The Call Kent Podcast

When is a Promise not good enough, and I need a Web Worker? Jan 17, 2025

I just finished Expensive Calculations in React Performance. Why do we need a Web Worker instead of just wrapping the long-running function in a Promise that resolves when the function completes?

Expensive Calculations - Epic React Performance Workshop

When is a Promise not good enough, and I need a Web Worker?

How Useful is LiteFS in 2025? Jan 10, 2025

In 2022 you migrated a blog from postgres to LiteFS. Is that generally recommended in 2025?

How Useful is LiteFS in 2025?

What are your thoughts about Qwik and hydration? Jan 07, 2025

What do you think about resumability and Qwik? About 9 months ago, there was talk about Wiz and Angular working more closely together (Wiz was the tool that inspired Qwik). But Angular only committed to working on partial hydration support, not the full resumability like Qwik. So do you think React developers should care about this? If so, should they use partial hydration tools like Astro today or wait for something like resumability to be added to React?

𝕏 Post

What are your thoughts about Qwik and hydration?

Dependent driven motivation and embracing AI Jan 06, 2025

I would like to know how you get motivated knowing that you have dependents and stay strong in the event of layoff. How do you handle the fear of AI taking over job?

P.S. I didn't really mention much about AI so feel free to ask a follow-up on this for a more specific answer, but I would say that AI is just an important tool we need to learn and keep using the best tools to get the best benefits. Check out this Epic Programming Principle: Adapt to and adopt productive tools

Dependent driven motivation and embracing AI

Does the testing trophy need updating for 2025? Dec 09, 2024

In 2024, we live in a world where the defacto for creating React applications is SSR (e.g. Remix, react router v7, Next, TanStack). Coupled with the rise in performance, reliability and reduction of cost in running e2e tests by playwright and now vitest's Browser Mode, is it time to consider reworking the Testing Trophy to make e2e tests the largest proportion of the trophy?

This is starting to make more and more sense to me as e2e tests are becoming as cheap to execute as integration tests, whilst integration tests are more complex to write in a SSR application without mocking client side or server side code.

Does the testing trophy need updating for 2025?

Balancing Conventions and Flexibility in Large Codebases Dec 06, 2024

I’m curious about your thoughts on balancing conventions in large codebases. For context, I’m working in a project with ~20 developers across four separate teams. Where do you think we should draw the line between enforcing conventions for consistency and leaving room for flexibility in individual contributions?

EpicWeb config

Balancing Conventions and Flexibility in Large Codebases

I'm a React dev... What now? Dec 05, 2024

I build UI and UX for a company using React. What should I do next? How do I get to the senior level?

I'm a React dev... What now?

How to keep Type-Safety when defering data from a Remix loader Sep 10, 2024

While using the defer utility on a loader, the result useLoaderData hook on the component, does not have proper types any more, and im looking a effective way to keep my types chilling

How to keep Type-Safety when defering data from a Remix loader

Good open source projects implementing frontend testing strategy Aug 08, 2024

What are good examples of open source projects implementing extensive automated testing strategy for frontend?

Good open source projects implementing frontend testing strategy

Should I learn GraphQL or just stick with REST? Jul 11, 2024

When we have to learn GraphQL? Is it worth to learn it or REST APIs are enough?

Should I learn GraphQL or just stick with REST?

React Components vs Progressive Enhancement Jun 19, 2024

Hi, Kent, my name is Alex. On one hand, you advocate for implementing Progressive Enhancement technique for applications. On the other hand, even in Epic Stack, the use of custom React components is justified, even for a simple checkbox, which essentially makes the application non-functional without JavaScript. So, I'm struggling to decide whether it's worth trying to develop a Progressive Enhancement UX at this time or if it's still an unattainable ideal.

Kent Dodds - Bringing Back Progressive Enhancement - RenderATL 2022

React Components vs Progressive Enhancement

Test Cleanup: in the test or in afterEach Jun 18, 2024

My coworker were in an argument about where test cleanup should go (afterEach, or in the test?), and I thought you might have some great insights!

Test Cleanup: in the test or in afterEach

How many hours do you spend coding? Jun 06, 2024

simple question on time commitments to coding.

How many hours do you spend coding?

Remix Vite: Debugging Production issues Jun 05, 2024

My Remix Vite App Has Slow Initial Requests that takes up to 10 minutes loading the page then it will serve pages faster after that event if change devices

Remix Vite In Production

Inspired by Your Work May 10, 2024

Hi Kent,

My name is Mahdi Nazari, and I've admired your work for the past year. Your website has been a wellspring of inspiration, particularly your unique lifestyle and the impactful way you're shaping the world. To sum up, I really love it.

As a graduate Geographic Information Systems (GIS) graduate student, I've had the pleasure of utilizing your JS libraries in my projects. They've proven to be invaluable tools.

Currently, I'm embarking on a journey to build my brand, a platform to share my mission, passions, and more. Your approach resonates deeply with me – it offers a compelling way to communicate my values and ignite a spark in others.

If you were starting your brand from scratch today, what pearls of wisdom would you offer someone embarking on a similar path? Is there any course or book or someone who can help me in this path?

Any insights you could provide would be immensely valuable.

Thank you for your time and for the constant inspiration you provide,

Mahdi Nazari

Inspired by Your Work

When to add a CSP (Content Security Policy) May 02, 2024

Should one consider CSP at the very early stage of starting a new website or under what conditions should one consider implementing CSP.

When to add a CSP (Content Security Policy)

Do generated types from OpenAPI spec change testing? Apr 29, 2024

Hey Kent! I've been thinking about something lately. I've worked at a number of different sass companies and something that is always an interesting problem is how we end-to-end test a software application that has a UI.

I love the idea of testing for confidence and, to that end, I've been wondering how we might begin to shift our thinking about confidence testing when we use some communication protocol, like GRPc or OpenAPI to and use those protocols to generate things like static types.

If a backend and frontend are both very well integration tested and the both use auto-generated types from the same spec file, how much e2e testing do we really need? It seems like the spec file would help bridge that confidence gap a lot for us.

I worked at a relatively large sass company once and we had about 300 e2e tests that ran on every PR. It took way too long, but we had a very high level of confidence when we shipped code. We had integration tests too, but I wonder as I reflect on that experience, should we have focused way more on integration tests and integration testing larger features of the software knowing that we had type safety from the communication protocols we used.

Really hoping to hear back from you! I respect your thoughts on testing a lot and I'm a long time consumer of your open source libraries and ideas.

Do generated types from OpenAPI spec change testing?

Prevent revalidation of remix loaders after mutation Apr 25, 2024

Hello Kent, here is a transcription of my message, if you did not catch something. Thanks! I have a component that im importing in a dashboard folder in an index.js file. I'm using fetcher.form to submit a form with the Post method. the request is succesful, but when I click on sumbit, this reloads all of the requests of my loaders from different components that are being rendered in the dashboard folder. how can I avoid the reload of unrelated loaders in the same folder (dashboard)?

shouldRevalidate

Unwanted loader reloading using fetcher.form in shared folder.

Design the React component library Apr 03, 2024

How to develop component library which can easily adapt multiple design languages

Design the React component library

SEO Optimization and Hosting Feb 29, 2024

Seeking advice on optimizing website hosting for SEO with Remix.

Progress bar for mutations in Remix Feb 09, 2024

Hi Kent!

How do you create a progress bar for actions in Remix?

Like if a request takes maybe 10 or 20 seconds to finish and you want to give your users some feedback that things are progressing?

