Ross's Micro Blog

Inspired by Andy Bell’s week notes concept (honestly, nothing is my own idea!), I’m trying to get back into writing my week in posts, projects and pins. Here’s my week:

https://rosswintle.uk/2019/01/the-week-28th-january-2019/

So on to geek tweets…

Having tinkered with TypeScript a bit, I’m now starting to realise “Oh, I can do type hints in my PHP too” and trying to do that where I can.

Type hints are not for everyone – you can take them or leave them – but I LOVE the predictability and safety.

I know that most of my posts are

– unfathomable technical gobbledegook
– interesting coding tips & references*

But I desperately hope that those that aren’t are fun, interesting, informative or uplifting in some way.

And THANK YOU for following!

(* Delete as appropriate)

This is not me wanting to blow my own trumpet. And I’m 100% not about numbers. But this number fascinates me. I honestly don’t understand it. And I was listening to a podcast this morning that made me realise that this number comes with some responsibility.

My wife got me doing some Myers-Briggs-type stuff tonight. I’m such an ambivert. I’m a more introverted version of the E*** profile, and a more extroverted version of the I*** profile. But otherwise it pretty much nailed me again!

Everyone else is writing about CSS. So I am too!

Inspired by a conversation with @frontendben (and totally ripping off his idea) I present the new hotness in CSS-land: SUCSS!!

https://w4e.uk/sucss

(Partly in jest, but this also documents my history with CSS and some ideas!)

My girl’s little purple shoes have been missing for a few days. I’ve checked in the car a few times. Pretty certain they’re not there.

Not all software development processes are equal:

https://w4e.uk/atd

I wrote this ages ago. I was hesitant to publish it because it adds to a post by a giant in my industry. I didn’t feel that was my place. But every time I read it I think it’s good. So…

Yesterday I accidentally discovered that behind the Firefox Facebook Container extension is a more generic “Tab Container” feature that you can get separately. And it’s AMAZING. Here’s what it is and how to use it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dANJUM-2B4k

“Where do I fit?”

I’m struggling to put together my plan for 2019 because I’m an “in-betweeny” in many ways.

Who wants to be my coach for 2019?!

https://rosswintle.uk/2019/01/where-do-i-fit/

Or even SHOULD I move on, or accept that this is my thing and continue to dig into it?

I guess the summary is: WordPress dev was a gateway to bigger/other things. I now want the bigger/other things. But WordPress dev is still my core skill set and breadwinner. How do I move on? And what do I move on to?

Just poured my heart out in my notes app about all the difficult work and tech decisions I’m holding in my head right now. Should I publish? Does anyone want to help be my coach for 2019?! 🤔

Gosh I feel so stuck in the middle sometimes. I’m way more technically adept at software development than many, but I’m also way less technically adept than many. Struggling with where to pitch myself in 2019. 😕

The audience for this is probably about three people worldwide, but I HAD to write it up because I know someone else will come across it:

Skirting the iOS/Safari audio auto-play policy for UI sound effects (complete with weird mobile Safari bug?)

https://w4e.uk/safariaudio

I predict that within two years we’ll have Tim Cook on stage saying “We’ve done something incredible. We’ve made a smartphone SO small that it will fit in your pocket. The technology we’ve used to achieve this is incredible.”

Then I’ll be ready to upgrade my iPhone SE.

Some of the most beautiful things can’t be captured on regular cameras. Sunsets. Big moons. Wildlife. Bright stars.

Spending time enjoying what you are seeing is far better. Soak it up in the moment.

Then buy a better photo someone else took!

I hearby declare all my iOS Safari async sound woes to be some odd quirk of Safari and Vue.js

– I’ve been unable to reproduce issue in a simple test setup
– HTMLMediaElement.volume seems read-only in my code
– HTMLMediaElement.muted is read-write

🤷‍♂️

Finally got a year in review done. 2018: Breaking and making!

https://rosswintle.uk/2019/01/2018-breaking-and-making/

Sorry to just post food, but quite happy with this loaf!