Off and on over the past few months, I’ve been planning and working on a new project that is now ready to launch: Web Tools Weekly, a (you guessed it) weekly email newsletter targeted at front-end developers, with a special focus on tools.
This is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a unique idea. As many of us know, there are lots of options in the recent web dev newsletter boom.
And although many of the current popular choices for email newsletters include a number of useful tools, I felt that it would be cool to have a newsletter that is primarily focused on tools, without links to articles and tutorials like the rest of the weeklies.
What Exactly Qualifies as a “Tool”?
For the purposes of this newsletter, a “tool” is pretty much anything that helps developers solve a specific problem or be more productive. Of course, you could say that about an article, a coding technique, or a tutorial. But in this case, I’m using the term “tool” to refer generally to things that might include:
- Scripts
- Libraries
- Frameworks
- APIs
- Web apps
- Mobile apps
- Desktop apps
- Editors/IDEs
- Plugins
- Extensions
- Performance/Build/Deploy/Testing tools… etc.
The newsletter will also occasionally include specialized docs, style guides, books, podcasts, and even other newsletters, if I deem them appropriate. I will also occasionally have “themed” issues where all the tools listed will be specifically in one area (e.g. an issue with CSS-based tools).
Not Just a List
The main part of most issues will be the themed or categorized list of tools. But it won’t just be a list or round-up. Most issues will have a quick tip or brief tutorial discussing some aspect of front-end development.
It could be a CSS tip, an aspect of one of the HTML5 APIs, a JavaScript tip, or even a quick tip regarding a specific app or other tool from a previous issue. So the newsletter won’t just be a dry list with copy/paste descriptions.
Suggest Your Tool via Twitter
The first issue is just about ready, but if you’d like your project included in an upcoming issue, you can do so by sending a tweet to @WebToolsWeekly with a link to the project. No need for a description or details, just send the link and I’ll include it if I feel it fits what I’m looking for.
I want to do my best to ensure these are projects that I personally can understand to some degree. This will allow me to write a brief, but honest, little blurb about each tool, whenever possible.
Will This Be Littered with Ads?
No, absolutely not. In fact, I am going to attempt to sustain this on voluntary donations alone, and have zero advertisements. There will be a per-issue reminder of how you can contribute, which will point to the donate page, with pay options. But this is a free newsletter and I don’t expect every subscriber to give a donation.
Unfortunately, curating a project like this every week will be time-consuming. I’m sure there will be weeks skipped. So when the subscriber base grows, I may resort to advertisements if I deem it necessary. But the current goal is for Web Tools Weekly to remain ad-free indefinitely.
If you’re interested, visit Web Tools Weekly to subscribe. The first issue will likely be sent out next week.
The best from Louis. Thanks for it
Cool! Signed up. I will be sending you stuff from my http://flippinawesome.org site as it seems relevant.
Cool, sounds good, Brian. I’ll have to subscribe to your RSS feed there.
Thanks for the tool suggestions on what qualifies for a tool. It gave me a good list simple list to use. Thanks