Tags » blogging about blogging

Parody posters for made-up movies

I rented movies from Blockbuster, HBO Max-Width and Netflex.

Using perceptual distance to create better headers

I started picking colours for my site headers with a more perceptually uniform approach, so their colours look more correct to the human eye.

Doing my own syntax highlighting (finally)

I’ve redesigned my syntax highlighting scheme to use a smaller colour palette. Here’s what I’ve changed, how it works, and why I think it’s better.

Minifying HTML on my Jekyll website

I compare three different approaches to minifying HTML.

A flash of light in the darkness

If you’re using an image as your background, remember to set a fallback colour as well, especially if you’re in dark mode.

An unexpected lesson in CSS stacking contexts

While trying to add some simple overlay labels, I stumbled into a sharp edge of a complex CSS feature called “stacking contexts”.

Cosmetic updates to this site

I’ve simplified the palette, changed the font, and given several elements a more consistent visual appearance.

Good embedded toots

I replaced Mastodon’s native post embeds with lightweight HTML and CSS snippets that are faster to load, more resilient to outages, and support dark mode – and I had fun doing it.

Moving my website from Netlify to Caddy

To avoid getting stung by Netlify’s bandwidth charges, I moved this site to a Linux server running Caddy as my web server.

A script to verify my Netlify redirects

I wrote a script that reads my redirect rules, and checks that every redirect takes you to a page that actually exists on my site.

Making alt text more visible

I wrote a JavaScript snippet that shows alt text below all of my images, so I can see when it’s missing, and review it while I’m editing.

Documenting my DNS records

Exporting my DNS records as YAML gives me a plaintext file where I can track changes, add comments, and feel more confident about managing my DNS.

Getting faster Jekyll builds with caching in plugins

I was able to build my Jekyll site much faster by using the built-in caching API.

My custom <picture> plugin for Jekyll

How I make images that load quickly and look good for readers, and which are easy for me to manage.

Filtering out bogus requests from Netlify Analytics

Using redirects to filter out bots trying to hack my non-existent PHP installation.

A bookmarklet to show which responsive image was chosen

Debugging my <picture> and <source> tags.

Beware of transparent backgrounds when using AVIF with ImageMagick 6

You probably want to use version 7.

Ten years of blogging

A decade ago, I registered a domain and started writing.

A surprise smattering of stardom

My last post was surprisingly popular; a few reflections on the experience.

A tale of two Twitter cards

Some recent changes I’ve made to fix or improve my Twitter cards.

Prevent accidentally copying the prompt character in console code snippets

When I include console commands in a blog post, I don’t want somebody to accidentally copy the command prompt. CSS lets me avoid that.

An editing toolbar for alexwlchan.net

A bookmarklet that gives me a just-for-me toolbar to make changes to this site.

A Jekyll filter for adding non-breaking spaces

A way to avoid awkward line breaks in the middle of phrases.

A Jekyll filter for obfuscating email addresses

The original Markdown implementation would do randomised hex/decimal encoding to help obscure email addresses, and I do the same in Jekyll.

Checking Jekyll sites with HTMLProofer

Playing with 404 pages