#css fundamentals

[jcmarchi]

What’s Old is New

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/whats-old-is-new/

What’s Old is New

I collect a bunch of links in a bookmarks folder. These are things I fully intend to read, and I do — eventually. It’s a good thing bookmarks are digital, otherwise, I’d need a bigger coffee table to separate them from the ever-growing pile of magazines.

The benefit of accumulating links is that the virtual pile starts revealing recurring themes. Two seemingly unrelated posts published a couple months apart may congeal and become more of a dialogue around a common topic.

I spent time pouring through a pile of links I’d accumulated over the past few weeks and noticed a couple of trending topics. No, that’s not me you’re smelling — there’s an aroma of nostalgia in the air., namely a newfound focus on learning web fundamentals and some love for manual deployments.

Web Developers, AI, and Development Fundamentals

Alvaro Montero:

Ultimately, it is not about AI replacing developers, but about developers adapting and evolving with the tools. The ability to learn, understand, and apply the fundamentals is essential because tools will only take you so far without the proper foundation.

ShopTalk 629: The Great Divide, Global Design + Web Components, and Job Titles

Chris and Dave sound off on The Great Divide in this episode and the rising value of shifting back towards fundamentals:

Dave: But I think what is maybe missing from that is there was a very big feeling of disenfranchisement from people who are good and awesome at CSS and JavaScript and HTML. But then were being… The market was shifting hard to these all-in JavaScript frameworks. And a lot of people were like, “I don’t… This is not what I signed up for.”

[…]

Dave: Yeah. I’m sure you can be like, “Eat shit. That’s how it is, kid.” But that’s also devaluing somebody’s skillset. And I think what the market is proving now is if you know JavaScript or know HTML, CSS, and regular JavaScript (non-framework JavaScript), you are once again more valuable because you understand how a line of CSS can replace 10,000 lines of JavaScript – or whatever it is.

Chris: Yeah. Maybe it’s coming back just a smidge–

Dave: A smidge.

Chris: –that kind of respecting the fundamental stuff because there’s been churn since then, since five years ago. Now it’s like these exclusively React developers we hired, how useful are they anymore? Were they a little too limited and fundamental people are knowing more? I don’t know. It’s hard to say that the job industry is back when it doesn’t quite feel that way to me.

Dave: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, who knows. I just think the value in knowing CSS and HTML, good HTML, are up more than they maybe were five years ago.

Just a Spec: HTML Finally Gets the Respect It Deserves

Jared and Ayush riffin’ on the first ever State of HTML survey, why we need it, and whether “State of…” surveys are representative of people who work with HTML.

[…] once you’ve learned about divs and H’s 1 through 6, what else is there to know? Quite a lot, as it turns out. Once again, we drafted Lea Verou to put her in-depth knowledge of the web platform to work and help us craft a survey that ended up reaching far beyond pure HTML to cover accessibility, web components, and much more.

[…]

You know, it’s perfectly fine to be an expert at HTML and CSS and know very little JavaScript. So, yeah, I think it’s important to note that as we talk about the survey, because the survey is a snapshot of just the people who know about the survey and answer the questions, right? It’s not necessarily representative of the broad swath of people around the world who have used HTML at all.

[…]

So yeah, a lot of interest in HTML. I’m talking about HTML. And yeah, in the conclusion, Lea Verou talks about we really do have this big need for more extensibility of HTML.

In a more recent episode:

I’m not surprised. I mean, when someone who’s only ever used React can see what HTML does, I think it’s usually a huge revelation to them.

[…]

It just blows their minds. And it’s kind of like you just don’t know what you’re missing out on up to a point. And there is a better world out there that a lot of folks just don’t know about.

[…]

I remember a while back seeing a post come through on social media somewhere, somebody’s saying, oh, I just tried working with HTML forms, just standard HTML forms the first time and getting it to submit stuff. And wait, it’s that easy?

Yeah, last year when I was mentoring a junior developer with the Railsworld conference website, she had come through Bootcamp and only ever done React, and I was showing her what a web component does, and she’s like, oh, man, this is so cool. Yeah, it’s the web platform.

Reckoning: Part 4 — The Way Out

Alex Russell in the last installment of an epic four-part series well worth your time to fully grasp the timeline, impact, and costs of modern JavsaScript frameworks to today’s development practices:

Never, ever hire for JavaScript framework skills. Instead, interview and hire only for fundamentals like web standards, accessibility, modern CSS, semantic HTML, and Web Components. This is doubly important if your system uses a framework.

Semi-Annual Reminder to Learn and Hire for Web Standards

Adrian Roselli:

This is a common cycle. Web developers tire of a particular technology — often considered the HTML killer when released — and come out of it calling for a focus on the native web platform. Then they decide to reinvent it yet again, but poorly.

There are many reasons companies won’t make deep HTML / CSS / ARIA / SVG knowledge core requirements. The simplest is the commoditization of the skills, partly because framework and library developers have looked down on the basics.

The anchor element

Heydon Pickering in a series dedicated to HTML elements, starting alphabetically with the good ol’ anchor <a>:

Sometimes, the <a> is referred to as a hyperlink, or simply a link. But it is not one of these and people who say it is one are technically wrong (the worst kind of wrong).

[…]

Web developers and content editors, the world over, make the mistake of not making text that describes a link actually go inside that link. This is collosally unfortunate, given it’s the main thing to get right when writing hypertext.

AI Myth: It lets me write code I can’t on my own

Chris Ferndandi:

At the risk of being old and out-of-touch: if you don’t know how to write some code, you probably shouldn’t use code that Chat GPT et al write for you.

[…]

It’s not bulletproof, but StackOverflow provides opportunities to learn and understand the code in a way that AI-generated code does not.

What Skills Should You Focus on as Junior Web Developer in 2024?

