{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1", "title": "Audacious", "home_page_url": "https://audacious.blog/", "feed_url": "https://audacious.blog/", "icon" : "https://audacious.blog/apple-touch-icon.png", "favicon" : "https://audacious.blog/favicon.png", "author" : { "url" : "https://dreger.me", "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "items": [ { "title": "Inter version 4 released", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2023/inter-version-4-released", "date_published": "2023-11-20T20:56:03-05:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2023/inter-version-4-released", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eRe: \u003ca href=\"https://www.threads.net/@rasmusfabbe/post/Cz38n9ILi75\"\u003ehttps://www.threads.net/@rasmusfabbe/post/Cz38n9ILi75\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter two years of work, Rasmus Andersson has finally released \u003ca href=\"https://rsms.me/inter/\"\u003eversion 4\u003c/a\u003e of the Inter typeface family.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis release, with a \u003ca href=\"https://rsms.me/inter/\"\u003estunning new site\u003c/a\u003e by the way, is massive. There are \u003cem\u003e41 OpenType features\u003c/em\u003e. Forty one. That might be borderline too many, but not a single one feels half-baked. My favorites are the new compact \u003ccode\u003ef\u003c/code\u003e and \u003ccode\u003et\u003c/code\u003e, simplified \u003ccode\u003eu\u003c/code\u003e, and basically all of the alternative digits. (I\u0026rsquo;m a sucker for a flat topped 3.)\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThere is little you can compare the Inter project to. What started as Andersson\u0026rsquo;s personal project is now the de facto UI typeface for the web and one of the most popular typefaces in the world. (Likely helped by the fact Inter is \u003ca href=\"https://github.com/rsms/inter\"\u003efree and open source\u003c/a\u003e.) Comparing Inter\u0026rsquo;s influence to Helvetica\u0026rsquo;s isn\u0026rsquo;t fair because, well, \u003cem\u003eHelvetica\u003c/em\u003e, but it\u0026rsquo;s also not \u003cem\u003enot\u003c/em\u003e fair.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e(Pro tip: If you use Slack, you can use this pseudo CSS declaration to set Inter—or anything—as the UI font: \u003ccode\u003e/slackfont \u0026quot;inter variable\u0026quot;\u003c/code\u003e. If you want to reset it back to Slack\u0026rsquo;s version of Lato, just refresh the app.)\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "A eulogy for coding in the age of GPTs", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2023/a-eulogy-for-coding-in-the-age-of-gpts", "date_published": "2023-11-16T12:43:27-05:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2023/a-eulogy-for-coding-in-the-age-of-gpts", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eRe: \u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/11/20/a-coder-considers-the-waning-days-of-the-craft\"\u003ehttps://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/11/20/a-coder-considers-the-waning-days-of-the-craft\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI have LOTS of thoughts, but this piece by James Somers for \u003cem\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c/em\u003e was a wonderful read. I usually try to avoid overly quoting from an external piece, but this section captures the crux too well:\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePerhaps what pushed Lee Sedol to retire from the game of Go was the sense that the game had been forever cheapened. When I got into programming, it was because computers felt like a form of magic. The machine gave you powers but required you to study its arcane secrets—to learn a spell language. This took a particular cast of mind. I felt selected. I devoted myself to tedium, to careful thinking, and to the accumulation of obscure knowledge. Then, one day, it became possible to achieve many of the same ends without the thinking and without the knowledge. Looked at in a certain light, this can make quite a lot of one’s working life seem like a waste of time.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut whenever I think about Sedol I think about chess. After machines conquered that game, some thirty years ago, the fear was that there would be no reason to play it anymore. Yet chess has never been more popular—A.I. has enlivened the game. A friend of mine picked it up recently. At all hours, he has access to an A.I. coach that can feed him chess problems just at the edge of his ability and can tell him, after he’s lost a game, exactly where he went wrong. Meanwhile, at the highest levels, grandmasters study moves the computer proposes as if reading tablets from the gods. Learning chess has never been easier; studying its deepest secrets has never been more exciting.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eComputing is not yet overcome. GPT-4 is impressive, but a layperson can’t wield it the way a programmer can. I still feel secure in my profession. In fact, I feel somewhat more secure than before. As software gets easier to make, it’ll proliferate; programmers will be tasked with its design, its configuration, and its maintenance. And though I’ve always found the fiddly parts of programming the most calming, and the most essential, I’m not especially good at them. I’ve failed many classic coding interview tests of the kind you find at Big Tech companies. The thing I’m relatively good at is knowing what’s worth building, what users like, how to communicate both technically and humanely. A friend of mine has called this A.I. moment “the revenge of the so-so programmer.” As coding per se begins to matter less, maybe softer skills will shine.