Best regards, Jan

Progress bar for mutations in Remix

Mocking in the full stack metaframework Era Feb 08, 2024

When we were building client side application mocking during e2e tests was a bit easier because you could just monkey patch fetch and call it a day. Today we also control the server so the line has a bit shifted. There are solutions, like MSW, to mock on the server side too but what if instead of an API call you query a db?

Mocking in the full stack metaframework Era

How do you create advanced content for developers Jan 29, 2024

The content for new developers is everywhere, but finding quality insight that helps you level to senior and above is hard to come by. This is in part because such content is difficult and time consuming to make. What goes into making such content and is there a lack of it in our industry?

How do you create advanced content for developers

A Button Per form or One Form with Multiple Buttons Jan 26, 2024

Hi Kent,

It's Jan 👋

When creating a dropdown menu (e.g. to pick a role in an organization), would you wrap the whole menu in a form tag and then render multiple buttons within that form (one for each role)? Or would you render multiple forms (one for each role) with each having their own submit button?

Thanks a ton if you answer!

Best regards, Jan

A Button Per form or One Form with Multiple Buttons

Toasts in Remix Jan 16, 2024

Hi Kent,

It's Jan.

I'm currently working on implementing toasts in a Remix app. I was using the Epic Stack as a reference.

BTW, thank you for creating it, it's so nice to take some features and functionalities from it when you need them!

Anyways, it looks like the implementation of the toast in the Epic Stack does NOT work with JavaScript disabled. But theoretically, you could make toasts in Remix progressively enhanced by giving the close button a form and prevent default when JavaScript is enabled.

It looks like the library you're using in the Epic Stack - Sonner - does NOT expose the close button, so you can't progressively enhance it.

Was it a conscious decision to make the toast JavaScript only? Or let me ask the decision more openly, what are your thoughts on this?

As always, thanks a ton!

Toasts in Remix

Unpaid internships and indentured servitude Jan 15, 2024

So, recently I started looking for my first software job. The first offer I received was from a company looking for an intern. The internship had the following conditions: 1) the first 3 months of it are unpaid 2) you have to sign a contract after the 1st month of it that obligates you to stay at the company 2 years after the internship is ended. I rejected it because I felt like you never know what that company may turn out to be. For example, it may try to exploit you and pay you the bare minimum for the job you're doing preventing your career growth and your only option may be to wait for that contract to expire and then start looking for a higher position at another company. I'd like to ask your opinion about:

unpaid internships
internships that obligate you to stay at the company for 1 or 2 years once the internship is ended
companies that follow both of these practices

Unpaid internships and indentured servitude

It's fine to re-render Jan 12, 2024

My question is around the optimization techniques that a lot of people apply to React apps. I see very often how devs focus on executing their components only once or twice. What I think matters at the end is if there any changes in the actual DOM tree. If not they in theory should be ok to see your functional components fired many times.

It's fine to re-render

Data Structures and Algorithms Jan 08, 2024

Is Data Structures and Algorithms is necessary to become a successful full-stack engineer?

Data Structures and Algorithms

Remix Flat Routes vs Remix v2 Router Jan 05, 2024

What are the pros and cons of the flat routes vs the v2 router? Are you planning to switch at some point?

New File System Route Conventions by Ryan

Remix Flat Routes vs Remix v2 Router

Generating CSS with Remix Resource Routes Jan 04, 2024

Hi Kent. I am building an app where product sellers can add their products and they by default get a website listing their products.

On the app can make some basic customizations for their store website such as color, border radius etc. And each store owner's website is a subdomain. e.g kentstore.xyz.com

I am using remix for the stores. On page load, I want to fetch the styling config for the website from the db.

What would be the best approach for this ?. Your insight would be very valuable to me

I look forward to your response.

PS: I am totally loving the epic-web course. You're simply amazing.

Generating CSS with Remix Resource Routes

Using Downshift with Conform to manage an input Jan 03, 2024

Hi Kent ! I'm Virgile, big fan of your work, and I have a question regarding your article 'Full Stack Component'.

I am currently using a combobox, managed by useCombobox from the downshift library.

But I would like conform to take over the input props management, while still getting the autocomplete features.

I'm curious how you would implement it.

Turn Progressive Enhancement up to 11

Using Downshift with Conform to manage an input

Jake Lazaroff’s article on Web Components Dec 19, 2023

Curious about your thoughts on this article Web Components Will Outlive Your JavaScript Framework

Why I don't use web components

Jake Lazaroff’s article on Web Components

Code Organization in Full Stack Apps Nov 21, 2023

Do you have some best practices for scale Remix applications with Prisma regarding testability, reusability, and separation of concerns? When do you decide to move functions and business logic from loaders and actions to a .server file? Do you have functions like getUsers in a user.server file or do you call the database directly in the loaders?

Code Organization in Full Stack Apps

Client Hints and profiling Nov 16, 2023

Can home made client hints like the one you are using in Epic Web Stack be seen as profiling?

Use Client Hints to Eliminate Content Layout Shift

Client Hints and profiling

Building and Testing an MDX-based Blog Oct 27, 2023

What is a good way to test fs modules and why converting MDX on runtime is better than runtime.

Building and Testing an MDX-based Blog

EpicWeb.dev is now available! Oct 18, 2023

Yes, this is Kent calling himself. I just wanted to let all subscribers to the podcast know that https://EpicWeb.dev is available today!

EpicWeb.dev is now available!

What is full stack for EpicWeb.dev? Oct 10, 2023

What do you consider full stack? E.g. some people think that full-stack should include devOps, some don't. What do you think? And does EpicWeb consider devOps to be apart full stack?

Deploy Web Applications All Over the World

What is full stack for EpicWeb.dev?

Improving as a software engineer Sep 22, 2023

Foundational knowledge needed to build complex systems in software

Improving as a software engineer

Why didn't you break root.tsx into smaller components? Sep 21, 2023

root.tsx is over 300 lines. Is there a reason for keeping all the functions in one file? Why don't you split each function in separate a file and import it?

When to break up a component into multiple components

Why didn't you break root.tsx into smaller components?

Am I stuck in tutorial heck? Sep 12, 2023

Recently I quit my job as frontend development instructor and I'm aiming to get a job as frontend developer. Before I apply for job openings I'm planning to go through several courses, create complex projects for my portfolio and only then apply for the job.

My friends are saying I'm overcomplicating the process and I may get into the flow after I got the work. But as I'm aiming at middle level positions, I want to prepare as much time, as much my budget allows. So I can negotiate salary well with employers and will be more valuable worker.

What are your thoughts on this?

Am I stuck in tutorial heck?

Scaling Epic-Stack in a single region Sep 11, 2023

Hi Kent, my name is Tim,

I have a few questions regarding scaling the Epic Stack within a single region.

With the assumption that we are having huge amount of users in one region, my question is would you recommend switching to other database technologies or would you have multiple SQLite replicas in the same region, with each of them being connected to remix apps in a 1-1 manner

My second question is, assuming that we have the epic stack setup, what would you do if one remix server can't just keep up anymore with the load. Would you introduce caching or any types of application or additional threads to distribute and keep up with the work load

Thank you

Scaling Epic-Stack in a single region

React Lazy initializers Call Order Aug 31, 2023

I am seeing Lazy initializers are not calling first, but in the diagram it motioned it calls first

React Lazy initializers Call Order

How do you approach major project updates Aug 29, 2023

I would love to hear your thoughts on approaching major project refactors. We all have been in that situation where you want to use the newest things available, but the codebase is really old. Do you create a new project? Do you try to update component by component? Is there a "don't go that route"?