Frontend Masters:

Let’s not be old-man-shakes-fist-at-kids.gif about this, but learning the fundamentals of tech is demonstrateably useful. It’s true in basketball, it’s true for the piano, and it’s true in making websites. If you’re aiming at a long career in websites, the fundamentals are what powers it.

[…]

The point of the fundamentals is how long-lasting and transferrable the knowledge is. It will serve you well no matter what other technologies a job might have you using, or when the abstractions over them change, as they are want to do.

As long as we’re talking about learning the fundamentals…

The Basics

Oh yeah, and of course there’s this little online course I released this summer for learning HTML and CSS fundamentals that I describe like this:

The Basics is more for your clients who do not know how to update the website they paid you to make. Or the friend who’s learning but still keeps bugging you with questions about the things they’re reading. Or your mom, who still has no idea what it is you do for a living. It’s for those whom the entry points are vanishing. It’s for those who could simply sign up for a Squarespace account but want to understand the code it spits out so they have more control to make a site that uniquely reflects them.

Not all this nostalgia is reserved only for HTML and CSS, but for deploying code, too. A few recent posts riff on what it might look like to ship code with “buildless” or near “buildless” workflows.

Raw-Dogging Websites

Brad Frost:

It is extraordinarily liberating. Yes, there are some ergonomic inefficiencies, but at the end of the day it comes out in the wash. You might have to copy-and-paste some HTML, but in my experience I’d spend that much time or more debugging a broken build or dependency hell.

Going Buildless

Max Böck in a follow-up to Brad:

So, can we all ditch our build tools soon?

Probably not. I’d say for production-grade development, we’re not quite there yet. Performance tradeoffs are a big part of it, but there are lots of other small problems that you’d likely run into pretty soon once you hit a certain level of complexity.

For smaller sites or side projects though, I can imagine going the buildless route – just to see how far I can take it.

Manual ’till it hurts

Jeremy Keith in a follow-up to Max:

If you’re thinking that your next project couldn’t possibly be made without a build step, let me tell you about a phrase I first heard in the indie web community: “Manual ‘till it hurts”. It’s basically a two-step process:

Start doing what you need to do by hand.

When that becomes unworkable, introduce some kind of automation.

It’s remarkable how often you never reach step two.

I’m not saying premature optimisation is the root of all evil. I’m just saying it’s premature.

That’s it for this pile of links and good gosh my laptop feels lighter for it. Have you read other recent posts that tread similar ground? Share ’em in the comments.

[malapertmarquess]

The latest in Jojo Chases A New Whimsy...

I'm teaching myself basic HTML and CSS!

If you have any interest in following my progress, you can open my new Neocities site and periodically refresh it to observe the iterations of how-the-hell-does-that-work.

[vvelegrin]

a little ambitious today. i have an arabic reading/conversation group that i'm going to try out, and i've been doing little bits of python on and off all morning (in between sleeping and icing my stupid head; i'm going to be soooo motivated and smart and beautiful if and when we ever figure out how to deal with the fact that autoimmunity is literally making my brain stupid). might meet with a few friends later, but we'll see how i feel after arabic group, i might gently pass away after that. god knows that trying to figure out the fucking syntax of functions is actually stealing the life force from my body.

i had a support group yesterday (and then crashed most of the day after it) and got a couple of good tips for dealing with insurance and doctors for ivig from someone who might have the same diagnosis as me? so that is heartening. gonna deal with that in the next two to four business days or whatever.

[citrusella-flugpucker]

((Good to know (or be reminded of) a “technical term” for it. XD

I wasn’t even using an adblocker, just a good old CSS style in Stylus and I only had to see it for five seconds to go “...sigh. what’s the class name now”. XP))

Short explanation of what the hell the Luffy tab on top of the dashboard is:

- For some reason the tumblr marketing team decided to make a deal with Netflix to promote the new live action One Piece movie with a site wide tab, instead of like... An ad.

- The Tab started with the name Luffy, the protagonist of the series. It has now changed to Zoro. There's not explanation given but I suspect it's in the order of the One Piece rap

- The tab seems to be very broken, only showing 5-7 posts that were posted months ago. The users who's art and posts have been included were not asked permission to be used in an ad campaign.

- The disclosing of this being an ad has also been suspect, with many only finding out through word of mouth rather than the tab telling it. I'm not a lawyer but I think that's at least skirting a crime.

- The popular reccomendation is to not engage with the tab, because it'll encourage tumblr to pull more stunts like this. Their sponsors will be delighted the more you click, no matter if its out of confusion or not.

This whole thing is a mess and I hate how marketing teams are trying to bypass adblockers by making alternative ads that get people talking. The act of me posting this is what they want and I'm enraged.... Still, uh, I want to spread the info we've gathered as a community. Let me know if you find more or something is incorrect.

Ps. dont attack one piece fans, they didn't know this was gonna happen either. Please dont leave weird comments to the posts in the tab, the OPs are not involved.

[taikeero-lecoredier]

Chat Control in a nutshell (please reblog this, US people)

Find out more about Chat Control here TAKE ACTION HERE ! OR HERE Calling is much more efficient ! The latter link will redirect you to the official websites of your respective reps. Under the "read more", you will find what you need to say/write when contacting your reps. You will also find an alternate format of this comic,and I give explicit permission for people to translate it and spread it anywhere for awareness. Credit really not needed, I don't care about that rn Even if this is a EU proposal, I am urging Americans to also share this, since it goes hand in hand with KOSA. DON'T FORGET TO JOIN OUR DISCORD SERVER AGAINST CHAT CONTROL ! https://discord.com/invite/e7FYdYnMkS