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSomers goes on to talk about how what he thought he\u0026rsquo;d teach his children about programming has changed. I think about that too. I have kids, and coming from a programming/computer science background, I\u0026rsquo;ve always assumed I could give them a leg up in life by teaching some of these skillsets early.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut the proliferation of LLMs and AI have changed my thinking. More than how to hack together a bash script to do in one click what used to take five, I think learning how to break down problems into chunks that a computer can tackle—systems thinking—is a more relevant skill to acquire early. Paired with actual application (either through directly writing code or interacting with an LLM), I\u0026rsquo;ll likely net the same effect I was hoping for.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI have a deep love of programming. GPT-4 (or whatever variant you\u0026rsquo;re using) has only deepened that love. Having an always available, deeply knowledgeable, and easy-to-use thing that I can just \u003cem\u003ethrow\u003c/em\u003e questions or problems at feels a bit like magic. Not because it teaches me something I couldn\u0026rsquo;t ultimately learn on my own, but rather the sheer speed at which it increases my learning has become its own high that I now look forward to chasing whenever I sit down in front of the keyboard.\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "Archive your old projects", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2023/archive-your-old-projects", "date_published": "2023-11-13T21:14:30-05:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2023/archive-your-old-projects", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eRe: \u003ca href=\"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38241131\"\u003ehttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38241131\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;hypertexthero\u0026rdquo; on Hacker News:\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile working, occasionally take photos or screenshots of what you are doing showing your workspace, the computer desktop, the desk with pencils and papers and cables everywhere, the wall or piece of string with notes. Show the messy process of creating something.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is good advice. Even though most modern apps have version history, pictures are a better medium for browsing through the past. I also like the idea of occasionally capturing a photo of my physical desk space—I tend to change things up with some frequency.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor design nerds, a wonderful side effect of taking screenshots of work in progress is that you\u0026rsquo;re also likely capturing the OS, browser, and app design language of the moment. You \u003cem\u003ethink\u003c/em\u003e you remember MacOS pre-San Francisco, but take one look at \u003ca href=\"https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/10/os-x-10-10/9/#interface\"\u003eOS X Yosemite\u0026rsquo;s interface\u003c/a\u003e and you\u0026rsquo;ll realize how fickle memory truly is.\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "Google kills Gmail Basic", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2023/rip-gmail-basic-view", "date_published": "2023-09-28T21:35:35-04:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2023/rip-gmail-basic-view", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eRe: \u003ca href=\"https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/25/23889791/gmail-basic-html-view-discontinued-2024\"\u003ehttps://www.theverge.com/2023/9/25/23889791/gmail-basic-html-view-discontinued-2024\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWes Davis, \u003cem\u003eThe Verge\u003c/em\u003e:\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGoogle will send Gmail’s basic HTML view sailing into the great beyond starting in January 2024, after which time everyone who uses it will be switched to the service’s far more modern “Standard” view.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eYou\u0026rsquo;d be forgiven if you didn\u0026rsquo;t realize the \u0026ldquo;basic HTML\u0026rdquo; view was still available, since activating the UI required a chaotic combination of force reloading Gmail followed by frantic clicking in the bottom right of your screen, hoping to hit the link that enabled the mode.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut once you got in, basic Gmail was a marvel on multiple fronts. This \u003ca href=\"https://audacious.blog/2018/lite/\"\u003elite\u003c/a\u003e version of Gmail, riding on the rails of a modern internet connection, was one of the last few examples I could reach for in the \u0026ldquo;web app that feels blistering fast\u0026rdquo; department. It could have used a touch more JavaScript interactivity and keyboard shortcuts, but overall it was simple and snappy. Standard Gmail is, alas, not a replacement.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSad to see it go.