Adam Stoddard
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aaadaaam.com
Adam Stoddard
@aaadaaam.com
Leading product & design at https://steady.space. Ex Netlify, Basecamp, YNAB.

Mostly posting about product design, CSS, and building for the web.

https://aaadaaam.com
There’s a strange thing happening in web development, where the platform has been moving forward in significant ways, but a large amount of what gets built is effectively trapped in the amber of a React website from 2015.
Some source HTML from the Figma Sites demo at Config. (www.configsitesdemo.com)
May 7, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Reposted by Adam Stoddard
I got laid off today, with the rest of 18F.

18F was an elite federal software shop. We made gov't websites work better, more efficiently for the American people. We saved taxpayers from getting screwed over by contractors. And were fired for it.

We made this website to tell our story:
18f.org
We're not done yet | 18F
18f.org
March 1, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Reposted by Adam Stoddard
For any devs wondering what 18F does (did), here’s its GitHub org page, with 1,210 repos. A few were mine! All the work they did for all their agency partners was open source. Public money should produce public software, for public inspection.

Those days are over, starting today.
18F
18F builds effective, user-centric digital services focused on the interaction between government & the people it serves. Provided by GSA. - 18F
github.com
March 1, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Reposted by Adam Stoddard
I hate it when my ailing king is usurped by his scheming foreign vizier
February 5, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Reposted by Adam Stoddard
As the parent of a disabled kid it is zero fucking surprise. Folks hate disabled people and will actively work towards making their lives more difficult. The lack of empathy that even disabled kids experience is shocking and will change the way you think about people and what they're capable of
This is probably not a surprise to people in the disability community, and I apologize for my ignorance about it, but I have been genuinely surprised how much immediate government wrath is going towards people in the disability community
February 4, 2025 at 3:10 PM
a lot of people consider working with the web platform directly (sans frameworks) quaint / old school / whatever

but when it comes to CSS, working directly with the platform is *the cutting edge*
December 4, 2024 at 11:22 PM
Nodding at a lot of this piece. We set out to change tech, and tech changed us instead.

I can't help but wonder if things would have shook out differently if design was more codified (like trades, licensing like with architecture, unions, etc).

trends.uxdesign.cc
The State of UX in 2025
From design tools, to our design process, to the user behaviors that will change the way we design — a list of what to expect for User Experience (UX) Design in the next year.
trends.uxdesign.cc
December 4, 2024 at 8:16 PM
The Godmother, Bay Cities Italian Deli, Santa Monica CA
have you ever eaten a sandwich so good it just improves the entire outlook for the rest of your day
November 21, 2024 at 6:42 PM
Reposted by Adam Stoddard
I created a personal website starter pack!

All the lovely people on this list have ✨fantastic✨ personal #websites or #blogs. 👏 I hope you like it. 🤗

(Feel free to suggest your favorite personal websites as well, of course.)

go.bsky.app/QaRNu68
November 21, 2024 at 12:13 PM
while we’re on the subject, can we stop with the branded names for tech employees, like “GitHubbers” “Googlers”, and whatever LinkedIn calls people (Linked Innards?)

a touch too “you’re property not people” for 2024
November 20, 2024 at 4:59 PM
working on a new demo script and reading out loud remains the single best way to improve your writing

"this is great" -> reads out loud -> "this is terrible for these 32 specific reasons"

every time
November 19, 2024 at 7:01 PM
dibs on Chrome
US lawyers will reportedly try to force Google to sell Chrome and unbundle Android. It’s part of a DOJ case that aims to break up Google’s search monopoly by targeting Chrome, Android, and AI Overviews www.theverge.com/2024/11/18/2...
US lawyers will reportedly try to force Google to sell Chrome and unbundle Android
The DOJ will try to break up Google.
www.theverge.com
November 19, 2024 at 4:54 AM
why would my own software attack me like this
November 18, 2024 at 5:35 PM
use what the platform gives you
November 14, 2024 at 5:30 PM
Reposted by Adam Stoddard
I made a Black women in tech starter pack because I couldn’t find one and it annoyed me.

go.bsky.app/5upv7SQ
November 13, 2024 at 9:25 PM
Threads is a great example of a product being data-driven into a ditch.
A very funny thing about Threads is that it started when Bluesky had been closed off for way too much of its launch.

Good internet people really wanted Threads to work. They raised key concerns and gave good advice to Adam Mosseri and his team.

At every turn the Facebook execs did the opposite.
November 13, 2024 at 9:52 PM
the best thing about Bluesky's verification system is that domain names are the gateway drug to MAKING WEBSITES
November 12, 2024 at 8:22 PM
I know life is unfair because my favorite song on the new Nick Cave album is also the shortest song
November 12, 2024 at 4:28 PM
cooked up a new headless docs site for Steady using HelpScout + @11ty.dev and wrote up a (longish) post about the build: aaadaaam.com/notes/headle...
Oops, I built a headless frontend with 11ty | Adam Stoddard
My journey with 11ty’s global data went something like this:“This is where my little text strings go”“Neat, I can use javascript to set dynamic values”“Liter...
aaadaaam.com
November 12, 2024 at 4:11 PM
touched grass (and rocks, and water, and trees)
November 11, 2024 at 5:18 PM
Planet Coaster 2 *could not* have dropped at a better time

time to artfully place plants and rocks for 6-8 hours
November 10, 2024 at 4:36 PM
Reposted by Adam Stoddard
Quick #designsky updates: made a new starter pack of designers to go along with the custom feed, and tweaked the feed to include extra designy keywords (so more posts will show up there.)

Holler if you'd like to be added to any of this!

go.bsky.app/3cUcyW1
November 9, 2024 at 2:22 AM
apparently my go-to form of self care is writing CSS

making a little scroll-y animation, as a treat
November 7, 2024 at 4:39 PM
Reposted by Adam Stoddard
How do we read the demographics of a survey? How do we know if it's representative of the industry? And how do those questions impact our takeaways?

I don't have the answers, but after looking at State of CSS, I have a lot of questions:

www.oddbird.net/2024/11/04/c...
What do survey demographics tell us?
Are we measuring what we meant to measure?
www.oddbird.net
November 4, 2024 at 5:15 PM
New on the blog: aaadaaam.com/notes/house-...

It’s a story about a house fan emulator I built as an offline PWA, that answers important questions like “why?” and “seriously, what even is this?”
November 3, 2024 at 11:03 PM