A Web Thanksgiving

Here in the United States it’s Thanksgiving, which means it’s time to list the things I’m grateful for and then pretend like they don’t exist and take them for granted for another year.

But hey, being grateful one time is better than no times #amirite?

But seriously, in the spirit of Thanksgiving I wanted to take a moment to fire off a quick post listing the things I’m grateful for—however cliche—that pop into my head as a I set a timer to write.

So, with that said, here’s a quick list of things (and by extension people, since it’s people who make the things) I’m grateful for:

• RSS, as it remains the best technology in my life for following the writing of people online.
• People like Piper who use their blogs in such interesting and personal ways, intermixing the professional and personal to show the rounded nature of being human. We’re all more than our professions and interests.
• Silvio Rizzi, maker of Reeder. I’ve never met them, but I’ve used this tool for time immemorial and love it to death.
• Netlify and whoever the person was internally that advocated to sponsor my account (meaning I get free hosting beyond the free tier). That was very kind and I want to find that person and give them a hug, but also I’m a tiny paranoid they might take away my free status if they found out how much bandwidth and free analytics I’m getting.
• All the people behind readability.js and Mercury Parser. I love those tools, love that they’re open source, and love that they’re written in JavaScript.
• The CSS authors who had enough foresight to put font weights in increments of 100. That looks incredibly smart now with variable fonts.
• People like @swyx and @davatron5000 on twitter, who have such a friendly, encouraging, approachable online presence. Also that their DMs are always open to my random questions and the gracious gift of their time and attention to respond.
• Speaking of twitter, kind folks like Sarah and Eric who take the time to tweet when they find something they like. In contrast, I too often enjoy something alone and then move on—as if human connection and meaning exists on its own and can endure in a vacuum. I appreciate folks who actively try to encourage and surface Good Stuff™.
• People like Tyler who have taken the time to have video calls with me. Sometimes just to catch up, sometimes to lend their wisdom, and sometimes just to lend and ear and hear me complain.
• Projects like metalsmith and the people involved in them like @woodyrew who just chug along, answering questions and providing support in a niche community that is not the juggernaut world of React. I’ve unproportionately benefited from the time and passion of people like this.
• People I’ve worked with for over a decade now, like Garret and Tim. More than any project, I’m proud of all the people I’ve worked with through the years.
• Longtime web people, like adactio and beep. I read HTML5 and RWD forever ago and found their writing years ahead of my thinking. Their writing, no matter the date, somehow always feels years ahead of my thinking and experience.
• People in tech like Jen, who see, call attention to, and draw out the humanity in us nerds.

And last of all: you, dear reader. Whoever and wherever you are in the world, I’m grateful you made it to the end of my thanksgiving post. Might I encourage you to create your own list of gratitude? I found writing this post a good exercise in being mindful of the things and people who make my life better.