It's Twenty Three

Personal Updates Feed

  • Somebody Stop Me! v1.1

    I finally found the time to revive the Somebody Stop Me! Chrome extension.

    Version 1.0 was not particularly robust. It was my first venture into the Chrome/browser extension space.

    While the plugin generally functioned as advertised, several rough edges resulted in a poor user experience.

    The new version, 1.1, features:

    • A more reliable method for tracking temporary exceptions,
    • Rule application when switching tabs, and
    • Improved consistency in persisting rules.

    Somebody Stop Me! Web Store works with Chrome, Chromium, Microsoft Edge, Vivaldi and most Chromium derived browsers.

  • Split Keyboards

    When someone offers you a split ergonomic keyboard, it is important to politely, but firmly decline.

    Once you get exposed to these keyboards, they will forever spoil traditional rectangular keyboards for you. You will never be the same.

    Save yourself! You have been warned!

  • USians Gone Rouge

    I do not envy anyone currently doing business in the USA or with US businesses.

    How do you cope with risk, knowing that the laws that should protect you do not apply?

  • Type better, not faster

    If you are learning to type, I would encourage you to focus on accuracy above speed.

    From my experience, in journey from measly 10WPM when touch typing to a very comfortable 92WPM, focusing on typing well, thinking – at first at least, about using correct finger, reaps the most benefit.

    Speed follows accuracy.

  • RGB is Lame 👎🏻

    Repeat after me:

    I do not need RGB in my keyboard. I am no longer 10y old.

    Ok, now that’s settled, please tell this to every keyboard manufacturer out there!

    Please.

  • Visual Studio Code – Sans AI

    Recent conversation on #HackerNews [1] make be aware of an interesting setting in the Visual Studio Code. Namely the chat.disableAIFeatures which allows to disable all AI features [2] of the editor.

    Not opposed to using AI assistance. I personally do use it as well. But I like to keep VSCode lighter and snappier for ad hoc editing as it is not my main IDE.

    [1] I switched from VSCode to Zed
    [2] Hide and disable GitHub Copilot AI features

  • Beyond Deploy: Episode 2

  • WordPress Federated posts formatting

    First snag with the #ActivityPub plugin for #WordPress: It appears that even simple formatting, such as new lines, is being trimmed when viewed from #Mastodon.

    mastodon post

    Not sure if this is WordPress or Mastodon doing.

    Any advice?

    That was fast. Thanks to helpful community support of ActivityPub plugin, I got quick reply and solution to my formatting problem.

    TL;DR: Posts have to be published in Status format.

  • Tiny Keyboards Layout

    I was a huge fan of #Miryoku. It feels so ergonomic and logical that I “mastered” it in a matter of minutes.

    But Miryoku has a fatal flaw. Using Modifier + Letter/Number + Nav button is impossible without very custom mappings.

    I am trialling a slightly modified RSTA layout on a 3w6 #ergokeyboard starting. It does everything but feels less ergonomic.

    https://github.com/rstacruz/my_qmk_keymaps

    Pros:

    • No home-row mods;
      • fewer misfires.
    • So far every combination is reachable.

    Cons:

    • No Home Row Mods;
      • once you master Home Row Mods and learn to respect the delay, they become like pure magic, and you wonder how you could have lived without them.
    • Position of Ctrl, Enter and Backspace makes it a pinky heavy layout
      • this I will have to tweak as an appeal of smaller ergonomic keyboards is focus on thumbs, rather than on the pinky.

    The ergo-journey continues.