Month: October 2018
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Your RSS is grass: Mozilla euthanizes feed reader, Atom code in Firefox browser, claims it's old and unloved
When Firefox 64 arrives in December, support for RSS, the once celebrated content syndication scheme, and its sibling, Atom, will be missing.
"After considering the maintenance, performance and security costs of the feed preview and subscription features in Firefox, we’ve concluded that it is no longer sustainable to keep feed support in the core of the … -
An Unusual Workday
Not every day at Dan's work involves bear masks, augmented reality, podcasting, and hacking. But this one did.
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Learning BASIC Like It's 1983
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Now, it’s Saturday morning and you’re eager to try out what you’ve learned. One of the first things the manual teaches you how to do is change the colors on the display. You follow the instructions, pressing CTRL-9 to enter reverse type mode and then holding down the space bar to create long lines. You … -
"Stop Thinking About Consent: It Isn’t Possible and It Isn’t Right"
For a philosopher, Helen Nissenbaum is a surprisingly active participant in shaping how we collect, use, and protect personal data. Nissenbaum, who earned her PhD from Stanford, is a professor of information science at Cornell Tech, New York City, where she focuses on the intersection of politics, ethics, and values in technology and digital media …
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People don't change
Peter Gasston / Front End London (YouTube)
Fundamentally, people haven't changed much in tens of thousands of years. If ancient Egyptians had smartphones, you know full well that they'd have been posting cat pictures too. What can we learn from this and how should we look at our role when developing front-end Web experiences? -
The Rise and Demise of RSS
There are two stories here. The first is a story about a vision of the web’s future that never quite came to fruition. The second is a story about how a collaborative effort to improve a popular standard devolved into one of the most contentious forks in the history of open-source software development.
In the late … -
Review of Malmaison Oxford
This review of Malmaison Oxford originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan. Malmaison Oxford, Oxford Castle, 3 New Rd, Oxford OX1 1AY, United Kingdom. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Delightful, although expensive, hotel. Theming is spot-on: you can really see the architecture that once made this place a prison, while simultaneously chilling out in a …
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Review of Fairytale Farm
This review of Fairytale Farm originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan. Fairytale Farm, Southcombe OX7 5QH, United Kingdom. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ A bit weird, but if you're looking for an eccentric (but good value) outing with young children, it fits the bill. Very good disabled accessibility.
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Review of Islip Village Shop
This review of Islip Village Shop originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan. Islip Village Shop, Church Ln, Islip, Kidlington OX5 2TA, United Kingdom. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Remarkably good prices and friendly staff. Often a selection of local produce as well as a wide variety of the usual convenience store essentials. Plenty of …
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Nutrition Cards for Accessible Components A11Y Expectations
A11Y Nutrition Cards is an attempt to digest and simplify the accessibility expectations when it comes to component authoring. Based on the WAI ARIA Authoring Practices Guide.
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davatron5000 -
The thing about ad-blocker popups
I’ve been, in the past, a firm distruster of ad blocking software. I still am, to a large extent. I don’t trust any company whose finance model is based on inserting exceptions for advertisers they like. But I installed Ghostery, whose model is to use the stats of what gets blocked to offer consultancy to …
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Salty JavaScript analogy
JavaScript is like salt. If you add just enough salt to a dish, it’ll help make the flavour awesome. Add too much though, and you’ll completely ruin it.
Similarly, if you add just enough JavaScript to your website, it’ll help make it awesome. Add too much though, and you’ll completely ruin it.
Andy Bell
This, this, … -
What's The Longest Word You Can Write With Seven-Segment Displays?
Tom Scott (YouTube)
From now on, when I try to engage junior programmers with the notion that they should make use of their general-purpose computers to answer questions for them... no matter how silly the question?... I'll show them this video. It's a moderately-concise explanation of the thought processes and programming practice … -
From the Collection: Blissymbolics
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Blissymbolics was conceived by Austro-Hungarian expatriate Charles K. Bliss (1897–1985), born Karl Kasiel Blitz to a Jewish family in the town of Czernowitz (now Chernivtsi in modern-day Ukraine). He was introduced to signs and symbols at an early age in the form of circuit diagrams – his father’s many occupations included mechanic and electrician – … -
Still Blogging in 2017
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On a blog, I can write about blogging and whimsically toss in self-indulgent pictures of May’s budding azaleas.
I can end my career, right here, in a flash. I can rant about the perfidy and corruption of my local governing party, who I devoutly hope are about to be turfed …