theAdhocracy
I've been thinking a lot about an article I read recently that called out technical writing online for being overly trusted. But shouldn't that same argument apply more universally to third-party code coming from any source?
Memory augmentation has always interested me. I'm envious of those that never forget a name or can quote verbatim. Like Mark Llobrera, I've started using technology to never …
The concept of "card based" web design has been around for at least three years now. So why is it that the following quote from Khoi Vinh, written back in 2014, still appears to be a fundamental …
I am an …
I received an Amazon Echo for my birthday. I honestly wasn't expecting to, so it was a really fun and exciting surprise to unwrap; although, I have to admit that my initial reaction was "What am I …
Source, one of the many blogs I follow, has recently had a themed content week focusing on security. For their main readership this means security for the newsroom, security for the journalist, but …
I get a fair amount of spam posted to theAdhocracy. For the most part, it's easy to spot and formulaic (though admittedly increasingly intelligent). Spam comments either thank me for helping solve a …
I've recently been spending a lot of time researching, and ultimately buying, a new camera. From an outsider perspective it might seem a little odd, as I already have a very good DSLR that, whilst by …
I've had my current Sony Xperia for nearly three years, which is a good run, but it's definitely starting to show its age. First of all the headphone jack broke; it still works, it just doesn't know …
Migrating assets to a new CMS can be a complete pain, but working out which files go with each page or article on a website doesn't have to be a nightmare if you start with a solid foundation. For me, that means tightly coupling my folder structure on the server with my content structure on the website, a workflow that Craft is particularly nifty at automating.
Craft CMS has the ability to accept environment variables as well as aliases. It can be worthwhile understanding how these two seemingly similar concepts differ, and when you might want to use one over the other.
Welcome to the third version of theAdhocracy! It's been a long time coming, but the site has finally been rebuilt, rehosted, and re-just-about-everything else, so I figured I'd actually formalise the launch with a new post explaining what's happened and why.
I mostly use my iPad for watching YouTube. So what do I do now that Google has locked my device out of the YouTube app because it's too old? Why is it possible for a company to effectively remove features from my device that worked yesterday?
I finally made it to an IndieWebCamp meetup, even if it was remote only due to the increasingly restrictive implications of the coronavirus. I learnt a lot, I had a great time, and I'm ready to start implementing a whole bunch of new ideas right here. I also took a huge number of notes from the speakers and sessions throughout the day.
Having trouble with Windows 10 and wallpaper slideshows? There's an app for that... actually, quite a few, they're just hard to find, so I curated a few that I've stumbled across for you.
Notes from my second fully remote conference, this time Sparkbox's UnConference. Being able to freely access talks from the US is a rare bonus of everything going on right now, and this did not disappoint. Musical cameos, great talks on UX, accessibility, design systems, and amazing speakers. Great event (despite the time difference).
The combination of the Carbon design system and NextJS should make for rapid website development, but I ran into a few small hurdles getting them to play nicely with one another using existing documentation and community guidelines.
A great overview of the state of the modern web from a UX and environmental perspective. Gerry notes the impact of image and videos (and JavaScript) on websites …
A lot of blame is heaped on the near-mythical "algorithm", but is that really just an easy scapegoat for actual societal issues?
A(n expectedly) brilliant article from Jeremy highlighting some of the absurdities underlying our current privacy nightmare called "behavioural advertising". Most …
A look at the largely manual workflow I've used to convert my physical music collection into a digital data archive.
Craft CMS can be a very enjoyable mobile authoring experience, but it can be improved with some clever plugins and a few relatively new core features.
As far as years go, 2021 held some pretty big surprises and featured some fairly grown-up decisions. Life will never be the same again...
The tale of my (possibly brief) foray into the world of tech reviews and market influencers.
An excellent overview from Josh of the pitfalls of using UI frameworks. I particularly enjoyed their focus on why developers often advocate for these tools, and how those needs are often …
A very interesting rundown of some common performance checks and techniques that Ben went through to boost their lighthouse score from <50 to >95! I was particularly interested that font …
After months of frustration, I think I've finally worked out how to make VSCode the default Git editor on macOS.
Harry has created an absolutely phenomenal talk here that provides an immense amount of depth whilst still being completely accessible to someone like me who largely doesn't deal with the technical …
A very thorough article discussing how to convert a Chrome browser into an SEO testing environment, through a combination of browser settings and third-party add-ons. I personally like the idea of …
I'm still enjoying the wombo-combo of Sass and CSS Modules, but my React-ified brain occasionally blanks on how to approach certain problems. The one that catches me out the most: style inheritance.