9 Web Developers That MUST Be Followed On Twitter
In Web Roundups by Jeffrey WayThis web roundup will list nine developers that absolutely must be tracked on Twitter. They represent the best of the best and are extremely active in the community. Be sure to follow each and every one of them. They might even help you if you've hit a bump in your coding! By the time you're through with this list, you'll probably think, "Why didn't he include this person!". Well be sure to leave a comment with those that I left off.
-
Eric Meyer: http://www.meyerweb.com
Few web developers are unfamiliar with this name. In fact, the first CSS book that yours truly ever read was written by this man - "Eric Meyer on CSS". For the two readers in the dark, Eric Meyer is best known for his web standards work and for the many books that he has written over the years - most notably on Cascading Style Sheets. Currently, Eric works as a consultant for Complex Spiral Consulting.
-
Molly Holzschlag: http://www.molly.com
Molly is best known for her work on the "Web Standards Project". In addition to promoting best practices and web standards, she has written many books related to web design and was recently named one of the "Top 25 Most Influential Women on the Web"!
-
John Resig: http://www.jquery.com
NETTUTS focuses on jQuery a great deal. Why shouldn't it? It is easily the most popular Javascript framework available; no doubt due to its wonderful implementation of CSS selectors. Are you familiar with its creator? Meet John Resig. He's a young and brilliant man living in Boston. He is currently working for Mozilla.
-
Andy Budd: http://www.andybudd.com
Andy is a web developer based in The United Kingdom, and is currently the director of "Clear Left". If I could name only one book that taught me more than any other, it would be "CSS Mastery" - written by Andy. If you haven't read it yet, I 100% recommend it! He is a big advocate for the web standards project and speaks at conferences around the world.
-
Jeff Croft: http://jeffcroft.com
In his own words - "I am a web designer and developer living and working in Seattle, WA. I am employed full-time by Blue Flavor, a design agency specializing in standards-based design and development for the web and mobile web. In addition to being a full-time designer, I occasionally author books on web design, speak at conferences, and blog at jeffcroft.com."
For those interested, I highly recommend that you purchase Jeff's (co-written with Dan Rubin) book, "Pro CSS Techniques".
-
Jeffrey Zeldman: http://www.zeldman.com
Jeffrey is an author on web design and runs his own studio, Happy Cog. Most notably, he is the founder of "A List Apart" - a website that focuses on web development and best practices. The site is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year!
-
Chris Coyier: http://www.chriscoyier.net
In such a short time, Chris - owner of CSS-Tricks - has amassed over 7500 loyal subscribers (yours truly being one of them). Be sure to check out his video tutorials on Thursdays. For that matter, be sure to check the site every day! It will prove to be a vital resource. When he is not running his blog, he works as a web designer for "Chatman Design".
-
Cameron Moll: www.cameronmoll.com
Cameron is a designer, speaker, and author on all things related to the web. His work has been recognized across the globe. When he is not tending to his children, he maintains a blog and works as an "Interaction Design Manager" at the LDS Church. He was also a contributing author to CSS Mastery.
-
Collis and Cyan Ta’eed: www.envato.com
People like these two make me feel like a failure. While I consider the year a success if I'm able to redesign my blog once or twice, Collis and Cyan, at least it seems, somehow manage to crank out site after incredible site! Fastly and surely, their sites are becoming the premier resource for developers, designers, engineers...just about anything! They are currently opening the beta version of "ThemeForest". Click on the "Envato Network" button at the top right portion of this page to switch between sites. P.S. Are you followingNETTUTSon Twitter as well?
Comments
Leave a CommentAdd a Comment
Note: We use Gravatars on NETTUTS, they are little icons that appear next to your name on this site and on many others. You can get a Gravatar account for free and any other site that supports it will show your avatar too!
Mark Abucayon
August 7th, 2008
wowowowow, you guys are awesome All are my favorites…but where is Chuck Anderson? (NoPattern.com) I love his works too very creative, thank you for sharing this one.
Connor
August 7th, 2008
This is definitely a great list
Jeffrey Way
August 7th, 2008
Be sure to link to the person’s Twitter account if you have a recommendation. That way, we can all follow them.