\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "▲︎ Go Direct", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2023/go-direct", "date_published": "2023-09-18T17:28:19-04:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2023/go-direct", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\u003cp\u003eThere should rarely be more than three people involved in delivering feedback from one person to another: the giver, the receiver, and (possibly) a trusted third party. Beyond that, problems arise.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eInvolving more than three people tends to create a \u0026ldquo;table-shaped\u0026rdquo; feedback path. This type of feedback gets passed up, over, and back down through bosses and peers. The more people or layers involved, the more delays or distortion.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe best feedback is direct, clear, and timely. A simple \u0026ldquo;when you did X, I felt Y, and observed Z\u0026rdquo; formula works well. Separate the behavior from the person. Assume good intent (i.e. round up). And try to give the feedback as soon as possible. I\u0026rsquo;ve noticed teams who train this muscle tend to take more risks, find more success, and enjoy work more.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn short: go direct. Keep feedback timely and involve the fewest number of people possible. It can take practice, but this type of feedback, eventually, becomes easy to give. Feedback loops complete faster, and, ultimately, comments lead to change.\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "Intel One Mono, a new monospaced font family designed by Frere-Jones Type", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2023/intel-one-mono", "date_published": "2023-06-25T13:16:06-04:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2023/intel-one-mono", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eRe: \u003ca href=\"https://github.com/intel/intel-one-mono\"\u003ehttps://github.com/intel/intel-one-mono\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;m a sucker for monospaced typefaces. They\u0026rsquo;re my preferred font for writing code (obviously) and prose.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIntel One Mono is interesting for a few reasons. First, it\u0026rsquo;s Intel-branded, so that\u0026rsquo;s neat. Second, the target user is the \u0026ldquo;typographically underserved low-vision developer\u0026rdquo;, which basically means the character set remains quite legible even at small sizes—something you don\u0026rsquo;t have to be low-vision to appreciate. Finally, the team behind the project is none other than \u003ca href=\"https://frerejones.com/\"\u003eFrere-Jones Type design studio\u003c/a\u003e. If you\u0026rsquo;re a type nerd, you know FJT\u0026rsquo;s reputation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMy one sentence review of Intel One Mono: it accomplishes what it sets out to do, manages to strike a good balance of quirky and legible (though it doesn\u0026rsquo;t always stick the landing), and currently serves as my default writing typeface.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf you\u0026rsquo;re looking for other great monospace fonts, definitely check out \u003ca href=\"https://www.ibm.com/plex/\"\u003eIBM Plex Mono\u003c/a\u003e (their whole sans-serif, serif, and monospace families are fantastic), Hoefler\u0026amp;Co\u0026rsquo;s \u003ca href=\"https://www.typography.com/blog/introducing-operator\"\u003eOperator\u003c/a\u003e, and the truly wonderful (and likely what I\u0026rsquo;ll return to after the honeymoon period with Intel One wears off) \u003ca href=\"https://www.jetbrains.com/lp/mono/\"\u003eJetBrains Mono\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "‘The Case for Bad Coffee’", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2022/pandolfi-bad-coffee", "date_published": "2022-11-20T14:48:33-05:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2022/pandolfi-bad-coffee", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eRe: \u003ca href=\"https://www.seriouseats.com/the-case-for-bad-coffee\"\u003ehttps://www.seriouseats.com/the-case-for-bad-coffee\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKeith Pandolfi: \u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLately, I\u0026rsquo;ve been reacting to fancy coffee the same way a child reacts to an accidental sip of red wine mistaken for grape juice. I don\u0026rsquo;t know when it happened, but I\u0026rsquo;ve devolved into an unexpected love affair with bad coffee. It\u0026rsquo;s not just instant coffee that I hanker for each morning, either, it\u0026rsquo;s any subpar coffee I can get my hands on. (As I write this, I am a (sic) sipping a watery cup of java from an old pancake house down the street from my office in Little Italy.) Instead of that gourmet market in my neighborhood, I\u0026rsquo;ve begun perusing the coffee aisle of my local Ideal Supermarket like I once did the cereal aisles of my youth. I\u0026rsquo;m delighted by the big, red jars of Folgers, the yellow Chock-full-o-Nuts, the sky blue cans of Maxwell House.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI go through seasons of coffee fussiness. AeroPress, V60, drip. Lately though, I\u0026rsquo;ve swung hard towards \u0026ldquo;bad but dead simple coffee\u0026rdquo; in the form of \u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LB1J9BW\"\u003eFolgers Classic Instant Roast Coffee\u003c/a\u003e. I\u0026rsquo;m loving it. Don\u0026rsquo;t at me.