(Latest update on Chat Control was the 12 september 2024) This is a little long, so feel free to shorten it as you wish : Subject line: "2022/0155(COD) Dear Sir/Madam, I am writing to express my grave concerns regarding the proposed introduction of "Chat Control" This measure poses a serious threat to the privacy and fundamental rights of all EU citizens and stands in stark contradiction to the core principles that the European Union seeks to uphold. The proposed Chat Control contravenes Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which guarantee the right to respect for private and family life and the protection of personal data. The indiscriminate surveillance of private messages without specific suspicion or cause directly violates these fundamental rights. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) sets out stringent rules for the processing of personal data. The proposed indiscriminate surveillance and scanning of private messages before end-to-end encryption is fundamentally incompatible with the principles of data minimization and purpose limitation enshrined in the GDPR. Specifically, Articles 5 and 6 of the GDPR, which govern the lawfulness and principles of data processing, would be violated by the introduction of such measures. The implementation of Client-Side Scanning (CSS) on devices means that all messages and files are scanned on the user's device before being encrypted and sent. This effectively nullifies the protection offered by end-to-end encryption and opens the door to misuse and additional security vulnerabilities. Moreover, the technical capability to scan such content could be exploited by malicious actors to circumvent or manipulate surveillance mechanisms. Such far-reaching surveillance measures not only endanger privacy but also freedom of expression. The knowledge that their private messages are being scanned and monitored could significantly restrict individuals' willingness to freely express themselves. Additionally, trust in digital communication platforms would be severely undermined. I urge you to take a strong stance against this disproportionate and unlawful measure. The privacy and digital rights of EU citizens must be safeguarded. It is imperative that we protect our fundamental rights and ensure transparency in the decision-making processes of our leaders. For more detailed information on the proposal and its implications, please refer to the following resource: Link to Netzpolitik article. https://www.patrick-breyer.de/rat-soll-chatkontrolle-durchwinken-werde-jetzt-aktiv/ Thank you for your attention to this critical matter. Sincerely, [Name] Art. 10 GG , Art. 8 & 11 EU Charta , Art. 8 EMRK (Alternate comic here V)

[kradeelav]

the tl;dr

IRON CROWN as a free comic is now off of wordpress and can be viewed by a neat, robust HTML/CSS/JS comic template called rarebit! effectively nothing has changed for the reader, beyond expecting a little more reliability of uptime over the years.

all comic pages and previously paywalled patreon posts can also be downloaded in this art dump for free, as mentioned in the new author's notes.

the long story:

When talking shop about site/platform moves under this handle, I think it's useful to realize that us (taboo) kink artists live in an actively adversarial internet now, compared to five years ago.

meaning that we have to live with an expectation that 99% of platforms (including registrars and hosting, let alone sns sites) will ban/kick us without warning. this might explain the overly cautious/defensive way we discuss technologies - weighing how likely (and easily) the tool can be used against us vs the perks.

for example: has a harassment mob bullied the platform owners into quietly dropping lolisho artists? trans artists? does the platform/technology have a clear, no-bullshit policy on drawn kink art (specifically third rail kinks like noncon)? does the platform have a long history of hosting r18 doujin artists/hentai publishers with no issue? does the company operate in a nation unfriendly to specific kinks (eg fashkink artists fundamentally incompatible with companies based in germany, when other kinks might be OK?). i talk with a few different groups of artists daily about the above.

but that gets tiring after a while! frankly, the only path that's becoming optimal long-term is (a) putting kink art on your personal site, and if possible, (b) self hosting the whole thing entirely, while (c) complementing your site with physical merch since it's much harder to destroy in one go.

with that said - I've been slowly re-designing all of my pages/sub-domains as compact 'bug out bags'. lean, efficiently packed with the essentials, and very easy to save and re-upload to a new host/registrar near instantly (and eventually, be friendly to self-hosting bandwidth costs since that's now a distant goal).

how does this look in theory, you ask?

zero dependencies. the whole IRON CROWN comic subdomain is three JS files, a few HTML files, one CSS file, and images. that's it.

no updates that can be trojan horse'd. I'm not even talking about malware though that's included; I'm talking about wordpress (owned by the same owners as tumblr cough) slipping in AI opt-outs in a plug-in that's turned on by default. I used to think wordpress was safe from these shenanigans because wordpress-as-a-CMS could be separate from wordpress-as-a-domain; I was wrong. they'll get you through updates.

robust reliability through the KISS principle. keep it simple stupid. malware/DDOS'ing has an infinitively harder time affecting something that doesn't have a login page/interactive forms. You can't be affected by an open source platform suddenly folding, because your "starter" template is contained files saved on your desktop (and hopefully multiple backups...). etc.

so how does this look in practice?

To be fair, you're often trading convenient new shiny UI/tools for a clunkier back-end experience. but i think it's a mistake to think your art site has to look like a MIT professor's page from 1999.

with IRON CROWN, I've effectively replicated it from a (quite good) comic template in wordpress to 98% of the same layout in pure HTML/CSS/JS via rarebit. Should rarebit's website go "poof", I've got the initial zip download of the template to re-use for other sites.

I frankly have a hard time recommending rarebit for an actively updating webcomic since you personally might be trading too many advantages like SEO tools, RSS feeds, etc away - but for a finished webcomic that you want to put in "cold storage" - it's amazing. and exactly what I needed here.

[codingquill]

JavaScript Fundamentals

I have recently completed a course that extensively covered the foundational principles of JavaScript, and I'm here to provide you with a concise overview. This post will enable you to grasp the fundamental concepts without the need to enroll in the course.

Prerequisites: Fundamental HTML Comprehension

Before delving into JavaScript, it is imperative to possess a basic understanding of HTML. Knowledge of CSS, while beneficial, is not mandatory, as it primarily pertains to the visual aspects of web pages.

Manipulating HTML Text with JavaScript

When it comes to modifying text using JavaScript, the innerHTML function is the go-to tool. Let's break down the process step by step:

Initiate the process by selecting the HTML element whose text you intend to modify. This selection can be accomplished by employing various DOM (Document Object Model) element selection methods offered by JavaScript ( I'll talk about them in a second )

Optionally, you can store the selected element in a variable (we'll get into variables shortly).