Veera
August 7th, 2008
Thanks for introducing great tech bloggers, subscribed to their feeds.
Joefrey Mahusay
August 7th, 2008
You guys are my inspiration. These guys makes the web a better place for everyone. Thanks for sharing!
Ben Griffiths
August 7th, 2008
Excellent list, many thanks
Ryan Imel
August 7th, 2008
Good deal. There were a couple I wasn’t following. Come to think of it, there seems to be something about Twitter which makes me prone to follow others based on suggestions and lists like this, but not prone to actually search for people.
Thanks for the list. My suggestions:
https://twitter.com/Natbat
Natalie Downe, works for Clearleft
https://twitter.com/JZ
Jason Zimdars, Creative Director for Element Fusion
https://twitter.com/darrenhoyt
Darren Hoyt, brilliant designer
crysfel
August 7th, 2008
i guess i’ll have more interesting thing to read
jimmy
August 7th, 2008
Im new on twitter, just finding out about it but I will add these guys and look forward to following what they write.
Michael Montgomery
August 7th, 2008
Great list, and I already subscibe to all but Andy Budd.
I’ve met him twice at SXSW; great guy, but last I checked, his updates are protected.
James
August 7th, 2008
I was already following five of them… But now I am following all! … Thanks for sharing Jeffrey!
And I’d just like to say that you’re doing a superb job as the new Editor! You rock! 
Jeffrey Way
August 7th, 2008
@James - Thanks! We’ll get to your interview very soon! I just have a some backup articles that I have to get out first. Thanks again. Let me know if you ever want to write more for the site. I wouldn’t mind a tutorial on creating your first plugin with jQuery…if you’re interested.
yamaniac
August 7th, 2008
Chris Coyier is my fav!!! and so is collis!!!
Jeffrey Way
August 7th, 2008
@yamaniac - Yeah, you have to respect what that guy has been able to do with CSS-Tricks in a little over a year.
matt_d_rat
August 7th, 2008
Andy Clarke author of ‘Transcending CSS: The Fine Art of Web Design’ is one of my favorite web desiner/developers, and his book is one of the most valuable sources of information I have ever read. Hop over to his website http://www.stuffandnonsense.co.uk/ for more info.
By the way, great list. Invaluable sources of information.
Taylor Satula
August 7th, 2008
Wow is it just me or is nettuts turning out something new every few hours??? Hurrah! |\_/| Cool im already followin most people on list
Jeffrey Way
August 7th, 2008
@Taylor - That’s the idea. I’m hoping to make NETTUTS a place you stop at a couple of times a day. Stay tuned.
Jack Lowe
August 7th, 2008
I don’t get it. Most these people don’t even twitter about development. Zeldmen just talks about his dog, kid, and being old. Following most of these developers wastes my precious twitter real estate.
KRod
August 7th, 2008
I’m still trying to figure out why my original comment was ‘rejected’. Sorry I wasn’t one of the people slapping your back on a job well done Jeffrey. I’m simply stating an alternative position. Chris Coyier simply does not warrant being on that list next to Budd, Meyer, and Zeldman. Especially since you are missing major names like Dan Cederholm and Andy Clarke.
Being editor does not mean you get to edit out everything that you do not agree with.
P.S- I am a very happy subscriber to CSS-Tricks. I think it is a good site and Chris is a good man. Nothing personal at all.
neil
August 7th, 2008
thanks for the links, Chris Coyier produces some good materials
Jeffrey Way
August 7th, 2008
@Krod - I deleted your comment because I found it to be offensive. Attacking a person for no reason isn’t necessary - and if you’re going to do so, state a reason why. Chris Coyier is on the list because his website is exceptional…which is exactly why he has over 8000 subscribers. That alone warrants his placement on the list.
P.S. I agree that Dan Cederholm and Andy Clarke are fantastic developers. That is why I asked everyone to participate. Have a great day, buddy.
Fubiz
August 7th, 2008
By the way for your daily dose of design :
http://twitter.com/fubiz
Collis Ta'eed
August 7th, 2008
hehe hey what’s my face doing in there!! I better start writing some decent twittering
Thanks Jeffrey!
