index.html<\/p>\n
<p>hello<\/p><\/p>\n
As a front-end engineer (a strange but strangely common cross between software engineer and designer), I made three self-discoveries early on:<\/p>\n
– I often look for work.<\/p>\n
– I care about aesthetics<\/p>\n
– I can hack almost anything<\/p>\n
Thus, necessity turned out to be the mother of invention and I found myself struggling to put together a CV worthy of my profession.<\/p>\n
Select a word processor<\/p>\n
This may seem like a problem from the ’90s, but even now, in an era of free browser-based applications, I still find it a non-trivial question.<\/p>\n
My requirements:<\/p>\n
– Free and open source (I have plenty of money, but I’m allergic to subscriptions to big tech companies)<\/p>\n
– Minimal dependence on web connectivity (I want to be able to edit my CV in a short time with limited internet connectivity)<\/p>\n
– Able to save it as a regular file on the file system and easily share it (e.g. as an email attachment, in a LinkedIn message, etc.)<\/p>\n
– Able to export to common formats, both PDF and Word (in case a recruiter needs to edit your logo)<\/p>\n
– Compatible with Mac and Windows (sometimes I work on a Windows box)<\/p>\n
With a very small learning curve, LibreOffice ticked all the boxes very well.<\/p>\n
Layout design<\/p>\n
Before jumping into the word processor, I first developed a very simple sketch with pencil and paper, followed by a simple block diagram in Draw.io. This allowed me to experiment and modify the design at a high level until I arrived at something I was comfortable with.<\/p>\n
I ended up with a set of vertically stacked blocks for jobs, each block having a two-column layout with tasks on the left and details (like start\/end dates, technology, and testimonials) on the right.<\/p>\n
The design also includes a large header with some initial features, such as the technology I primarily focus on and my formal education. And a final section with side projects and short courses.<\/p>\n
Implementation<\/p>\n
Tables are supposed to be anathema to web developers, aren’t they? Well, this design is intended for a static document format (Word, PDF) or printed paper. It is not intended for the browser. Those who prefer or need to use a browser can check my Work section on conwy.co or my LinkedIn profile.<\/p>\n
It was easy enough to use LibreOffice’s native table, paragraph, bullets, and styling and formatting features, which work great with Word and PDF. The margins, padding, and bullet style are completely configurable, so I got a near-perfect layout.<\/p>\n
No doubt, while creating the CV, I frequently exported it to PDF and Word to check the results.<\/p>\n
Dancing with content<\/p>\n
Writing content for static documents is surprisingly different than for the web, especially when working with a carefully crafted design. The user’s scroll bar can’t be trusted as much, so the text must be carefully styled to fit inside the container.<\/p>\n
I found myself going back and forth between Sublime Text and LibreOffice: the former to create source material, the latter to edit it and adapt it to the “feel” of a formal document.<\/p>\n
Some tricks in no particular order:<\/p>\n
– Shorten month names (<\/p>\n
January\u2192January, etc.) – Abbreviate date ranges (<\/p>\n
year \u2192 year, etc.) – Reduce font size on entire lines (such as testimonial author and date)<\/p>\n
– Combine multiple details in one line (such as start\/end dates, period, industry)<\/p>\n
– Eliminate unnecessary verbosity and non-essential grammar (trading a minor grammatical correction for visual appeal)<\/p>\n
Final touches<\/p>\n
To give it the finishing touch, I wanted to use a nice, elegant font for the titles.<\/p>\n
After a bit of exploring, I decided on Swedish Sans, kindly made available to the public by the generous contributors of one of the most habitable countries on Earth.<\/p>\n
Web developers have it easy when it comes to interesting non-standard fonts. We just package the WOFF\/TTF\/ODF with our website and link to it. Or better yet, use Google Fonts and just grab a link.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
index.html <\/p>\n
hello<\/p>\n
As a front-end engineer (a strange but strangely common cross between software engineer and designer), I made three self-discoveries early on: – I often look for work. – I care about aesthetics -\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horoscopepath.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horoscopepath.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horoscopepath.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horoscopepath.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horoscopepath.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.horoscopepath.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horoscopepath.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horoscopepath.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horoscopepath.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}