Employ the innerHTML function to substitute the existing text with your desired content.

Element Selection: IDs or Classes

You have the opportunity to enhance your element selection by assigning either an ID or a class:

Assigning an ID:

To uniquely identify an element, the .getElementById() function is your go-to choice. Here's an example in HTML and JavaScript:

HTML:

<button id="btnSearch">Search</button>

JavaScript:

document.getElementById("btnSearch").innerHTML = "Not working";

This code snippet will alter the text within the button from "Search" to "Not working."

Assigning a Class:

For broader selections of elements, you can assign a class and use the .querySelector() function. Keep in mind that this method can select multiple elements, in contrast to .getElementById(), which typically focuses on a single element and is more commonly used.

Variables

Let's keep it simple: What's a variable? Well, think of it as a container where you can put different things—these things could be numbers, words, characters, or even true/false values. These various types of stuff that you can store in a variable are called DATA TYPES.

Now, some programming languages are pretty strict about mentioning these data types. Take C and C++, for instance; they're what we call "Typed" languages, and they really care about knowing the data type.

But here's where JavaScript stands out: When you create a variable in JavaScript, you don't have to specify its data type or anything like that. JavaScript is pretty laid-back when it comes to data types.

So, how do you make a variable in JavaScript?

There are three main keywords you need to know: var, let, and const.

But if you're just starting out, here's what you need to know :

const: Use this when you want your variable to stay the same, not change. It's like a constant, as the name suggests.

var and let: These are the ones you use when you're planning to change the value stored in the variable as your program runs.

Note that var is rarely used nowadays

Check this out:

let Variable1 = 3; var Variable2 = "This is a string"; const Variable3 = true;

Notice how we can store all sorts of stuff without worrying about declaring their types in JavaScript. It's one of the reasons JavaScript is a popular choice for beginners.

Arrays

Arrays are a basically just a group of variables stored in one container ( A container is what ? a variable , So an array is also just a variable ) , now again since JavaScript is easy with datatypes it is not considered an error to store variables of different datatypeslet

for example :

myArray = [1 , 2, 4 , "Name"];

Objects in JavaScript

Objects play a significant role, especially in the world of OOP : object-oriented programming (which we'll talk about in another post). For now, let's focus on understanding what objects are and how they mirror real-world objects.

In our everyday world, objects possess characteristics or properties. Take a car, for instance; it boasts attributes like its color, speed rate, and make.

So, how do we represent a car in JavaScript? A regular variable won't quite cut it, and neither will an array. The answer lies in using an object.

const Car = { color: "red", speedRate: "200km", make: "Range Rover" };

In this example, we've encapsulated the car's properties within an object called Car. This structure is not only intuitive but also aligns with how real-world objects are conceptualized and represented in JavaScript.

Variable Scope

There are three variable scopes : global scope, local scope, and function scope. Let's break it down in plain terms.

Global Scope: Think of global scope as the wild west of variables. When you declare a variable here, it's like planting a flag that says, "I'm available everywhere in the code!" No need for any special enclosures or curly braces.

Local Scope: Picture local scope as a cozy room with its own rules. When you create a variable inside a pair of curly braces, like this:

//Not here { const Variable1 = true; //Variable1 can only be used here } //Neither here

Variable1 becomes a room-bound secret. You can't use it anywhere else in the code

Function Scope: When you declare a variable inside a function (don't worry, we'll cover functions soon), it's a member of an exclusive group. This means you can only name-drop it within that function. .

So, variable scope is all about where you place your variables and where they're allowed to be used.

Adding in user input

To capture user input in JavaScript, you can use various methods and techniques depending on the context, such as web forms, text fields, or command-line interfaces.We’ll only talk for now about HTML forms

HTML Forms:

You can create HTML forms using the &lt;;form> element and capture user input using various input elements like text fields, radio buttons, checkboxes, and more.

JavaScript can then be used to access and process the user's input.

Functions in JavaScript

Think of a function as a helpful individual with a specific task. Whenever you need that task performed in your code, you simply call upon this capable "person" to get the job done.

Declaring a Function: Declaring a function is straightforward. You define it like this:

function functionName() { // The code that defines what the function does goes here }

Then, when you need the function to carry out its task, you call it by name:

functionName();

Using Functions in HTML: Functions are often used in HTML to handle events. But what exactly is an event? It's when a user interacts with something on a web page, like clicking a button, following a link, or interacting with an image.

Event Handling: JavaScript helps us determine what should happen when a user interacts with elements on a webpage. Here's how you might use it:

HTML:

<button onclick="FunctionName()" id="btnEvent">Click me</button>

JavaScript:

function FunctionName() { var toHandle = document.getElementById("btnEvent"); // Once I've identified my button, I can specify how to handle the click event here }

In this example, when the user clicks the "Click me" button, the JavaScript function FunctionName() is called, and you can specify how to handle that event within the function.

Arrow functions : is a type of functions that was introduced in ES6, you can read more about it in the link below

If Statements

These simple constructs come into play in your code, no matter how advanced your projects become.

If Statements Demystified: Let's break it down. "If" is precisely what it sounds like: if something holds true, then do something. You define a condition within parentheses, and if that condition evaluates to true, the code enclosed in curly braces executes.

If statements are your go-to tool for handling various scenarios, including error management, addressing specific cases, and more.

Writing an If Statement:

if (Variable === "help") { console.log("Send help"); // The console.log() function outputs information to the console }

In this example, if the condition inside the parentheses (in this case, checking if the Variable is equal to "help") is true, the code within the curly braces gets executed.

Else and Else If Statements

Else: When the "if" condition is not met, the "else" part kicks in. It serves as a safety net, ensuring your program doesn't break and allowing you to specify what should happen in such cases.