Lamin Barrow
August 7th, 2008
Great post. I am a regular visitor to John Resig and Eric Mayers Blog. I like everything about it except the “MUST Be Followed” in the tittle. You see, some of us have a HUGE problem with the those type of words and thats why we go freelance. This guys ROCK by the way.
Sumesh
August 7th, 2008
Well, most of my followers have been covered, but I’d like to add my 2 cents:
Chris Pearson
http://twitter.com/pearsonified
Ben Bleikamp
http://twitter.com/bleikamp
Jamie Taniguchi
August 7th, 2008
I’m surprised you didn’t include the father of PHP, Rasmus Lerdorf, on this list.
http://twitter.com/rasmus
insic
August 7th, 2008
you guys rocks. i think i must follow these guys then.
Tommy M
August 8th, 2008
I never had an interest signing up for Twitter, but with great developers, maybe I should?
Shane
August 8th, 2008
My favourties:
Jeffrey Zeldman for being the person who got me interested in web standards, and made me understand why it’s all so important.
John Resig for making JavaScript more fun than is healthy - I absolutely love jQuery and it puts a big smile on my face.
insic
August 8th, 2008
these guys are hot. hmmmmmmm yummy.
Sam
August 8th, 2008
How about Jeff Atwood (www.codinghorror.com)
acms
August 8th, 2008
I agree with Jack Lowe, uh, I allready follow a lot of developers on twitter or rss/website etc, but only for good pratiques updates, their private life does not concern me.
chevol davis
August 8th, 2008
This is a list of web DESIGNERS not developers, please consider changing the title.
Jeffrey Way
August 8th, 2008
@chevol - I strongly disagree.
Todd
August 8th, 2008
@Jack Lowe
“I don’t get it. Most these people don’t even twitter about development. Zeldmen just talks about his dog, kid, and being old. Following most of these developers wastes my precious twitter real estate.”
Would you want to write nothing but work related stuff 24/7? Would you want to incessantly want to post everywhere about your work? No. I don’t think you would. Never mind the fact Twitter isn’t a blog and was never meant to be a full-on blogging platform, but a micro-blogging platform (i.e.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro-blogging).
Matter of fact, Jack, the 60-65 developers I follow on twitter tweet about personal things and it’s not all web related. I’m a designer/developer and I don’t tweet about work non-stop either. So get your head out of your arse.
If you don’t like what they tweet, then don’t follow it. You don’t like the 10 suggestions here, then don’t follow them and don’t be so pompous. I’m terribly sure your twitter space is so valuable Donald trump may be looking to develop on it.
I digress.
Great list, Have met Andy Budd and Jeffrey Zeldman (not “Zeldmen” as Jack seems to think he is a plural noun) and follow most of these people on my list. There are plenty more like Doug Bowman (stopdesign.com), Andy Clarke, Jared Spool, Ethan Marcotte, and many more out there.
Eric Meyer
August 8th, 2008
I don’t know if I’m really a developer either, Cheol, but I am absolutely not a designer, and never have been. To suggest otherwise is an insult to good designers everywhere.
Cornelius
August 8th, 2008
@chevol davis- I strongly agree
Jeffrey Way
August 8th, 2008
@chevol - To imply that the creator of jQuery is only a “web designer” is absurd. Sure, some might lean more towards the design side. But others lean the other way. Regardless, I think you’re missing the point. These are people that you should surround yourself with.
United Voices
August 8th, 2008
these ppl are great ones… ppl like eric meyer and john resig.
Rob
August 8th, 2008
I cannot really see why I should want to read about a web designer / developers personal life, favorite dog, or awesome shark bite. I appreciate the work the boys of Envato do; it’s really top-notch. But the fact that they are on a list of ‘must read’ on an Envato network site just leaves a bad taste in my mouth; list-worthy or not.
todrick
August 8th, 2008
When I first heard of Twitter I really had no interest in it what-so-ever. Since I am starting off into web design it helps to see where well known people gather, display there interest and further there professional knowledge. I find the list helpful for my education. Excellent work and display of content as usual.
Thanks
ans
August 8th, 2008
Not a single non-white web developer worth following, huh? Weird.
