have sought clarification on plans of converting the meter gauge railway lines into broad gauge:Transport minister Manik Dey

In our very first episode we discuss the difficulty of writing your own online biography, the pros and cons of co-working, the move towards flat file site generation, the upcoming New Adventures in Web Design conference, the shiny new Rode iXY microphone and end with bespoke fixed gear bikes.

• The Back to Front Show on Twitter
• Site44
• Jekyll
• Kirby
• Perch
• WP Super Cache
• Codekit for Mac
• Mixture
• Mixture multiple device demo
• Fast Company article on co-working
• The Rode iXY Mic
• New Adventures in Web Design
• BÖIKZMÖIND
• Mango Bikes
• The Zombie Stomper

Skype wasn’t kind to us this week so sincere apologies for the sound quality. We are instigating new audio fiedlity procedure moving forward! This week we discuss Teux Deux moving to a payment model, the demise of Google Reader, startup media icons and Kieran manages to top all previous “and finally” items.

• MK Geek Night
• The Startup Legitimizer
• Where 7 web companies started
• Clarity
• Neux Teux Deux
• Beware the free, invisible service
• Good riddance Google Reader
• Laura Kalbag
• Pack

But for pesky technical gremlins, this would certainly be our best episode yet. Apologies in advance for the background noise. Pre-recording testing was good, however it appears that an intermittent issue with a USB connector has caused us a few problems that can’t be edited out. Now we know we’ll do better next time.

Moving on this week’s show focuses on online document collaboration, discusses GMail’s 9th birthday, a new JS gem from Dave Rupert and much more.

• MK Geek Night
• Lessons learned in a year on my own
• Gmail is 9
• timeJump.js
• Wired UK
• Editorially
• Draft
• Edit Flow
• Giphy

This weeks show is kindly supported by Insites: ConfShop — A unique one day event for web workers focused on openness, sharing and learning taking place in London on Friday July 5th. Tickets are limited to 100 and are available for £125.

In this episode we tell you about our new “studio”, discuss the route to inner nirvana (no really), the “problem” of celebrities on KickStarter and ask whether Ghost is the future of blogging as we know it.

• Insites: ConfShop
• JonM
• Vimeo on Demand
• 8 Things Really Successful People Do
• Kwikset Kivo
• Celebrities on KickStarter
• Rockford Files Titles
• Ghost: Just a Blogging Platform
• Coffitivity

Thanks again to Insites: ConfShop for supporting this weeks episode.

We are back behind the Yeti’s to discuss Keir’s trip to Beyond Tellerrand, the new Flickr subscription model, Digg Reader, Prism and our recent Mac email client woes. We round out the show with quite possibly the best use of technology we have come across – intrigued? You should be!

• Beyond Tellerrand
• Marc Thiele
• Jonny Belmont (Reasons to be Creative)
• Josh Brewer at Beyond Tellerrand
• James Victore
• The Secret Handshake
• Flickr
• Mark Jaquith on Prism
• Digg Reader announcement
• Sparrow
• Postbox
• Airmail
• Whistle

As the web appears to have gone on holiday we present a mixed bag of goodness on Episode 010. We lament the loss of one of our zero’s, Kieran brings forth the news and the funny and we engage in a almost academic level of discourse on the issues associated with overfunding on crowdfunding platforms. Also included – a bit of Startup talk, a new Mac code editor, the new Royal baby and our first ever competition.

• Our new about page
• An Event Apart lunchboxes
• Keir on his Tom Cruise box
• Insites: ConfShop
• Macaw
• Pixeli.st
• Startupland
• Crowdfunding sites should ban over-funding
• Man Vs Raccoon
• Royally Desperate

Lunchbox Competition

To enter the Back to Front Show lunchbox giveaway simply tweet the answer to the following question before Friday 2nd August 2013. All correct answers will be entered into the draw. If nobody guesses correctly the closest response will win.

Question: What is the height difference in inches between Kieran and Keir?

In the 11th instalment of our artisanal hand-crafted high-fidelity podcast we prove that despite being able to bring up a LAMP stack in under 12 minutes we are utterly incapable of running a competition. Listen in and find out who the two, yes two, winners of Keir’s lunchbox are! We also discuss Keir’s (and Elliot’s) latest publication called Digest, chat about a new design trend, shine a light on a new screencasting service and ask if online comments are dead.