Else If: Now, what if you need to check for a particular condition within a series of possibilities? That's where "else if" steps in. It allows you to examine and handle specific cases that require unique treatment.

Styling Elements with JavaScript

This is the beginner-friendly approach to changing the style of elements in JavaScript. It involves selecting an element using its ID or class, then making use of the .style.property method to set the desired styling property.

Example:

Let's say you have an HTML button with the ID "myButton," and you want to change its background color to red using JavaScript. Here's how you can do it:

HTML: <button id="myButton">Click me</button>

JavaScript:

// Select the button element by its ID const buttonElement = document.getElementById("myButton"); // Change the background color property buttonElement.style.backgroundColor = "red";

In this example, we first select the button element by its ID using document.getElementById("myButton"). Then, we use .style.backgroundColor to set the background color property of the button to "red." This straightforward approach allows you to dynamically change the style of HTML elements using JavaScript.

[artheresy]

Dan Heng, Dan Feng, and Unreliable Narrators

WARNING: Some Leaks Discussion, don’t read if you don’t want to know any leaks

A bit of a rant regarding Dan Feng and Dan Heng and where I think their story might go if Hoyoverse doesn’t contradict in their lore hopefully ?

No because let me tell you how this recent animation is all setting up to an eventual reveal of how Dan Heng is an immensely unreliable narrator and the story then at that point will want the players (at least those who havent yet read every little bit of lore) to come to question the Vidyadhara Preceptors and the Ten Lords Commission because THINK, THINK WITH ME GUYS

First off, the whole image we see of Dan Feng is absolutely not the real Dan Feng, but people who aren’t looking into lore leaks and story leaks and looking in every single crevice won’t have that point clear to them. Think of the description of the literal animation:

“Never a person with love, hatred, sorrow, or joy like everyone else in this world.”

The view Dan Heng has of Dan Feng has only ever been shaped by the consequences of the sin he committed that condemned Dan Heng as well despite being a different incarnation of him. That sin was the reason for his imprisonment for much of his childhood until he was eventually banished once again due to that sin. Even once he had left the Luofu, the reason behind being pursued and hunted down by Blade IS their shared sin. All that he knows of Dan Feng is a curated by the Higher Powers of the Xianzhou Luofu, he does not truly understand the man who came before him. (Something he has admitted to by the way, but let’s also look beyond just his own admittance.)

Fundamentally, the biggest evidence of such comes from how Dan Feng appears in his mind in the Animated Short that was just released. In it, Dan Feng haunts him, and specifically when he speaks, he talks of the High Elder succession. He speaks of it as something that cannot be broken, something that he cannot run from. That death is the only redemption for those who defy it.

But the thing is, this doesn’t sound like Dan Feng AT ALL. (Specific warning for Jingliu voiceline and character story leaks)

If you have kept up with leaks, you’ll see that Dan Feng would never EVER say such things as he did in the animated short to his next incarnation. And why you may ask? Because it is evident from the VLs and CSs that… Dan Feng himself seems to have longed to escape his role as High Elder. There is not any firm confirmation of either what the sin he and Yingxing committed nor what his motivations exactly were. However, there is a strong case to be made that the sin committed could be related his attempt to create a new high elder with the possible motive of wishing to escape his role of High Elder and the loss of identity he had to experience due to that role.

But of course… Dan Heng doesn’t know this, he is unaware of whatever gripe or distain Dan Feng may have had for the role he carried out, the one he couldn’t escape. He only knows the words of the Preceptors and anyone else he was allowed to have contact with while imprisoned after his rebirth. And y’know… when you listen to what Dan Feng says in the animated short, it sounds more like something the Preceptors would say instead. Those words read more as Dan Heng’s projection of them instead placed upon Dan Feng who he has always been taught to view as a traitor, a sinner, rather than a person.

And hmm, who could stand to benefit the most from Dan Heng viewing Dan Feng as a villain…

HMM I DUNNO, PERHAPS THE PEOPLE WHO LIED TO DAN FENG AND PURPOSEFULLY SET HIM UP!!! The same people that Dan Heng has confirmed were his primary source of information regarding who Dan Feng was just as I said before.

Additionally, I’m tryin to find screenshots of it, but there are memories that come from certain Vidyadhara eggs when you interact with them that further suggest that the Preceptors sabotaged Dan Feng likely for the goal of wishing to maintain control over him/fear of the fact that he was becoming to powerful, that he was wavering from his role. So of course again, who else could benefit quite as much as them from Dan Heng hating Dan Feng? It is a way they still exercise control over his next incarnation. They control the narrative of his past self, they control what he knows about him to paint a specific picture that they want him to see. And once he is old enough, they further take care of him and exorcise a last bit of control by banishing him from ever returning. Sending him out into the universe having shaped his views and behaviors and of course what not to be like through their propaganda.

I just want to emphasize here how deeply important Dan Heng’s view of Dan Feng is for shaping his character as well as through the insight into him from that angle, we gain information on the Judges and the Preceptors.

With all of this known, I want to talk about where I think their story could be heading! Of course, please note this is strongly speculation and I don’t think my interpretation and prediction of what could happen is the objective truth or only way to view things. I could be very wrong honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised lol! But I think, at some point, we will in fact get an event where Dan Heng will realize the truth of who Dan Feng was. What he wanted, what he truly did, and why he did it. With the continued emphasis on what he was taught and how his perception is based upon what he learned in his imprisonment, I think it would simply make sense to have a turning point where he learns the truth.