James
August 8th, 2008
@ans - What are you hinting at? That’s about as relevant as mentioning that none of the people listed have a hat on when the picture was taken!!
@chevel - Before you go making throw-away comments you should really do a bit of research. Not all of them are web designers and the ones that are also develop websites so these all can be considered as “web developers” - You’re just totally wrong!
Jeffrey Way
August 8th, 2008
@James - Now that you mention it - it is a bit strange that none of them are wearing hats.
@Rob - Bottom line - Twitter is a really good tool for networking. For example, I have a quick interview with Eric Meyer that I’ll be posting either Monday or Wednesday. I was able to contact him because of Twitter. Do you not see the benefit?
ravi karandeekar
August 8th, 2008
Sorry fellas! I can not follow you on Twitter. Twitter says i have hit the limit of number of people i can follow. However, one can follow me. I am sure, you will not mind if i do not invite you to follow me. Because I blog on Pune Real Estate Market News. Thanks for the post!
Braden Keith
August 8th, 2008
I hate when they say “not many developers don’t know their name” when I don’t know their name. I feel like the minority. :*(
Fabian
August 9th, 2008
Great list!
What about veerle pieters (veerle.duoh.com, http://twitter.com/vpieters)?
Michael Mackus
August 9th, 2008
Thank you very much for the list - I just started my twitter account today and am loving it :). If anybody wants to follow me, I am a Web Developer (design, PHP & Python programming, etc.) with other interests such as camping, music (classic rock, metal, etc.), linux, and more. My twitter URL (if this is against your comments rules, sorry!): http://twitter.com/sonolin
Another Blog
August 9th, 2008
How could you have missed Paul Boag of boagworld.co.uk ??
Fouad Masoud
August 10th, 2008
ok ok lsn guys i am following those guys and much more from web professionals all around the world and guess what its no use following most of them.
If i am to order your list, it would look like this.
1- Chris Coyier.
2- Jeff Croft.
3- John Resig (though i would prefer following jQuery)
4- Eric, Molly and Zeldman (coz u just have 2, its part of the faith)
5- Cameron Moll.
6- Collis and Cyan Ta’eed and Andy.
personally i think its far more better to follow apps and products rather than people, meaning i think i was one of the first ppl to know about the new wordpress coz i am following wordpress. following jQuery points u to lots of new implementations of it and leads u to heads up tips. etc…
Marek holeszowski
August 10th, 2008
I’ve only just started using twitter so this post is great, thanks!
Kevin
August 10th, 2008
My name is missing in the list
Nice listing…
Enrico Teotti
August 10th, 2008
I think you are giving a misleading suggestion with “that absolutely must be tracked on Twitter” and “Be sure to follow each and every one of them”
I’d instead suggest to subscribe to a proper mailing list or IRC channel.
And “They might even help you if you’ve hit a bump in your coding!”? If you need help do you seriously expect/hope to receive an answer from twitter?
I use twitter to follow people I care about such as my friends, or people I met on the net. I care if my friend’s son is sick, I care about my buddies replies. And that’s already a huge amount of info to keep track of.
I tried to follow Molly (and after reading the post I gave a look at Zeldman’s and Meyers) but it was just a stream of personal stuff that I do not care about. As you probably don’t care about my twitters on twitter.com/agenteo
You are absolutely right when you say “They represent the best of the best and are extremely active in the community” and you should read their books, and their articles. But I don’t think you need to follow their twitters. Unless you personally know them, if you have a lot of spare time or if you want to say “me too”.
Jeffrey Way
August 10th, 2008
@Enrico - I disagree with you. I’ve received a great amount of help from Twitter. It’s a great way to ask the community a quick questions…and receive a dozen responses. Personally, I enjoy seeing how the top people in my field live their lives. But, we can agree to disagree. Thanks for your thoughts.
Enrico Teotti
August 11th, 2008
I understand you enjoyment following their life and I am totally fine with that
I think we agree that on twitter they talk mostly (80%?) about personal stuff (like most of us does on twitter), so I still think “that absolutely must be tracked on Twitter” and “Be sure to follow each and every one of them” is bad phrased. It sounds like you are gonna miss out some important piece of information if you don’t follow them. And it’s not like that.