How do you approach major project updates

Organizing your first workshop Aug 25, 2023

I was approached recently to give a full-day workshop at a conference I'm excited about. But... how hard is it to organize a curriculum? What questions should I ask the organizers ahead-of-time before saying yes?

How I Teach

Organizing your first workshop

Conform sets novalidate & validation attributes? Aug 24, 2023

Hey, Kent! I'm trying out @conform-to/react, specifically the useForm hook. I noticed that it sets novalidate: true on the form even if JavaScript is disabled. I'm wondering: Why does it add validation attributes to the inputs then if they're not being used for validation anyway, regardless of whether JavaScript is enabled or not?

Conform sets novalidate & validation attributes?

My skill stuck at current job, should I quit? Aug 23, 2023

I have been in current team for couple years, and feel my skills are kind of stuck because I have spent too much time fighting with the team refusing to get better. I have learned only from myself, but not much from the others, and can't really fix everything by myself.

Business and Engineering alignment

My time has been spent inefficiently to be honest in the past few years because lots of the time I was staring at smelly and nonsense codes, trying to improve but never get the resource or momentum from the team. I start feeling left behind in terms of the skills the market really needs, and job is not secured considering the layoff happening at recent time.

I'd like to know if you have similar experience, how you handle this, or is it just the time I should leave to seek for better opportunity I can grow? Thanks!

My skill stuck at current job, should I quit?

How do you host your videos? Aug 10, 2023

Hi Kent!

I was wondering, how do you host your videos?

Such as: https://www.epicweb.dev/tips/quickly-determine-whether-a-module-is-bundled

It looks like they're custom hosted, so I was wondering how you do that.

The Epic Stack shows how you save images, and it would be interesting to learn how you host videos, too.

Thank you and best regards, Jan

How do you host your videos?

How are you still productive!? Aug 03, 2023

What's changed from 2018 in regards to how you're able to achieve such high levels of productivity? Do you still spend more time producing than ingesting courses?

How I am so productive

How are you still productive!?

Best practice for using localStorage in React Jul 18, 2023

Lots of examples demonstrate wrapping localStorage setters and getters in hook, but no one ever explains why they don't just use localStorage directly.

Best practice for using localStorage in React

Remix Full-Stack Components (vs Server Components) Jul 13, 2023

With React Server Components getting more traction, this idea of each component being able to fetch its own data seems to getting more popular rather than data-fetching being purely route-based.

In Remix-land, you’ve had a talk about “full-stack components” with a similar concept where a “resource route” can have no default exports but still export a loader and a React component in order to have a reusable component with its own data fetching.

It seems there might be differences between React Server Components and these “full-stack components” though, especially in that Server Components don’t need to be defined in routes but Remix full-stack components do.

Firstly, how are the two approaches different?

I ask, because I know Remix is working on implementing Server Components without the foot-guns, so curious what how the mental model would change in the future.

You, also said that it isn’t a good practice to get into to commonly import components from other routes.

My second question is why is it not a good practice, and can you give examples for cases where it would or wouldn’t make sense to import full-stack components from other routes?

Thank you!

Full Stack Components

Remix Full-Stack Components (vs Server Components)

A 10 year old itch to make a switch (QA to dev) Jul 10, 2023

For 10 years, I feel that I've been separated away from my true love, which was coding. I'm 35 now, married, and have a kid. Some people say that its too late to be a developer now. But, I want to give it just one shot so I wouldn't have any regrets later. This time, I'm following my heart! Away I sail, onto this pathless path.

A 10 year old itch to make a switch (QA to dev)

Should I go to college or not? Jun 29, 2023

looking for direction

Should I go to college or not?

Resources to learn senior development skills Jun 22, 2023

As my career has progressed, the types of problems I face have also progressed - questions like "How should we architect this solution" and "How should we decide between these trade-offs". However, I've struggled to find resources to help me learn these skills. Are there any resources that you would recommend and, in general, how do you continue to learn and progress even as you reach more senior levels of development?

How to get experience as a software engineer

Resources to learn senior development skills

Passing state across components in RemixJS Jun 19, 2023

If I was just using plain React, I would use the Context API or even global variables to keep track of the state of an application. Whats the best way to achieve this when using Remix?

useOutletContext

P.S. You can definitely still use context if you like!

Passing state across components in RemixJS

How To Deal with Hiring Developers? Jun 16, 2023

I have to manage my projects and outsource them, otherwise, I would never make enough money to keep my business afloat. I have this problem, where, when I start a project, the product owner will ask questions like, "What happens if you die?" and my best answer to that is, "That's why we have employees". But, when I go to hire employees, sometimes they completely just ignore the stack that I'm using and they go off and do their own thing, which becomes difficult to manage. Should I be ruling with an iron fist, or should I just be more of a liason between my clients and my developers?

How To Deal with Hiring Developers?

Why do you use the Express adapter for your app? Jun 15, 2023

I've seen you're using the Express adapter for your Epic Stack and your personal website, as opposed to just running the Remix dev server. Why is that? Are there any performance implications?

Why do you use the Express adapter for your app?

Minimum skills for a Frontend dev job? Jun 12, 2023

What is the minimum skill set one need for a front end dev job. Do you need to know version control, testing, tooling etc or is js html css and a framework enough, also is typescript considered.

Minimum skills for a Frontend dev job?

userEvent.setup vs not including it in unit tests Jun 08, 2023

With React Testing Library v14, what are the benefits of using the userEvent.setup() for every test vs not including it?

userEvent.setup vs not including it in unit tests

Are AI tools (Copilot) bad for the learning curve? Jun 05, 2023

AI tools like GitHub Copilot have the capability of boosting our performance during development. What effects of using such tools to practice a course might have on the learning curve?

Are AI tools (Copilot) bad for the learning curve?

Becoming one of the best React developer May 22, 2023

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FrontEnd/React developers, Peruvian Folklore Dancer Champion, Now approx. 2 years as a React/FrontEnd developer, and I am so hungry to continue to learn and improve. I feel I need to be surrounded by the best and I would love to work closely with you Kent I admire you a lot! or please give me advice on how to achieve it. - I would like to bring value to the world through my work Thank you! Have a great day brother!

Becoming one of the best React developer

Is Epic Stack beneficial for new developers? May 18, 2023

Hello, Kent! My name is Petar and I'm from Bulgaria. I'd like to ask your opinion on this question: Do you think that the "Epic Stack" is relevant for people who are relatively new to web development? Here's some information about me: my interest in web development started about a year ago. Currently, I feel really confident in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, and TypeScript. I have read a lot of books and completed numerous courses on these topics, including the HTML course on web.dev, the CSS course by Josh Comeau, the books by Nicholas Zakas on JavaScript, the JS course by Dan Abramov, Epic React, and the "Learning TypeScript" book by Josh Goldberg. I also purchased your testing course but haven't had the chance to complete it yet. Currently, I don't have a job, but I'm planning to land one soon.

My question to you, again, is whether you think sticking with the Epic Stack would be beneficial for me, or if it's better to focus on already established technologies in the market such as Redux, Next.js, etc. I just want to hear your honest opinion, even if it may be (or become) wrong.

Is Epic Stack beneficial for new developers?

How to approach imposter syndrome May 04, 2023

I just went through react hooks workshop and I don't know weather I understood concepts well or I just went through material. I want a general approach to similar situations.

EpicReact.dev learning club schedule template

How to approach imposter syndrome

Error Handling in Remix Apr 17, 2023

How do you handle network issues in a Remix App? Is Remix's error handling as good as traditional SPAs? What about maintaining form state even after the submission fails?

