2026-04-02 08:00:00
# I'm working on a new homepage for the blog; something more modular that acts as a springboard.
I've been wanting to do something new for a while, though not known which way I wanted to take it. Say what you will about GenAI, I asked ChatGPT for some ideas out of left field, and it gave some pretty cool options. I'm running with one that I've made significant alterations to.
It deliberately has a different aesthetic, but I still need to better visually tie it in with the rest of the site.
2026-03-31 08:00:00
# There I was, bemoaning constant tweaks to the site, and I made some more. 😆 I've enhanced swipe to navigate.
2026-03-30 08:00:00
# On this day ten years ago, I returned to the blog after a two-and-a-half-year break and set myself on the path that would ultimately lead to where I am today.
It was a true landmark moment.
I hadn't been happy with what I was doing, so stepped away to explore other things.
A year with the #write365 project on Google+ left me burnt out and it took another year to feel ready to return, but on new terms. It was a fresh start with a minimal theme 1 and all older posts moved to an archive.
I slipped back into some old (bad) habits. It took another year for me to really adjust, allow myself to be more casual and imperfect.
Stumbling (in the dark) across the Kickstarter for micro.blog was like a lightbulb turning on, showing me where I could take things. Ironically, it looked a lot like when I started back in 2003.
It just goes to show that change doesn't always equal progress.
That theme was constantly tweaked and twisted, given indieweb integration, and finally became the basis for the look on (b)log-In. It has continued to grow from there. ↩
# Today I learned that swiping on a touchscreen does not count as "page activation". Certain browser APIs are gated behind this, vibrate() being one of them.
I had wanted to add haptics to swipe navigation but it only works if you tap the screen first. 😞
# Kev Quirk writes that, as of now with v2.2.0, Pure Blog is feature complete and he will likely refuse all new feature requests.
It does everything I want it to do, so it's time to actually use it.
There I so many times I've said this to myself, then I see something someone else has done, or have an idea, and want to implement it.
Even with something that's 'feature complete' there are bound to be instances when change makes sense. The web itself is a fluid platform and wider integration becomes a moving target.
Still, all too often, I've said that tweaking the site has been a substitute for actually using it, so I fully support Kev on his decision.
2026-03-29 08:00:00
# Colin Devroe pointed out that a detail in his kanban app Signboard:
as you drag a card it begins to slightly tilt in the direction that you’re dragging
This is exactly the kind of minutiae I love and get lost in.
I recently added CSS to fade, blur, resize, and tilt elements as they scroll on/off the screen, which gives me a similar sense of pleasure.
And, of course, I've had the ability to swipe left & right on a touchscreen to go forward and back through the days on the blog.
Inspired by Mr Devroe, I thought this could be taken further. Introducing staggered horizontal scroll of post elements to give visual indication of the scroll:
The element directly under the point of touch scrolls in the direction of the swipe, then the adjacent items scroll less to cause a sort of rubbery/ripple effect.
Like the other Colin, this makes me happy. 😊
It's disabled if the reader has reduced motion set on their device.
# Okay, so I may have accidentally overwritten the blog file and had to revert to an older version.
