I'm Dan Q (he/him). I've spent the last 26+ years creating and writing online.
While I'm considering a new paid role, I continue to volunteer with Three Rings. I live with my partner, her husband, two kids and a dog. I can sometimes be found geo*ing, performing magic, or recording the most pointless podcast.
I believe in open source, open relationships, and opening doors to marginalised groups. Black lives matter. Trans
rights are human rights.
Be nice to humans, human.
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Dynamic Filters in Pure CSS
CSS is powerful and performant. Let's implement client-side list filtering (with the user's choice of AND and OR modes) in CSS, without a line of JavaScript. Read more →
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Avanti's Accessibility Failure
Train provider Avanti's website may be accessible... but their emails, which you need to interact with to USE their website... are not. It's simply not possible to verify your email address if you use a screen reader, and there's no guest checkout option. Read more →
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Variable-aspect adaptive-bitrate video... in vanilla HTML?
Thanks to recent browser enhancements, it's possible to show videos of different aspect ratios based on CSS media queries with no JavaScript dependencies. You can even combine it with adaptive bitrate streaming, even on static hosting. Let me show you how. Read more →
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Deprecate React
Just to reassure myself that I really can do all the things I say on my CV, I've been looking at tech tests that touch on each of them. I can definitely write React, for example... but... I might question the wisdom of a company that's exclusively recruiting for React skills in their front-end developers... Read more →
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Halifax Shared My Credit Agreement!
Today, my partner's husband received a letter, addressed to him, about a change to his credit card agreement. Except the letter wasn't about his credit card... it was about mine! Halifax dun goofed. Read more →
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Breakups vs Layoffs
I've had a few breakups, but I've only been made redundant once. There's a surprising overlap between the two! Here, let's put a Venn-Euler diagram together... Read more →
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Geocities Live
Geocities.live transforms any web page into a 90s-Geocities-style variant of itself, and it does a surprisingly good (if slightly "samey") job of it. Its take on DanQ.me got me thinking, though: are there things I can learn from 1990s web design and apply to the next generation of my theme? Read more →
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ChatGPT beats GeoGuessr
Given nothing more than a screenshot or two of my game screen, from the starting position only, ChatGPT plays GeoGuessr better than I ever could. Apart from cheating at GeoGuessr, what else could this mean? Is this going to be a scary new weapon in the toolkit of Internet stalkers? Read more →
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Change Your Star Sign
The star sign associated with my birthday is Capricorn, and I really don't embody any of the typical Capricorn characteristics, so I changed my star sign to Aquarius. And today, I've launched a website to help others change their star signs, too. What will you change yours to? Read more →
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More articles →
(articles are traditional long-form blog posts) -
Queer Coded 🌈
Paraphrased from a conversation in a Manchester pub last night -
Them: Your [dyed blue] hair is queer-coded, right? Like... you're telegraphing you're queer?
Me: I mean... I'm also wearing a pride rainbow t-shirt and my watch strap is a 'bi pride' flag. I don't feel like I'm being subtle.
Them: Nah. The hair's the giveaway. -
Found OK0063 Stella's on a mission
A quick diversion from my walk back to to train station to snap a selfie at the GZ while waving a rainbow handkerchief. TFTC! Read more →
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Did not find GCAF1WK KT 132 - Just a number 1
My sneaky hunt was interrupted when the fire alarm went off in a nearby building and its occupants spilled out into the street! Maybe another time. Read more →
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Found GC2MTTV Power to the People
Not too busy here this morning so I was able to mount a proper search for the cache. No sign of the container, so providing a photo log in accordance with CO’s instructions. TFTC.My GPSr puts the hint item about 9m South of the posted coordinates, with strong signal, BTW.× Read more →
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Found GC84F1A Manchester Central Library
What a truly spectacular cache. FP awarded, without hesitation. I've seen a similar kind in a library before but never with such depth, such a story, so voluminous a container, nor - let's be honest - so beautiful a building! Read more →
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Found GC66Z2H Yesterday, When I Was Mad
With an hour and a bit before my train departs I figured I'd hit up a few caches before leaving Manchester this morning. This was the first. Read more →
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👋 Farewell, NLA
Highlights of yesterday's Goodbye Nightline Association party in Manchester: 👨💻🤝✍️🤞. Low points: 😢. Read more →
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Found GC5C8N2 Church Micro 6331...Manchester - St Ann's
I'm in Manchester for the day for a social gathering related to a variety of the volunteering activities I've been involved with over the last, OMG-I'm-so-old, 26 years or so. After my train arrived I meandered via OK04B5 (nice to see the OC community alive and well here in Manchester!) to find myself some lunch, then dropped by this cache on my way to our event venue. Read more →
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Found OK04B5 The Beacon of Hope
I'm in Manchester for a volunteering-adjacent social event and, not often seeing OpenCaches pop up on my radar, visited this spot on my way from the station to the venue. So beautiful to see Manchester acknowledge its part in queer history, and a beautiful memorial to everybody who has died as a result of the AIDS pandemic. TFTC! Read more →
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Oxford Station. Catching a train to Manchester for a get-together in memory of the Nightline Association, which will sadly be closing this year (although individual Nightlines will doubtless soldier on just as they did before the Association).Carrying a big ol’ bag of Three Rings swag to give to basically anybody who expresses even the slightest […] Read more →
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What’s that, girl? Two children are lost somewhere in this bookshop?Yeah, I should probably find them and take them home for lunch. × Read more →
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Found GCB61CG The witney way
Came out to the park around the corner, and while the kids played in the play area the dog and I wandered down the lane to find this QEF. TFTC!× Read more →
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What If the EU Never Existed?
It's Europe Day, and Nebula/YouTube channel EU Made Simple has released a video, What If the EU Never Existed?, describing a chilling alternate-history of post-WWII Europe. Well worth a watch. Read more →
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Playing hide and seek in Kennilworth Castle. You’ll never find me!(geotagged for your convenience) × Read more →
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Never underestimate the power of people who are motivated by the good they can do in the world.
Today I was in awe of this team of unpaid volunteers who, having already given up their bank holiday weekend, worked through dinner and into the night to ensure the continued uptime of a piece software that enables the listening service of emotional support and suicide helplines. -
More posts →
(of all kinds:
articles, 
checkins, 
notes, 
reposts...)