\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "▲︎ Leaders Leave Last", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2022/leaders-leave-last", "date_published": "2022-10-12T21:59:14-04:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2022/leaders-leave-last", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\u003cp\u003eBefore we went remote, I used to hang around at the end of meetings just in case someone had a lingering question they wanted to ask without an audience.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eToday, even though I’m only a quick keyboard shortcut away from instantly exiting any Zoom call, I still try to be the last one to leave. Once we say our goodbyes, I hang on for ten more seconds as the group filters out.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMost of the time I’m left looking at me. Sometimes though, someone else waits around too. Then, given this serendipitous opportunity to bring up that gnawing question, they ask if I have another minute, and I say sure.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThere’s no way to prove that I’m getting questions or conversations that wouldn’t come up some other way. But I do think there’s a little something to not rushing away at the end of calls—and a lot of something to leaders making an extra effort to be available. Besides, it costs me nothing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI tend to overthink these kind of things. But the few times I’ve hung around at the end of a call only to see someone else hesitantly hanging around with me, I know I’m probably in for something good. “Hey, do you have another minute?” Yes. Yes I do.\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "▲︎ The Screenshots Page", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2022/screenshots", "date_published": "2022-06-28T22:14:19-04:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2022/screenshots", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\u003cp\u003eAt some point, companies that make software stopped having a dedicated \u0026ldquo;screenshots\u0026rdquo; page on their websites.\nThese pages were always sparse.\nA simple gallery of thumbnails.\nBut for those of us who appreciated \u003cem\u003eseeing\u003c/em\u003e before buying, or for those who were simply curious in nature, the screenshots page was one of the best out there.\nI miss it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI understand why it went away.\nIt’s hard to sell a screenshot.\nIt’s just an image.\nNo fancy animations.\nNo marketing copy.\nNo abstracted illustrations.\nJust a flat, two dimensional picture.\nThe product has to do \u003cem\u003eall\u003c/em\u003e the talking.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eApp stores have sort of revived this art form.\nI don\u0026rsquo;t think I\u0026rsquo;ve read many app descriptions.\nBut I\u0026rsquo;ve certainly swiped through thousands of screenshots.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBack to the web: maybe most buyers didn\u0026rsquo;t care to see the real thing.\nIf the screenshots page had been a high converter, it\u0026rsquo;d still be around and I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have any reason to write this post.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut even when I didn\u0026rsquo;t end up buying, which was most of the time, I respected the guts.\nAnd even when the thumbnail gallery showcased every way \u003cem\u003enot\u003c/em\u003e to design a product, I still respected the pride in the work.\nIt may, at times, have been hubris.\nBut it\u0026rsquo;s hard not to love that which has nothing to hide.\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "Desperation-Induced Focus", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2022/desperation-induced-focus", "date_published": "2022-05-21T09:12:40-05:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2022/desperation-induced-focus", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eRe: \u003ca href=\"https://rkg.blog/desperation-induced-focus.php\"\u003ehttps://rkg.blog/desperation-induced-focus.php\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRavi Gupta:\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen I think of my time at Instacart, I remember desperation. It was painful. But it was also powerful. Our best moments as a company came when we shared a singular purpose. Our most fun moments as a team came when our backs were against the wall.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn my experience, desperation is the single greatest advantage you have as a startup. It takes you down to the lowest level of detail. Desperation inspires creativity and intense focus. It is an essential ingredient to building great products and services.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMore wood behind fewer arrows.\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "▲︎ Kids", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2022/kids", "date_published": "2022-01-16T20:39:11-05:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2022/kids", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\u003cp\u003eThe other night, I tucked our three year old into bed, and he went right to sleep.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a welcomed change. Previously, we\u0026rsquo;d spend upwards of 90 minutes resetting, retucking, restorytelling before being recalled again and over and over. Eventually, he\u0026rsquo;d fall asleep. Usually on the floor.