Max Karlsson
@headlessheretic.com
Headless heretic 🔱 Writer. Freelance developer (ecommerce). Sci-fi and whiskey.
I talk about headless development, e-commerce and freelancing
I talk about headless development, e-commerce and freelancing
0 days since I last took down production
June 2, 2025 at 4:06 AM
0 days since I last took down production
Maybe I'm weird, but I've always preferred learning by doing over learning by watching a tutorial video.
I don't think I've ever followed a tutorial from start to finish.
I don't think I've ever followed a tutorial from start to finish.
May 23, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Maybe I'm weird, but I've always preferred learning by doing over learning by watching a tutorial video.
I don't think I've ever followed a tutorial from start to finish.
I don't think I've ever followed a tutorial from start to finish.
Apparently a hot take: If you're already paying an agency a lot of money to do custom development on your theme, you're better off with Hydrogen.
May 6, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Apparently a hot take: If you're already paying an agency a lot of money to do custom development on your theme, you're better off with Hydrogen.
Debugging Hydration mismatch errors and having fun
Or not
Or not
April 11, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Debugging Hydration mismatch errors and having fun
Or not
Or not
I've been having too much fun with Hydrogen and Sanity to post in a while
February 13, 2025 at 4:55 AM
I've been having too much fun with Hydrogen and Sanity to post in a while
Figured out a solution to this. In the GROQ query, you can concatenate the string with an empty string, seems to throw stega off so it doesn't get appended.
E.g. 'alignment': '' + alignment
E.g. 'alignment': '' + alignment
Could you opt out of stega encoding on subfields? This value never needs to be mapped to the studio. Or should I just not use a string in the first place and work out a different solution?
January 26, 2025 at 2:39 AM
Figured out a solution to this. In the GROQ query, you can concatenate the string with an empty string, seems to throw stega off so it doesn't get appended.
E.g. 'alignment': '' + alignment
E.g. 'alignment': '' + alignment
I split my weeks between headless and theme development, and let me tell you, they're polar opposites. One has a great DX and allows for modern dev practices, while the other is extremely error-prone and leads to many headaches.
I would quit ecom if I had to work in themes exclusively
1/2
I would quit ecom if I had to work in themes exclusively
1/2
January 25, 2025 at 12:52 AM
I split my weeks between headless and theme development, and let me tell you, they're polar opposites. One has a great DX and allows for modern dev practices, while the other is extremely error-prone and leads to many headaches.
I would quit ecom if I had to work in themes exclusively
1/2
I would quit ecom if I had to work in themes exclusively
1/2
What is going on here? JavaScript, you're drunk!
January 22, 2025 at 10:26 AM
What is going on here? JavaScript, you're drunk!
Trying to see how fast I can rebuild a site with Hydrogen using my recipe collection. The site is already headless, so I can reuse a fair bit. But it uses Chakra and Gatsby on the frontend, and I'm all in on Tailwind. Plus the Sanity schema is a mess and the Studio is V2, so an upgrade is in order
January 22, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Trying to see how fast I can rebuild a site with Hydrogen using my recipe collection. The site is already headless, so I can reuse a fair bit. But it uses Chakra and Gatsby on the frontend, and I'm all in on Tailwind. Plus the Sanity schema is a mess and the Studio is V2, so an upgrade is in order
Trying to enable drag and drop for visual editing in Hydrogen with @sanity.io , but not having much luck. I followed the steps here: www.sanity.io/docs/enablin... but I can't seem to enable the drag and drop editing.
Enabling drag and drop for Visual Editing | Visual Editing
Core concepts for enabling drag and drop functionality within the Presentation tool
www.sanity.io
January 22, 2025 at 5:19 AM
Trying to enable drag and drop for visual editing in Hydrogen with @sanity.io , but not having much luck. I followed the steps here: www.sanity.io/docs/enablin... but I can't seem to enable the drag and drop editing.
Rebuilding a site with Hydrogen this week, with @sanity.io for content. I've missed this setup so much.
January 21, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Rebuilding a site with Hydrogen this week, with @sanity.io for content. I've missed this setup so much.
