We hope you like Rapidfires cause we got another one for you this week!

We answer questions about taking over a web service, if you should focus on building a team or a product first, carousel sliders, the merits of cover letters, grid systems, Flexbox, disruption in the web design industry, and more.

We talked about (roughly in order):

Q & A:

2:51 I have the opportunity to build a “new and improved” product for a pre-existing web service, with over 1,000 paying users. The original company has no desire to pursue this product and will share the majority of the profits if we take over operations, so upon launch we will have over a 1,000 customers to convert! But, my business partner thinks we should focus on building a company before the product. What would you focus on first? The company or the product?

11:28 On the show, you reference Owl Carousel quite a bit. This is a great plugin & as worked seamless for my projects. Problem is, I’m looking for a plugin that don’t invoke any libraries or jQuery dependancies. Any recommendations?

19:32 What do you guys think about cover letters?

24:15 What are your thoughts on using a typography style sheet partial?

30:52 I’ve never found much use for grid systems because I prefer to hand code my layouts. Recently I discovered Susy and I’ve started to change my mind. I’m curious what you guys think about Susy and what kind of grid system, if any, you use?

38:43 Is thegrid.io going to replace web design?

47:57 What’s your take on using “data-ng-value” (or “x-ng-value”) versus just using “ng-value” on your markup? The former is better for wc3 validation, but does it matter in the long run if you stick with using the latter? Are there any major repercussions, aside from getting a whole lotta red when validating your HTML5 markup?

Sponsors:

17:23 lynda.com – Kickstart your new year and challenge yourself to learn something new with a free 10-day trial to lynda.com!

Check out some super great courses like:

Illustrator CC for Wireframing

Android Studio Essential Training

Bootstrap Layout

Localization for Developers

Up and Running with Android Wear

Jeffrey Zeldman: 20 Years of Web Design and Community

WordPress Essential Training

Code Clinic – an innovative series where each month lynda.com issues a code challenge and authors share their solutions using a variety of different programming languages

Whether you want to set new financial goals, find work/life balance, invest in a new hobby, ask your boss for a raise, find a new job or improve upon your current job skills in 2015; lynda.com has something for everyone! Get a free 10 day trial now!

36:17 Environment for Humans: CSS Dev Conf 2015 – The 1st conference devoted to CSS,

the design language of the web,

returns for its 4th year.

Join Chris, Dave, Val Head, Jonathan Snook (and many others) this October 26-28 on The Queen Mary (yes, it’s a boat!) to learn everything from techniques for everyday workflows to cutting-edge specifications landing in browser nightly builds.

You won’t want to miss this experience; grab your tickets now!

Show Links:

Startup Podcast

Owl Carousel

Flickity

CodePen Radio #38: with David Desandro

Susy Grid

CSS Tricks – Susy

A Guide to Flexbox

Bourbon Neat Grid

Shoptalk FAQ

Webflow

thegrid.io

Dave Rupert on thegrid.io (Shoptalk #143)

Ol’ John Henry

Jekyll

Gulp

Looking for a job? Check out the Shoptalk Job Board!

Do you think Shoptalk is the best podcast on the internet? Leave us a review in iTunes, it helps other people find us!

Also, you might like Chris’ other podcast, CodePen Radio. Dave thinks it’s better than the Startup Podcast.