A turning point that shines suspicion upon the Preceptors and Ten Lords Commission. However, I don’t think such a thing will happen for a LONG while given a few different reasons that I will outline here! So I don’t think this realization will be anytime soon due to the following:

1) We like literally just helped the Luofu. Its the beginning of the Xianzhou story as a whole given us being in the beginning of HSR, there are other ships to look into as well. Highly doubt they would cast suspicion upon the higher powers of the Luofu through Dan Heng’s lens so soon. It wouldn’t make much sense when there’s a lot left to work with

2) We know for Kafka that we will definitely come back or be back in contact with the Xianzhou Luofu given the whole reason she had us come to the ship in the first place being that she needs them in debt to the Astral Express for a future plan. Of course, they might not coincide, but in the cast that they do, I think it gives more justification to push back such an occurrence since the order would likely be Kafka’s thing first and then the realization? Of course again, I could be wildly wrong, time will tell in the end

3) and lastly, I think that Dan Heng having a realization of the truth of Dan Feng, his motivation and most of all his sin, especially if that would include finally having a true reveal and confirmation of what his sin exactly was, could very well relate to the relic lore line, “Pairs of objects are destined for an eventual reunion. The long years of grudges and hatred between them should be savored, like ice-cold aged liquor, one slow sip after another until the bottle of resentment is finally empty.” involving Blade. I mean think about it, Dan Heng finally having the full picture could very well lean into the event that the line is foreshadowing. And paired with the finality of that line, plus Dan Heng and Blade’s importance each individually as a Nameless and Stellaron Hunter respectively… yeah no way in hell would they get a conclusion so soon.

So yeah, I’m convinced Hoyoverse will absolutely stretch out and drag out the story, keep up waiting keep us on the edge of our seats, but I think eventually Dan Heng will be given the chance to realize the truth and not only will his view of Dan Feng change, but the view of those who had taught him and punished him as well. Or at least, I severely hope he will get the chance. To end his character so soon would be a true shame.

And for anyone struggling to understand my rant because I tend to go on tangents and become incoherent (I get it and I’m sorry!), here’s a tl:dr! From officially posted sources as well as some leaks, it can already be seen that Dan Heng is a unreliable narrator regarding Dan Feng. His perception of him in the animation directly contradicts the desire Dan Feng is shown to have to escape his role. I think at some point in the story, he will be given the chance to find out the truth given the continued emphasis of his lack of understanding regarding who Dan Feng truly is as well as the fact that he learned who Dan Feng was from the very people that punished him. Given the fact that different sources directly hint to the fact that Dan Feng was set up by the Preceptors to fail for the sake of maintaining control, Dan Heng’s realization about Dan Feng would likely be utilized to cast suspicion upon the Ten Lords Commission and the Preceptors.

Even that was still long but, I tried to condense as much as I could. Please forgive me if I make any spelling mistakes in this post or if the whole post itself seems completely weird or smth. Im writing this at 3 am after hours of brainrot. I am unwell to be true, anyways! Night night!

[taylortruther]

I know you mentioned you had web development experience. Do you have any HTML/CSS courses you would recommend or people to follow or YouTube channels or anything? How did you learn it? I work in SEO and would like to get a better grasp on the web and coding side of things. Also good with your job search bestie!

thank you! i was self-taught and think that's the best/easiest way to learn. check out the code of a site you like, try to recreate it/mess with it on your own, make tumblr themes (for css)! i learned the essentials by making my own goofy websites on neocities. but i don't keep up with my education now, i have a good idea of the fundamentals. plus, unless you want to be a front-end developer, it's unlikely you'd need to know anything beyond basic html/css - most organizations probably use a cms like wordpress that allows you to implement templates and update things very easily without touching code. but understanding the basics can be helpful, it's definitely a plus.

but i have heard good things about university of michigan's course: https://online.umich.edu/series/web-design-for-everybody/ i believe it's free on coursera!

[jcmarchi]

Alvaro Montoro: CSS One-Liners to Improve (Almost) Every Project

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/alvaro-montoro-css-one-liners-to-improve-almost-every-project/

Alvaro Montoro: CSS One-Liners to Improve (Almost) Every Project

These sorts of roundups always get me. My wife will flip through Zillow photos of the insides of homes for hours because she likes seeing how different people decorate, Feng Shui, or what have you. That’s her little dip into Voyeur-Land. Mine? It could easily be scrolling through CSS snippets that devs keep within arm’s reach.

Alvaro was kind enough to share the trustiest of his trusty CSS:

Limit the content width within the viewport

Increase the body text size

Increase the line between rows of text

Limit the width of images

Limit the width of text within the content

Wrap headings in a more balanced way

Form control colors to match page styles

Easy-to-follow table rows

Spacing in table cells and headings

Reduce animations and movement

Not dropping the snippets in here (it’s worth reading the full post for that). But I do have a couple of my own that I’d tack on. And like Alvaro says up-front about his list, not all of these will be 100% applicable to every project.

Global border-box sizing

No explanation needed here. It’s often the very first thing declared in any given stylesheet on the web.

*, *::before, *::after box-sizing: border-box;

I’m guessing Alvaro uses this, too, and maybe it’s too obvious to list. Or maybe it’s more of a DX enhancement that belongs in a reset more than it is something that improves the website.

System fonts

Default text on the web is just so… so… so blah. I love that Alvaro agrees that 16px is way too small to be the web’s default font-size for text. I would take that one step further and wipe out the Times New Roman default font as well. I’m sure there are sites out there leveraging it (I did on my own personal site for years as an act of brutal minimalism), but a personal preference these days is defaulting to whatever the OS default font is.

body font-family: system-ui;

We can be a little more opinionated than that by falling back to either a default serif or sans-serif font.

body font-family: system-ui, sans-serif;

There are much, much more robust approaches for sure, but this baseline is a nice starting point for just about any site.

Cut horizontal overflow from the <body>

Oh gosh, I never ever make this mistake. 😝

But hypothetically, if I did — and that’s a BIG if — I like preventing it from messing with a visitor’s scrolling experience. Once the <body>‘s intrinsic width is forced outside the viewport, we get horizontal scrolling that might be a very cool thing if it’s intentional but is not-so-bueno when it’s not.

body overflow-x: hidden;

I’ll use this as a defensive mechanism but would never want to rely on it as an actual solution to the possible loss of data that comes with overflowing content. This merely masks the problem while allowing an opportunity to fix the root cause without visitors having to deal with the rendered consequences.

