Microblog

Sometimes I think to myself, “I wish Simplenote had [feature].” Then when I play around with a note app with lots of features I think, “Why can’t it be nice and simple like Simplenote?” Ugh… why am I like this?

I bought a computer that connects one computer to another computer. https://tinypilotkvm.com/

I’m essentially using this as an accessibility tool. It will let me operate other computers without having to install all of the software and hardware I need for accessibility.

There are two types of people:

• People who acknowledge that Nacho Cheese is the best Doritos flavor
• People who are wrong

I created a dummy async function (JS) to use when testing out ideas. I love to pop open CodeRunner and mess around with different patterns and syntax and having a ready-to-go async function available is really handy.

function doingStuff(stuff = 'stuff', ms = 2000) {
  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    setTimeout(() => resolve(stuff), ms);
  });
}

I set up my site’s WordPress theme to automatically strip all CSS styles on April 9th in celebration of CSS Naked Day.

The point of the silly exercise is to celebrate semantic HTML and web standards. The idea is that if your website’s HTML is well-written then your website should still be generally usable—even without CSS styling. I’m sure my site isn’t perfect, so let me know if you find anything completely broken.

I really dislike this trend of web services that are only available via mobile app (ie, don’t offer a web version). I’m not really able to access my phone easily so I’m all-in on desktop and web apps. I’m not saying companies shouldn’t go mobile app only. I’m just personally annoyed by it.

Update for Minimal Character Sheet. You can now choose to make your character sheet publicly available as a read-only version. https://minimalcharactersheet.com

Launched d20 v3 today! After about 2 years in the making it’s finally out. Here’s the “official” tweet.

https://twitter.com/blakewatson/status/1361340608384753664

Get it here: https://d20app.me/

Hey Nova users! I made a color scheme for you. Tomorrow Night Eighties, based on the Base16 Tomorrow Scheme “eighties” variant. Here’s a Nova link: nova://extension/?id=blakewatson.TomorrowNightEighties&name=Tomorrow%20Night%20Eighties

I added CoinMarketCap to my A Fine Start page so I can ratchet up my anxiety level in one click.

Whenever I want dark mode on a website that doesn’t have it, I use the Stylus extension to add this CSS, which works surprisingly well:

html {
    filter: invert(0.85) hue-rotate(180deg);
}

Nova by Panic is so buttery smooth. Been using it for work (and play) for a few days. Fast as lightning. I hit a rough edge or two but no showstoppers.

I always misspell the word “habit” by putting 2 Bs. But I just thought of a mnemonic device to help me remember: You can put a B in habit, but don’t make it a habbit.

Not too bad for a WordPress site.

d20’s icon evolution…

I didn’t think I was going to like macOS Big Sur but I’m kind of into it.

I’ll be releasing d20 v3 very soon. Here’s a sneak peak. Big new features: 1) you can group your presets, 2) you can roll attacks and damage at the same time. 🗡 🏹 🔥

Oldie from a few years ago… this is article about what football will look like in the future is a mental trip you will not see coming. https://www.sbnation.com/a/17776-football

If you need a last minute gift for the developer in your life, check out these programming zines by @b0rk. Or you can just buy them all for yourself, which is what I did 😄. https://wizardzines.com/

PSA: If you are trying to capture a website or social media post for proof, don’t screenshot it. Images can be altered so no one can really trust that it’s accurate. If it is public, grab the URL and archive it with @waybackmachine.

BTC 👀

Web app developers: make dark mode in your app a device-specific setting rather than an account-specific one. Your users might use different devices in different contexts (a light or dark room for example).

Adding an option for defaulting to system preferece is one way to do that.

Who knew watching microbes could be so relaxing. Do yourself a favor and take a peek into the soothing odyssey that is Journey to the Microcosmos. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBbnbBWJtwsf0jLGUwX5Q3g

A site dedicated to coding fonts: https://coding-fonts.css-tricks.com/fonts/operator-mono

I’ve used Operator Mono for several years now. Previously, I used Anonymous Pro. There’s something industrious and nostalgic about monospaced fonts that I just love.

I also enjoy using monospaced fonts for writing. I fell in love with Nitti when I first discovered it in iA Writer. I now use iA Writer Duo often when writing. The iA Writer fonts and the IBM Plex Mono fonts they are based off of are freely available.

I added a pop-out player on synthwave.live so you can have quick access to playback controls and info about the current track.

Sneak peek of d20’s new icon and website.

I commissioned a favicon for synthwave.live!

I gave Zoom permission to access my Downloads folder. I’m pretty sure that was a bad idea. Fortunately my Downloads folder is 90% boring screenshots.

That moment when you have to search the web because you can’t remember if the person you’re thinking of is still alive.

Spoiler: Steve Wozniak is definitely still alive. Phew. 😅

Sometimes I have an irrational fear of new code concepts or problems.

Example: I put off learning about JS’ requestAnimationFrame for years just because it looked scary. When I took an afternoon to make a little canvas game, I realized it wasn’t scary at all.

Getting over this irrational fear of new things is one of my tips in Finishing side projects.