Matt Andrews

Web developer, writer, music nerd

Hi, my name is Matt – welcome to my vanity homepage. I'm a client-side web developer currently at the Guardian in London. When I'm not writing HTML, CSS & JavaScript I'm a keen writer, musician, cyclist and homebrewer. I also speak at conferences and teach a variety of technical classes – more on these below.

Follow me on Twitter on @mattpointblank or email me on matt@mattandrews.info

My recent writing

  • Book review: JavaScript & jQuery (by Jon Duckett)

    Wednesday 01 October @ 11:10 PM
    I was excited to sit down and read the newly-published JavaScript & jQuery by Jon Duckett, produced by the team behind the hugely well-received HTML & CSS book. It’s a large and beautifully-designed tome aimed at newbie developers with familiarity with HTML/CSS but no experience with programming in the browser. In this post I’ll offer some thoughts […]

  • #dareconf 2014 review: people skills for digital workers

    Tuesday 30 September @ 12:09 PM

    The Guardians digital development teams thoughts on an event thats not your usual technical conference

    The tech scene is awash with conferences: it seems every other day theres a new clique of enthusiastic men (and, on occasion, women) pitching up to talk about JavaScript libraries, exciting things going on with SVG images, reasons you should use their Scala framework or ten things they wish you kn...

  • London, I love you, but you’re bringing me down

    Friday 12 September @ 10:09 PM
    I turned 28 this week and have begun to find that my life and those of my peers seems to have come to a fork in the road. The ones who live in the general area I’m calling “not London” have taken one fork in the path, while those of us in the “London” camp are […]

  • How animated gif selfies fixed our team’s morale

    Friday 15 August @ 10:08 PM
    Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about software team morale. I’ve switched teams a couple of times so far this year at work and have had a fairly different experience on each one. Some were large (10+ people), some small (3 people, one on a different continent) and each has had its own mix of […]

Talks I've given

&

My speaking schedule

  • Surviving the multi-device news challenge

    How the Guardian uses APIs and open data
    23rd January 2014 • Hacks & Hackers Berlin

    I'd like to explain to begin with what I mean by "the multi-device news challenge". Here are a couple of big numbers: 322: the number of unique browser versions the Guardian gets traffic from in a month.

  • Responsive design at the Guardian

    Why you should make your website future-friendly – right now.
    10th October 2013 • CanvasConf 2013

    A few weeks ago I was in central London near the river, waiting to cross the road. Just before the traffic lights changed, a huge yellow and blue truck-like vehicle came rolling past.

  • Responsive design at the Guardian

    How I learned to stop worrying and love the mobile web
    10th May 2013 • Port80 2013

    It's the most talked-about web development technique of the past few years and it's officially reached the mainstream: responsive web design is being used by huge content sites like the Boston Globe, the BBC, Channel 4, and now the Guardian.

Upcoming talks

Past talks

  • How to work with web developers
    Guardian Masterclass

    Monday 28 April

  • Building websites using HTML, CSS and JavaScript
    Guardian Masterclass

    Thursday 06 March - Thursday 27 March

  • Digital journalism bootcamp
    Guardian Masterclass

    Tuesday 25 February - Tuesday 18 March

  • Surviving the multi-device news challenge
    Hacks & Hackers Berlin

    Thursday 23 January

  • Building websites using HTML, CSS and JavaScript
    Guardian Masterclass

    Wednesday 15 January - Wednesday 05 February

  • Responsive design at the Guardian
    CanvasConf 2013, Birmingham

    Thursday 10 October

  • Building websites using HTML, CSS and JavaScript
    Guardian Masterclass

    Tuesday 24 September - Tuesday 15 October

  • How web developers work... and what they wish you knew
    Guardian Masterclass

    Monday 22 July

  • Building websites using HTML, CSS and JavaScript
    Guardian Masterclass

    Tuesday 04 June - Tuesday 25 June

  • Responsive design at the Guardian
    Port80 Conference 2013, Newport

    Friday 10 May

  • How to be a digital journalist
    Guardian Masterclass

    Saturday 23 March - Sunday 24 March

  • Building websites using HTML, CSS and JavaScript
    Guardian Masterclass

    Wednesday 27 February - Wednesday 20 March

  • How to be a digital journalist
    Guardian Masterclass

    Saturday 12 January - Sunday 13 January

  • Building websites using HTML, CSS and JavaScript
    Guardian Masterclass

    Wednesday 21 November - Thursday 13 December

Testimonials & links

Feedback from course attendees / conference audiences

  • “Matt is a very enthusiastic and proficient teacher. He frequently checked with us that were following ok and was happy to take questions at all times. All done with a great sense of humour and he remembered everyone's names.”
  • “Matt's course handouts and PDFs are excellent, well laid out and full of relevant and helpful information. An invaluable resource for future reference.”
  • “Matt is a clear, well-organised presenter, with excellent slides and handouts. He speaks – on his own admission – quickly and you have to pay close attention. But overall an inspiring teacher – with solid experience to draw on.”
  • “Matt creates a fun atmosphere and his enthusiasm is infectious. He communicates the concepts in very clear and down to earth fashion.”
  • “Really good to learn from someone who knew the subject so well and uses it in such a stimulating setting.”
  • “Matt was excellent – both in how he explained things and made them accessible and his relaxed personal style.”
  • “@mattpointblank's talk was one of the best I've ever seen, anywhere. Let's hope @canvasconf stick some videos online.”

Other places to find me