When I was a child, I was fascinated by the PBS show The Woodwright’s Shop. If you haven’t seen the show, the host Roy Underhill makes amazing projects out of wood using manual hand tools. A significant portion of the show featured Mr. Underhill crafting his own tool to aid him in upcoming projects. For some reason, the tool making was my favorite part of the show. As a front end developer I have used plenty of boilerplates and frameworks in my work. If you have ever used one you know that they come with advantages and disadvantages.  Recently, I was inspired to build my own toolkit to replace *off the shelf* web boilerplates. The results are a better understanding of the code, and ultimately, a cleaner finished product. The Woodwright’s Shop was full of wonderful tools, both custom-made and hand-me-downs. The shop’s collection could not be purchased at the local Home Depot. it was collected and crafted over time … Continue reading →