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis not-really bedtime was annoying. But after only a few nights of its absence, I feel a void. Maybe part of me loved seeing him rebel against the night. Him fighting against sleep so hard he’d just collapse, exhausted. But now when I check on him, I\u0026rsquo;m looking at a little boy just a little bit older and a little less little.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s a weird time to be a parent. I understand some of my generation’s decisions to delay or not have kids. I’m happy we had ours, but I probably don’t sway anyone towards parenting when I talk about our sheer lack of sleep.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnd beside the sleep, there’s what you give up long-term. Because choosing to be a parent is choosing to not be a great number of other things. Once the hospital sends you home after what can’t possibly be enough time to mentally prepare, you become a bit like Atlas carrying the world on your shoulders. And although there isn\u0026rsquo;t one way of doing it right, there is a minimum of doing it. And doing it involves a continuous cycle of best intentions and second guessing. Failing and learning. Attempting to do it better than whoever raised you, and then failing (again) at doing just that. You die to yourself daily. You let go of dreams, goals, money. You definitely give up time. And, importantly, you try to give it up without resentment. Because no matter how well you hide it, they’ll know.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eParenting is obviously hard. You’ve heard that already. It’s hard even when you have it easy. My kids have no significant medical problems. My wife and I have great jobs and good insurance. I worry more about them finishing their dinner than whether I have enough to stave off hunger. On the days where it’s difficult, I remember how much the stacked the deck is in our favor.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnd I also think of how, today, when I look back on memories and photos of us pre-kids, the world seems to lack something. That void again, but different. Having kids has forced me to grow in some wonderful ways. This personal stretching, over years, creates a resilience that, so far as I can tell, is unique in the experience of adulthood.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnd then there are the small moments that land large. The ones that fill you back up. An emotional booster shot. You’ll be sitting side-by-side reading a book, and he’ll ask you to stop, which you do, only for him to tell you he loves you. Or that time when you taught him how to use his flashlight to fend off the dark, giving him a bit of relief before bed. Or when you both co-discovered some new imagined game—where you riffed on pretend rules, changing them at your whim for the whole afternoon only to look up shocked that it was almost dinnertime.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLike everything in life, there are good moments and not so good moments. But what I’ve come to realize is that I have a front row, reserved, and one-time only seat to this little person’s life. And it\u0026rsquo;s a life that has already given me some of my highest highs and, if anything were to happen to him, I’m certain my lowest lows. A chance to witness all of this personality, potential, and passion. All wrapped up in my tiny lookalike, sporting a dinosaur t-shirt and missing one sock, who explodes with smiles when he sees me come down the stairs—greeting me at the top of his lungs with, “hi daddy!”\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis weightiness of the responsibility and lightness of uninterrupted love that pulls me in like gravity. Imploring that I fully immerse myself in the world he’s building. And that I cherish the unplanned moments I find myself invited in.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI don’t always see these moments for the gifts they are. Some days the world can leave you with little left in the tank. But I try. I try hard. And I ask that you do too.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBecause eventually, inevitably, and on one completely normal night, you\u0026rsquo;ll tuck them into bed, and they\u0026rsquo;ll go right to sleep.\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "▲︎ Optimism and Positivity", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2021/wfio", "date_published": "2021-10-19T22:15:35-04:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2021/wfio", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\u003cp\u003eWe have an internal mantra of “we’ll figure it out”. I love this, because it’s a catchy, lightweight way of embedding optimism into countless meetings and group chats. (We even have a custom :wfio: emoji in Slack.) A cultural adoption of optimism is important—especially when teams face large-scale challenges or uncertainty.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThat said, I’ll occasionally see someone conflate optimism with positivity. The differences are subtle but important to understand and communicate. If you attempt to embed optimism at a cultural level but don’t call out how it’s different from positivity, you’ll likely end up with a messy combination of mindsets.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThankfully, it’s an easy explanation: optimism fights for the future, positivity protects the past and present.