My month of rest and relaxation π
After 4 (cumulative) years of service at my job in late 2023, I became eligible for a 3-month paid sabbatical (honestly what a perk). My only prior ex [...]
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Posts
I repaired my Steam Deck and it was fine, actually π
For Christmas 2022, I bought my husband a Steam Deck. It's a handheld games console that runs a version of Linux (so you can also use it as a computer [...]
2024: The year in lists π
Itβs Boxing Day and Iβm a small pile on the sofa. We successfully Did Christmas at ours this year, and I never want to see another mince pie (until ne [...]
Good links: 8 December 2024 π
modernity is stupid: a rant not about politics - every word of this post resonates, and you should read it. [...]
Some things I've been enjoying recently (November 2024 edition) π
A roundup of fun things and projects. TV I mentioned to my husband that I'd never watched Life on Mars, so we're watching it all the way through, and [...]
The art in everyday life π
I was very fortunate to speak at another excellent Beyond Tellerrand last week, alongside some brilliant and wonderful people. Once again I was inspir [...]
Good links: 22 September 2024 π
Nic Chan - Nic has just finished rebuilding her website and itβs INCREDIBLE! Seriously just look at it CSS { In Real Life } | Limitation Breeds Creati [...]
You should go to conferences π
Those of you who know me (or who have been reading my posts for a while) will know that I'm often at conferences. I tend to speak at around four a yea [...]
New garden theme π
I've built a new theme for this site, inspired by my love of gardening as well as one of my favourite video games. itch.io, who I've credited on the a [...]
Good links: 15 September 2024 π
How to Monetize a Blog - Just read it, ok? I promise itβs extremely worth it. [...]
Good links: 18 August 2024 π
The area element - Iβm really enjoying Heydonβs HTML element safari, from the better-known to the lesser-known. This will certainly fall into the latt [...]
liveness probe π
After an initial burst of blogging energy January followed by a series of automated posts featuring good things Iβd read recently, it fell off a cliff [...]
Different ways to mock third-party integrations in Jest π
A few years back I got so bored of taking attendance for my choir that I wrote a Slack integration to do it for me (I got us on Slack in 2014). That e [...]
Good links: 12 May 2024 π
Heat Death of the Internet - takahΔ - βThe first page of Google results are links to pages that have scraped other pages for information from other pa [...]
New keyboard alert! Mykeyclub MKC75 π
Say hello to the Mykeyclub MKC75! It's so pretty! This is going to be my new office keyboard. Weighted aluminium case, so nice and heavy without too [...]
Twitter reply guys were bad, but Mastodon is no better π
Mastodon has often been touted as some kind of grassroots utopia compared to the bro-niverse that is Twitter. But in my experience it's exactly the sa [...]
All Day Hey 2024, and some stuff I bought in Leeds π
First conference of the year is done, and what a conference it was! I begged Josh to let me speak at All Day Hey in 2022, and he promised me a slot in [...]
Good links: 28 April 2024 π
On having no visual memory - Rachel Andrew shares her experiences of what itβs like to have aphantasia. Why Good Captioned Videos Are Important β Mery [...]
Good links: 14 April 2024 π
Youβre a Blogger, Not an Essayist - I am BARRY HESS - βYou donβt need to labor over your posts. You donβt need to have perfect grammar or spelling. Yo [...]
A good recipe: Ways with rhubarb π
It's rhubarb season! I came home from my parents' last weekend with a large armful of the stuff. Rhubarb is extremely tart and not very nice on its ow [...]
Upcoming talk: All Day Hey, Leeds - 2nd May 2024 π
Two years after All Day Hey made me realise I missed the web, I'm really excited to be speaking there myself! I'll be talking about technical migratio [...]
Good links: 31 March 2024 π
"a proper cup of tea" by Terry - An absolutely joyously chaotic tea-making game. I recommend trying all the different combinations for maximum mirth. [...]
Good links: 17 March 2024 π
Why Iβm Ready to Party Like Itβs 1999β¦Again - Jared White reflects on his early experiences of the web, and suggests maybe weβre ready to do the 90s w [...]