• Digest
• The Freelance Web
• Hired podcast
• Sound Studio
• Hindenburg Systems
• Quickcast
• Should all web professionals be able to code?
• Appropriate design
• Disqus
• Hipster logo

Episode #013 is brought to you in association with Squarespace, the all-in-one platform that makes it fast and easy to create your own professional website or online portfolio. For a free trial and 10% off, go to squarespace.com and use offer code Backtofront8.

This week there’s a change to our format as we strive to go weekly. In our new “8bit-minified-compressed” format we discuss six choice cuts found around the web including Google and Uber, Local Tunnel and the trend of coffee cups in web marketing.

• Google invest in Uber
• Failed products
• Namebox.io
• Blind Browser
• Local Tunnel
• They’re Using it at Coffee Shops

Thanks again to Squarespace for supporting the show

Episode #015 is brought to you in partnership with Squarespace, the all-in-one platform that makes it fast and easy to create your own professional website or online portfolio. For a free trial and a massive 20% off (valid for September 2013), go to squarespace.com and use offer code Backtofront9.

In this week’s micro edition we look at six great articles including a Medium post on proving your app idea with existing technology, the art of great support, Grunt, advances in wi-fi technology, Kieran’s latest bling accessory and a great post by our Texan friend Mr. Trent walton.

• From a Mailchimp email and Wufoo form to $25k in 3 months
• Support Ops
• Automating with Grunt
• Mile-wide wireless
• The Nymi bracelet
• Human Interest

Episode #016 sees us discussing the recent Generate Conference in London, Shopify’s amazing Build a Business annual contest, faces for apps, Happy Cog giving us insights into their workflow and a couple of revisits including Editorially and Draft.

• Generate Conf
• Distrify
• Shopify: Build A Business
• The Dribbblisation of Design
• Facebox.io
• UI Faces
• Pimping mail.app
• The Happy Cog Way
• Box Notes
• Editorially out of Beta
• Draft’s Hemingway mode

This weeks episode is kindly supported by Squarespace, the all-in-one platform that makes it fast and easy to create your own professional website or online portfolio. For a free trial and a massive 10% off, go to squarespace.com and use offer code Backtofront10.

In this episode we discuss Google’s foray into the IDE land, Brad Frost’s great post on speaking, Ace Hotel’s unique approach to web marketing and finish with the first use of the word p**n on the show. Rest assured it’s 100% SFW.

• Hyper Island
• Kieran’s wood burner
• Overcast
• Google Web Designer (Beta)
• Valve release Steam OS & Steam Machines
• Squarespace Stories
• On Speaking by Brad Frost
• Jam Factory
• Ace Hotel’s Thoughtful E-commerce Curation
• Cabin Porn
• Cabin Porn Supplies
• Brooklyn Beta

It’s the end of year Back to Front Show awards special. An opinonated, and occasionally tongue in cheek, look back over the last year in which we celebrate the events, the trends, the people, the apps, the podcasts, the magazines and the books that have made 2013 a great year. We also have details of our first ever guest co-host who will be joining Keir in December!

Award Categories

Winners will be linked up in a few weeks time *

• Conference/event of the year
• Side project of the year
• Podcast of the year
• Magazine of the year
• Book of the year
• “Blogger who you wished blogged more” of the year
• Hipster Web Site of the year (AKA the moustache wax award for web ingenuity)
• Dog related tech product of the year
• Team of the year
• Man of the year
• Woman of the year
• Trend of the year
• “And finally…” of the year

* We really want you to listen to find out!

In our first episode of 2014 I am joined by new guest co-host Marc Roberts of Neutron Creations. After a lengthy chat about his rather special coat we moved onto more web related links and finished up with a discussion on node.js. Big thanks for Marc for taking the time to come on the show.

• MKGN All Dayer
• EJS on being less social
• I can smell your CMS
• Bitcoins explained in terms a 5 year old can understand
• Letterboxd 2013 review
• Cameron Moll’s “typo”
• node.js
• Express web application framework for node
• The Particle Lab
• showterm

Just when you thought you could delete us from your podcatcher we are back and with a distinct lack of excuses for our absence. This week we discuss our new weekly formats and chat extensively about “transitioning”.

Over the last few months both of us have found our main focuses shifting and as a result the way we present ourselves online has changed, or had to change, too. We revisit our discussion on “flowery Twitter bios” and look at ways in which our friends, colleagues and heroes represent themselves online – through the blog posts they write, links they curate and share and other output including podcasts and videos. We touch on expectations, schedules and much more in our first episode back behind the Yeti’s.