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA positive person will tell you everything’s fine. Those problems you had or have? They aren’t as big as you think! Positivity is useful, but it’s a strong flywheel. If you’re not careful, you end up peddling positivity for positivity’s sake. And to many, particularly the pragmatists, it can appear you\u0026rsquo;re attempting to avoid the underlying problem.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003c!-- (Separately, purely positive people tend to piss off the pragmatists, but that's for another essay.) --\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOptimism, however, injects positivity with vision and action. Optimism doesn\u0026rsquo;t try to make things OK right now. It acknowledges the gap between where we are and where we could be. And in that gap, creativity and forward progress thrive.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePositivity has its place, and there will be moments when it\u0026rsquo;s called for. But, the most innovative, consistently successful teams I’ve seen lean heavily into optimistic thinking. Whenever these teams face challenges, even new ones, the instinctual response is: WFIO. And they always do.\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "▲︎ Write Sentences, Not Too Many, Mostly Active", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2021/write", "date_published": "2021-03-11T19:55:42-05:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2021/write", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\n\n\u003cp\u003eWriting is hard. It takes time. And a lot of that time is spent rewriting what you\u0026rsquo;ve already written.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut good writing is easier to pull off than most people think. I think most people are only a few small changes away from being better writers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMy advice? Write sentences, not too many, mostly active.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"write-sentences\"\u003eWrite sentences\u003c/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe only way to beat a blank page is to fill it. Write a single sentence. Then another. Each sentence should stand on its own. If a sentence tries to say two things, make it two sentences. Don\u0026rsquo;t edit yet. Step one is to get words out of your brain and into the world. Besides, you can\u0026rsquo;t rewrite nothing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"not-too-many\"\u003eNot too many\u003c/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEveryone skims. Most writing has too much writing. There\u0026rsquo;s fluff everywhere. Ask yourself if every sentence is helping move the reader along. If a sentence fails the test, remove it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"mostly-active\"\u003eMostly active\u003c/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhat is an active sentence? Let me show you:\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eActive voice: I\u0026rsquo;m writing a blog post.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePassive voice: A blog post is being written.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn an active sentence, the subject does the verb. In a passive sentence, the verb is done to the subject. Active sentences have momentum. They gently push the reader through your words. Passive sentences aren\u0026rsquo;t awful. Many wonderful writers use them. But an active voice is the better default.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAbove all else, just keep writing. Put sentences on the page, remove the unnecessary ones, and favor an active voice. Rinse, wash, repeat.\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "▲︎ Tuned for the Mac", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2020/tuned-for-the-mac", "date_published": "2020-11-16T21:22:08-05:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2020/tuned-for-the-mac", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\u003cp\u003eWhat’s a good word for Mac apps that \u003cem\u003efeel\u003c/em\u003e like good Mac apps?\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBack in August, Brent Simmons \u003ca href=\"https://inessential.com/2020/08/15/desktop_means_web\"\u003ewrote about the blurring definitions\u003c/a\u003e between “desktop” and “web” stating “there is no word that means what desktop used to mean — there’s no word for ‘native Mac, Windows, and Linux apps.’ It’s not a concept anymore.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA month and change later, Panic \u003ca href=\"https://nova.app/\"\u003elaunched its new code editor, Nova\u003c/a\u003e with the lede, “Nova, our next-generation, fully native, future-focused code editor — only available for macOS — is here.” On the \u003ca href=\"https://nova.app/\"\u003emarketing site\u003c/a\u003e, you’ll read the headline, “Can a native Mac code editor really be that much better?”\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the same day, Sketch wrote a 10-year anniversary treatise (couched in an absolute tour de force of web design) titled “\u003ca href=\"https://www.sketch.com/blog/2020/10/26/part-of-your-world-why-we-re-proud-to-build-a-truly-native-mac-app/\"\u003ePart of your world: Why we’re proud to build a truly native Mac app\u003c/a\u003e”:\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNative apps bring so many benefits — from personalization and performance to familiarity and flexibility. And while we’re always working hard to make Cloud an amazing space to collaborate, we still believe the Mac is the perfect place to let your ideas and imagination flourish.