Notes from the Future Desk - March
By:
Jerrod Long
on 4/1/2016
April is the month of code. Development brings you their notes ranging from maps, broken glass, headless themes and back again.
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0m66vvkr/production/7d171f44daf8744357ee5e3095ee21051def351d-135x63.png?q=75&auto=format)
Development
Week 1: Maps that don’t suck
Mapbox is a great tool for creating beautiful and dynamic maps but its browser support can be a little confusing. Mapbox GL JS, Mapbox JS, Mapbox Studio, Mapbox Studio Classic.
What’s it all mean?
Mapbox Studio Classic is a desktop application that builds maps and uploads them to mapbox.com. These maps can be used with Mapbox JS and support all modern browsers including IE 8+.
Mapbox Studio is the new map-building web interface. It requires a modern browser to use and is the only way to create WebGL maps. You can check Mapbox GL compatibility here. The good news is you can create maps with Mapbox Studio and display them with Mapbox JS for a great cross-browser experience.
-Mark
Week 2: Headless WordPress
We’re finally digging into the new WordPress REST API to set up our own headless WordPress theme. While we’re all excited for the new possibilities this will bring us, we’ve already hit a few snags. For instance, the API isn’t complete. We’ve found a great plugin to add support for menus, but will likely be writing out own endpoints for things like theme options and blog info.
-Natalie
Week 3: NextGen JS
ES2015 is the next generation of JavaScript, and is slowly rolling out to browsers. There are a lot of articles out there explaining how to use the new features, but this post at CSS Tricks explains the why, as well as the how.
-Joe
Week 4: Broken windows and when to fix them
Working with legacy code bases can be down right frustrating at times. I often find myself asking “What if we just rewrote this from scratch using modern best-practices?” I soon realize that this isn’t feasible. Jeroen Moons has written a great article about getting a legacy code base under control through refactoring. The article is full of great advice and I’m looking forward to incorporating some of his methods into our projects.
-Joel
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0m66vvkr/production/9e1c6c0a2d53093107cf1b91a65420820e3b29fa-122x64.png?q=75&auto=format)
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