Discussion #5957

Error Handling in Remix

How do you plan E2E test flows? Apr 13, 2023

Many times we need to run e2e tests in other to be able to test "secondary" actions. Like, I have to create a resource to delete it, so I could test the create inside of the delete test but it does not sound "good". How to solve that?

Common Testing Mistakes

How do you plan E2E test flows?

When/why should I choose SSR over CSR? Apr 12, 2023

Given that there is dedicated backend with API's which needs to be consumed in a dashboard written in React, why should i choose SSR over CSR if I am not worried about SEO or JS payload (as I can use code splitting to keep the JS to minimum)

How Remix fits 6 different web apps

When/why should I choose SSR over CSR?

Side income Apr 11, 2023

What are some side income options for software engineers?

Side income

How Remix fits 6 different web apps Apr 05, 2023

As there are so many different kinds of apps that we can build for browsers, how does Remix fit those different cases? Is Remix a great fit for one but maybe not for another? Can all be built with Remix?

Remix VS Next

How Remix fits 6 different web apps

Is it really all about who knows you? Mar 28, 2023

Kent, your tweet about 'It's not what you know, it's not who you know, it's who knows you' made me question my beliefs. I believe that building strong relationships and possessing knowledge are key to being well-connected. Could you elaborate on what led you to make this statement and how you believe it applies in personal or professional success?

Is it really all about who knows you?

Tech to use for a video streaming site Mar 17, 2023

Which technologies would you use to make a video streaming website.

Tech to use for a video streaming site

Should we transition from Jest to Vitest Mar 16, 2023

What are Kent's thoughts on Vitest.dev?

Should we transition from Jest to Vitest

What's the bundle analysis story in Remix? Mar 15, 2023

Is there any way to get a bundle analysis on Remix apps, like the Webpack does?

esbuild analyzer
Spot in the remix source code to write the file
Path in the built code: node_modules/@remix-run/dev/dist/compiler/compileBrowser.js (around line 244)

fs.writeFileSync('meta.json', JSON.stringify(metafile))

Good luck!

What's the bundle analysis story in Remix?

How to set titles in CatchBoundary's in Remix? Mar 14, 2023

If you have a loader and you throw a response so your CatchBoundary catches it, how can you set a title? Since you throw, there is no way to return json with the appropriate title 🤔

How to set titles in CatchBoundary's in Remix?

v2 Routing Convention Mar 13, 2023

Kent's outlook on Remix v2 Routing Convention and his use current use of Kiliman's remix-flat-routes package.

v2 Routing Convention

Seeking for solution and advice to progress Mar 09, 2023

The call I placed is basically to seek advice on how to go about a certain challenge I am facing now in my programming journey.

How to get experience as a software engineer

Seeking for solution and advice to progress

What is your latest thinking on render props? Mar 06, 2023

What is your latest thinking on render props?

Inline Styles vs CSS File Styles Mar 03, 2023

I would like to know your take on inline styles on large scale projects. Personally I am big fan of inline styles or having all styles in my jsx file. Also take on using Tailwind over a design system.

Inline Styles vs CSS File Styles

Looking for the best talk idea Mar 02, 2023

I will speak about Hydrogen at Remix conf and some others, and I'm now brainstorming about new talk subjects...all about Remix! I am looking for some insight to do the best choice!

Looking for the best talk idea

Tips on making the most of your short breaks Mar 01, 2023

This is a discussion we were having on twitter. :D

Centered

Tips on making the most of your short breaks

Advice for a company afraid of using Node Feb 27, 2023

I work at a smaller developer company with a big backend team. Everybody is afraid of using NodeJS so we're limited to simple SPAs as those only need an NGINX server and you're good to go. I was pushing for NextJS and nowadays Remix as I really like it, but I always feel blocked. What should I do? How could I convince my colleagues to give Remix a try?

Advice for a company afraid of using Node

How are redux thunks implementation details? Feb 15, 2023

The official Redux recommendation is to avoid testing thunks in isolation and instead opt for integration testing with redux connected components. The main reason given is that thunks are considered implementation details.

Why are thunks considered implementation details?

In the context of async thunks in RTK can you give examples of how testing an async thunk might lead to false negatives and false positives in our tests?

What are your opinions on testing thunks in isolation that conditionally dispatch other actions, something that my team at work often does.

Example of a custom render method (docs on this)

How are redux thunks implementation details?

What makes a good react js developer? Feb 14, 2023

Useffect needs always dependencies though we only perform that action once say for example api call, do we really need dependency for single call as well?
Use memo and use callback seems in which specific scenarios we use, cause otherwise we might endup with lot of useless usememo and usecallbacks.
Apart from this, what you want to suggest in general to make me a good react developer in terms of debugging and developing faster and understanding well. Doing personal projects, my mistakes are I am using unneccesary stuff like context usereducer for small stuff just to learn something. Is this common how to avoid this mistakes?

What makes a good react js developer?

AWS Job Opportunity Feb 06, 2023

Looking to find my people in the AWS world that want to help others make some money without exploiting anyone.

AWS Job Opportunity

Playwright support Feb 02, 2023

Where can I find your courses on Playwright and how are you involved in the community?

Playwright support

Tips for creating a npm package (stack-supporting) Jan 31, 2023

In order to understand a little more about your process of creating and maintaining a npm package, three questions were asked, to know the stack used, what support for them normally and whether or not there is a template that you can share with more.

Tips for creating a npm package (stack-supporting)

How close should a hook be to its usage? Jan 12, 2023

Transcript: Key Kent! Big fan since I started learning React many moons ago! My name is Asier and I hope you're having a good day. My question is about React custom hooks and your opinion on the following. Imagine there is one parent component in charge of rendering two children components. This parent component is using a custom hook to retrieve some relevant data, let's say that it receives the user name and the date of birth for instance. The first child component requires a prop for the user name and another for the date of birth; and the second child requires another prop but only for the date of birth. My assumption was always to use the hook as close as possible to its usage, in this case, within both children components and not in the parent component. What should be the more readable choice between using the hook just once in the parent component and drilling the props downwards to the children, as opposed to using the hook in each individual hook?

Thanks!

How close should a hook be to its usage?

What's your opinion on atomic design? Jan 03, 2023

Atomic Web Design by Brad Frost

What's your opinion on atomic design?

How to handle file uploads in Remix? Dec 16, 2022

Hi Kent!

How would you handle file uploads in Remix? For example, the avatar for a user's profile. Or a PDF document?

How to handle file uploads in Remix?

Tailwind class overriding Dec 15, 2022

It can be difficult to override tailwind classes with more tailwind classes because their precedence is based on style sheet order not order you apply them. How do you go about solving the problem?

Tailwind class overriding

How do you deal with partial types? Dec 14, 2022

Fully typed apps are the correct approach. Let's say your API backend returns a 'full' type (of a Workshop type with 8 fields for example), and, secondly, a list of Workshops but this time only with a 'name' field. In the frontend, you have a 'full view', a 'list of workshops view' (showing only the name of each) and a 'preview view' of a Workshop which uses 3 of its 8 fields. How do you describe these types in the app and at the interfaces between the frontend and backend?

How do you deal with partial types?

The "remix" testing methodology Dec 13, 2022

Do you plan to update the testing course to add/update content to teach the "remix testing" methodology? I see you folks are using Playwright quite extensively even if it adds more time to execute. I'm very curious to know your "thought process" on these kinds of decisions

The "remix" testing methodology

How to handle action matching no intent? Dec 12, 2022

Hi Kent its Jan,

What do you do in your action function in Remix for a page with multiple forms, if no intent matches?