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFollowing Sketch\u0026rsquo;s post, we find \u003ca href=\"https://daringfireball.net/2020/11/sketch_mac_app_mac_apps\"\u003eJohn Gruber of \u003cem\u003eDaring Fireball\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e:\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;ve taken to calling these apps \u0026ldquo;\u003ca href=\"https://daringfireball.net/search/mac-assed+mac+apps\"\u003eMac-assed Mac apps\u003c/a\u003e\u0026rdquo; recently, but we need a better term. \u003cem\u003eJe ne sais quoi\u003c/em\u003e means \u0026ldquo;a quality that cannot be described or named easily\u0026rdquo; \u0026ndash; it\u0026rsquo;s no surprise it\u0026rsquo;s hard to categorize these apps with a term. Panic just introduced their splendid new programming editor \u003ca href=\"https://nova.app/\"\u003eNova\u003c/a\u003e as \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/panic/status/1306292904063766529?lang=en\"\u003e\u0026ldquo;an extremely Mac-app Mac app\u0026rdquo;\u003c/a\u003e, which captures the sentiment (and sound) of \u0026ldquo;Mac-assed Mac app\u0026rdquo; in a purely joyous way. I like that. Whatever we call them, they\u0026rsquo;re worth embracing and celebrating, and Sketch sure as hell is one of them.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFinally, and just to round things out, here’s C.S. Lewis in his 1940 book \u003cem\u003eThe Problem of Pain\u003c/em\u003e:\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou may have noticed that the books you really love are bound together by a secret thread. You know very well what is the common quality that makes you love them, though you cannot put it into words: but most of your friends do not see it at all, and often wonder why, liking this, you should also like that.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSo there’s something here. Something exhibited by certain Mac apps but not others. A Mac-ness. What do we call it?\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor a while, I’ve quietly referred to these apps as “higgy.” As in they closely follow \u003ca href=\"https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/macos/overview/themes/\"\u003eApple\u0026rsquo;s HIG\u003c/a\u003e (Human Interface Guidelines) for patterns of design and interaction. But while \u0026ldquo;higgy\u0026rdquo; is a fun word to say it\u0026rsquo;s a terrible word for marketing and writing. Nova, a higgy app for the Mac. Pass.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut turning it over in my mind the past few weeks, I keep coming back to “tuned.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e“Nova, tuned for the Mac.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI like “tuned” for two reasons.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFirst, although “tuned” is primarily associated with musical qualities—side note: I don’t think that’s a bad thing given the Mac’s close association with creativity and the arts—the lesser-used definitions speak to \u0026ldquo;agreement or sense of harmony\u0026rdquo; or \u0026ldquo;to adjust for proper functioning\u0026rdquo;. To “bring into harmony with MacOS” feels very close to me.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSecond, it’s not about “native” and whether the app is pure Swift/Objective-C. Who cares? It’s about the feel of the thing. Can I rearrange sidebar items? Do disclosure triangles reflect the visibility of the disclosable content? Will common keyboard shortcuts work as expected? Is there consideration given to the software’s usage of my memory, CPU, and energy?\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOr, simply: is it tuned for the Mac?\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "▲︎ The iPad Magic Keyboard", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2020/ipad-magic-keyboard", "date_published": "2020-11-15T15:00:15-05:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2020/ipad-magic-keyboard", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe upshot: this is the best iPad keyboard you can buy. If the iPad were my only device, I\u0026rsquo;d buy this. The keys are great. (Finally.) The trackpad is tiny but better than anything else its size. The magnetic frame is a delight. The whole unit feels incredibly solid.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnd yet, we have a situation where the whole is less than the sum of its parts because the genius of this thing is wrapped in a terrible material for a top-tier professional accessory: pseudo-soft polyurethane.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eComing in at $300 (for the 11-inch, small version) it wasn’t worth it to me. But if the iPad is your only device, you may not have any other options. And if you’re like me, material aside, you won’t want to use anything else.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSmudges, fingerprints; this case is a magnet. There\u0026rsquo;s also an almost imperceptible give between the material and its enclosed frame. After spending a week with this thing—moving between my office, the couch, and my bed—I\u0026rsquo;m certain this case will look awful in less than a year. Pleasing polyurethane patina is not a thing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhich sucks. Because if the iPad plus Magic Keyboard is supposed to make a play for the hearts of MacBook users, I\u0026rsquo;m afraid that crowd will be left wanting. The Magic Keyboard polyurethane is the antithesis of my MacBook Pro\u0026rsquo;s aluminum chassis.