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Crayons & Code

This is fine

Why the front-end foundation matters. A keynote on maintainability, technical debt, and building sites that last - not just ship fast and regret later.

Accessibility and performance get the headlines - but they sit on top of something else: quality. The choices we make at the start decide whether a site is a joy to work on or a rescue job in two years.

This keynote is about building sites that last. Maintainability, technical debt, standards, and why "we'll fix it later" usually means "we never will". It ties together why the front-end foundation matters for everyone - and how to stop shipping fast and regretting faster.

What's in the talk?

  • Why "this is fine" isn't a strategy (and what "quality" actually means)
  • Technical debt - where it comes from and what it really costs
  • How accessibility and performance are part of quality, not add-ons
  • Standards, maintainability, and "building it right" without gold-plating
  • Rescue vs rebuild - and how to avoid being the rescue story
  • Practical choices teams can make today

Who's it for?

  • Developers - front-end, full-stack or back-end, at any level
  • Designers - especially those working on UI, UX or digital products
  • Product managers - balancing features, deadlines and long-term health
  • Agencies and in-house teams - who've lived through "we'll fix it later"
  • Anyone working in digital - because quality is everyone's responsibility

It's open to all experience levels, and all job roles. Especially useful if you've ever inherited a codebase and wondered what the previous team were thinking.

Book me

  • Remote or in-person. It'll take roughly an hour in-person and usually more like 45 minutes remotely - plus additional time for Q&A.
  • Yorkshire-based but I'll travel if the event feels right and the location is do-able. And if there's good pizza/burgers and a captive audience.

Book me

Tech setup

  • If it's under bright lights, please let me know so I can wear shorts.
  • I run it from Keynote on my MacBook. USB-C works best.
  • If you need me to bring extra cables or stuff, please let me know!

Availability

Next full project start: March 2026.
Small jobs: 3 to 7 days. Capacity: up to 14 hours per week.