• Sean Wes
• The Sean Wes Podcast: Episode 92
• Daniel Howells on Twitter
• Gary Vee
• Gary Vee on YouTube

We’d love to hear about your experiences of transitioning. Get in touch on Twitter and Facebook.

Behind every great idea lies a great domain, or is it the other way round? This week we discuss the domains we keep renewing in the hope of one day using, the original ideas behind them and whether or not they will ever see the light of day.

• 80’s Weetabix adverts
• Comedians in cars getting coffee
• MK Geek Night
• Break Conf
• Mr.Cool from Happy Days

If you like our show please feel free to leave us a review on iTunes.

As we reach the ripe old age of 30 we sit back and chat about a topic we often come back to over an artisinal flat white – why do people think everything on the web “should” be free? We discuss some possible causes, the backlash against app developers charging for previously free tools and ponder if the rise of big VC has played it’s part too.

Oh and yes there’s yet more microphone drama. All will be explained next week. As always we do apologise for the disruption to the service.

If you like our show please feel free to leave us a review on iTunes.

This week Kieran joins us live via a pair of Apple headphones from Coffee #1. Complete with baristas creating flat whites and the chitter chatter of remote workers typing away we throw audio fidelity to the wind and freestyle over a few links from Keir’s web site.

• Codebase
• Deploy
• Dial 9
• Sirportly
• Keir’s 404 page
• MAMP Pro Apache Failed to Start on OS X Yosemite
• Print media queries not working?
• Briefly
• A Brief Look at Texting and the Internet in Film
• Warmduscher

Due to logistical issues Kieran was unable to join the party today. Thankfully Marc and Ben from Neutron Creations kindly joined Keir for a chat over lunch (literally). This week we discuss the recent web.is conference in Cardiff put together by our good friend Mr. Craig Lockwood.

• The Web Is
• Christopher Murphy
• Benjamin Hollway
• David Hieatt
• Managing Oneself

Back from our travels we retrun behind the Yeti’s to discuss everything from the hunt for the perfect email app to the sartorial elegance of modern tech CEO’s. This episode also features a rather spledid retreat venue only four hours from Spokane.

• The Web Is
• Beyond Tellerrand Berlin
• Punctuation Tips
• Google Inbox
• Define the CTO
• Business casual has become a little too casual
• Dog Bark Park Inn

This week Keir tries to speak “Somerset” and no surprises for guessing the outcome of that one. Once that’s done and dusted we take a look at the rise in Markdown based writing apps, examine a new ebook service from Liberio, try and fail to work out the implications of the new EU VAT place of supply rule for digital services and finally round it out with a chat about at a new comms tool.

• Typed
• Whiskey
• Liberio — “eBooks to go” (Liberio is sadly no longer active — for more options check out this article)
• Cat Noone interview on Smashing Magazine
• Sendowl and the VAT question
• Rachel Andrew on the VAT rules
• Wire

In a change to the announced billing, an impromptu early morning phone call made us think a chat about remote working might be in order. As many of us fight the January blues, and inevitable bout of illness that the new year often brings, it felt a timely opportunity to discuss the good, and the bad, aspects of working from a distance.

Topics we discuss include:

• How does working remotely affect us?
• What we both like and dislike about it
• How much real work you achieve per day
• The importance of “banter”
• Is the reality like the dream?
• A typical day for remote working?
• Do we put extra pressure on ourselves to output more as we are not in the office?
• How to feel part of the company you work for

And finally for those Nabaztag doubters out there you can read the full history of the internet enabled rabbit on Wikipedia!

Five Simple Steps Giveaway

To be in with a chance of winning one of the two sets of Five Simple Step’s Pocket Guide Collection 3 all you have to do it answer one of the following two questions correctly. Kieran’s decision will be final (he’s a harsh judge):

1. Q: What was Matthew Lillard’s handle in the cult-classic 1995 film Hackers?
2. Q: In the same year Sandra Bullock played a Systems Analyst in the film The Net. During the course of the film her identity is changed by cyber criminals but what is the name they gave her?

To enter just send a tweet to @backtofrontshow with your answer. We’ll announce winners on the next episode.

Like a phoenix from the flames, we have risen. Our year long retreat for slightly overweight tech men from the South West of England is officially over. We’ve eaten the kale, cleansed ourselves, got the glow and are now itching to get back behind the mics. It’s out with the Yeti’s and in with a spanking new steed for Kieran and a less than great “Madonna” mic for Keir.

