DEV Community: Uchechukwu Obasi

How to increase the gap between text and underlining in CSS

Uchechukwu Obasi — Fri, 10 Apr 2020 11:26:26 +0000

Most frontend engineers just like me might have encountered this same problem where creating a gap between text and underline is a huge pain.

In this short article, I will share an effective CSS trick that can make this happen with no stress.

First, you create a div around that particular element you wish to place an underline.

After that, you proceed to style that particular div by giving it a padding and border-bottom value of your choice.

If you preview the output at this point, you will notice that the width of the underline spans across the width of it's parent container of which you wouldn't want that to happen. How do we make the underline the same width with the content? Boom! The Max-content value of the width property! Works like magic!

Although the CSS Working Group has published a draft for text decoration level 4 which would add a new property text-underline-offset (as well as text-decoration-thickness) to allow control over the exact placement of an underline.

As of this writing, it's an early-stage draft and has not been implemented by any browser. However, this trick is widely supported across all major browsers and also works perfectly with multiple text as well.

I hope you find this article helpful.

#1: My Journey into Software Engineering

Uchechukwu Obasi — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 07:47:06 +0000

I'm about to kickoff a series documenting my journey as I progress into the world of software engineering.

How It All Starts

As the breeze of creativity blows by, and the chants of the victorious beats deeply into my eardrum, I sat quietly under a fruitful mango tree with my headsets in full stereo thinking about what life has in store for me.

I was 16, clueless, broke, but at the same time, hungry for success. I didn’t know exactly what I was going to do with my life but one thing I knew for sure was that I could think out great ideas, which I so much believe- I still do- was worth billions of dollars.

I had just returned from a tech conference, and I was privileged to hear from a lot of experienced, distinguished speakers share their thoughts and ideas on the importance and value of technology, and how young folks like me can tap into this multi billion dollar industry. I was really fascinated by the things I saw and heard, but at the same time, I was a little bit ashamed of myself. I was in my second year in the university and to make matters worse, I was a computer science major. I was so ashamed of myself because I felt I was supposed to have a glimpse of some of the topics discussed by the speakers. I was particularly frustrated with myself when one of the speakers told us that college students in the US were already working for big firms while some of them were starting off million dollar tech companies.

Prior to that event, I’d never heard or seen anything like software programming-I didn’t even know what it meant to program a computer. I thought computers were all about the hardware,and the Microsoft Office packages, maybe because I was made to believe so while I was undergoing a 2 months computer training at an ICT training center during summer breaks. I was in Junior Secondary School at the time. It dawned on me that I could end up unemployed upon graduation just like every other graduate in Nigeria if I didn’t take deliberate actions about my condition as soon as I can. I made a firm decision right there that I will build my capabilities and grow my skills in order to be employable upon graduation. That event was a life changer for me- it kicked off my journey into software engineering.

…

This episode of my journey into software engineering will continue next week. Until then, go forth and be awesome!

Hi Scott, I think I'm about to do the right thing ;)

Uchechukwu Obasi — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 00:16:51 +0000

Hi guys!!

If you wanna be a world class software engineer, you need to learn new things everyday

Disclaimer: Deliberate situations require deliberate actions. I'm about to take actions by sharing my words and contributing my little quota to the world, one blog post at a time. I challenge you to do same and together, we create a more supportive and happy world!!

I'm currently on a path to becoming a world class frontend web engineer. My plans was to lock myself indoor and just absorb every JavaScript content I could find out here on the Internet but after listening to Scott Hanselman speak at the Concatenate Conference Lagos, I think it's worth it if I start sharing my words, thoughts, and ideas out here by writing articles about them.

So I'm challenging myself by sharing my thoughts and ideas as I paddle through the path to mastery in JavaScript. I challenge myself to write at least one blog post every day on this platform for 100 days.

I know it's gonna be tough at first but I believe it's worth it by the way. Besides, Ideas are worth sharing so let's make it open source!!

How To Get A Remote Job Easily As A Developer In 2019

Uchechukwu Obasi — Mon, 22 Apr 2019 11:09:13 +0000

Have you ever wondered how you can make money as a developer, and still live that dream of having enough time for yourself? This article will give you a solid plan to get you started in getting you your first remote developer job!

The world of work has gone flexible- people now want to work from home, people want to have enough time for their friends and family, people don't want to spend long hours in traffic anymore. In recent observation, it's been recorded that it's a lot more easier to get remote jobs now than on-premise jobs.

With that being said, being a remote developer requires many skills, and there are two major factors in developing a skill: your ability to learn new things quickly and support from senior developers. You need to maximize both of these to help you become the best developer you can be.

Remote work is now a commonly accepted part of many industries, particularly tech, where most companies allow employees to work from home sometimes, or for extended periods, while traveling. Developers are particularly well-suited to becoming digital nomads. All they need to do their jobs is a laptop and an internet connection. A few recent changes to the way developers work has made remote work easier than ever before:

-Chat tools like Slack and video conferencing tools like Zoom have finally met their full potential, providing slick and reliable communication options.
-Developers are increasingly working in cloud native environments.
-Slack integrations like Screen Hero allow two remote developers to work together like they’re at the same desk.
-Laptops are more compact and powerful than ever before, allowing developers to work effectively on laptops small and light enough to fit inside a daypack.
-Free and fast internet is almost available everywhere, from cafes to libraries to co-working spaces, in cities all across the world. Some cities even have free WiFi throughout city limits.

Steps required in getting a remote developer job

Now, there are a lot of things you need to consider before applying for a remote job:

Good Resume- yes, your CV should speak for itself. You need to be able to effectively communicate your skills and abilities in your CV. Remember, your first encounter with a recruiter is through your CV and so, you need your CV to stand out among your peers.
Job Search- It's one thing to be skilled and another thing to drive value off your skill. In recent years, there have been a major increase in the number of software developers in the world and of course, there's a remarkable increase in the number of software developer jobs available online. To make sure that your CV gets into the hands of as many recruiters as possible, you need to apply to jobs on sites like DevAlert (devalert allows you to get remote developer jobs easily with no stress)
Good communication skills- it's important to note that as a remote developer, you need to learn how to communicate effectively through writing and of course, oral speech too. Part of your work on a daily basis as a remote developer is your ability to convey information effectively via communication channels like Slack, Trello, etc
Collaboration- This is a lot more tricky in the sense that you can have a very good communication skills and at the same time, have poor collaborative skills too. Your ability to collaborate with teams spread across different locations in building a particular solution makes you a good fit for the remote job. Companies greatly consider candidates that exhibits the right culture of distributed workforce which involves great collaboration/teamwork.
Good knowledge of Version control- Version control is a system where you save files so you can look back over time and see what you changed at what point. It’ll probably be used at every software company you ever work at, and knowing the basics is really important. Since most of your work will be done remotely, it is expected that you know how to use git and github to collaborate with other team members in working on projects.

In Summary

If you’re a software developer, there’s no better time to consider working remotely. Whether you’re excited by the prospect of sampling the best of Europe’s nightlife or living and working at Robben Island— Island located in table bay, Western cape, South Africa— becoming a remote developer can place your unique dreams within reach.

Thank you to all of you who made it this far! I hope that you found this helpful in your job search!