How leaders can get to where the work happens and take part in business decisions on GitHub.
As I write this, the front page of GitHub.com declares in big bold letters that this is “Where the world builds software.” This is true. In technology companies today, the creation of your product is largely happening where your developers spend time. It’s where big and small product decisions are made every day — the kind of decisions that, wittingly or not, will decide the future of your company.
I’m writing this guide for a very specific person — possibly you, or someone you know. I’ll explain how a non-technical business leader can find information and take part in the…
Let’s create a client-side search index
Yes, you can have an interactive search feature on your static site! No need for servers or paid subscriptions here. Thanks to the open source Lunr and the power of the Hugo static site generator, you can create a client-side search index with just a template and some JavaScript.
A number of my readers have been kind enough to tell me that you find my blog useful, but there’s something that you don’t know. Up until I recently implemented a search feature, I had been my own unhappiest user.
My blog exists for all to read, but it’s also my…
Announcing the release of a new version of the OWASP WSTG.
I’m very happy and proud to share that the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) Web Security Testing Guide v4.2 is now available! This update is the result of a lot of hard work by the repository team and many dedicated contributors. With a team like this, I’m honored to be a core maintainer and co-author.
Here’s a reprint of the announcement I wrote for owasp.org. If you’re interested in security testing for web applications and APIs, this is an update you’ll definitely want to check out!
You can become a contributor yourself by joining us on GitHub!
The OWASP…
Building a responsive website with color themes? Better start at the root
If you happen to visit my website, you may notice I’ve spruced it up a bit. Victoria.dev can now better respond to your devices and preferences!
Here’s how to use CSS media queries and custom properties to improve your visitor’s browsing experience with just a few lines of CSS.
Catering to Color Preferences
The prefers-color-scheme media feature can be queried to serve up your user’s color scheme of choice. The light option is the go-to version if no active preference is set, and it has decent support across modern browsers.
Additionally, users reading on certain devices can also set light and dark color themes…
How to build your own newsletter list with DynamoDB and SES email signup confirmations
Here’s how I lovingly built a subscription signup flow with email confirmation that doesn’t suck. You can too.
Introducing Simple Subscribe
If you’re interested in managing your own mailing list or newsletter, you can set up Simple Subscribe on your own AWS resources to collect email addresses. This open source API is written in Go and runs on AWS Lambda. Visitors to your site can sign up to your list, which is stored in a DynamoDB table and ready to be queried or exported at your leisure.
When someone signs up, they’ll receive an email asking them to confirm their subscription. This is…
Which one should you be using? Why Wi-Fi security matters.
Setting up new Wi-Fi? Picking the type of password you need can seem like an arbitrary choice. After all, WEP, WPA, WPA2, and WPA3 all have mostly the same letters in them. A password is a password, so what’s the difference?
About 60 seconds to billions of years, as it turns out.
All Wi-Fi encryption is not created equal. Let’s explore what makes these four acronyms so different, and how you can best protect your home and organization Wi-Fi.
Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)
In the beginning, there was WEP.
Basic security best practices to share with your non-technical friend.
Readers of my blog typically know more about technology and cybersecurity than most people. This article is for most people. If someone you know could benefit from a simple and straightforward cybersecurity starter pack, please share this article with them — it benefits everyone!
My articles are evergreen, but this note is not. If you’re reading this, it means you can still get 3 extra months free with ExpressVPN for Black Friday.
If you’ve ever said to yourself:
“There’s no one targeting lil ol’ me.”
“I have nothing to hide, anyway.”
“I’m too busy to learn all this stuff. Why…
The lesser-known risks of ISPs and why I chose ExpressVPN.
Most people know that a VPN is meant to protect your privacy on public or open Wi-Fi. A lesser-known purpose is to protect your privacy right in your own home, from your own internet service provider (ISP).
A set of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules entitled “Protecting the Privacy of Customers of Broadband and Other Telecommunications Services” were unfortunately struck down in 2017. These rules would have prevented ISPs from using and selling your sensitive personal data, such as precise geographic location, health and financial information, web browsing history, and even the content of the messages you send.
I’m not…
How to write tests for your Django applications that boost your team and are actually useful
If you regard writing tests as a lame checkbox task, nothing could be farther from the truth. Done correctly, tests are one of your application’s most valuable assets.
The Django framework, in particular, offers your team the opportunity to create an efficient testing practice based on the Python standard library unittest. Proper tests in Django are fast to write, faster to run, and can offer you a seamless continuous integration solution for taking the pulse of your developing application.
With comprehensive tests, developers have higher confidence when pushing changes. I’ve seen firsthand in my own teams that good tests can…
Using Makefiles, pre-commit hooks, and GitHub Actions to help create a happy development team
Do you want your team to enjoy your development workflow? Do you think building software should be fun and existentially fulfilling? If so, this is the article for you!
I’ve been developing with Django for years, and I’ve never been happier with my Django project setup than I am right now. Here’s how I’m making a day of developing with Django the most relaxing and enjoyable experience possible for myself and my engineering team.
A Custom CLI Tool for Your Django Project
Instead of typing:
python3 -m venv env
source env/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
python3 manage.py makemigrations
python3 manage.py migrate
python3 manage.py collectstatic
python3 manage.py runserver
Victoria Drake
Director of Engineering. Core maintainer, OWASP Web Security Testing Guide. Only a small slice of my posts are here. Get the full pie 👉 https://victoria.dev
