Assumed Familiarity

In one of those exciting moments of chance—when you spot a pattern on the verge of emerging (or, at least, one that's new to you)—I recently came across a pair of banners by two different authors, each setting the stage for their respective posts.

First, a note from Stephanie Eckles leading into her article “Use Eleventy Templating To Include Static Code Demos”:

This post assumes a foundational familiarity with Eleventy. If you're new to 11ty - welcome! You may want to start here.

Second, this placard from Robin Sloan I unearthed while catching up on newsletters:

This message was emailed to the Media Lab committee. The assumed audience is subscribers who maintain their own websites or other small apps.

I take these advisories not as infernal warnings to abandon hope, but rather as road signs offered considerately to passersby, each of us at different points along our own journeys.

I hope to see a lot more of them around.

(See also Ethan Marcotte's newly launched courses on design systems, each with a clearly stated audience: for Everyone, for Developers, for Designers, and for Product Managers.)