I'm James โ€” a UI Developer and Digital Accessibility Specialist based in the North West.

Welcome to my digital space. Somewhere I can post the occasional thought or learning, and a place to practice my writing. I'm very much 'front-of-the-front-end' and have a passion for HTML, CSS, UI/UX, accessibility, and performance. Outside of work I love to run, hike, and cook.

What am I up to?

Enjoying

I've recently moved back to my hometown Kirkby Lonsdale. Returning (a lot) older and wiser has given me a new appreciation of how beautiful it is around here. So I'm currently:

  • Following a running traning plan
  • Getting out walking
  • Strength training to aid the running
  • Trying out different places to work
  • Starting to write a little more regularly
  • Volunteering with local community groups and charities. So far I've helped out a local jumble sale and a community food center
  • Speaking to a transformation coach on how I can help shift my mindset
  • Preparing to start a new role ๐ŸŽ‰

Learning

Before I start my new role, I'm keeping myself busy and in a routine with a mixture of using tools and tech I'll be building with and learning more about the setup I have on this site:

  • Learning more about Eleventy, Netlify and Decap CMS
  • Brushing up on my templating language skills
  • Doing some UI design practice work to improve Figma skills
  • Trying to figure out the confusing world of Linkedin. There are some nice communities and knowledge on there, but I was often feeling worse after visiting

Making

I'm wrapping up on a couple of projects in anticipation of starting my new role:

  • Helping a friend out with a React/TypeScript/Dato project
  • Building a site I designed as part of a skill swap arrangement, hopefully launching very soon

Reading

With a litte bit more free time, I'm trying to get into the habbit of putting some time aside to read regularly. So these books are currently on my side-table/list. They are a mixture of wellbeing, self-help and tech books.

Recent Articles

A mix of development related articles, thoughts and notes.

  1. Speaking at CAN

  2. Netlify CMS content cursor fix

  3. Google Slides accessibility checker

See all articles

Speaking and Writing

I am passionate about speaking and writing on a variety of topics. Particularly around accessibility, front-end development, performance and UI.

  • Accessibility and Content Creation

    A short lightning talk at the June 2025 Champions of Accessibility Network (CAN) meetup. Based on my experinces at digitial agencies and trying to bridge the gap between product handover and external content teams in relation to accessibility awareness.

    View the Accessibility and Content Creation deck on Google Slides

  • Testing Accessibility

    A shared talk with Enik Jonas at a QA Beginners Club meetup around the importance of testing accessibility, alongside some tips and techniques. I also gave a version of this talk solo at McrFRED #81.

    View the Testing Accessibility talk on YouTube

  • 5 HTML elements, And a partridge in a despair tree

    An article written for the 2022 HTMHell advent calendar. Spotlighting 5 HTML elements and how much you get for free with them compared to complex custom solutions.

    View the 5 HTML elements, And a partridge in a despair tree article on HTMHell

  • Accessibility Champions: Trying to create an accessibility culture

    A talk given at Manchester Tech Festival 2023. Using my accessibility champions journey at Code Computerlove.

  • Start with the fundamentals

    A talk given at a Junior Developer Careers community meetup. Highlighting the importance of learning the fundementals when starting a front end career, HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

  • Culture leads to conformance

    My first ever public talk for Human Centered Design (HCD) Manchester. Filled with nerves and learned so much since and from it.

Recent Journals

Articles on being active, wellbeing, life, and more.

  1. A bit of validation

  2. An old recipe book

  3. Back ont hills

See all journal items

Featured Projects

All source code can be viewed on my (previous) Github.

  1. Design and development of a small marketing site for a transformation coach.

  2. A fan site for this years Great British Bake Off series. Built with Astro and designed in the browser.

  3. A pointless fan site for the 2021 Great British Bake Off series. A chance to play with Astro, design in browser and use GSAP again.

  4. The simple todo app that nobody asked for or needed. Built with Electron and Vue.

  5. A less than regular personal walking blog.

  6. The answer to the most important question every Wednesday and Saturday. Is veggie man here?