Blog (page 4)

CSS Focus State

One big and easy win for website accessibility is focus state. Unfortunately this is too often ignored, and worse, actively regressed. Early in my career I was guilty of: This removes the default browser style and makes keyboard navigation practically impossible. Later I would learn the error of my ways and allow the browser to do […]

Built with Deno

Things are moving fast over in Denoland. When I last checked in Deno was decidedly beta. Revisiting this month I see words like “stabilization” in the release notes. If there’s one thing a JavaScript fiend like myself revels in it’s dropping reliable and proven code for a shiny new replacement. Deno is just that; a […]

Web Browsers in Docker

Last week I wrote about my new Docker strategy for build tools. Following that I wondered if I could containerise browser testing too. Not just headless automation, but real click around, inspector tools usage. Admittedly I thought this was a silly idea from the get-go. The results, however, have surprised me. The Setup Docker containers are usually […]

macOS Big Reinstall

Sometimes you have to take the nuclear option. After two years of coding on my Mac Mini I had littered the thing with so much developer cruft that getting work done had become a real struggle. Build tools were fighting for dominance in my $PATH. My day job is all Node.js but sometime I get bored. […]

Raspberry Pi + Manjaro ARM + Btrfs

This is the sort of thing I do Sunday mornings in the midst of a COVID lockdown. Copy-and-pasting commands I vaguely understand between reps with the barbell. I’ve documented my steps below. The example commands are for Arch-based Linux. Other distros will differ but the concepts are not exclusive. The basic idea is to: Install a […]

Changing CSS for Good

I’m dropping “left” and “right” from my lexicon. The new CSS normal is all about Logical Properties and Values. This is week four of a large front-end build I’m working on. The primary deliverables are a pattern library alongside two dozen templates. With opportunity for design iteration as code is formalised it’s the perfect project. It’s […]

Self Hosted (part 2)

This is a follow up to my ongoing adventures in self-hosting. My goal is to avoid 3rd party internet services that have a habit of unreliable connectivity, tracking, and bait-and-switch payment models. It’s also just a fun nerdy hobby. As a home server I’ve been running a Raspberry Pi 4 (4GB) with Ubuntu on the SD […]