I agree that twitter is a great way to get feedbacks, but you will concur that when you start following hundreads of people you will end up receiving a lot of twitters. Something that is really time consuming to read, specially when you are already overwhelmed by information coming from RSS feeds. Can you imagine trying to follow thousands of people?
Eric A. Meyer
# Following 120
# Followers 4,491
Molly E. Holzschlag
# Following 768
# Followers 3,658
John Resig
# Following 467
# Followers 3,661
Andy Budd
# Following 285
# Followers 257
Jeff Croft
# Following 293
# Followers 3,133
Jeffrey Zeldman
# Following 214
# Followers 8,271
Chris Coyier
# Following 279
# Followers 1,675
Cameron Moll
# Following 121
# Followers 3,552
collis
# Following 11
# Followers 1,590
Yes the following is a small fraction compared to the followers. I don’t think anybody would expect anything but this. And this is absolutely not a critic to any of them.
What I want to outline is for twitter newbies, don’t think you can add those guys and that they will start following or helping you. Instead read their books or post comments on their blogs.
ps
I will now try to follow Chris Coyier
ali
August 11th, 2008
hi cool
Jeffrey Way
August 11th, 2008
@Enrico - As I said before, I have, in fact, been helped by these people. I don’t think anyone can deny that Twitter is a fantastic networking tool.
Mike Bobiney
August 11th, 2008
Chris Coyier is top notch I’ve been enjoying his screencasts and he got me into wordpress theming. Certainly everyone on the list has indispensable knowledge to share.
Patrick Sweeney
August 13th, 2008
To the guy who thought Chris Coyier doesn’t belong on here: He is cranking out consistently high quality stuff all of the time. If you don’t think so, don’t follow him. But in the “what have you done for me lately” way the web works, he is probably one of the more active ones on that list.
I can honestly say you are doing yourself a giant disservice if you aren’t paying attention to him.
Andy Budd
August 13th, 2008
Ah, so this is the reason I’ve been getting loads of people I don’t know trying to follow me on Twitter
I have to admit that I’m honoured to be in such a prestigious list. However as you’ve probably gathered by now I keep my Twitter list closed, mostly because it’s just a stream of pointless drivel. After all, why would anybody who doesn’t know me care what I’m having for breakfast, where I’m going for beers or what I think of the latest Batman movie (it rocks btw).
Anyway, thanks again.
Lates
Dean
August 14th, 2008
It’s all good guys
Secret is to raise your expectations. This is to those of you who are really in the dark-night of creative gestation, and live in the digital world on a daily basis.
Your not alone, their are others, such as myself.
Collis’s energy is worth investigating, swallow your pride and accept others may have had greater timing, resource, life-experience, drive and comminitment then yourself, but do not be envious, yet open yourself up to their energy. Consider all aspects of your life, to raise your level of consiousness, up and too, that of people who are prooving to be successful in the material aspects of this life.
In the midst of extreme suffering ,you will find a torch that will burn brighter then you could ever imagine.
follow it !.
And if it does not “FEEL” , like the right time for yourself,……….. it’s not. There are generational opportunities at play here too, aka, this is majority a era for Gen X’s to come to the forefront
Gen Y’s, will have it even better then ourself!, so just hang in there and do the right thing.
This is a radical change of human awareness that is currently in the air, radical revisioning of what “work”
and “money” mean to society, and how we can all work together to find ways to say goodbye to the
Office cube nightmare of the 1990, least for those who are intelligent and spiritually aware enough to not
be a mindless LEMMING, working day in , day out doing something you resent!.
CHOOSE THE HARD WAY!, it leads to peace!, eventually.
Eric Thayne
August 14th, 2008
Cool! I’d like to see a list like this on PSDTUTS, only it would be a list of designers to follow!
Matt Santi
August 17th, 2008
Does anyone have any good idea on how you can stay up to date with all this information going around? Lot’s of great ideas, but with only 24 hours in a day, anyone have any suggestions for what they do to get the meat and potatoes of something without wasting a lot of time?
Christian
August 19th, 2008
Great list, i’ve always wondered who created jquery