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Netlify CMS Open Authoring
6.11.2019
I like the term "Git-backed CMS." That term works for an emerging style of CMS that looks and behaves much like any other CMS, with a fascinating twist: it doesn't actually store any data for you. These CMSs are connected to a Git repo where the data lives in flat files (e.g. Markdown). You teach...
Random Notes from a JAMstack Roundtable
23.9.2019
I hosted a JAMstack roundtable discussion at Web Unleashed this past weekend. Just a few random notes from that experience.
I was surprised at first that there really is confusion that the "M" in Jamstack stands for "Markdown" (the language that compiles to HTML) rather than "Markup" (the "M"...
The Rise of the Electric Scooter
12.9.2019
In an electric car, the (enormous) battery is a major part of the price. If electric car prices are decreasing, battery costs must be decreasing, because it's not like the cost of fabricating rubber, aluminum, and steel into car shapes can decline that much, right?
On an electric scooter, though
Electric Geek Transportation Systems
20.8.2019
I've never thought of myself as a "car person". The last new car I bought (and in fact, now that I think about it, the first new car I ever bought) was the quirky 1998 Ford Contour SVT. Since then we bought a VW station wagon in 2011
Using GraphQL Playground with Gatsby
18.7.2019
I’m assuming most of you have already heard about Gatsby, and at least loosely know that it’s basically a static site generator for React sites. It generally runs like this:
Data Sources → Pull data from anywhere.
Build → Generate your website with React and GraphQL.
Deploy → Send the site to...
An Exercise Program for the Fat Web
30.5.2019
When I wrote about App-pocalypse Now in 2014, I implied the future still belonged to the web. And it does. But it's also true that the web has changed a lot in the last 10 years, much less the last 20 or 30.
Websites have gotten a lot … fatter.
While
Front-End Documentation, Style Guides and the Rise of MDX
23.5.2019
You can have the best open source project in the world but, if it doesn’t have good documentation, chances are it’ll never take off. In the office, good documentation could save you having to repeatedly answer the same questions. Documentation ensures that people can figure out how things work...
Add Authentication and Personalization to VuePress
23.4.2019
There are several advantages to using a static site generator such as VuePress. With VuePress, you can focus on writing content using markdown, and the VuePress application generates static HTML fi
It’s pretty cool how Netlify CMS works with any flat file site generator
21.3.2019
Little confession here: when I first saw Netlify CMS at a glance, I thought: cool, maybe I'll try that someday when I'm exploring CMSs for a new project. Then as I looked at it with fresh eyes: I can already use this! It's a true CMS in that it adds a content management UI on top of any static site...
The Cloud is Just Someone Else's Computer
17.2.2019
When we started Discourse in 2013, our server requirements were high:
1GB RAM
modern, fast dual core CPU
speedy solid state drive
I'm not talking about a cheapo shared cpanel server, either, I mean a dedicated virtual private server with those specifications.
We were OK with that, because we were
Building a Video Blog with Gatsby and Markdown (MDX)
15.1.2019
Since the dawn of the web, performance has been an important factor for web development because slow speeds often lead to a loss of visitors and, ultimately, depletion in revenue for commercial sit
What does Stack Overflow want to be when it grows up?
22.10.2018
I sometimes get asked by regular people in the actual real world what it is that I do for a living, and here's my 15 second answer:
We built a sort of Wikipedia website for computer programmers to post questions and answers. It's called Stack Overflow.
As of last month
There is no longer any such thing as Computer Security
21.9.2018
Remember "cybersecurity"?
Mysterious hooded computer guys doing mysterious hooded computer guy .. things! Who knows what kind of naughty digital mischief they might be up to?
Unfortunately, we now live in a world where this kind of digital mischief is literally rewriting the world's...
Convert HTML to Markdown
21.6.2018
One of my biggest mistakes with this blog was not finding a WordPress plugin that would allow me to write my posts with markdown; to this day I still need to write posts in “Visual” mode and then manually convert the post to HTML for “Text” mode. One of these days I want...
To Serve Man, with Software
31.12.2017
I didn't choose to be a programmer. Somehow, it seemed, the computers chose me. For a long time, that was fine, that was enough; that was all I needed. But along the way I never felt that being a programmer was this unambiguously great-for-everyone career field with zero downsides. There
The Existential Terror of Battle Royale
5.11.2017
It's been a while since I wrote a blog post, I guess in general, but also a blog post about video games. Video games are probably the single thing most attributable to my career as a programmer, and everything else I've done professionally after that. I still feel video games
Hacker, Hack Thyself
2.6.2017
We've read so many sad stories about communities that were fatally compromised or destroyed due to security exploits. We took that lesson to heart when we founded the Discourse project; we endeavor to build open source software that is secure and safe for communities by default, even if there are
Thunderbolting Your Video Card
24.3.2017
When I wrote about The Golden Age of x86 Gaming, I implied that, in the future, it might be an interesting, albeit expensive, idea to upgrade your video card via an external Thunderbolt 3 enclosure.
I'm here to report that the future is now.
Yes, that's right, I paid $500
Password Rules Are Bullshit
10.3.2017
Of the many, many, many bad things about passwords, you know what the worst is? Password rules.
If we don't solve the password problem for users in my lifetime I am gonna haunt you from beyond the grave as a ghost pic.twitter.com/Tf9EnwgoZv— Jeff Atwood
I'm Loyal to Nothing Except the Dream
30.1.2017
There is much I take for granted in my life, and the normal functioning of American government is one of those things. In my 46 years, I've lived under nine different presidents. The first I remember is Carter. I've voted in every presidential election since 1992, but I do not