About

Behind manu.habite.la, there’s me: Manu. true story

To learn more about my 14 years of experience, feel free to take a look at my online resume, or my PDF resume (in French).

Interested in seeing how I code or communicate in web projects? Head over to my GitHub account. You might catch me posting things on LinkedIn too.

Every now and then, I speak at Human Talks in my city, Angers, France. Feel free to swing by, it’s always a good time!

OK, I might have a slight obsession with web interfaces, but I promise I have qualities too.

When I am not busy shaping small bits of the Web, I teach at MyDigitalSchool, where dozens of students see HTML and fall in love. At least.

On the competitive side, you’ll find me on the badminton court, a sport I’ve been into for many years at the Badminton Angers Club (in French). Fortunately or unfortunately, I’m better at creating websites.

If you are ever in Angers, you can spot me at WeForge, or tearing up the dance floor at Joker’s pub.

Now, what’s with the ducks?

The duck is the spirit animal of web developers. Think of it as the border collie to a shepherd, or maple syrup to Canada. In short: ducks are our best friends.

In a room full of code lovers, you might just hear, “I need a duck!”

And no, I am not making this up. Even Wikipedia talks about it:

Many programmers have experienced explaining a problem to someone else, possibly even to someone who knows nothing about programming, and then hitting upon the solution in the process of explaining the problem. In describing what the code is supposed to do and observing what it actually does, any incongruity between these two becomes apparent. More generally, teaching a subject forces its evaluation from different perspectives. By using an inanimate object, the programmer can try to accomplish this without having to interrupt anyone else, and with better results than have been observed from merely thinking aloud without an audience.

The duck has a special meaning for many people. And even after years and years of experience, the consensus is clear: a duck can save a website. Quack quack.