Let's say you have a page with two forms, one for deleting an entity and one for duplicating it. So the page has two forms each with a button of type submit, one with an intent of delete and one of with an intent of duplicate.

Now what do you do if the request to that action function contains form data with neither intent?

In Ryan's Remix single, where he shows how to handle multiple forms, his action is a void promise and returns nothing in the case where none of his intents match.

But should you do that in a production app? Just don't do anything?

Thanks for your help! And thank you for answering yesterdays question about testing tables, it helped me out tremendously.

Take care!

How to handle action matching no intent?

Latest practical CSS techniques (use Tailwind) Dec 09, 2022

More info at the ever evolving ways to deal with CSS and what are Kent's preferred ways of handling CSS

Latest practical CSS techniques (use Tailwind)

Middleware is an antipattern Dec 01, 2022

Question regarding the Express.js pipeline Kent takes when writing backend apps that differs form the conventional router->middleware->controller and treats the controller itself as middleware

Middleware is an antipattern

How to test semantic HTML tables? Nov 30, 2022

I'm looking into testing tables with testing library and was wondering, how would you approach testing a semantic HTML table with React testing library?

I found this issue (https://github.com/testing-library/dom-testing-library/issues/583#issuecomment-997347372) on Github, but there seems to be no definitive answer.

Thanks a lot!

How to test semantic HTML tables?

Appreciation Nov 21, 2022

Quality contents, quality contribution to React ecosystem.

Appreciation

Testing Code in service files and NGXS Store files Nov 11, 2022

Is it important to test the code in service files and in ngxs store files in angular? I was under the assumption that testing the component files were standard and I have been doing the same when using angular testing library

MSW

Testing Code in service files and NGXS Store files

Is using md5 as key an anti-pattern in react? Nov 10, 2022

can i use the md5 checksum of the json data as key for each row in react? so context here is that i have a bunch of rows to show, and they dont have an id, and i can't use index as their order may change. so i am using the md5 of the JSON.stringify of the rows data. but i am thinking that calculating the md5 or sha1 maybe a thing which shouldn't happen in the UI render cycle, specially cause the render can happen many times as things in the top change?

Is using md5 as key an anti-pattern in react?

Why do you take short breaks when coding? Nov 09, 2022

When you do your live streams, you take breaks regularly. Why do you do that? What's the science behind it? And what do you do during those breaks to make them as effective as possible?

Centered (use the coupon code EPICFLOW for 50% off the first year of premium).

Why do you take short breaks when coding?

Is addEventListener OK again? Nov 04, 2022

addEventListener is usually frowned upon as an anti-pattern in the React world. Will this still be the case with Remix? What about in the framework-agnostic future of Remix?

Is addEventListener OK again?

Frontend to Fullstack Nov 03, 2022

What learning path do you recommend for a frontend dev learning to become full stack?

Remix

Frontend to Fullstack

Test Data: To BeforeAll or to BeforeEach Oct 18, 2022

Starting a new testing project, and I'm wondering if it's a bad practice to set up all the necessary seed data in a beforeAll to run the test suite then or if isolation is critical so that work should be done in a beforeEach. We have an application that requires a decent amount of data to get up and run, so we're trying to figure out what might be the best practices.

Avoid Nesting when you're Testing

Test Data: To BeforeAll or to BeforeEach

organizing course code Oct 11, 2022

what ways have you organized code for your courses? what are the trade offs and what is you preferred approach today?

organizing course code

How to do feature flags with Remix? Oct 10, 2022

How do you recommend to implement feature flags with Remix? Do you recommend a third patry library? Do you recommend query params?

How to do feature flags with Remix?

Own Code vs Library Sep 29, 2022

If there is a specific library that has a functionality you need, would you prefer to rewrite yourself or use the library?

Own Code vs Library

Would you recommend to use Playwright or Cypress? Sep 28, 2022

Why did you decide to migrate your tests from Cypress to Playwright? Are there any particular advantages? Would you recommend starting using playwright from now on?

Twitter Question

Would you recommend to use Playwright or Cypress?

How to Shamelessly Self-Promote? Sep 16, 2022

self-promotion is a really difficult task to do either in public like on social media platforms or when you are among your co-workers and bosses and you wanted to talk about something you achieved but afraid that you will look like a bragger.

How to Shamelessly Self-Promote?

Why are you programming in VScode? Sep 14, 2022

There are a lot of IDEs and text editors. Why did you choose VScode? Why not more complex solutions like Webstorm?

Why are you programming in VScode?

Remix: ways around window undefined Sep 13, 2022

Whilst using remix I realized even after naming a file .client.ts and importing it into the remix page, it does not affect how remix generates html on the server. As an SSR framework it always generates the html on the server and so accessing the window becomes undefined. The solution to that is to run the code in useEffect. I was wondering if there are ways around that instead of having to throw in a bunch of useEffect to solve that. Next.JS has next/dynamic import which can be used and also by setting { ssr: false } , I don't have to worry about window being undefined.

Thanks

Remix: ways around window undefined

Testing a graphical component Sep 12, 2022

How to unit-test a graphical component? For example, how to unit-test a map or a chart in React since there is no text to select and to run tests against?

Testing a graphical component

Will there be a KCD Trilogy? (Yes) Sep 09, 2022

Will there be a KCD Trilogy? https://EpicWeb.dev (https://kentcdodds.com/blog/i-m-building-epicweb-dev)

Will there be a KCD Trilogy? (Yes)

How do you automate KCD? Sep 06, 2022

How do you automate KCD?

Question about testing a reusable component Sep 02, 2022

in response to this tweet: https://twitter.com/Rovolutionary/status/1564338893691953154

Question about testing a reusable component

Full Stack Developers... Why? Aug 31, 2022

Why do we need full stack developer?

"Your job as CEO of a startup is to hire generalists to build and then hire specialists to scale. Pretty simple." - Adam Gazdecki

Full Stack Developers... Why?

Mantine's callback with Remix's ActionFunction Aug 30, 2022

I'm using Remix to create an app that displays a list of images, similar to a gallery. I am using Cloudinary for storage and Mantine for UI. Since I am using Mantine's DropZones control, it has an onDrop callback to handle dropped files, how could I direct it to Remix's ActionFunction to handle the dropped files since it's not a form, thus there's no post.

Mantine's callback with Remix's ActionFunction

How do you convince your team to use E2E? Aug 29, 2022

What arguments tend to convince engineers of how important E2E tests are in your experience?

How do you convince your team to use E2E?

Migration from React/Rails hybrid to Remix Aug 26, 2022

Seeking advice on pros and cons of migration an application from React/Rails to Remix

Migration from React/Rails hybrid to Remix

Do you have any thoughts on Playwright? Aug 24, 2022

I wanted to know if you had the chance to try it and some of your thoughts on it!

Do you have any thoughts on Playwright?

Using cookie/privacy policies on personal websites Aug 23, 2022

Hi, I have a personal website and I am wondering if there's a need to add a privacy and cookie policy. I also want to know your suggestions or recommendations around cookie policy managers and privacy policy content. If I were to use a self hosted or public analytics solution like umami or google analytics, do I then need to add a privacy/cookie policy to my site or it's always required to do so especially because of GDPR.

Using cookie/privacy policies on personal websites

Leveling up your career while putting family first Aug 16, 2022

A question for Kent about spending time outside of work to learn new skills, while putting family first.

