ποΈSession 3: Developer Tooling
April
We spend so much of our time at work. It can be great to take a little time to make our workspace fun.
Session goal: Customize part of your developer tools, such as your IDE, terminal, or keyboard. Bonus: Share your customization with others by publishing, blogging, or making a how-to video.
IDE UI Customization
VS Code
JetBrains / IntelliJ
Atom
VIM
Emacs
Terminal
Those of us who work in the terminal often have set up a custom file that runs when the terminal instantiates. Bash users may use .profile or .bashrc. Zsh users typically use .zshrc.Did you know you can also add some creative customizations to your terminal?
Check out these links for some inspiration:
ASCII Art Resources
Keyboard
Software for Keyboard Remapping
OS X
Windows
Linux
Hardware
Mechanical keyboards are growing in popularity due to their customizability and quality. Be warned they are an investment, but if you'd like to learn more, check out the following links. (Links to businesses are provided for educational purposes and are not endorsements)
Switches
The mechanical part of the key that controls the raising and lowering is called a "switch." Different switches have different feels. Some are loud and clicky, while others are silent. Some are tactile, others are smooth. The following podcast gives a sense of how various keys perform:
https://www.zsa.io/tisha-talks-switches/
Mechanical Keyboard stores in Tokyo
Custom Keys
Some people even make their own special keys using materials like resin. Here's a video of the process!
Creators
Sailor Mercury
One of the most prolific creators of kawaii-tech tooling. She creates everything from Keyboard caps to VS Code Themes
fairyfloss - Visual Studio Marketplace
Cassidy Williams
Partnered with Sailor Mercury on Keycaps, as well as creating a few others:
Massdrop x Hasbro Scrabble Keyboard
And the April Foolβs Stack Overflow key:
Chiamaka Ikeanyi
Chiamaka wrote some great tutorials on customizing your terminal (see above)
Mina Markham
She's created Design Systems for US Presidential candidates and is a keynote speaker.
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