In this week’s episode, we discuss where on earth we’ve been for the last 13 months, chat about how we’ve moved away from the code face and share experiences of a life away from daily development.

Finally, we announce the winner of the longest competition in Back to Front Show history!

It’s good to be back.

Three years ago we started this little adventure called The Back to Front Show. Since then we’ve somehow managed to record 39 shows. Not the best of averages but who’s counting?

In our milestone 40th show, we discuss the cake that never happened, Keir’s favourite new TV show, standing desks and end with a discussion that starts with Sarah Parmenter’s recent blog post and ends with thoughts on specialisation.

You may also be pleased to hear that our “and finally” section returns this week and features a great satire on our industry.

• Waitrose Caterpillar Cake
• Tattoo Fixers
• The $25 Oristand Standing Desk
• The Elephant in the Room
• Vitaly from Smashing Magazine’s response
• The Passable Designer

This episode is dedicated to our favourite Australian Gavin Ballard — all round good guy, world traveller, bon viveur and last but by no means least Shopify Expert. Gavin is a long time listener (we still aren’t sure why) and friend of the show. If we had a pin badge and sticker “care package” he’d be the first recipient!

Topics covered in this mega-length show include the weather in the South West, Skype video, our favourite NYC diners, the use of technology in the bathroom, career paths for developers, and more.

• Gavin Ballard
• Skype Etiquette
• RIP The Market Diner
• Modern stock photography
• The Vazoo Video Keir Forgot
• Being A Developer After 40</ul>

If you would like a show dedicated to you please let us know via the comment link below and we’ll undoubtedly make it happen.

This week we celebrate the internet’s very own Oliver Lindberg as we get #lostwithlindberg. Given our distinct lack of direction for this episode, it seemed only right and proper that our favourite editor of the internet takes this week’s naming rights. If you are ever lost, and if you can find him, maybe you can also get “lost with Lindberg”. Cue the music.

We might not be a crack commando unit but we did our best to highlight a few choice topics from the internet underground. In this week’s show, we speak out in favour of the new Instagram logo, welcome the Lord of the .io domain to the UK’s most hipster city, discuss a big man with a new big book, see the sunset on sunrise, and finally get all excited about our new startup!

• Instagram redesign their logo!
• Bath now more Hipster than Dalston
• Pretty Much Everything by Aaron James Draplin
• Goodnight Sunrise
• Startpup Contest

It feels like only last week that the two “K Units” got behind the Samson CO1UPRO‘s and recorded episode #43. So close in fact, that we even manage to think we are still actually recording episode #43!

In this short 53 minute episode, we catch up on recent life goings on, learn that Kieran has been “tamping hard” in his role as “Digital Guy” at the bespoke artisanal coffee roasting company, discuss language used by people under the age of 30, announce our new club, and round out with a chat about Kickstarter. There may even be a mention of earphones!

• Colonna Coffee
• Sir Gavin Ballard (see also Episode #42)
• Yorkshire Fat Rascal
• The Get Along Gang
• Sport Billy
• Super Lit Cat
• En Flique
• 8 Faces Collected
• Origin – The Ultimate Coffee Brew Stand
• Woodbuds

Welcome to Back Stories — a new series of one on one interviews hosted by Keir Whitaker (one-half of the team behind The Back to Front Show).

Each episode, unlike the usual show, will come in at 30 minutes and will attempt to delve into the interesting lives of people working in the web, design, tech, publishing, and creative industries.

In this first episode, Keir chats with Marc Thiele — long-time friend and the man behind the Beyond Tellerrand series of web conferences. There’s plenty of ground covered including the early 8 bit days, Flash, events, and more.

Marc Online

• Marc’s personal web site
• Marc on Twitter
• Beyond Tellerrand
• Twumble — Marc’s mostly German language podcast
• Marc’s interview with Keir on Twumble

Welcome to the second episode of Back Stories — a new series of one on one interviews hosted by Keir Whitaker (one-half of the team behind The Back to Front Show).

In this episode, Keir is joined by Craig Lockwood — long time friend of the show and the man behind endeavours including software, events, co-working spaces, and more. In this very open and honest account of his work and life, Craig shares his experiences of working in the web and tech industry.

Craig Online

• Craig’s personal web site
• Craig on Twitter
• Shopish — Craig’s day job
• Fit Stat — Craig’s side project

In this episode of Back Stories, Keir chats with Kurt Elster — founder of ecommerce agency Ethercycle, host of the popular Ecommerce Hacks Weekly video series, author of Ecommerce Bootcamp, and the host of The Unofficial Shopify Podcast.

