Austin Hagel

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Stories & Insights


Stories, ideas and perspectives.

  • A misty purple sunrise over a calm river with weeping willow trees along the bank
    Career

    Mar 22, 2026

    Things I Wish I Knew Starting Out

    Not a framework tutorial or a learning roadmap — just the meta-lessons about how to learn and grow as a developer that took me too long to figure out.

  • A busy beach scene viewed through a stone archway, with sunbathers, swimmers, and a pier in the background
    Accessibility

    Mar 18, 2026

    Keyboard Accessibility Basics

    The minimum every web developer should know about keyboard navigation, focus management, and ARIA — with concrete patterns you can apply today.

  • A woman with hair blowing in the wind standing on a rooftop with a city skyline behind her
    Performance

    Mar 12, 2026

    Web Performance Fundamentals

    Core Web Vitals explained, the highest-leverage optimizations for most sites, and how to measure what actually matters.

  • Overhead view of two plates of crepes with strawberries and almond slices, beside a honey dipper
    DevOps

    Mar 5, 2026

    Git Workflows That Actually Work

    The branching strategy, commit discipline, and rebase habits that have made my solo and team projects much less painful to maintain.

  • An egg cracked into a bowl of flour surrounded by baking ingredients including bread, eggs, and a whisk
    CSS

    Feb 25, 2026

    Dark Mode Done Right

    A complete approach to dark mode: respecting system preference, avoiding flash on load, persisting choices, and animating the transition.

  • A woman in a bucket hat sitting on a rooftop terrace with a city skyline behind her, holding a slice of watermelon
    Performance

    Feb 19, 2026

    Canvas Animation Performance: What Actually Matters

    How to keep canvas animations smooth at 60fps, from requestAnimationFrame basics to OffscreenCanvas and when to stop drawing entirely.

  • Hands cradling a white cup of black coffee
    CSS

    Feb 10, 2026

    CSS Grid Layout Techniques Worth Knowing

    A handful of CSS Grid patterns that go beyond the basics, including the breakout grid, auto-fill vs auto-fit, and subgrid.

  • A field of lavender flowers in full bloom
    TypeScript

    Jan 28, 2026

    TypeScript Patterns I Actually Use

    Not exhaustive, not academic — just the TypeScript patterns that come up in my work repeatedly and earn their keep.