{ "link": [ { "title": "Alt-texts: The Ultimate Guide", "published_date": "2019-05-20", "original_published_date": "2017-10-15", "link_url": "https://axesslab.com/alt-texts/", "author": "Daniel Göransson", "content": "
You think you know how to write a good alt text… There are tons of good things in here; a reminder that most things web aren’t set in stone. And remember: Add a full stop to your alt text.
", "url": "http://localhost:4000/links/2019-05-20-alt-text" }, { "title": "Notes on AI Bias", "published_date": "2019-05-20", "original_published_date": "2019-04-15", "link_url": "https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2019/4/15/notes-on-ai-bias", "author": "Ben Evans", "content": "This is a really thoughtful analysis of the weaknesses of AI/machine learning (they’re still machines, you can introduce bias, they can be misused), with the proviso that these problems are essentially fixable. In short, AI/ML are new, impressive, trendy technologies, but they’re still technologies.
", "url": "http://localhost:4000/links/2019-05-20-notes-on-ai-bias" }, { "title": "«Make sure you have a good idea that can survive, even badly designed» – Interview with Erik Spiekermann, Part I", "published_date": "2019-05-20", "original_published_date": "2019-04-03", "link_url": "https://johannesippen.com/2019/erik-spiekermann/", "author": "Johannes Ippen", "content": "Spiekermann on interesting form, as ever. Honestly reveals he doesn’t like what’s happened to his work with the Austrian road network, and how he’d update the signage and typography on the Berlin Metro in light of how people use signage now (which still looks great to my eyes).
", "url": "http://localhost:4000/links/2019-05-20-spiekermann" }, { "title": "Stereolab Transient Random-Noise Bursts / Mars Audiac Quintet", "published_date": "2019-05-21", "original_published_date": "2019-05-20", "link_url": "https://thequietus.com/articles/26506-stereolab-transient-random-noise-bursts-mars-audiac-quintet-reissues-review", "author": "Anna Rahkonen", "content": "Have listened to Stereolab since Mars Audiac Quintet (1994?) It’s time for their re-evaluation and second time round, I think.
", "url": "http://localhost:4000/links/2019-05-21-stereolab-transient-random-noise-bursts-mars-audiac-quintet" }, { "title": " Structured data and Google", "published_date": "2019-05-23", "original_published_date": "2019-05-21", "link_url": "https://www.brucelawson.co.uk/2019/structured-data-and-google/", "author": "Bruce Lawson", "content": "If you’re ever responsible for improving search results, especially structured results, you’ll have looked at structured data/markup. json-ld is a weird format, chucked in at the end of the page; interleaved microdata is surely just better for everyone apart from Google’s indexers.
", "url": "http://localhost:4000/links/2019-05-23-structured-data-and-google" }, { "title": "A report from the AMP Advisory Committee Meeting", "published_date": "2019-05-24", "original_published_date": "2019-05-14", "link_url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2019/05/a-report-from-the-amp-advisory-committee-meeting/", "author": "Terence Eden", "content": "Eden does a spectacular job here, reporting not just on the a priori wrongness of AMP, but on its many practical problems. It’s easy to add to a small site with, say, a WordPress plugin. Don’t.
", "url": "http://localhost:4000/links/2019-05-24-a-report-from-the-amp-advisory-committee-meeting" }, { "title": "‘Nostalgia Serves No Purpose’: An Interview with Michel Barnier", "published_date": "2019-06-01", "original_published_date": "2019-05-29", "link_url": "https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/05/29/nostalgia-serves-no-purpose-an-interview-with-michel-barnier/", "author": "Michał Matlak", "content": "This is useful to understand the EU’s (obvious, really) position, and why no Raab staring will change a thing.
", "url": "http://localhost:4000/links/2019-06-01-nostalgia-serves-no-purpose-an-interview-with-michel-barnier" }, { "title": "Ipswich (Australia) Libraries home page", "published_date": "2019-06-04", "original_published_date": "2019-06-04", "link_url": "https://www.ipswichlibraries.com.au/", "author": "Unknown", "content": "This is interesting because a library website has finally presented its stock in a customer-friendly way, rather than as a catalogue to be searched. There’s even some API integration.
", "url": "http://localhost:4000/links/2019-06-04-ipswich-libraries" }, { "title": "Uber’s Path of Destruction", "published_date": "2019-06-04", "original_published_date": "2019-06-04", "link_url": "https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2019/05/ubers-path-of-destruction/", "author": "Hubert Horan (via @ekp)", "content": "Don’t use Uber:
", "url": "http://localhost:4000/links/2019-06-09-uber" }, { "title": "HTML is the web", "published_date": "2019-06-22", "original_published_date": "2019-06-14", "link_url": "https://www.petelambert.com/journal/html-is-the-web/", "author": "Pete Lambert", "content": "An examination of Uber’s economics suggests that it has no hope of ever earning sustainable urban car service profits in competitive markets. Its costs are simply much higher than the market is willing to pay, as its nine years of massive losses indicate. Uber… is actually less efficient than the competitors it has been driving out of business.
Totally agree with this sentiment. As someone whose web skills really lie in HTML and CSS, I find it very hard to understand how web developers struggle with languages that allow you to type p {color: red;}
or <button>Submit</button>
to create a button.
Against the supposed science of the polling algorithm and its corollary: the removal of people from politics. A reminder to ignore The Guardian publishing focus group polling every Sunday to back up a message from Tom Watson.
", "url": "http://localhost:4000/links/2019-06-23-against-polling" }, { "title": "Writing HTML in HTML", "published_date": "2019-06-27", "original_published_date": "2019-06-19", "link_url": "http://john.ankarstrom.se/html/", "author": "John Ankarström", "content": "This is nuts, but I like it. It really isn’t that difficult writing Markdown and using Jekyll to generate a site, but… there is freedom in just creating folders and files.