Some things I've been enjoying recently π
This isn't going to be a tech post, mainly because I haven't really been enjoying tech things recently. I spend all day thinking about technical integ [...]
Good links: 10 March 2024 π
Some little ways Iβm using CSS :has() in the real world - Piccalilli - Some great tips for one of my favourite recent CSS features. Case Study: lynnan [...]
Good links: 3 March 2024 π
Tailwind vs Semantic CSS - Found via Andy Bell's site - as he puts it, this post is pretty clearly biased towards semantic CSS but I think it's pretty [...]
Good links: 25 February 2024 π
It's OK to abandon your side-project - Robb Owen - "We hear about all the side-project success stories, but what if we talked more openly about the on [...]
Good links: 18 February 2024 π
The Midnight Pub - A tiny forum in the form of a virtual pub. It even has a speakeasy. This website is personal - Frills - I really identify with this [...]
Good links: 4 February 2024 π
Please, donβt force me to log in - It feels like every website or connected device wants you to sign up before you can use it these daysβ¦ It feels lik [...]
Listen to this: The Stand-in by Caitlin Rose π
At university I worked at Manchester Academy, and would often end up behind the bar at all sorts of gigs from pop, to metal, to folk. Metal gigs were [...]
Good links: 28 January 2024 π
Old'aVista - Altavista was my first search engine (or should I say altavista+was+my+first+search+engine) and this is a delightful trip down memory lan [...]
So you've decided to get into mechanical keyboards π
This is a dangerous path you're about to walk down. Is your wallet ready? Whether you prefer the smooth glide of linear switches, the gentle bump of a [...]
Automated weekly links posts with raindrop.io and Eleventy π
Edit 04/02/24 to change the comparator date from midnight on previous Saturday to midnight on previous Sunday to prevent duplicate links being publish [...]
Good links: 21 January 2024 π
The Internet Is Full of AI Dogshit - Aftermath - How AI-generated content is ruining search engines for everyone. Exposed RSS - I get sites not having [...]
How I deploy my Eleventy site to Neocities π
Skip to the bit you care about: About Neocities Hosting a static site on Neocities Continuous deployment to Neocities with Github Actions Scheduling [...]
Sending webmentions from a static site π
It occurred to me this week that even though Iβve been using webmentions as comments for a really long time, I hadnβt actually been sending them mysel [...]
Just because you can doesn't mean you should: the <meter> element π
I came across Sara Joy's (very cool) demo of CSS theming without classes today, and looking through the code spotted a couple of elements I hadn't com [...]
Remembering the early 00s teen website scene π
localghost.dev has a new theme! In search of a little project over the merrineum that didnβt require me to learn anything and therefore use my brain, [...]
A good podcast: Twenty Thousand Hertz π
Everything you've ever wanted to know about sound, and things you didn't know you wanted to know but are glad you learned, such as: why all film trail [...]
2023: The year in lists π
Last year's roundup post was good fun, so I decided I'd do another one this year! I feel like I blinked in April and suddenly it was December. Skip to [...]
Engineering progression for humans π
As engineers it can be unclear where weβre heading, especially when weβre heads down writing code all the time. It can be hard to think even a few mon [...]
Beautiful musical chaos π
When I tell people Iβm in a choir, some of them imagine the same thing: churches, robes and choral music. Pious singing faces. (To be clear, Iβve done [...]
A good recipe: The best chocolate brownies π
I've been making this "Bonfire Brownies" recipe since it was aired on UK children's TV institution Blue Peter in the early 00s, and I maintain it's st [...]
How to schedule posts in Eleventy π
I scheduled this post, isn't that cute? I find I have very little energy to write blog posts during the week, but occasionally I sit down on the weeke [...]
Building post types and category RSS feeds in Eleventy π
I mentioned recently that I'd built separate RSS feeds for different kinds of posts. Here's how I did it! I had to do a bit of fiddling to get this wo [...]
A good recipe: Smitten Kitchen's apple pie cookies π
If I need to impress, or bribe people to like me, I make these cookies. A shortcrust pastry/biscuit dough hybrid case with appley-cinnamony goodness i [...]
