Acknowledgements

Writing a book is hard (let’s go shopping). And while this isn’t a big book, I’m amazed at how much work—by so many people—has gone into it.

I’d like to thank Michael Nolan, who saw writing potential in me nine years ago, and again last year when I finally had the mental space to jump into the deep end and try. A friendly man with impeccable taste in authors.

A huge thanks to Margaret Anderson, Secret Weapon of Authors™, who was this book’s emergency power supply. Margaret is half psychologist, half development editor, half mental coach, and half project manager. But wait, you say. That’s four ha—yup. Indeed. Margaret made my first trek into book-writing territory as painless as it could be. It only hurts when I laugh.

Thanks also to copy editor Gretchen Dykstra, who spiced up all my boring black text by adding red. Lots and lots of red. Gretchen taught me lots about the English language, especially the fact that I don’t know how to write it. I think it should become public knowledge that authors are only as good as their copy editors.

A huge thank you to Charlene Will for this book’s design. Also Rebecca Winter, Patricia Pane, Danielle Foster, Jack Lewis, and the rest of the Peachpit/New Riders team. An incredible amount of work done by a bunch of friendly and talented people.

But that’s not all. Oh, no, that’s not all. Many thanks to . . .

Jake Archibald, eerily talented developer, for agreeing to tech edit this book for me. I chose him because of his superior knowledge, friendly demeanor, and politically incorrect humor. He repaid me by telling me that my JavaScript should be more JavaScripty. What does that even mean? He’s an oracle.

Ana Nelson, author of Dexy, which now plays an important role in my work. Thanks to Ana for spending suspicious amounts of time with me on Skype answering all of my questions, and even adding stuff to Dexy so it could accommodate my bizarre use cases. She even taught me a little Python along the way. I’m the first official Ana Nelson fanboy; group therapy awaits.

Ethan Marcotte, distinguished gentleman of web design, for his wonderful foreword. He has inspired me for years.

Tim Kadlec, who had just finished his book and was my big example and took all my questions gracefully. Bruce Lawson, for recommending the Secret Weapon™. Aarron Walter, Mike Rohde, and Travis Holmes for their image contributions.

And all those who have inspired my work—whether they know it or not—in person, online, during conversations, or through their great work. These include Stephanie and Bryan Rieger, Jeremy Keith, Scott Jehl, Christian Heilmann, Remy Sharp, Brad Frost, Lyza Danger Gardner, Karen McGrane, Jason Grigsby, Kristina Halvorson, Peter-Paul Koch, Krijn Hoetmer, Jennifer Robbins, Robert Jan Verkade, Marrije Schaake, Bert Bos, Luke Wroblewski, Vasilis van Gemert, and many, many others. I’m privileged to call some of these people my friends.

My mother and my sister, of course, who are always encouraging, and to my father, who would have loved to see this book come to be.

My beautiful, wonderful kids, for having lost some free time with me and for having put up with some serious moodiness on my part.

And finally, Marjolein, my partner in crime. Her support, advice, love, and encouragement are ultimately the reason these words are in print.