EST. 1988 Frontend Experience Engineer

NICK
ORTIZ

Building scalable, high-performance experience systems across design and engineering.

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EXPERIMENTAL INTERFACES & AI EXPLORATIONS

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Git Bisect – Using a Binary Search Tool to Find A Bugs Initial Occurrence

Git bisect is a powerful tool built into Git that helps identify the specific commit that introduced a bug or regression. It automates a binary search across your commit history, quickly narrowing down to the first "bad" commit.

Full-Width elements inside Fixed-width containers

When working in the frontend, I often come across a common challenge: adding a full-width element inside a fixed-width container. For example, you might need a banner, background section, or hero image to span the full width of the viewport, even when it’s nested inside a parent container with a constrained width. The Classic Solution […]

Getting Started with TensorFlow.js – Real-Time Object Detection

Ever wondered how object detection works in web applications? With TensorFlow.js, you can leverage pre-trained models to build powerful machine learning applications directly in the browser. In this guide, I’ll walk you through creating a real-time object detection app using TensorFlow.js and the pre-trained Coco-SSD model. This project is beginner-friendly and perfect for exploring the […]

AVAILABLE FOR WORK

Available for high-impact frontend and experience system work

THOUGHTS

September 22, 2025 Engineering

From Full-Stack to Full-Cycle

The Rise of the AI-Supported Generalist. The role of a developer has always been expanding. Once, being full-stack meant juggling frontend and backend. Later, it meant cloud deployment, APIs, and maybe even DevOps pipelines. But if we zoom out, building a product involves far more than code. It spans client outreach, design, testing, documentation, analytics, […]

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screenshot of the spindle MVP display window with editor viewable and output generated
July 15, 2025 Engineering

Building Spindle, an Open Source Web-Based Layout Builder

In early June I stumbled across Layouts.dev, a visual layout builder that offered a fast way to scaffold UIs with drag-and-drop ease. The concept was great—but I wanted something more open, developer-first, and extensible. Something that could be used like a real tool, not just a toy.

That moment kicked off a journey to create Spindle—a blazing-fast, open-source layout builder designed for engineers to prototype components and templates with minimal friction. This blog post walks through the inspiration, research, naming conventions, and technical planning that shaped Spindle into a real, usable tool.

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April 25, 2025 Engineering

Why I Still Build Sites in WordPress

(Even Though I Could Use Anything Else) As a frontend engineer with years of experience across JavaScript frameworks, headless CMS architectures, and static site generators, I often get asked: “Why are you still using WordPress for your own site?” It’s a fair question—especially when tools like Next.js, Astro, Sanity, and even Notion-as-CMS are all gaining […]

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January 29, 2025 Engineering

Running DeepSeek-R1 Locally

Install Ollama by downloading the appropriate installer from their website.https://ollama.com/download After first-run installation it’ll ask you to install your first model, you can use their suggestion or you can install deepseek instead! Install Deepseek-R1 using ollama Once this is complete you can run and interact with deepseek in your own local environment If you’re interested […]

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January 18, 2025 Engineering

Generate an SSL Certificate using CertBot

Certbot is a free, open-source tool that automates the process of obtaining and renewing SSL/TLS certificates from Let’s Encrypt, a certificate authority that provides free SSL certificates. These certificates encrypt the data transmitted between your website and its users, ensuring security and boosting SEO rankings. Certbot simplifies what used to be a manual, error-prone process […]

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January 3, 2025 Art , Engineering

During holiday break I discovered TouchDesigner

TouchDesigner is a powerful visual programming tool designed for real-time interactive multimedia applications. Developed by Derivative, it is widely used by artists, designers, and engineers to create stunning visualizations, interactive installations, and dynamic audio-visual performances. Its node-based interface makes it accessible for both beginners and professionals, offering flexibility and scalability for projects of all sizes. […]

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December 11, 2024 Engineering

Web Development in 2024: A Year in Review

2024 reshaped web development with AI-powered tools streamlining workflows, React Server Components becoming a mainstream standard, and a critical focus on performance and sustainability. Developers leaned into TypeScript, edge computing, and eco-conscious practices to build smarter, faster, and greener applications. These trends set the stage for 2025 to prioritize accessible, adaptive, and high-performing web solutions. […]

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December 9, 2024 Engineering

Continuous Integration on the Web

Continuous Integration (sometimes shortened to CI) is an important and useful practice in modern software development that focuses on integrating code changes into a shared repository frequently. This practice allows teams to detect and address errors quickly, improving the quality and stability of a project. This is a modern standard that eliminates lots of risk […]

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December 4, 2024 Engineering

Debugging tips

Debugging is a critical skill for any engineer. The ability to track down elusive bugs can elevate you from a good developer to a great one. I was lucky enough to spend time evaluating lots of different levels of programmers code when I was learning programming and working at a community college. In this post, […]

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December 2, 2024 Productivity

Pomodoro Technique

Struggling to stay focused during work or study sessions? This time-management method, created by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s, is simple and extremely effective. Here’s how it works: Set a Timer: Decide on a task, then set a timer for 25 minutes—this is one “Pomodoro.” Work with Intensity: Dedicate those 25 minutes solely to […]

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Salesforce: AI-Enhanced Scrolly-Telling Experience

When Salesforce’s editorial team wanted to experiment with a new way to publish long-form content—one that didn’t just tell a story but guided readers through it—our team at Fueled stepped in. The goal was to make dense, technical articles feel alive. To give them motion, rhythm, and a sense of unfolding. My role was to […]

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YEAR 2026 STATUS PUBLISHED