Ross's Micro Blog

The 11th October Vergecast was GREAT. Here's a clip of them discussing Zoom's AI Avatars.

"You need to record an initial video of yourself…from there you can write the message you want to say and have your avatar go to meetings and say it.

IT'S VOICEMAIL!!

It's the same amount of work.

This could have been an email!

I'm going to have my AI Avatar go to every meeting and say "This could have been an email!”

https://pca.st/episode/5113e5fd-05cb-40d6-ab4f-6cccddd17685?t=5935.604395604396,5997.289375053658

Turbo Admin extension update!

v1.18.0 is out now, you should get an auto update in 12 hours, or you can manually update if you know how.

This fixes up a weird issue I had with the command palette, but ALSO it changes the search method I'm using for commands.

Hopefully you'll notice it's just better and works like you expect. And it won't have broken anything for anyone.

But let me know if you come across issues.

With thanks for all the support and new customers this week. Y'all are awesome!

Fixed a few bugs and made the command palette generally better in Turbo Admin this weekend.

Nice to be inspired to do better!

Update incoming once Google approves on the web store.

Hah! 😂

Was editing the Turbo Admin website today and reaslised that the code for the 100% discount code easter eggs is still there!

There are three to find. But each coupon only works once.

Please ONLY do this if you're going to use it and get value from it. Thanks. 🙏

https://turbo-admin.com/

(It could be a fun thing to find all three, even if you're not going to use them. Yes, this is my scarcity marketing. But I'm also giving things away, so I don't think it counts!)

Looks like loads of people are shifting from Twitter to Bluesky.

Does anyone here understand how Bluesky will make money?

In #WordPress, but not #WPDrama news…

There's a wave of excitement in WordPress about command bars/palettes.

So I'm riding the wave. Which I feel slightly awkward about. But it's there, so I'm riding it. And promoting BOTH products as I go.

So here's:
– my take on Turbo Admin vs CommandUI
– some thoughts on the awkwardness of having competition in such a friendly space
– my product journey and broader thoughts about command palettes on websites

https://rosswintle.uk/2024/10/wordpress-command-palette-competition/

I had some interesting thoughts ages ago on how standardised menu markup, or a simple JS API could allow command palettes (or a consistent navigation UI) on any website!

https://rosswintle.uk/2022/04/i-know-nothing-really-but-could-nav-menus-be-a-browser-api/

Looks like command palettes are cool in #WordPress today. So here’s a reminder of the one I made!

https://turbo-admin.com/

But I have a new and super-slick competitor you should all check out because any and all innovation in this space is good! 😊

https://commandui.com/

I love our NHS, but really, in 2024 the GP appointment booking lottery really needs to be better.

I've been redialling about every 10 seconds for nearly an hour.

Nothing.

There is technology that fixes this.

This is a solved problem.

What a waste of time. Mine and everyone else's.

Also… if you're a single parent trying to do this while on the school run… HOW????

I guess I’m gonna have to close the w.org version of Turbo Admin. 🤷‍♂️

I've been sent a link to another PHP-based static site generator that you might want to check out:

https://github.com/atas/ssg

Today – from my sick bed – I got a minimalist "live reload" added to my “PAT-stack” (PHP-AlpineJS-Tailwind) small-site-template.

https://github.com/rosswintle/small-site-template

This started off as a simple PHP static site generator. But now has some other stuff built in.

It's my perfect, low-dependency setup for simple static sites.

And now it has simple PHP and JS scripts for live reloading, using server-sent events:

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Server-sent_events/Using_server-sent_events

Gosh if I had about 3 weeks of sabbatical I’d do so much fun creative stuff. Two days being ill in bed with my brain half asleep is just a taster of what I might be able to do if I had any "spare time”.

📖 This is a cracking little
book on web sustainability. I love that Tom got to keep the rights. And I love that he’s making it available again.

https://www.wholegraindigital.com/blog/sustainable-web-design-book-updated/

💻 Ugh. Though I’m testing negative I’m pretty sure I have caught my wife’s Covid. So it was very much a rest day.

But when my brain was working I was watching Laracasts and playing with FluxUI again and OH MY GOODNESS the stuff in the Laravel ecosystem JUST WORKS!! It’s fast, it’s intuitive, and it just makes sense. Such a delight!

People have been talking about “37signals” these last few weeks and I was like “Didn’t they rebrand as ‘Basecamp’?”

Turns out they did. But I missed them un-re-branding back to “37signals” in 2022!

https://world.hey.com/jason/37signals-hello-again-117eae60

What happened on Twitter that so many people are suddenly moving and closing accounts?

Dang it. I KNEW @ianmjones was on here somewhere. WP Table Pixie is his so send your thanks to him. 🙌
https://fosstodon.org/@ross/113316908347795186

After some time on other things I've been back in the #WordPress dashboard building and improving plugins again. Because this is my job.

I discovered my friend's "Table Pixie" plugin which is awesome for debugging transients and options. One of those plugins where you're like "Why does this not have more installs?" 😎

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-table-pixie/

And as I browsed the plugin repo and saw the names and creations of people I know, I was filled with nostalgia and hope… but also sadness.