to code. Help with UX, or document, or herd communities.

USE YOUR FRUSTRATION, ANGER AND YOUR DEVIOUSNESS FOR GOOD… • What we need more than ever right now is education • Traditional education is encumbered by privilege and costs • We’ve been lucky - it is time we give back

THE WEB IS THE MOST VERSATILE AND NON-ELITIST PLATFORM. GO AND MAKE YOUR MARK!

Thanks! Chris Heilmann christianheilmann.com @codepo8 wearedevelopers.com/about/newsletter