One does not simply install Wallabag. 👌
On how many devices can you watch Netflix? I’m at 10. 😓 Less is more, I’m failing.
These last few weeks has made me wary of committing further or ever developing for the Apple ecosystem; and working with OS projects ran by a major business.
Twelete 1.0
Delete your old tweets with Twelete, my new release https://github.com/svandragt/twelete.
Tweets are temporary messages, and thus others should not keep your tweets. You have the right to be forgotten, without paying for the privilege.
Set this up on a cheap VPS; Raspberry PI, or locally. Feedback welcome!
Made a very simple to use TextPattern Docker setup where you provide your own TextPattern installation and database secrets then run docker-compose up github.com/svandragt/txpdocker
25 years of making the case for accessibility
WordPress Tavern makes a case for why accessibility matters in WordPress. In the meantime some of us have been discussing this for 25 years, and so have something to say about it.
The main problem with accessibility is the term itself. What we are actually talking about here is a universal user experience.
The industry needs to stop selling accessibility as a checkbox and we need to stop viewing it as something extra to do. Inherently every feature and decision we make is already more or less accessible — it is not an on/off switch.
By applying the inversion principle, we should look at what barriers are preventing people from using our websites to the fullest extend, and code all future solutions with these lessons learned.
Aiming for anything less than universal access also makes little economic sense. Let’s ask ourselves: why make a theme and then make it hard to use on purpose? Why make a theme and only allow a subset of people to use it? Do you only allow people with a first name in the first half of the alphabet to log in to your site? Let’s not artificially limit the versatility of the web.
A universal experience should be expected now, and when someone cannot use your site it is a bug. Your site is not inclusive when people cannot use it.
I guess we are fixing our rueful compatibility story by encasing our tools in fixed environments. We then write new tooling or containers when this is no longer usable.
That seems like a short term view of things.
We will end up with black box containers and needless layers of complexity.
Made a strategic change in Cuttlefish to make it as simple as possible, instead of as a test bed for tooling tech. So I removed Docker and PHPDox support.
How to transfer a ringtone from macOS to iOS
With Sync Library (previously iCloud Music Library) enabled, simply move the file into the iCloud Drive > Music folder.
This setting can be enabled in Settings > Music > Library > Sync Library.
Ringtones are m4a files renamed to m4r, with a length under 30 seconds.
The ringtone can then be selected at the Settings > Sounds > Sounds and Vibration Settings > Ringtone list.
Don’t bother with separate Main and Dev Firefox profiles, instead use Firefox and Firefox Developer Edition and sync them with an account each.
PyShed 0.2
PyShed is a simple Docker image for running zero configuration Python projects with Poetry dependency management.
You can use it to run a Python project without needing a Python setup. I use it for Django projects for example.
What’s new?
Verion 0.2 uses pip to install poetry. I also fixed a environment path issue that was generating warnings.
Repoman 0.2
Repoman is a script to export and import a list of git repositories.
It helps me have all my active projects available on multiple laptops.
What’s new?
Version 0.2 switches input and output to stdin and out, so that piping operations can be used to direct input and output to and from repoman.
# On computer 1
$ repoman.sh | tee repoman.lst
freshcookies=git@github.com:svandragt/freshcookies.git
repoman=https://github.com/svandragt/repoman.git
$ ls *.lst
repoman.lst
# On computer 2
$ cat repoman.lst | repoman.sh
⏳ Cloning freshcookies
Cloning into 'freshcookies'...
Resolving deltas: 100% (8/8), done.
⏳ Cloning repoman
Cloning into 'repoman'...
Receiving objects: 100% (7/7), done.
$ ls -d */
freshcookies repomanFor more information, please refer to the examples in the readme.
Time to wake up!
Enjoy the WordPress fun while it lasts folks, I’ve seen the light, and I am worried.
Automattic and the community are spending millions and millions on building a more useful but buggy JS editing interface for the web to make publishing rich documents passable. It can’t get a close button aligned on a modal, or scroll correctly in a mobile device. Basically, Gutenberg is a lesser version of Word 97. It’s not their fault, the browser stack is a brittle way to build apps. We’ve collectively stretched web technologies past what they’re best used for – there are no JavaScript native widgets that can compete with what the OS offers itself. It turns out the web excels to read documents, not write them. I know how it sounds, I’m writing this in the same editor! But we’re on the wrong path:
Because, while everyone is looking to the left at SquareSpace and Wix, trying to figure out how to improve the publishing workflow, on the right Alejandro Crosa builds an iOS app that publishes notes online by simply saving them. It abstracts the whole publishing process. Similarly to how Dropbox abstracted the filesharing site, a native app removes the web editor. In. Three. Weeks. Using Rails and Swift!
In 3 weeks he did a (subjectively) better job for this use case than the WP app and the WB mobile experience. Just look at it collectednotes.com and it’s blog — the latter which is written using the service itself!). Yes it does less, but it’s about the job to be done. Gutenberg does less than Word 97 and Dreamweaver. The point is, that’s fine.
WP is currently deciding whether the REST API should be open to third party editors. It’s mission is to democratise publishing, but somehow this is up for discussion. However it turns out the best experience is a native one. Should WP forego the admin interface, change Gutenberg’s full site editing into the theme editor, and restructure itself for what’s to come? WP has a lot of moving parts, and consensus isn’t easily reached. It seems to me that the web will experience will refocus on reading documents, with content creation in apps.
If Apple ever adds a backend service to Pages to sync with a static site generator, or someone goes 10% further than iA Writer’s web-publishing feature in a ‘writing app’ than the whole WP ecosystem is sherlocked.
It’s time to wake up.
When you have that realisation that a bunch of ideas have all been the same bigger idea 💡
Bringing sitemaps to WordPress
It’s not often one can say they contributed to 32% of the web, but yes today is that day. I’m proud to have been part of the HumanMade team that worked with Google on the first iteration of the effort to bring sitemap functionality into WordPress!
Sitemaps help WordPress sites become more discoverable by providing search engines with a map of content that should be indexed.
Pascal Birchler – https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/06/10/merge-announcement-extensible-core-sitemaps/
WordPress 5.5 might ship sitemaps out of the box, and will make millions of sites easier to index, and provide a foundation for plugin authors to extend.
This should help increase the relevancy of information from WordPress sites in search engines.
I have setup a new site, it’s still WIP as far as features is concerned. However I’d like to know if I’ve broken anything for you. Any 404 page not found errors should redirect to my old site. Thanks.
I like knowing my plan for the day.
Repoman 0.1
Repoman is a script to export and import a list of git repositories using an intermediate repoman.lst file.
When exporting, Repoman scans the working directory for .git folders and save its relative path with the git remote.
When importing, repoman will restore this directory structure and clone each repository.
Why use this?
It’s considered bad practice to use cloud sync solutions to sync working copies.
Repoman helps you work on the same projects on multiple devices, by syncing repoman.lst instead.