Introducing separate category RSS feeds π
Recently I've been inspired by folks like Michelle Barker and Amy Hupe doing National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo!), and seeing folks writing down l [...]
"AI", and the trouble with inaccessible SaaS π
I wasn't particularly enthused by the alpha release of Vercel's v0 UI generation tool this week. Provided with a prompt, it produces React code with T [...]
A good podcast: If Books Could Kill π
Michael Hobbes and Peter Shamshiri take us through some of the biggest "self-help"/pseudoscience books from the last few decades and deservedly tear t [...]
Beyond Tellerrand: beyond amazing π
I had the absolute privilege of opening Beyond Tellerrand DΓΌsseldorf recently. Truth be told, I had no idea what to expect, other than a great confere [...]
Painting the whole beetle: an adventure in learning to learn π
I'm not very good at being bad at things. In fact, I have a track record of giving up on things if I'm not immediately good at it. (So I guess I'm goo [...]
Everything should have an API: adventures in trying to automate stuff π
Inspired by Robb Knight I want to build my own /now page. As a teen I used to use PHPCurrently on my personal website to list what I was listening to, [...]
I miss Twitter π
I'm still sad about Twitter. I think what has emerged for me since switching to Mastodon is an altogether healthier relationship with social media. I' [...]
2022: The year in lists π
I don't usually do these end-of-year reflection posts, but at a time where I feel like I'm finally starting to hit flat land again after a year of cli [...]
Preparing for conferences π
I've been speaking at conferences and meetups on and off for nearly five years now, and a few people have asked me what the process is for preparing a [...]
Building a website like it's 1999... in 2022 π
Edit May 2023: the Bridgy integration with Twitter no longer works due to Twitter shutting off API access so some functionality won't be working any m [...]
Everything I googled in a week as a senior software engineer π
Three years ago I wrote a post called Everything I googled in a week as a professional software engineer, and it clearly resonated with people, becaus [...]
When going back doesn't mean going backwards π
Hey internet! Last time we spoke, I was in a bad place. Burnt out and off work. Well, in May I made the decision to quit my job at the startup after 7 [...]
Burnout, a cautionary tale (and a plea to take a break) π
It's Easter and I'm off work til the end of the month. It was originally just going to be for a few days as I'd used up most of my holiday already, bu [...]
Start at the beginning: the importance of learning the basics π
If you're an early-career developer, Twitter is overflowing with people tweeting great tips β and some absolute rubbish β about how to improve your sk [...]
The right tag for the job: why you should use semantic HTML π
I've come across a lot of websites in my career (and in daily browsing) that are straight-up inaccessible. If you've ever worked on a project that is [...]
A typical day: pandemic edition π
This is a series started by Colin Devroe. Some other lovely folks have written their own, including Sara Soueidan and Cassie Evans. This post would ha [...]
Give yourself a break: lessons from burnout π
I started writing this post a few days ago, and was so exhausted I couldn't actually be bothered to finish it, which tells you a lot really. And if yo [...]
7 myths designers and developers believe about web accessibility π
In an ideal world, being "good at accessibility" wouldn't make you stand out from the crowd. Companies wouldn't be hiring accessibility experts to hel [...]
Defending yourself against cross-site scripting attacks with Content-Security-Policy π
I spent an entire day last week wrestling with a PDF-rendering library in React which was refusing to work in production. Locally it ran just fine, bu [...]
ffconf 2019: future friends beside the seaside π
Now in its 11th year, ffconf is one of the biggest events in the conference calendar for web developers across the UK (and further afield). Yet someho [...]
Everything I googled in a week as a professional software engineer π
Update 15/10/2022: I've written a new version of this! Everything I googled in a week as a senior software engineer In an attempt to dispel the idea t [...]
Questions to ask at an engineering interview π
Tech job interviews are often different flavours of the same thing, regardless of where you apply. Interviewers are likely to ask you questions about [...]
Why software engineers should know their audience π
When you're talking about what you're working on, do you ever stop to think about what you're saying and whether the person you're talking to can actu [...]