Latest posts
- An Ode to the Exacting Pedantry of ComputersJun 02, 2026
The very first computer programming class I ever took introduced me to the idea of there being different kinds of numbers, like integers, floats, and doubles (it was a C++ course). “You mean, when I assign a variable, I have to say up front what kind of number this is?” It was such an odd concept to me. A number is a number. Why do I have to say it’s this kind of number or that kind of number? I d
- Book Notes: “Poor Charlie’s Almanack”May 21, 2026
I’ve been slowly listening to Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Essential Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger. I like his practicality. He’s never trying to be overly academic, as if he needs to prove how smart he is. He says Berkshire’s success doesn’t come from them solving hard problems, but from spending their time knowing what a simple solution looks like — and acting on it when they see it! We’ve
- Something’s Rotten in the State of macOS Icon DesignMay 18, 2026
This is an iconic observation: If you put the Apple icons in reverse it looks like the portfolio of someone getting really really good at icon design This isn’t, however, just the story of Apple’s Creator Studio icons. It’s the unfolding story of icon design across the entire macOS platform. For example, take a look at some of Apple’s other apps like iMovie: Or Remote Desktop: Apple sets t
- Building Software Requires DigestionMay 12, 2026
Here’s Scott Jenson in his insightful piece “The Ma of a New Machine”: the chatbot interface [makes us] feel like deep cognitive work is happening. But the interface is fundamentally reactive. It spits complex text at you, you skim it quickly, and you immediately type a reaction to keep the momentum going. My hypothesis is that the very structure of the chatbot interface (type, read, type again) a
- Out With the JS, In With the HTMLMay 10, 2026
I’ve been posting about how you can make lots of HTML pages and leverage navigations over in-page, JS-dependent interactions. Now I’m gonna post another example. On my icon sites, I have a little widget that allows you to resize the icons you’re looking at. Previously, I implemented this functionality as a web component that looked something like this: <icon-list size="md"> <a href=""><img sr
- Reminder: You Can Stitch Together Lots of Little HTML Pages With Navigations For InteractionsMay 03, 2026
I wrote about building websites with LLMs — (L)ots of (L)ittle ht(M)l page(s) — and I think it’s time for a post-mortem on that approach: I like it. I’ve tweaked a few things from that original post but the underlying idea is still the same, which I would describe as: Avoid in-page interactions that require JavaScript in favor of multi-page navigations that rely on HTML and are enhanced with CSS v
- Collective Speed Is Not the Summation of Individual SpeedApr 26, 2026
I’ve been thinking about speed which is why Chris Coyier caught my attention in his latest piece discussing how AI might be 10✕ing the speed with which we code, but it’s not making our software 10✕ better: Faster individuals don’t make a fast company My mind immediately went to the 4✕100 relay at the Olympics. (Not sure which race that is? Watch the London 2012 one.) Imagine you were put in charge
- Hook It Up to the MachineApr 19, 2026
In the early 2000’s, my parents took us on a road trip to Glacier National Park in Montana. We made the journey in our new (used) family van: a green Dodge Caravan whose reputation was soon to become “a lemon”. I was a teenager and didn’t pay a lot of attention to the details of what was happening around me, but I do remember how the van kept overheating. It ran fine on the interstate, but anythin
- Speed is Not Conducive to WisdomApr 15, 2026
Speed has become the primary virtue of the modern world. Everything is sacrificed to it. Move fast (and break things, not as a goal but as a consequence). Wisdom requires allowing yourself to be undone by experience: An opinion dismantled by reality. An artifact torn apart by the real world. An idea destroyed by its own shortsightedness. Experiencing these can be slow and uncomfortable, but if you
- That’s a Skill IssueApr 12, 2026
I quipped on BlueSky: It’s interesting how AI proponents are often like "skill issue" when the LLM doesn't work like someone expects. Whereas when human-centered UX people see someone using it wrong, they're like "skill issue on us, the people who made this" This is top of mind because I’ve been working with Jan Miksovsky on his project Web Origami and he exemplified this to me recently. I was wor