Graham Martin

I'm a UI developer based in London, interested in all things web development. This blog covers my thoughts and learnings, including in my role as Lead UI developer at Immediate Media.

@pixelycreative

What tools can you use to check Core Web Vitals?

March 28, 2021 15 min read Graham Martin

When it comes to Core Web Vitals there are a whole range of tools and techniques available for checking your site. In this post I'll compare some of the most popular.

The high performance cost of Facebook Pixels

February 28, 2021 13 min read Graham Martin

Facebook Pixels can be one of the worst third-parties for website performance. I'll explore why, and how you can use them without harming performance

Documenting architectural decisions with decision logs

February 14, 2021 11 min read Graham Martin

Using decision logs to help tackle to problem of undocumented architectural decisions

Moving from Gatsby to Eleventy

January 17, 2021 14 min read Graham Martin

After building this site with Gatsby I've quickly simplified and switched over to Eleventy

2020: Year in Review

January 10, 2021 7 min read Graham Martin

Looking back over 2020, a year overshadowed by a pandemic but with some shimmers of hope through completed projects and lockdown walks

Core Web Vitals – the beginning of the end for AMP?

November 15, 2020 7 min read Graham Martin

With Core Web Vitals making performance a search ranking factor does this mean we no longer need AMP?

Atomic design – hierarchy for your components

August 15, 2020 11 min read Graham Martin

Atomic design is a hugely popular framework for describing and communicating UI components in a hierarchical way – we'll dive into why that's useful

Metrics, Metrics Everywhere! Where to start with web performance metrics

August 2, 2020 16 min read Graham Martin

Web performance metrics get pretty overwhelming. By focusing on perceived performance we can identify key user-centric metrics to keep track of.

How many pages? SpeedCurve synthetic check budget calculator

July 11, 2020 4 min read Graham Martin

Explore how to manage your SpeedCurve checks using my budget calculator

COVID-19: May & June

July 2, 2020 3 min read Graham Martin

Spring turns into summer as lockdown starts to ease

Synthetic vs RUM Performance Monitoring – The Pepsi Challenge

June 27, 2020 7 min read Graham Martin

Synthetic and RUM. Whats the difference, and why should you use both?

COVID-19: Weeks 6, 7 & 8

May 9, 2020 3 min read Graham Martin

Lockdown continues as time flies by and the weeks merge into one

COVID-19: Week 5

April 19, 2020 4 min read Graham Martin

Easter is followed by a short four-day week as the lockdown measures are extended

COVID-19: Week 4 & Easter

April 13, 2020 4 min read Graham Martin

A month into the lockdown and our planned Easter getaway becomes an Easter spent at home

COVID-19: Week 3

April 5, 2020 4 min read Graham Martin

Extra daylight allows for nicer walks, whilst three weeks into the lockdown a sense of routine starts to come into play

COVID-19: Full lockdown begins & the second week at home

March 28, 2020 4 min read Graham Martin

As the full lockdown comes into effect we quickly adjust our lives to isolation

COVID-19: Adapting to Coronavirus

March 22, 2020 4 min read Graham Martin

This week marked the point where coronavirus went from being a distant threat to any everyday reality

Lead Dev London Conference 2019

July 6, 2019 5 min read Graham Martin

Highlights from Lead Dev Conference 2019