Give the <body> some breathing room

Not too much, not too little, but the baby bear porridge just the right amount of space to keep content from hugging right up to the edges.

body padding-block: 15px;

Direct Link →

[essential-randomness]

Enter the FujoVerse™

Starting 2024's content creation journey with a bang, it's time to outline the principles behind the FujoVerse™: an ambitious (but realistic) plan to turn the web back into a place of fun, joy, and connection, where people build and nurture their own communities and software. (You can also read the article on my blog)

The Journey

As those who follow my journey with @bobaboard or read my quarterly newsletter (linked in the article) know, the used-to-be-called BobaVerse™ is a collection of projects I've been working on since 2020 while pondering an important question: how do we "fix" the modern social web?

Obviously the joyless landscape that is the web of today is not something a single person can fix. Still, I loved and owed the internet too much to see it wither.

After countless hours of work, I found 3 pillars to work on: community, software ownership and technical education.

Jump in after the cut to learn more about how it all comes together!

Community

Community is where I started from, with good reason! While social networks might trick us into thinking of them as communities, they lack the characteristics that researchers identify as the necessary base for "true community": group identity, shared norms, and mutual concern.

Today, I'm even more convinced community is a fundamental piece of reclaiming the web as a place of joy. It's alienating, disempowering, and incredibly lonely to be surrounded by countless people without feeling true connection with most of them (or worse, feeling real danger).

Software Ownership and Collaboration

As I worked with niche communities "software ownership" also became increasingly important to me: if we cannot expect mainstream tech companies to cater to communities at the margins, it follows that these communities must be able to build and shape their own software themselves.

Plenty of people have already discussed how this challenge goes beyond the tech. Among many, "collaboration" is another sticking point for me: effective collaboration requires trust and psychological safety, both of which are in short supply these days (community helps here too, but it's still hard).

Education (Technical and Beyond)

As I worked more and more with volunteers and other collaborators, however, another important piece of the puzzle showed itself: the dire state of educational material for non-professional web developers. How can people change the web if they cannot learn how to *build* the web?

(And yes, learning HTML and CSS is absolutely important and REAL web development. But to collaborate on modern software you need so much more. Even further, people *yearn* for more, and struggle to find it. They want that power, and we should give it to them.)

Once again, technical aspects aren't the only ones that matter. Any large-scale effort needs many skills that society doesn't equip us with. If we want to change how the web looks, we must teach, teach, TEACH! If you've seen me put so much effort into streaming, this is why :)

And obviously, while I don't go into them in this article, open source software and decentralized protocols are core to "this whole thing".

The Future

All of this said, while I've been working on this for a few years, I've struggled to find the support I need to continue this work. To this end, this year I'm doing something I'm not used to: producing content, gaining visibility, and putting my work in front of the eyes of people that want to fight for the future of the web.

This has been a hard choice: producing content is hard and takes energy and focus away from all I've been doing. Still, I'm committed to doing what it takes, and (luckily) content and teaching go hand in hand. But the more each single person helps, the less I need to push for wide reach.

If you want to help (and read the behind the scenes of all I've been working on before everyone else), you can subscribe to my Patreon or to my self-hosted attempt at an alternative.

I deeply believe that in the long term all that we're building will result in self-sustaining projects that will carry this mission forward. After all, I'm building them together with people who understand the needs of the web in a way that no mainstream company can replicate.

Until we get there, every little bit of help (be it monetary support, boosting posts, pitching us to your friends, or kind words of encouragement and support) truly matters.

In exchange, I look forward to sharing more of the knowledge and insights I've accrued with you all :)

And once again, to read or share this post from the original blog, you can find it here.

[thatdehydratedmedic]

Recent pursuits of knowledge - Mid June

Recently I've fallen into the typical academic rabbit hole where one thing leads to another and suddenly both your hands are full of more and more things to learn.

By a chance occurrence, a random google search led me to find a Maldivian scientific journal. Since my male audacity (I'm a girl, btw) has long convinced me that I'm in fact capable of anything and everything, I decided I would do a little research and try to publish it in the little time I have before I start medical school. (Which, by the way, is already less than 2 months.)

As it goes, dominoes fell, one by one. First I thought of doing a small study on medicinal herbs of the nation. Something along the lines of testing the effectiveness of 'Dhivehi beys'. However, a little voice in the back of my head would not stop whispering in my ear, begging me to try doing one about dreams. At this point in time, I had no idea what exactly I was looking for. I presented this barely-thought-out plan to my dear friend. She was on board, and she also shared that she also thought dreams were a lot more interesting of a subject than medicinal herbs.

So with a theme in mind, I began looking into past research and well established theories on our subject of study. I learnt quite a few interesting things about Bion's dream theory. Unfortunately, in the midst of preparing our google doc, something else caught my eye. Having shared the google doc containing everything I had found at that point with my friend, I decided to start learning the programming language R. I told myself it would prove to be useful in our study. (For reference, I had begun this adventure at around 10 PM, it was now 2 AM.)

Having learnt all the fundamentals and syntax of the language, I finally went to sleep at 4 AM. Next morning, I slept in. However, as soon as I woke up, I did some more reading on dreams and updates our shared google doc. After begging my friend to please read the damn document, I started working on R again.

For the next few days, I did not do any more reading on dreams. I have since forgotten about the matter if I'm being completely honest. On the other hand, I had found it much more interesting to tinker with R, trying out the different graphical features R had to offer.

You would think I stuck with perfecting R, and would have learnt it to some degree by now, but you could not possibly be more wrong because I am plagued by my interest in way too many things. A jack of all trades, a master of none. I am a museum of abandoned hobbies. R did not escape this cruel fate, because as luck would have it, I soon rediscovered my love for python.

