Latest posts
- Unresponsive Buttons on My Fastest Hardware EverFeb 11, 2026
This is one of those small things that drives me nuts. Why? I don’t know. I think it has something to do with the fact that I have a computer that is faster than any computer I’ve ever used in my entire life — and yet, clicking on buttons results in slight but perceptible delays. Let me explain. Imagine a button that looks like this: <Button onClick={async () => { const data = await getSessi
- A Brief History of App Icons From Apple’s Creator StudioFeb 09, 2026
I recently updated my collection of macOS icons to include Apple’s new “Creator Studio” family of icons. Doing this — in tandem with seeing funny things like this post on Mastodon — got me thinking about the history of these icons. I built a feature on my icon gallery sites that’s useful for comparing icons over time. For example, here’s Keynote: (Unfortunately, the newest Keynote isn’t part o
- Study Finds Obvious Truth Everybody KnowsFeb 06, 2026
Researchers at Anthropic published their findings around how AI assistance impacts the formation of coding skills: We found that using AI assistance led to a statistically significant decrease in mastery […] Using AI sped up the task slightly, but this didn’t reach the threshold of statistical significance. Wait, what? Let me read that again: using AI assistance led to a statistically significant
- Saying “No” In an Age of AbundanceFeb 03, 2026
You’ve probably heard this famous quote from Steve Jobs about saying ‘no’: People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.
- The Browser’s Little White LiesFeb 01, 2026
So I’m making a thing and I want it to be styled different if the link’s been visited. Rather than build something myself in JavaScript, I figure I’ll just hook into the browser’s mechanism for tracking if a link’s been visited (a sensible approach, if I do say so myself). Why write JavaScript when a little CSS will do? So I craft this: .entry:has(a:visited) { opacity: .5; filter: grayscale(1
- The Don’t “Contact Us” PageJan 28, 2026
Nic Chan comes out as the whistleblower on how many “Contact Us” pages are made (spoiler: they’re designed to keep us from contacting anyone). A “fuck off contact page” is what a company throws together when they actually don’t want anyone to contact them at all. They […] are trying to reduce the amount of money they spend on support by carefully hiding the real support channels […] If you solve y
- You Can Just Say No to the DataJan 26, 2026
“The data doesn’t lie.” I imagine that’s what the cigarette companies said. “The data doesn’t lie. People want this stuff. They’re buying it in droves. We’re merely giving them what they want.” Which sounds more like an attempt at exoneration than a reason to exist. Demand can be engineered. “We’re giving them what they want” ignores how desire is shaped, even engineered (algorithms, dark patter
- CTA Hierarchy in the WildJan 22, 2026
The other day I was browsing YouTube — as one does — and I clicked a link in the video description to a book. I was then subjected to a man-in-the-middle attack, where YouTube put themselves in the middle of me and the link I had clicked: Hyperlinks are subversive. Big Tech must protect themselves and their interests. But link hijacking isn’t why I’m writing this post. What struck me was the or
- New Year, New Website — Same Old MeJan 20, 2026
I redesigned my www website. Why? The end of year / holiday break is a great time to work on such things. I wanted to scratch an itch. Websites are a worry stone [gestures at current state of the world] Do I really need a reason? Nope. I read something along the lines of “If you ship something that shows everything you’ve made, it’s dead on arrival.” Oooof. I feel that. It’s so hard to make a pers
- Easy Measures Doing, Simple Measures UnderstandingJan 18, 2026
In his talk, I like the way Jake Nations pits easy vs. simple: Easy means you can add it to your system quickly. Simple means you can understand the work that you’ve done. I like this framing. Easy means you can do with little effort. Simple means you can understand what you do with little effort. In other words: easy measures the effort in doing, while simple measures the effort in understanding