Day 34 | D2D Series | KendoReact Form Deep-dive, Themes & Styles, More Articles, and Taking a Mental Health Day

Yeap, it's honestly one of those days. As much as I think that having a regular live stream schedule might actually be helpful towards my overall effort as a content creator, I'm also reminding myself that at the end of the day, my main priority and focus is still on the article series itself. I am after all, a much better writer than I will ever be when it comes to making videos or hosting a live stream. So, I think first and foremost, I need to be very clear, both with others and myself about where my priorities are. So, as for the live stream series, I'm still going to keep it going. I think having that alternative might cater a subsection of target audiences, so I'll still continue to put effort into it. But I am also not going to sit here and pretend that I'm super motivated to host a live stream every single time. Just like anyone else, I have better days and I also have days where I really prefer not to show others what I'm really feeling, or the feeling to talk to anyone, or about anything. There are days when all I really want to do is to focus on my work, and just get into the zone.

So, I think it's pretty obvious at this point that I won't be hosting a live stream tonight. Instead, I want to focus more on my current deep-dive. Lately, I have been pretty into it concerning my deep-dive into the Form component in KendoReact. Apart from the Data Grid which I'm also doing a separate deep-dive into, I've found the current Form component to be really interesting and also useful for real-world project applications. So, with that in mind, I really want to dig into it.

A Deep-dive into Forms

There are still plenty of Form related learning resources to go through. But I am excited to discover everything that I can about the Form control. My hope/aim is that by the end of my deep-dive into the Form component, I'll be able to come back with an in-depth article about what I've learned, discovered, and also what my recommendations will be regarding the best practices surrounding designing/constructing complex forms with the best UX possible. I'll think about the idea for the article's title later.

Understanding Themes, Styling & ThemeBuilder

One of the most unique and also amazing parts of being a Telerik user is having accessing to not only their preexisting themes/styles, but also to an online tool called the ThemeBuilder. I was there when the ThemeBuilder was first introduced. Back then, I would spend hours, and days just tinkering with the colour schemes because I have this unspoken obsession when it comes to tinkering with CSS styles. You have to remember that when I was still a software developer hoping to transition into design some day, the only form work that would allow me to feel closer to designing was working on CSS coding. So, over time, I not only got really good at it, but I also started to fall in love with the power of using CSS.

Upcoming Articles

Anyway, I've spoken to a member of the DevRel team last week, so I should be able to get my own access to the ThemeBuilder Pro subscription in the coming days/weeks. So, from the looks of it, I would expect that I'll be working on quite a few technical articles over the next few weeks. Maybe two or three that will be focused on the Form component (and in-depth look), and then another two or three for the ThemeBuilder.

Back Into the Zone, and Managing My Own Mental Health

I don't want to spend too much time and energy on this current entry. This is more of an update & check-in rather than to share some progress. I think I'll prefer to make more progress before I share like a major update later. I honestly also think that this is better because this is usually where I'm at my best - focusing on doing the work, and being in the zone. That is usually when I'm able to get the most work done. I look forward to sharing those articles soon, but in the meantime, I'll assume that the Wednesday live stream is still going to happen, but let's just play by ear on that.

For now, my mental health hasn't been at it's best in recent weeks, and things have been a little more challenging/difficult lately. So I'm not going to pretend that I'm okay, or fine. But I also remain absolutely determined to stick to my commitment of having this Dev-to-Design series. I believe that showcasing my work is the best way to attract the right kinds of attention. Which I ultimately hope will lead to a better career/job opportunity soon. Because that is also what I need the most right now.