Topics include the benefits of the “peacock” jacket, naming your company, specialisation, automating inbound leads, productised consulting, and much more.

Kurt Online

• Kurt’s personal web site
• Kurt on Twitter
• “Ecommerce Bootcamp” — Kurt’s book
• The Unofficial Shopify Podcast — Kurt’s podcast
• Ethercycle — Kurt’s company
• Ecommerce Hacks Weekly — Kurt’s newsletter

I’ll say this — time off between episodes certainly gives us plenty to talk about. In our 45th, almost hour–long, outing behind the mics we welcome new members to “the club“, discuss Kieran’s move into the world of coffee capsule commerce, ponder on new forms of web education, and learn more what Kieran receives in the post!

• David McCann
• Matt Wilmott
• Colonna Coffee
• Oliver Lindberg
• The New Digital School
• Lecture In Progress
• Lecture In Progress Kickstarter
• Web Teaching Day
• How to Survive as a Web Designer Beyond 2020

Happy New Year to you all! Rather unsurprisingly we missed our end of year review but the outline was probably one of our best. Maybe we’ll do it next year!

This episode we catch up on Kieran’s move behind the camera, argue over what exactly constitutes a pair of Daps and delve into the future of Medium in light of Ev Williams recent announcement.

• Colonna Brewing Guide Video
• What are Daps?
• Renewing Medium’s Focus
• Joe Polastre at Canvas Conference 2015
• Venture Capital is going to Murder Medium
• Dear Medium … Why Didn’t You Ask Us?
• Long Medium
• Drew Wilson’s Cave Week

If you like the show don’t forget you can support our astronomical S3 costs by becoming an exclusive member of the Back to Front Show Club!

In this episode of Back Stories, Keir chats with Oliver Lindberg— founder of the new Pixel Pioneers web conference series and all round content guru. Topics covered include how to find speakers for your conference, the role of a good editor, how to improve your writing skills, and how to pitch to an editor.

Oliver Online

• Oliver’s personal web site
• Oliver on Twitter
• Pixel Pioneers — Oliver’s conference series
• The Lindberg Interviews — Oliver’s interviews

It’s hard to believe it’s only been one week, no really, since our last confession. Where does the time go?

In this episode we catch up on what’s happened in our lives in the last seven days, discuss the latest goings on at Medium, ponder why the Guardian doesn’t write listicles and end on probably the best API in the world!

• Shopify Plus
• Canada 150
• Medium Membership
• Biz is Back at Twitter
• BreweryDB

Happy 2018! Eschewing a long-standing tradition of not actually releasing shows we are kicking off the year as we mean to go on (for now) with a brand spanking new edition!

Join us for 50 glorious high fidelity minutes (true for one of us) and celebrate five years of the show. We don’t dwell too long on our golden non-award winning archive and go on to indulge in some chat, review a book, have a moan about Kickstarter projects, and for once don’t end on dog tech!

• Beyond Tellerrand Munich 2018
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking
• Space Gray Apple iMac Pro Stuff sold for Thousands
• The Cozydesk
• The Rise, Fall and Rise Again of the Creative Technologist:

Tap tap, is this thing on? After eight months or working out how to plug in our USB microphones, we finally figured it out and are back with 45 glorious minutes of chat!

In this episode, we learn all about “New Kieran” — new job, new house, and a new laptop. We also discuss a great post on lessons learned running a subscription-based newsletter, discuss Hanno’s great online playbooks for remote working and end on a new Maus that neither of us wants.

• Nalgene Water Bottle
• The Fall Guy with Lee Majors
• New Adventures is Back!
• What I Learned over a Year of Asking Users for Money for the First Time
• Instead Of Focusing On Growth, We Want To Focus On Enough: Our Journey To 330
• Get Revue — Editorial Nnewsletter Tool for Writers and Publishers
• Hanno Remote Team Playbooks
• The Lofree Maus
• The Baron Fig Bolt

Next up is our 50th episode — let us know what we should discuss via Twitter.

(This story originally appeared in AhmedabadMirror on May 8, 2020)

In the wake of exodus of thousands of migrant workers who are leaving the state, the Gujarat cabinet has approved a new ordinance where existing stringent labour laws will be liberalised to ensure smooth functioning of industries in the post lockdown period.