", "url": "http://localhost:4000/links/2019-06-27-writing-html-in-html" }, { "title": "Boris Johnson, tough on the economic causes of Brexit? Not likely", "published_date": "2019-07-26", "original_published_date": "2019-07-26", "link_url": "https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/26/boris-johnson-tough-economic-causes-brexit-thatcherite", "author": "Larry Elliot", "content": "To sum up, Britain has a trade deficit problem, a London versus-the-rest problem, a debt problem, a housing problem and a care problem.
Good as it frames Johnson in economic terms rather than just his immorality/changeability etc.
", "url": "http://localhost:4000/links/2019-07-26-boris-johnson-tough-on-the-economic-causes-of-brexit-not-likely" }, { "title": "We’re doing it wrong: there is no ‘one perfect design’ or layout", "published_date": "2019-08-30", "original_published_date": "2019-08-16", "link_url": "https://rwt.io/typography-tips/were-doing-it-wrong-there-no-one-perfect-design-or-layout", "author": "Jason Pamental", "content": "If we are to progress the state of digital design, we simply have to overcome the ‘sea of sameness’ with which we are confronted every day on the web.
Not sure this is right; at least, it’s not right for me. The problem with most reading from a screen isn’t the sameness, but simple, poor typograpy: scratchy fonts, small text, lack of contrast, fixed elements… and too much stuff on the screen. Whenever I reach for Stylus I want to create a single column.
", "url": "http://localhost:4000/links/2019-08-30-we-re-doing-it-wrong-there-is-no-one-perfect-design-or-layout" }, { "title": "How to put an HTML page on the internet", "published_date": "2019-09-07", "original_published_date": "2019-09-06", "link_url": "https://jvns.ca/blog/2019/09/06/how-to-put-an-html-page-on-the-internet/", "author": "Julia Evans", "content": "(Using Netlify). You could even skip the Github bit and just drag your file into the Netlify app window. So get publishing ✍️
", "url": "http://localhost:4000/links/2019-09-07-how-to-put-an-html-page-on-the-internet" }, { "title": "WordPress funding and market dominance", "published_date": "2019-09-21", "original_published_date": "2019-09-20", "link_url": "https://www.manton.org/2019/09/20/wordpress-funding-and.html", "author": "Manton Reece", "content": "Yes. I think WordPress is a force for good (cf Medium) but What we want to do is to become the operating system for the open web
is exactly what we don’t want, a contradictio in adjecto. Fighting talk for the investors, but beware.
Music to my ears:
", "url": "http://localhost:4000/links/2019-09-21-thoughts-on-the-state-of-the-web" }, { "title": "Static or database? Our love of complexity", "published_date": "2019-12-07", "original_published_date": "2019-11-17", "link_url": "https://gerrymcgovern.com/static-or-database-our-love-of-complexity/", "author": "Gerry McGovern", "content": "What was particularly notable was that JavaScript was barely mentioned, except with a warning to use it sparingly. This might feel old-fashioned, but in fact it emphasised how little JavaScript is actually vital to the user experience…
Of course, static sites are de rigeur these days, and the comments get a bit confused over CMSs and databases. But the point is right, I think, and it’s worth considering the original attraction of static, which is based on the belief(?) that 90% of websites don’t need any interactivity. Design defensively for interactivity for a faster, greener and better web.
", "url": "http://localhost:4000/links/2019-12-07-static-or-database-our-love-of-complexity" }, { "title": "Twitter to decentralize… something", "published_date": "2019-12-14", "original_published_date": "2019-12-11", "link_url": "https://www.manton.org/2019/12/11/twitter-to-decentralize.html", "author": "Manton Reece", "content": "On Twitter devloping an open and decentralized standard for social media
:
", "url": "http://localhost:4000/links/2019-12-14-twitter-to-decentralize-something" }, { "title": " This Labour meltdown has been building for decades ", "published_date": "2019-12-14", "original_published_date": "2019-12-14", "link_url": "https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/14/labour-meltdown-decades-govern-votes", "author": "Aditya Chakrabortty", "content": "If Twitter is hoping to outsource curation to shared protocols, it should be in addition to — not a replacement for — the type of effort that Facebook is undertaking.
The what really went on there? series part 1. Aditya Chakrabortty has been the best left journalist for a while and we should listen to him.
", "url": "http://localhost:4000/links/2019-12-14-this-labour-meltdown-has-been-building-for-decades" }, { "title": "Reflections from the doorstep", "published_date": "2019-12-14", "original_published_date": "2019-12-13", "link_url": "https://medium.com/@DrDanEvans/reflections-from-the-doorstep-e4337513d909", "author": "Dan Evans", "content": "The what really went on there? series part 2. Understanding how work and information has changed. Also filed under let’s drop the mining nostalgia.
", "url": "http://localhost:4000/links/2019-12-14-reflections-from-the-doorstep" }, { "title": "Tory Landslide, Progressives Split", "published_date": "2019-12-15", "original_published_date": "2019-12-14", "link_url": "https://www.dataprax.is/tory-landslide-progressives-split", "author": "Datapraxis", "content": "The what really went on there? series part 3. No real enthusiasm for Boris Johnson. A solid, one party Leave vote versus a disorganised, counter-productive remain effort.
", "url": "http://localhost:4000/links/2019-12-15-tory-landslide-progressives-split" }] }There was no real groundswell of support for Boris Johnson and his Conservative party. They improved their share of the vote by less than 2% overall, losing over a million Remainers but gaining more Leave voters. The decisive factor was their success in winning over voters from the Brexit Party, who decided to stand down in all seats held by the Tories.