My anti-overlay client letter 🔗
In agency and freelance web development, relatively often I'm asked by clients what I think about accessibility overlays, or asked to implement them. [...]
Alistair Shepherd
Posts
Spring and Summer 2024 — Life, links and lmedia 🔗
I've had a pretty crazy 2024 so far — but to be honest I kinda say that all the time, maybe that's just my life? 😅 Anyway, wanted to do a wee summary [...]
My day at State of the Browser 2024 🔗
Last weekend I was at State of the Browser in London. It’s a fantastic conference, focusing on web development and many social issues in our industry. [...]
Selling a small front-end web project — what I learned 🔗
In 2017, I made a small web app for interacting with the Spotify API — mostly to learn some new technologies. Surprisingly it took off, getting quite [...]
My response to UK CMA's potential remedies for mobile browser competition 🔗
This is my personal submission to the the Potential Remedies Working Paper from the UK's Competition and Markets Authority regarding mobile browser co [...]
Proxying an Image CDN with Cloudflare workers 🔗
A short intro and code on how you can use Cloudflare workers on Cloudflare's free tier to proxy an image CDN like Cloudinary, CloudImage or Imgix. Usi [...]
JS library compilation to browser, esm and cjs using esbuild 🔗
This is a quick post, public but mostly for myself about how to do simple JS library compilation and bundling with esbuild. I have a few JS libraries [...]
Simple, fast build tooling with live reload for a non-framework website 🔗
I found a nice build tooling setup that can be integrated into non-framework websites where some part isn't controlled by the build tool. WordPress, C [...]
My 2023 round-up 🔗
Happy very belated new year! For the most part I had a really good 2023, I hope you did also. This is a month or so later than I meant to, as I had a [...]
HTMHell Advent Calendar — Getting started with Web Performance 🔗
A post on the the HTMHell Advent Calendar about how to get started with web performance including some tips! Available in full on the HTMHell Advent C [...]
Web Performance Calendar — Ten optimisation tips for an initial web performance audit 🔗
A post on the the Web Performance Calendar with handy tips for an site performance audit Available in full on the Web Performance Calendar If you have [...]
Interop Priority Game 2024 🔗
The other day Brian Kardell asked about Interop project prioritisation on his blog and mastodon. As he asks in his blog "Let's Play a Game": It's Inte [...]
Alternative text for "I'm a Luddite (and So Can You!)" 🔗
I recently enjoyed the web comic "I'm a Luddite (and So Can You!)" by Tom Humberstone. It's a fantastic history and summary of the Luddites and how in [...]
Bone conduction earphones revolution — Aftershokz Aeropex review 🔗
It's been a very long time since I've been really excited about some new technology. I used to be thrilled over everything new, but in the past decade [...]
Simple, cheap GeoIP API using Netlify Edge functions 🔗
Need to look up a users' approximate location based on their IP address? Don't want to opt for a third-party GeoIP service or integrate it into your b [...]
Simple, cheap GeoIP API using Vercel Edge functions 🔗
Need to look up a users' approximate location based on their IP address? Don't want to opt for a third-party GeoIP service or integrate it into your b [...]
Searching for a Mastodon app for Android 🔗
I've been using the Fediverse via Mastodon since October 2022, as a pretty much complete replacement for Twitter. I'm loving it! The community feels a [...]
Displaying Hillwalking routes on the web with GPX files and Leaflet 🔗
I do a lot of hillwalking and use OsmAnd for maps on my phone and route tracking. I have a couple paper maps and a compass just in case, but for most [...]
GrapheneOS as my daily-driver mobile OS 🔗
In November 2022 I dropped my previous phone. Actually 'drop' maybe isn't accurate, it was more of a drop-kick into a stone floor. It was pretty beat- [...]
My 2022 round-up 🔗
Happy Hogmanay, New Year, or January depending on what you celebrate! This is a wrap-up of my year, which has been extremely busy for me. It's mostly [...]
My comments to Competition and Markets Authority on mobile browser competition 🔗
This is my personal submission to the UK's Competition and Markets Authority regarding mobile browser competition. Feel free to take inspiration/borro [...]
Async Alpine — Asynchronous Alpine component loading 🔗
I've released a new side-project, a library called Async Alpine! Async Alpine is a wrapper for the fantastic Alpine.js JavaScript library, giving you [...]
Code Splitting in Alpine.js 🔗
I've recently published a library called Async Alpine that adds asynchronous or lazy loading of components to Alpine.js! It can help you write faster, [...]
SVG generative mountain ridge dividers 🔗
This is another post about the build of this website. Check out the other posts in the my site tag. Today, I wanted to write a little about the sectio [...]
Managing tracking consent with Cead Consent 🔗
An issue many businesses and sites will have to deal with is cookie and tracking consent on their websites. The web however is plagued with a huge num [...]
Personal site stack for alistairshepherd.uk 🔗
I've had a very chaotic few months at the end of 2021, with work, moving house and my first steps into giving tech talks! That has meant that all the [...]
Web Nostalgia and Lost In Translation 🔗
When I was a kid growing up in the early 2000's, one of my favourite things was the family computer. And along with that a trusty booklet that came wi [...]
Front End Web Development Feeds and Newsletters 🔗
The world of Web Development is exciting and moves fast - particularly front end development in the past few years. Although all of this innovation is [...]
Conditionally loading a native image lazyload polyfill/library 🔗
My previous blogpost was about how to load a :focus-visible polyfill only if the requesting browser doesn't support it. Similar to that, this snippet [...]
Conditionally loading a polyfill for :focus-visible 🔗
The future of focus is :focus-visible! Although browser support is decent, Safari is still working on this important accessibility feature. In the mea [...]
SVG Landscape with live colour theming - new site part 2 🔗
As promised, now we're going to dig into the colour-changing effects of my new website. If you haven't seen it, check out my previous post about the S [...]
Making a Parallax SVG Landscape - new site part 1 🔗
I've finally finished my new website, and I am really happy with it. I started the site in July 2020 and I launched it in mid January 2021. It's a big [...]
Fixes for Koken Problems 🔗
Koken was a self-hosted Content Management System built for photographers, offering off-the-shelf features like Adobe Lightroom integration, EXIF hand [...]