Why centring is so hard
Every web developer has torn their hair out trying to align an icon with some text, or two separate pieces of text with each other, or (god forbid) a whole sequence of text nodes, icons, form […]
Archives
Bidirectional text in HTML
Today's obscure HTML element: <bdi>. It stands for "bidirectional" and refers to text that can include both RTL and LTR languages (does not appear to care about other […]
Temperate trees and shrubs
A vast encyclopedia, free for all to use online, aiming to detail all woody plants that grow in temperate regions. Written by experts, it is the single largest horticultural work ever created, and is […]
Root and branch
Notes from an interview of Dr. John Grimshaw, director of the Yorkshire Arboretum, on tree planting, climate pledges, and conservation, published in House & Garden September […]
Resurrecting web marginalia
A few careful thoughts about the utility of "web marginalia", in this case for discovery; things like blogrolls, feed lists, and webrings. John wonders if their demise is in part due to the loss of […]
Build your own wildlife ponds
A plethora of instructional videos for all manner of backyard wetlands, from downpipe bogs to full-blown wildlife ponds designed for amphibians. Some really great tips across the board, and […]
The curious disappearance of the Carolina parakeet
A look into the life – and death – of one of the more infamous recent extinctions: the Carolina parakeet (which, turns out, is not a parakeet at all, but a small parrot). I hadn't realised how […]
Performative performance
A thoughtful look at the idea of sustainability in web development and design, particularly in terms of whether worrying about an individual design choice's carbon footprint is meaningful or simply […]
Andy's evergreen notes
Andy has built a career considering the impact of note-taking and ways to maximise it as a way to gain deeper insights and develop general knowledge. This notes microsite is one of their related […]
Reloading cutting line on DeWalt DCM561P1S strimmer
It's a bit ridiculous, but I keep losing access to the manual for our strimmer, and the instructions aren't that clear even when I do find it again. Plus, to make matters worse, there are several […]
How to use CrystalDiskMark
A very useful explanation of how to interpret the test results from CrystalDiskMark, as well as a solid overview of how to tweak the settings to really understand and analyse your […]
A brief history of the digital garden
Maggie's writing is always fantastic, and their thoughts on digital gardens are always worth reading. The history here is nothing new to me personally, but does present it in an ideal manner. I also […]
I will fucking dropkick you if you use that spreadsheet
One of the most entertaining rants I've read in some years! And whilst it may no longer be that pertinent to my current career, having been the person in charge of developing a nested, tangled mess […]
Chelsea beavers
The idea of bringing a small slice of beaver fenland to the stereotypically prim, proper, and incredibly overly managed Chelsea Flower Show is a great one, and serious props to the team for not only […]
Camera comparison & feature search
DPReview is one of my go-to sites for photography reviews or news, but every time I start thinking about a new camera I forget about their excellent hardware searching functionality. You can sort my […]
Server-side versus client-side analytics
Dave has been running Netlify Analytics (server-side) and Fathom (client-side) for a few years, and the results are in: data integrity is hard. They offer a solid overview of why neither dataset […]
Secrets of the wall plugs
Having spent the day affixing all manner of things to our walls, I figured it might be worth jotting down some tips and hard-learned […]
The weirdly obscure art of Streamed HTML
A fascinating series looking into how to turn a modern React eCommerce front end into as fast a page as possible. The conclusions are not what I had […]