I downloaded python and pygame. It was as if I had reconnected with an old friend.

I am contemplating on whether I should mention my brief encounter with html and css. Some of the very first languages I learnt. I started a simple and goal-less project website as I waited for python to install. It seems useless to mention as this only lasted 5 minutes - or maybe even less.

Today, it's been a week since all of this has occurred. And today, I have no interest in any of these. Which is why I painted today. I am a museum of abandoned hobbies, and sometimes I revisit my old friends.

[ouhmouda]

Tips for New Web Developers: Building a Strong Foundation

Tips for New Web Developers: Building a Strong Foundation

As a beginner in web development, it's important to focus on the fundamentals before diving into complex projects. Here are a few key tips to help you build a strong foundation:

Learn HTML & CSS: These are the building blocks of web development. Mastering them will allow you to create basic, functional websites.

Understand JavaScript: This language brings your websites to life by enabling interactivity. Start small and work your way up to more advanced concepts.

Responsive Design: Ensure your website looks great on all devices by learning responsive web design principles. Mobile-first design is crucial today.

Version Control (Git): Use Git for tracking changes to your code and collaborating with others. GitHub is a great platform to showcase your projects.

Focus on Clean Code: Write clean, readable code that is easy to maintain. It’ll help you and your future collaborators down the line.

Remember, the journey may be challenging, but with consistency and practice, you’ll become proficient and confident in web development. Keep coding! 🚀

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Realization of a cold atom gyroscope in space

High-precision space-based gyroscopes are important in space science research and space engineering applications. In fundamental physics research, they can be used to test the general relativity effects, such as the frame-dragging effect. These tests can explore the boundaries of the validity of general relativity and search for potential new physical theories. Several satellite projects have been implemented, including the Gravity Probe B (GP-B) and the Laser Relativity Satellite (LARES), which used electrostatic gyroscopes or the orbit data of the satellite to test the frame-dragging effect, achieving testing accuracies of 19% and 3% respectively. No violation of this general relativity effect was observed. Atom interferometers (AIs) use matter waves to measure inertial quantities. In space, thanks to the quiet satellite environment and long interference time, AIs are expected to achieve much higher acceleration and rotation measurement accuracies than those on the ground, making them important candidates for high-precision space-based inertial sensors. Europe and the United States propose relevant projects and have already conducted pre-research experiments for AIs using microgravity platforms such as the dropping tower, sounding rocket, parabolic flying plane, and the International Space Station.

The research team led by Mingsheng Zhan from the Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (APM) developed a payload named China Space Station Atom Interferometer (CSSAI) [npj Microgravity 2023, 9 (58): 1-10], which was launched in November 2022 and installed inside the High Microgravity Level Research Rack in the China Space Station (CSS) to carry out scientific experiments. This payload enables atomic interference experiments of 85Rb and 87Rb and features an integrated design. The overall size of the payload is only 46 cm × 33 cm × 26 cm, with a maximum power consumption of approximately 75 W. 

Recently, Zhan’s team used CSSAI to realize the space cold atom gyroscope measurements and systematically analyze its performance.  Based on the 87Rb atomic shearing interference fringes achieved in orbit, the team analyzed the optimal shearing angle relationship to eliminate rotational measurement errors and proposed methods to calibrate these angles, realizing precise in-orbit rotation and acceleration measurements. The uncertainty of the rotational measurement is better than 3.0×10⁻⁵ rad/s, and the resolution of the acceleration measurement is better than 1.1×10⁻⁶ m/s². The team also revealed various errors that affect the space rotational measurements. This research provides a basis for the future development of high-precision space quantum inertial sensors. This work has been published in the 4th issue of National Science Review in 2025, titled "Realization of a cold atom gyroscope in space". Professors Xi Chen, Jin Wang, and Mingsheng Zhan are the co-corresponding authors.

The research team analyzed and solved the dephasing problem of the cold atom shearing interference fringe. Under general cases, the period and phase of shearing fringes will be affected by the initial position and velocity distribution of cold atom clouds, thus resulting in errors in rotation and acceleration measurements. Through detailed analyses of the phase of the shearing fringes, a magic shearing angle relationship was found, which eliminates the dephasing caused by the parameters of the atom clouds. Furthermore, a scheme was proposed to calibrate the shearing angle precisely in orbit. Then, the research team carried out precision in-orbit rotation and acceleration measurements based on the shearing interference fringes. By utilizing the fringes with an interference time of 75 ms, a rotation measurement resolution of 50 μrad/s and an acceleration measurement resolution of 1.0 μm/s² were achieved for a single experiment. A long-term rotation measurement resolution of 17 μrad/s was achieved through data integration. Furthermore, the research team studied error terms for the in-orbit atom interference rotation measurement. Systematic effects were analyzed for the imaging magnification factor, shearing angle, interference time sequence, laser wavelength, atom cloud parameter, magnetic field distribution, etc. It is found that the shearing angle error is one of the main factors that limits the measurement accuracy of future high-precision cold atom gyroscopes in space. The rotation measured by CSSAI was compared with that measured by the gyroscope of the CSS, and these two measurement values are in good agreement, further demonstrating the reliability of the rotation measurement.

This work not only realized the world's first space cold atom gyroscope but also provided foundations for the future space quantum inertial sensors in engineering design, inertial quantity extraction, and error evaluation.

UPPER IMAGE: (Left) Rotation and acceleration measurements using the CSSAI in-orbit and (Right) Rotation comparison between the CSSAI and the classical gyroscopes of the CSS. Credit ©Science China Press

LOWER IMAGE: Atom interferometer and data analysis with it. (a) The China Space Station Atom interferometer. (b) Analysis of the dephasing of shearing fringes. (c) Calibration of the shearing angle. Credit ©Science China Press