The 2013 Gift Guide for Web People
Here’s a little secret: I love these lists. I love writing them, I love reading them, and I love buying stuff, so I love researching them. Plus, 2013 is a great year for web development and technology. Responsive Design is now in full swing as it’s pretty much standard practice to build a responsive site by default now. Great people like @wilto are pushing the standards fight forward for responsive images, there are great podcasts, and more. Shopping for web people shouldn’t be a difficult task, but I’d like to narrow it down for you. This list isn’t just going to be a list of books, or even a list of computer things. It’s going to be a list of stuff I like, and that I think other web people will also like.
I love bags like this and have quite a collection, but I’m in the market for a new one that’s a bit sturdier than what I have now. The one linked above is recommended by @beep himself, and it looks great. It might even be my first post-Christmas purchase.
These notebooks are fantastic. I have one in my back pocket at all times to jot down random todos, ideas, contact info, and more. I’ll also do “thumbnail sketches” for sites if the inspiration hits. I’m linking to the entire shop because there are a wealth of notebooks and other products (pens, cases, etc) to accompany them. Every time I get an email from them, I assume I’m going to spend money.
A good pen is needed if you’re going to have a notebook on you at all times. My favorite are the Retro 51 pens. I found out about them through Disney (Retro 51 did an annual for them for a while) and absolutely love them. The link goes to get a general search page on Amazon. The one I’ve been eyeing up lately is the Tornado Bocote.
PRO Account on Dribbble or CodePen
Pro accounts are all the rage these days, and two great communities for web folks are Dribbble (for designers) and CodePen (for developers). A Pro account on either of these would open up a lot of great features as well as increase their visibility on the sites.
Looking for a sleek, lightweight, and cheap laptop for your web person? Google Chromebook is where it’s at. $249 for a really nice looking laptop that, much like your web developer, usually requires an Internet connection.
If you prefer to get a tablet, look no further than Google’s Nexus 7. It’s got a great price, great hardware, and a $25 gift card to the Google Play Store to boot.
The web is an always changing place, and it’s important to keep up because if you don’t you’ll get left behind. The Tuts+ Network has hundreds of videos, tutorials, and books (including my very own Building WordPress Themes from Scratch) all for a pretty reasonable monthly fee.
“Early College” me would be very upset that I’m including this on the list, but truth-be-told, I love going to Starbucks to grab a coffee and get some work done. Heck, part of this list was composed in a Starbucks. A gift card is an easy but thoughtful gift; plus teh card can be recharged and used to get points, coupons, and free drinks.
Amazon Prime is, well, it’s the best. Worth the money for the shipping alone and you get a whole bunch of extras like streaming video and Kindle book sharing. And now, Amazon is letting you gift it. If I didn’t already have it, this would be number one on my Christmas list.
If your web person is an early adopter like me, he or she will love the Coin. A digital device that combines credit cards, gift cards, and loyalty cards into one easy to carry, easy to use card. I cannot wait until this comes out. I did a longer write-up here.
Responsive Design with WordPress
OK. Let me end on a shameless plug. My book comes out December 16th. That’s plenty of time to get order and have it wrapped and under the tree for Christmas. I cover the basics of WordPress, Responsive Design, and then we really get our hands dirty combining those two things in pure web-awesomeness. I learned so much writing the book. I hope you learn a lot reading it.
Of-course, if you’re looking for other books, you can checkout my list of Good Books for Web Development for other recommendations.
Finally, if you need more ideas, my gift guide from last year is still looking really good.
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