Leveling up your career while putting family first

Live loading data with remix Aug 15, 2022

To live load data when using a framework like Next.JS, I sometimes use swr or react query to do so. Since I am using the loaders in remix to initially load my data, how do I live load this data with remix, do I need to use swr/react-query with perhaps an api endpoint in my remix routes or is there a better way to fetch data from my remix loaders.

remix-sse-live-viewers

Live loading data with remix

Using VPN during software development Aug 12, 2022

Do you recommend the use of VPN when developing applications or is it something that should be left to the company, if the company requires it then you use it else there's no significant need for it.

Using VPN during software development

Why is there so much hate regarding React lately? Aug 11, 2022

Wanted to know Kent's thoughts around the hate around React lately.

Why is there so much hate regarding React lately?

Decomposing remix component Aug 10, 2022

Where do the red lines go when the file gets too big?

Decomposing remix component

Jump from mid level to senior react developer Aug 08, 2022

I was stuck being "mid" level developer from a long time and I would like to know how to become a senior developer.

Jump from mid level to senior react developer

React app doesn't work on IE11 Aug 05, 2022

React app that uses React library and transpiling through webpack and babel. It works on chrome and Edge and not on IE 11.

React app doesn't work on IE11

Using userEvent vs fireEvent Aug 04, 2022

Hey, it's been 2 years I started using RTL instead of Enzyme and recently I read your article about it and shared on Slack and that generated a huge thread with no conclusion, that's why I've asked on Twitter and now I'm doing the same here. Thanks

userEvent docs

Using userEvent vs fireEvent

useMemo vs React.Memo when it comes to JSX Aug 03, 2022

I was on the project with some really cool developers(ex Amazon) and I saw them using useMemo inside of the jsx, like this:

So my question would be, do you think this is good practice or would you rather use React.memo for these kind of things....

Fix the slow render before you fix the re-render

useMemo vs React.Memo when it comes to JSX

How to build a committed following Aug 02, 2022

Do you have some thoughts you want to share about why you stopped asking for calls on https://kcd.im/calls?

How to build a committed following

Learning Frontend Architecture Aug 01, 2022

I am just curious if you have any good, high-quality materials I can learn from about Frontend Architecture.

Learning Frontend Architecture

Querying the data in nested routes Jul 29, 2022

Any way to pass data we fetched in some parent route to children route. There are cases where routes will need a same data. For example post details to show on details page and edit modal. Also user data is almost required on all the segments

Example of useMatches in the stacks

Querying the data in nested routes

Nivo charts issue Jul 28, 2022

Nivo charts are not rendering in rtl render method.

Nivo charts issue

i18n and Remix Jul 27, 2022

Internationalization is an essential topic in many projects. However, as there is nothing about i18n in the official documentation, I wonder if you have any advice or best practices.

remix-i18next

i18n and Remix

Tests for accessible error messages Jul 26, 2022

Hi Kent!

My name is Jan. I'd like to ask you: How do you write tests for accessible error messages with testing library?

By accessible error messages, I mean, suppose you have a form with an input. You have a p tag which renders the error, if there is an error. And that p tag has an id.

And now you pass this p tags id to the input as a value for the aria-describedby property.

So far, I'm using byText to check for the existence of that error in my tests, but I was wondering whether there is a better query for that?

Thank you!

Custom Queries

Tests for accessible error messages

Asserting props.onClick in react-testing-library Jul 25, 2022

Should we assert on props.onClick while writing test cases in react-testing-library?

Testing Implementation Details

Asserting props.onClick in react-testing-library

CatchBoundary on empty datasets Jul 22, 2022

Is it a valid pattern to use CatchBoundary's on empty datasets, and is it perhaps recommended by the Remix team?

CatchBoundary on empty datasets

Remix Anti-patterns Jul 21, 2022

I'm building a new application with Remix and was curious if there were any emergent anti-patterns that you've seen appear in the community. Remix does a lot to structure the application, but sometimes it can feel like the initial structure isn't quite right or is missing some quality of life improvements.

Remix Anti-patterns

Why Framer Motion for Animations Jul 20, 2022

Why Framer Motion for animations?

Why Framer Motion for Animations

Lack of experience when problem solving Jul 19, 2022

Hey Kent, when you began working as a developer, did you face issues when problem solving as in getting stuck? How did you manage to get through those? Is there anything that helped you "think better" or "think clearer" to solve issues?

Lack of experience when problem solving

How to identify which button submits a form Jul 18, 2022

Which is the best way to know inside of an action function in Remix with which button a form was submitted

In this example the name is "action", but again I prefer to call this "intent": https://github.com/remix-run/remix/blob/d0d500849fbd87eace23bb3d479b7c556e314109/examples/multiple-forms/app/routes/invitations.tsx#L70-L75

How to identify which button submits a form

Thinking process when reviewing code Jul 15, 2022

Code review is an important practice and increases code quality as well as develops your dev team. What's your thinking process when starting to review a new pull request?

Thinking process when reviewing code

Do you read the React source code? Jul 14, 2022

Question about reading react sources in order to become a better programmer. Should one do this or it's not necessary at all. And if it's possible, give a clue, please, where to start to read and understand what's going on inside React library.

Do you read the React source code?

Isolate FE and BE apps vs Remix Full Stack Jul 13, 2022

Having things isolated from one another makes more sense to me since scaling the application would be easier to do.

Isolate FE and BE apps vs Remix Full Stack

Using Remix with a custom backend (Nestjs) Jul 12, 2022

Understanding why its good to continue to use server sider rendering with a custom backend and adding the extra middle layer for Remix to handle

Feedback speed in TDD Jul 11, 2022

What feedback speed should we aim for in a frontend test suite? What's too slow?

Understand what's effect and what is derived state Jul 09, 2022

How to understand what should be stored in the state and what should be derived from that state. And also how to understand there isn't need in useEffect hook.

https://kentcdodds.com/blog/dont-sync-state-derive-it

Order of Courses to Take Jul 06, 2022

What should be the order of courses that I should take?

State bloating vs api call (again and again) Jun 24, 2022

When a user enters the tab (btw it's a SPA) I call the api in useEffect and saving the response in redux store. May I know is it better approach to call the api again and again when the user leaves and enters the page? (In this case I see a flicker of loading every time) or storing the response in redux store (UX for this screen is good but is it harming the performance overall?) or storing the response in component state? (Is there any difference b/w this and above approach performance wise?)

Thanks again for this opportunity & Regards Rahimuddin

Separation of rendering vs logics custom hooks Jun 24, 2022

I recently joined a company where they use a lot of custom hooks for separating logics at the level of a component.

When to break up a component into multiple components

Imposter Syndrome and Working at FAANG Jun 24, 2022

Hello Kent, my name is Joshua Osagie, I'm a software developer focusing mostly on front-end dev (https://www.joshx.dev my portfolio website).

I made this call because you've been a big inspiration and model in my React/JavaScript journey. I've taken some of your courses on egghead.io and recently I told my boss about your EpicReact course.

I really appreciate what you're doing in the React/JS ecosystem, and I do hope you receive this recording.

Thank you!

In a Startup only testing in the backend? May 19, 2022

Startup says that we should be only testing on the backend, since the frontend is changing so fast, so no need to test the frontend, just a couple of integration tests.

