Month: February 2024

Here it is then: My manifesto for small, static web apps.

If you wish to comment/reply on this, please read the intro on what a manifesto is before you do.

https://rosswintle.uk/2024/02/a-manifesto-for-small-static-web-apps/

With that in mind the summary is:

– Static first/only
– No login
– Don't store user data
– Use the smallest JS library possible
– Use web standards as much as possible
– Use simple build steps that won't break
– “Done” is a goal
– Zero-maintenance (and easy maintenance) is a goal
– Don’t minify
– Be accessible

I try hard not to dunk on WordPress because I still love it, for all its flaws.

But when patterns first arrived I knew it was the wrong model.

And now we’re at what they should have been. But because it’s built on the wrong legacy it’s “Synced Pattern Overrides” 😬

Surely I wasn’t the only one that (fore)saw this?

Anyway, here’s the video…

https://youtu.be/VGw3aNIwTNw

In the newsletter that linked me to this video I also read:

“Gutenberg meets the needs of fewer than half of respondents”

🧐

I’m watching Matt Medeiros demonstrate “Synced Pattern Overrides” in WordPress 6.5 and wondering “How on earth did we get here?”

The feature, like the name, is so complicated.

And it’s complicated because the original model of patterns was bad.

Patterns should always have been synced. And they should have been called “Components”, which is what everyone else on the web calls this concept.

They should have default content.

That’s it. That’s all that was needed.

Scrap patterns. Start again.

Yay! I got the Bandle in one!! (I’m not sure if this is a good thing)

Bandle #549 1/6
🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜

Started writing my small, static web apps manifesto. And it makes me realise why I love this approach: everything is about removing complexity.

– Hosting is simple
– Maintenance is simple
– Many complex problems just don’t exist (authentication, data protection)

And the manifesto “articles” all combine with each other to achieve this.

🤩

… It does kinda suggest the antidote though:

“veteran meteorologists would make weather forecasts first by looking at the data and forming an expert judgement; only then would they look at the computerised forecast to see if the computer had spotted anything that they had missed. (Typically, the answer was no.) By making their manual forecast first, these veterans kept their skills sharp”

Knowing – and practicing- the basics is as important as ever!

I’m really enjoying reading Tim Harford’s “Messy – How to be creative and resilient in a tidy-minded world”

It’s a book from 2016, but contains some very relevant wisdom on automation:

“Systems that supplant, not support, human decision-making are everywhere. We worry that the robots are taking our jobs, but just as common a problem is that the robots are taking our judgement.”

Next I plan to write a Manifesto for simple, static web apps!

This is my soapbox now!

A simple, web/cloud based, private key/value store. Like a fediverse but for personal data.

Is this possible? Does it exist?

I've mentioned this a few times here and it's always too hard to explain in short posts.

So here’s a long one.

https://rosswintle.uk/2024/02/static-databases-for-static-sites-possible/

I've always seemed to have friends who play D&D, but I have never actually played D&D. And now my kids know other kids that play D&D!

So when I read @davatron5000's post about Cora Quest, which he describes as ‘an easy “Dungeons and Dragons for Kids” game’ I was intrigued.

https://daverupert.com/2024/02/coraquest/

And when I saw Cora and Dan's kickstarter video I was enchanted and tracked down a copy.

It arrived today and we played our first quest. And it was wonderful!

Thanks Dave, Cora and Dan!

Discovered “Bandle” the other day. A daily puzzle where you have to guess a piece of music from a reduced set of instruments.

After two total misses, I finally got one today from just drums and bass!!

Bandle #547 2/6
⬛🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜
Found: 1/2 (50%)
Current Streak: 1 (max 1)
#Bandle
https://bandle.app/

So I’ve done web-based pong and snake and “golf” and a Wordle clone and bingo cards.

Tetris was always on my mind.

And it’s pretty much done in a few hours. But it’s a secret thing right now.

A bit trickier than some of the other games.

There’s probably cleverer ways that the “brute force” algorithms I’ve used. Perhaps matrix maths helps?

Anyway. It’s pretty much there. HTML/CSS/AlpineJS.

And not ACTUALLY Tetris because that’s such well-protected IP.

Fun!! 🤩

Ooof. Complete fail on Connections this morning.

Connections
Puzzle #247
🟪🟨🟨🟨
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟦🟦🟪🟦
🟪🟩🟦🟩
🟦🟩🟩🟪

If I remember, I’ll share tomorrow what I thought one of the connections was.

Simple one-page web apps can be quick to build and free to host.

I consider several of mine “finished” software. They won’t ever need updates (unless browsers deprecate functionality). There is no maintenance burden.

We CAN build software like this now. So why don’t we?

FWIW… things I made:

https://notes.veryuseful.app/
https://veryuseful.app/
https://caniphp.com/
https://golf.pico.games/

Oh and also: things are made over-complicated so that they can be monetised. And to make them monetised they need huge marketing efforts with lots of SEO. And this is why finding simple stuff is hard. It’s lost.

The recently re-ignited interest in the indieweb is GREAT! But what if this also encompassed simple web apps and games built as open source using modern web standards?

What if apps like this were as common as blogs?

How could these be made discoverable? What’s the App Store for these?

Having made a perfectly good notes app as a single-page, hosted-for-free web app, I now wonder what else could be done like this and what would be a great additional enabling tech.

I still really want a personal, private, key-value store with a simple REST API.

If people could have this then all sorts of stuff would be possible with super-cheap web apps.

And I wonder if things like this exist. But it’s SO hard to find them. Because nothing is simple. Everything is made over-complicated!

This is why I love the internet. 12 fireball reports last night! I saw this!!! 😄

https://ukmon.imo.net/imo_view/event/2024/834

I wasn’t seeing things!! (Twitter link has a video)

https://x.com/FrowStephanie/status/1756816327342211258?s=20

I just walked out my house (Swindon, UK) and I swear I saw a really big meteor cross the southern sky top to bottom.

Really cool.

Trying to track down if anyone else saw it.

About 9:58 if anyone nearby has a camera pointing that way.