Headless provides a better experience for everyone. Why is it even an argument? Sure, there's some a lack of housekeeping, but this screenshot highlights the disparity between modern systems and whatever this is
January 13, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Headless provides a better experience for everyone. Why is it even an argument? Sure, there's some a lack of housekeeping, but this screenshot highlights the disparity between modern systems and whatever this is
A few months ago I found a Shopify plugin for Vite and thought it would be awesome. But it just made me realise that the problem with themes is not the tech, it's the DX
The plugin doesn't fix any of the underlying issues which makes theme dev such a bad experience
The plugin doesn't fix any of the underlying issues which makes theme dev such a bad experience
January 10, 2025 at 3:08 AM
A few months ago I found a Shopify plugin for Vite and thought it would be awesome. But it just made me realise that the problem with themes is not the tech, it's the DX
The plugin doesn't fix any of the underlying issues which makes theme dev such a bad experience
The plugin doesn't fix any of the underlying issues which makes theme dev such a bad experience
I've set up CI for themes. But I don't trust it. The way Shopify handles content for themes is so clunky
January 10, 2025 at 3:02 AM
I've set up CI for themes. But I don't trust it. The way Shopify handles content for themes is so clunky
Deploying a theme next week. Fun times. Scared to death I'll mess up the content somehow. This DX sucks
January 10, 2025 at 3:00 AM
Deploying a theme next week. Fun times. Scared to death I'll mess up the content somehow. This DX sucks
Why would you use a private npm package if you're building for a client?
You're only creating problems for everyone, including yourself, down the road.
You're only creating problems for everyone, including yourself, down the road.
January 9, 2025 at 3:37 AM
Why would you use a private npm package if you're building for a client?
You're only creating problems for everyone, including yourself, down the road.
You're only creating problems for everyone, including yourself, down the road.
What are the benefits and potential drawbacks of embedding the @sanity.io studio on the site?
I'm still debating which is the better way to go
I'm still debating which is the better way to go
January 9, 2025 at 3:19 AM
What are the benefits and potential drawbacks of embedding the @sanity.io studio on the site?
I'm still debating which is the better way to go
I'm still debating which is the better way to go
Another underappreciated bonus of Hydrogen+Oxygen is that you get hosting included. There is no need to sell merchants an additional monthly hosting cost.
January 8, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Another underappreciated bonus of Hydrogen+Oxygen is that you get hosting included. There is no need to sell merchants an additional monthly hosting cost.
I'm a big advocate for using the frameworks and starters developed by the platforms (Hydrogen for Shopify, Catalyst for BigCommerce, etc) because they provide a standard, at least as a starting point, that can be handed over to other devs.
Tear down the walls, make headless more accessible
Tear down the walls, make headless more accessible
January 8, 2025 at 12:15 AM
I'm a big advocate for using the frameworks and starters developed by the platforms (Hydrogen for Shopify, Catalyst for BigCommerce, etc) because they provide a standard, at least as a starting point, that can be handed over to other devs.
Tear down the walls, make headless more accessible
Tear down the walls, make headless more accessible
Why did Lorna Jane use Next.js instead of Hydrogen?
Genuinely curious. I hope it's not because the agency they contacted used their in-house framework with years of tech debt to deliver a brand-new site
Genuinely curious. I hope it's not because the agency they contacted used their in-house framework with years of tech debt to deliver a brand-new site
January 8, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Why did Lorna Jane use Next.js instead of Hydrogen?
Genuinely curious. I hope it's not because the agency they contacted used their in-house framework with years of tech debt to deliver a brand-new site
Genuinely curious. I hope it's not because the agency they contacted used their in-house framework with years of tech debt to deliver a brand-new site
When you build for a client, you're also building for other devs. You don't want to be saddled with an unhappy client that can't go anywhere else because you built a wall around their garden.
It will eventually hurt your reputation
It will eventually hurt your reputation
If you're building for a client: use the most popular tech
If you're building for yourself: use whatever you want
If you're building for yourself: use whatever you want
January 8, 2025 at 12:10 AM
When you build for a client, you're also building for other devs. You don't want to be saddled with an unhappy client that can't go anywhere else because you built a wall around their garden.
It will eventually hurt your reputation
It will eventually hurt your reputation
If you're building for a client: use the most popular tech
If you're building for yourself: use whatever you want
If you're building for yourself: use whatever you want
January 7, 2025 at 10:37 PM
If you're building for a client: use the most popular tech
If you're building for yourself: use whatever you want
If you're building for yourself: use whatever you want
If you're sending me an unsolicited "hire me" PM in a community space, expect to be blocked
January 7, 2025 at 6:07 AM
If you're sending me an unsolicited "hire me" PM in a community space, expect to be blocked