Using GraphQL queries in Remix loader functions May 17, 2022

Hey Kent! We've been using Hasura to generate CRUD APIs for our small team. Our existing web applications are all using Next.js, and consume the GraphQL API via Apollo Client and TypeScript hooks generated from the remote schema using graphql-code-generator. This workflow has saved us a lot of time, particularly in API development, and I love the generated type-safe hooks. After watching your new Remix content, we're very excited to try Remix as an alternative to Next, mostly to leverage the performance benefits and the effortless error boundaries within nested routes. Do you have some best practices for utilizing GraphQL queries in Remix loader functions? It would be great for us to continue to take advantage of code generation, if possible. Thank you so much!

Links:

Servers + Databases + Remix May 17, 2022

I am trying to figure out my stack on the backend side of things for Remix, more specifically services that will allow my server side code to run at the edge be it the server itself or the database or both so that everyone everywhere can use my app at super fast speeds. There are not a lot of resources out there about the best services out there that do this and I am wondering if you have any suggestions where I can begin to look for such services

I love your website! ITS BEAUTIFUL. May 17, 2022

I love your website! ITS BEAUTIFUL.

How can I incentivize users to not share accounts? May 17, 2022

I would really prefer to use magic links for authentication rather than username/password. However, I'm running into an issue where several of our clients share a single account login which means many people logging in don't have access to the email inbox. We already don't charge per user, but have you come across this situation before? Any tips on how we can incentivize users to use individual accounts?

Could the useState be used without the setter? Dec 13, 2021

I have a question... could the useState be used without using the setter? because a teammate use it in that way to get an item from sessionStorage

const [initialScrollPosition] = useState(() => Number.parseFloat(sessionStorage.getItem('offset') || 0));

and argues that this is so that the component is not unnecessarily rerendered and to read the sessionStorage only once! 🤔 but I think we can use useMemo for those cases but the useState is still used in this form in several components.

useState lazy initialization and function updates

Best way to reset a form Dec 07, 2021

This is a question about: Improve the Performance of your React Forms

In the example, submitting the form successfully will still retain the current values of the fields.

I want the behavior such that"

when the server response says the form is NOT submitted successfully, then the form field will have the current values that has been inputted by the user
But when the server response says that the form is successfully submitted, then the form fields will be blank again.

What's do you think is the best and most performant (and readable) code to approach this in pure React? The approach which will reduce the amount of unnecessary rerenders of the fields?

Thank you!

Updated code sandbox

How to decide among advanced react patterns? Dec 02, 2021

So this short call is about when to use which advanced react pattern to create re-usable components. Like are there any indications or things that make you think about why one approach is better than the other.

Handling difficult co-workers and/or leadership Nov 29, 2021

Your thoughts on staying positive and patient with unfriendly co-workers and/or leadership, and how to handle when they are disrespectful towards you.

Use React frameworks (Remix) for SPAs Nov 19, 2021

There are many applications that consist mostly of a single page. Will we get any benefit if we use frameworks like Remix or Next.js for these?

Isolating tests Nov 17, 2021

I am using testing library to test my React app and one of my tests leaks or somehow affecting and causing another one to fail if they are in the same file. They work just fine in separate files. What can be the reason for this?

Versioning and dependency management for libraries Nov 15, 2021

How did you approach versioning and dependency management when you were building this reusable component library at PayPal? I would like to know 1. How did you go about introducing breaking changes? 2. How did you make sure that people are using the latest version of your library or it doesn’t matter if they are using the same version? What’s bad about having different teams using different versions of the same library?

Full stack framework vs front-end with saas Nov 12, 2021

I have a question with regards to building out a minimum viable product. I am comparing using a full stack framework like django, that includes authentication and arm’s and routing and all the batteries builtin, versus creating a react app with all the backend farmed out to saas offering like auth0 for auth and the millions of sql/nosql/graphql.

With django approach, you have simple dynamic pages with server side generation and when you’re ready you can separate out the frontend to something built with react, import django rest framework and have your backend api ready to go

With the saas approach you can just focus on the front-end and scale as much as you want. And then build your own custom services to reduce costs when you’re ready. But you have to deal with integrating all those saas services to your application.

Remix Docs

Learning Gaps & Cluelessness as a Developer Nov 10, 2021

Hello Kent, I learnt software development in a self-taught path and I really didn't do a good job (Now I know) because when I hear words like Serverless and others, I don't have the first clue what they are talking about. In summary, I'm clueless about a lot of things and I need help.

Alfred and/or ScriptKit? Nov 06, 2021

Your thoughts on Alfred and ScriptKit.

Why React JS? Nov 05, 2021

We're observing a lot of feedback about React and started to think "why". Why not Svetle or Vue? Why not something else.

And it's also inspired by what you have put on the epicreact.dev landing page about why React is awesome.

One of the good examples for more context please read: https://dev.to/jfbrennan/really-why-react-5958

Bailing out of re-rendering in useState Nov 05, 2021

If useState contains a simple value like string or int, setting a new value that is the same as the existing value will not cause the component to re-render. However, if useState contains an object and I update the state with a new object that contains the exact same values, it will trigger the component to re-render. The React documentation says that is used Object.is to compare values. My 2 objects are identical, so why does the re-render happen?

useState lazy initialization and function updates

Remix Styling w/CSS in JS Nov 04, 2021

Trying to figure out whether a CSS in JS approach will take a significance performance hit when using Remix, and whether it would be better to stick to remote and plain stylesheets.

Also wondering whether Remix has any Babel-like class naming structure, or if there might be support for Babel in the future.

Learning web development the right way Nov 03, 2021

As web developers, we come across a lot of topics and want to build a solid foundation on them. We also need to know what to focus on at certain stages in our journey.

Testing a Drag and Drop Experience Nov 02, 2021

Can I test drag and drop with React Testing library?

Protected route and redirect after payment Oct 27, 2021

Hey Kent,

Thanks for the chance to ask you a question. This is about protected route and 3rd party payment flow, ending in a re-direct back to my website. The user would need to re-login again. How to avoid that?

Making changes on a new team Oct 26, 2021

As a designer/developer on a new team, where I'm also the most experienced, but haven't been given the path to recommending change wherever necessary. In other words, I was brought on to be an individual contributor, not specifically a consultant, although it's very obvious in many places that the app lacked a designer, and that the code lacked senior developers. For context, they don't do JavaScript testing because "the team was new when we started and we wanted them to get off and running." So the question is how one can implement change, and be a useful consultant to make the product better for the user, but do so diplomatically. Or does one just do one's job and not make suggestions?

Business and Engineering alignment

Building an Open Source Website Oct 26, 2021

We are looking to build an open source website for students of our organization in college. What are some tips that can help with the building and management of such a project.

Question about testing alongside RTL Oct 25, 2021

We use RTL at work and I also use it for personal project. I understand what RTL is and what it isn't. My question is what are you using alongside RTL in terms of frontend testing? At work I'm pondering implementing Visual Regression testing on a large React application to cover things like unwanted CSS changes, but am also afraid of the overhead. Also, have you found any times that unit testing > RTL?

Create web components in React Oct 22, 2021

I wonder if you have any thoughts about creating web components in React.

Magic links require timely email delivery Oct 20, 2021

When relying solely on passwordless magic links for signing users in to your application, you make the timely delivery of these links to people's inboxes a critical dependency for using your app. Though unlikely, it's not impossible that a mail service provider experiences an outage blocking your users for logging in. Less dramatic, but equally likely, your application might get throttled which could cause these login emails to arrive after the included links have already expired. What are your thoughts on this?

Some advice for developers about the design Oct 20, 2021

I wonder how you created the design for kentcdodds.com.It would be great if some resources or tips are shared.

