Another attempt at a privacy-focused, simplified search engine, with some interesting filter options – called "optics" – which let you customise your results. Only want to search personal sites? Or only the Fediverse? What about ignoring the top 1,000 websites in the world completely?
(Unfortunately, this site does not appear to be indexed, nor is there any way to submit it, though there are plenty of mentions around the edges.)
The Arc browser recently added an auto-summarisation feature to its search. The result is a mash of misinformation and content theft, which Ben argues (and I fully agree) will ultimately create an even more sanitised, repetitive, and less useful web.
This is the polar opposite of the direction I want to head!
On the long-term harm that "AI" abstraction and summarisation can cause (or how do people now get paid?); emphasis mine:
Real people sometimes pay to access content, or donate to support a nonprofit publisher, or watch an ad. Those things can be annoying but pay for the content to be produced in the first place. If we strip them away, there’s no writing, information, or expression for the app to summarize. A world where everyone uses an app like this is a death spiral to an information desert.
On the loss of soul that occurs when everything is run through the same "AI" filter:
let’s not sanitize it through a banal filter that is designed to strip it of its humanity.
A really lovely article about how to help people navigate the digital world that doesn't involve having to tackle huge, global issues. Start small. Start with people. Even one at a time, it absolutely still matters.
The gist:
There’s a chapter in the book where Hendren talks about a non-profit workshop that helps fabricate physical tools and accommodations for people with disabilities, when I read it I almost quit tech entirely.
In the same way the little workshop builds from the book bespoke accommodations, is it possible to build bespoke apps and browser extensions to help bodies meet the digital world? I use my web developer superpowers ✨ to hack websites or build small apps for myself all the time. Why not offer this skill to other people?
A brilliant site for comparing common component patterns across most of the major front end frameworks. Want to learn Svelte and already know React? Select both, pick the pattern you're wanting to replicate, and compare the two code examples.
Also useful for seeing which frameworks are most verbose/complex, which syntax patterns are gaining the widest adoption, and which tools include solutions that others push to third-party tools or developers (CSS and state management come to mind).
A potentially useful tool for making your browser's new tab page a lot more productive (even if it isn't quite what I want).
A Fine Start replaces your browser’s new tab page with a clean and simple list of your favorite links.
A critique of npm (and other package managers), the move-fast hype cycle of tech products, and the tech debt it creates.
The result is an interesting look at how our tools enable the whole VC-funding-to-enshittification nightmare circle, and some thoughts on how it could be avoided.
On why it pays to slow down and plan out a long-term course of action:
Although, I could argue that while driving 200mph is fun and exciting, you’re one small fuckup away from a major fuckup. My point is that a key factor of sustainability is making sure maintainability stays on par with growth.
On npm; I like thinking about it as fancy copy/paste:
the ability to fancy copy-paste your way into an unmaintainable situation is higher than ever
A solid example of where HTML semantics can be a little problematic:
the <meter> element. Also a good overview of where/when this element is useful.
On when to use <meter>:
A more tangible use case for the <meter> element would be to indicate something like available storage space, or percentage of remaining budget on a service where your plan only allows you a certain number of events or entit
On why you should always have a text-based label when using <meter>:
A meter is good for an at-a-glance sense of how much of something has been used, but you need to present it alongside the actual value for it to be at all useful.
On how semantics can degrade poor UX if not considered holistically:
When you're choosing the right element for the job, it's entirely possible to go too far the other way, and overuse semantic elements when actually they hinder more than they help.
A collective approach to the missing fourth R in the oft-quoted environmentalist mantra: repair. Not everyone is an electrical engineer, IT technician, or mechanic, but chances are someone living down the road is. The goal of a Repair Café is to put the two of you in touch, and thereby develop a more circular economy. This site can help you find your nearest Café, or set one up if your community is not yet covered.
Ryan always has some interesting thoughts around the ethics of online communities, and this is no exception. There's a lot of great questions and thoughts in here around whether or not we should be striving for interconnectedness – with strong moderation tools – or looking to fundamentally wall off some areas of the web from other parts. I dislike that thought; I want the web to be open, and feel that it should be up to the individual to moderate their explorations, just like it works offline. But (arguably just like offline) that is easier for me to say from a position of privilege, so it's always good to read through some more nuanced takes. It helps that I also agree with Ryan's central call to "moderate people, not code" and agree that bridging services is a net positive, though 😅
On one of the core questions being discussed, but phrased in a way that I feel is accurate and also often overlooked:
Should there be one internet? Or multiple, sometimes separate internets?
On the core argument, e.g. "moderate people, not code":
Here’s one possible conclusion: Moderate people, not code. When you choose who to federate with or block or mute, don’t look at protocols, or networks, or software. Look at users, and communities, and their behavior. At the end of the day, those are probably what you really care about anyway.
On whether the ActivityPub plugin for WordPress causes context collapse:
Is [seeing a Mastodon comment appear on a WordPress blog] surprising? Is it a problematic instance of context collapse? Maybe! But why? The exact same thing happens between true, “native” fediverse servers. In both cases, the post and reply are public, and can be seen by anyone on the internet.
On protocols versus people:
Whether ActivityPub or ATProto or webmention, the underlying technical protocol a community uses to interact online is a poor way to judge who they are and whether you might like them.
Make those judgments for your communities, instance by instance, not by network or software. Those sledgehammers are too big and unweildy.
Just mention @birb in a post to Mastodon with a link, and RSS Parrot will search the site for any kind of feed, convert that feed to an RSS output, and then launch a Mastodon account that automatically posts everything in that feed to the platform.
I'll admit, I didn't really see the value at first – wouldn't I prefer to get feeds sent to my feed reader? But then I found a "good news" site (Reasons to be Cheerful) and realised that I didn't want this stuff cluttering up my daily reading, but I wouldn't mind keeping an eye on what they produced. Enter RSS Parrot, and now I follow them on Mastodon. If I miss a post: oh well 🤷♀️
I can see myself doing this with plenty of other news sources, and sticking them into a list somewhere, to be honest. And maybe some YouTubers. I wonder if this could pull stuff directly out of Twitter and Threads... 🤔
If you ever wanted to make a cool, animated flag from scratch on the web, Josh has you covered. But the article is also full of clever tricks for animation in general.
On using CSS variables to stagger the amount of movement across otherwise identical elements, to create momentum and physics:
What if we wanted this number to be dynamic? For example, wouldn't it be cool if each column had a slightly different billow amount? Like a real flag attached to a flagpole?
It turns out, we can do this with CSS Variables!
@keyframes oscillate {
from {
transform: translateY(var(--billow));
}
to {
transform: translateY(calc(var(--billow) * -1));
}
}
On setting up animations to start midway through their run cycle by using negative delays:
It turns out, we can use a negative value foranimation-delay!
For example, if we setanimation-delay: -200ms, the animation will run immediately, but it will act as though it has already been running for 200ms.