Design for Developers by Sarah Drasner
Refactoring UI by Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger

Pricing low-demand workshops Oct 20, 2021

How should I think about pricing a workshop when demand for it is low? I enjoy the topic so I'm happy to teach it, and I want to be paid fairly for my time, but I don't expect to get much re-sale value out of it.

Why XState? Oct 19, 2021

I see you use XState on your new website. Why and how do you use it? Are there any best practices and pitfalls?

Implementing a simple state machine library in JavaScript

Forms in React Oct 19, 2021

What do you use for dealing with forms in React?

Improve the Performance of your React Forms

How small should components be Oct 19, 2021

I was wondering how to decide when the html is too trivial to turn into a component. For example turning msg into a component. Maybe it's useful for styled components? Thanks

When to break up a component into multiple components

Using Fly.io Replays Oct 18, 2021

Finding out more about the best places to use Fly.io's request replays, when to use it and when not to use it.

How I built a modern website in 2021

Why is forwardRef required to limit re-renders? Oct 18, 2021

In the "Fix perf death by a thousand cuts" exercise in the Epic React Performance workshop, extra credit 3 "write an HOC to get a slice of app state": why is forwarding the ref in the HOC required to actually prevent all the Cells from re-rendering?

Traditional logins vs. passwordless magic links Oct 14, 2021

Your website currently uses magic links to sign in users. This seems to be a completely secure method of authentication, yet is still quite uncommon compared to the traditional username + password combo's. Why do you think that is? If it's just as secure, or perhaps more secure, how can we improve adoption of this method?

How I built a modern website in 2021 (I've got a section in here that describes the auth flow)

How to plan curriculum Oct 13, 2021

I need some tips to write a course and suggestions to choose the app idea, decompose it into lessons, things to focus on, deploy the app and writing tests.

Why Remix over other React frameworks? Oct 12, 2021

What brings you to Remix over other React frameworks like Next and Gatsby? Remix is going open source soon so I'd love to pad my excitement even further with knowing truly what it brings over its competitors.

What did paypal-scripts do? Oct 11, 2021

I'd like to learn more about paypal-scripts. What tasks did the package cover: linting, transpiling, CI, deploy, etc. Please share any advice you can about starting a similar toolkit.

What are your thoughts on Svelte? Oct 09, 2021

Cam asks Kent his thoughts on the uprising JS framework, Svelte.

Remix

Where did those diagrams come from? Oct 09, 2021

I wonder how you created those architecture diagrams with that hand drawn feel to them.

Filling CS concept holes as a non-CS major? Oct 07, 2021

I come from non-CS background, MIS. Since you also come from a non-CS background, did you find that you needed to fill in any holes in your knowledge to get to where you are today?

How to buy for EpicReact in "installments" Oct 06, 2021

Epic React has been on my radar ever since you started teasing it on Twitter. To me it feels like a "must have" that I "can't have". Obviously, it has a pretty hefty price tag, which I'm sure it more than warrants. But because of that price tag, it becomes unaffordable to me personally, and with my workplace being quite small, they're not always as forthcoming as I'd hope when it comes to paying for something like this either.

I was wondering if you've ever considered adding payment options to your courses to make them more affordable in the short term, allowing people like me to pay over several months, potentially via a service similar to ClearPay or Klarna, or whatever else is out there!

I'm sure there are more intricacies to something like this, but would love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks!

EpicReact.dev Credits

Best approach for building headless components Oct 06, 2021

Which of the approaches you have talked about (prop getters & compound components) is best for building UI-free components? Inspired by this thread.

P.S. I think you should definitely rename prop getters to the IKEA pattern.

Cypress Component Testing Library vs Jest Sep 28, 2021

Libraries comparison: pros and cons of cypress Component Testing Library vs RTL

Cypress Testing Library

How does Remix manage many CSS files in a page? Sep 24, 2021

That’s a follow-up question to Call Kent Podcast 09 “How to style?"

Did you mention on "Call Kent Podcast 09 - How to style?" the remix capability to get the link tags removed from the page when the route is no longer active and with that, the styles could get removed as well, helping to avoid CSS clashes.

How does Remix manage situations where the page that is active has multiple components, and those components are using different CSS files and potentially changing the same selector style (both could be changing the p tag)? Or even if the page itself is using multiple CSS files?

How does remix manage situations where it needs to handle multiple CSS files that need to be used on the page that is active and it still needs to avoid clashes?

Thanks for answering, Kent!

Mirage JS over MSW? Sep 23, 2021

Want to see what would be your opinions regarding MirageJs and if it could be a potential replacement of MSW.

Work Life Balance Sep 22, 2021

There's no doubt that Kent C. Dodds is a top teacher on the web helping people write quality software. What does the work life balance look like for someone at this level? How can one continuously be on top of the latest changes on the web, while maintaining that work life balance.

How much of seniority is about code skills? Sep 21, 2021

Coming up with a huge precedence from testingjavascript people can tend to come up with unfair expectations for other content such as "Epic React", I would love to hear your thoughts on what to expect from your content while looking for seniority levels

Firm skills Sep 20, 2021

Question about documentation / tests / naming convention as an important software engineer skill

How to style? Sep 19, 2021

Nowadays, we have a bunch of approaches that we can take to style our applications, like: pure CSS, pre-processors, CSS Modules, utilities, component UI’s, CSS in JS and for some of them, we have another bunch of libraries that we can choose as well. Sometimes we can get lost in the middle of them trying to find the better one for our needs.

What do you take into consideration when choosing an approach to style?

Do you think that some use cases fit better in one approach than in another?

Is there a particular approach that you believe is ahead of the rest? Or do you prefer?

So, how to style?

SSG Hype Sep 15, 2021

Why do you think there’s still so much hype around JamStack and SSG, when form submissions and server redirects for data mutations tend to work better a lot of the time? There’s not a lot of ecosystem interest (outside of Remix) to lean on this baked-in superpower of the web, and I find that interesting. This is less about the tech, and more about the psychology in the JS ecosystem. Maybe it’s a funding or marketing thing?
next-runtime

Managing Burnout Sep 10, 2021

I’ve been feeling burned out lately and wanted to hear how do you deal with it.

Make It Stick: Interleave Curves Sep 07, 2021

In the book Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. They suggest that for mastery of a subject you should be using interleave curves. The analogy given in the book to explain that is while practicing baseball you should be switching between straight and curveballs instead of doing just one or the other. What does that look like in practice while studying a topic?

What is the best way to go through EpicReact? Sep 07, 2021

As a self taught dev who is looking to get their first job in the industry, how do you think the best way to balance this course and personal projects is? What do you think is the best use of my time as a developer to not only gain the most from this course, but also show off and apply the knowledge.

How do you find new technology Sep 06, 2021

Asking Kent for insight into how he finds new technologies to use for his projects.

Zero to 60 in Software Development: How to Jumpstart Your Career - Forward 4 Web Summit

Difference in methods emanating from screen and render Sep 03, 2021

What’s the difference between `screen.getByText` and `const { getByText } = render()`
More generically - what’s the difference between methods originating from these different objects

Common mistakes with React Testing Library - Not Using Screen

Dealing with "act" warning on react testing Sep 03, 2021

So I have a MainComponent, inside there are some “remote” components like OfficeSelect, that fetches data asynchronously on mount, using axios, everytime I test MainComponent I get the “act” warning on that OfficeSelect fetch, how do I deal with that?

Fix the “not wrapped in act(…)” warning

Reusing components between different projects Sep 03, 2021

bit.dev is one option I’ve considered, but I’m curious what you would do.

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