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnd at $300, it’s laughable that an otherwise great product would be wrapped in this.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e(Now, a Magic Keyboard—same everything—but made of aluminum? Take my money.)\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"keys\"\u003eKeys\u003c/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOkay. Let\u0026rsquo;s set the material aside for a moment. Besides, I\u0026rsquo;m tired of typing polyurethane.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe keys are great. I said it above, but I\u0026rsquo;ll say it again: finally. Although the 11-inch size (for my iPad Air, 4th generation) was a touch small for my large hands, there\u0026rsquo;s no getting around how great it feels to type on this thing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf Apple\u0026rsquo;s keyboards forevermore hit this level of travel and clickyness, I think the typing world would find it perfectly acceptable. At this point, can we consider keyboards a solved problem space? No more innovation needed. Hard stop.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThere\u0026rsquo;s backlighting, which is nice. I don\u0026rsquo;t \u003cem\u003eneed\u003c/em\u003e it, but I appreciate the subtle glow in the early nights of autumn.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNo function key row was a miss. I hate having to reach up towards Control Center to adjust the volume down a click. Imagine if you had pull off to the side of the road every time you wanted to change your car\u0026rsquo;s speaker volume. That\u0026rsquo;s how frustrating (and flow breaking) the lack of function keys is.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"trackpad\"\u003eTrackpad\u003c/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe trackpad feels nice and exquisitely engineered given its size. In practice, I didn\u0026rsquo;t mind the smaller size, but I did find my finger running off the edge until my muscle memory was rewired. Two software preferences helped make the experience near perfect: turning the tracking speed all the way up and enabling tap-to-click. Once I had those settings tuned, I didn\u0026rsquo;t think much about the trackpad after that.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e(In case you\u0026rsquo;re wondering, Trackpad Notions Per Hour is my only litmus test for this type of hardware. And the only passing grade is zero.)\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"hinge\"\u003eHinge\u003c/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI’m not a materials engineer, so when I say the Magic Keyboard hinge is a feat of engineering what I really mean is that the mechanism is good enough to quickly fade into the background. There’s no wobble or flex. It\u0026rsquo;s almost hard to believe the design works, but it does.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe design is striking, managing to blend the stability of a laptop (particularly the lapability) with the elegance of something entirely different and futuristic.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMy only complaint is the restricted viewing angle. I wish it would lean back another 10–15 degrees. I kept instinctively trying to adjust the screen beyond where it would go, and I never completely adjusted to the reduced rotation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"magnets\"\u003eMagnets\u003c/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe magnet system is a sublime experience. It\u0026rsquo;s easy to guide the iPad into the correct position, and the attraction is strong enough to win my trust. When they\u0026rsquo;re together, the iPad and Magic Keyboard feel like a single unibody unit. Closed, it feels satisfyingly solid. Like when you\u0026rsquo;re carrying a book with a high quality spine, binding, and pages.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRemoving the iPad is easy. There\u0026rsquo;s a small area towards the bottom of the iPad that isn\u0026rsquo;t covered by the case, which makes it simple to grab and peel away the tablet.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"all-in-one\"\u003eAll In One\u003c/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf you want a great typing experience and the iPad is your only device and you want that typing experience to be the same between a desk and your lap, then the Magic Keyboard is your singular option. It’s expensive, I’m not a fan of the polyurethane material choice, and I’m immensely curious whether another iteration on the materials and design will make this a must-have. But otherwise it’s the best you can get. You’re just going to pay for it.\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "Joshua Ginter’s ‘First Impressions’ of the iPhone 12 Pro", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2020/ginter-iphone-12-pro", "date_published": "2020-11-09T19:39:00-05:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2020/ginter-iphone-12-pro", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eRe: \u003ca href=\"https://thesweetsetup.com/iphone-12-pro-first-impressions/\"\u003ehttps://thesweetsetup.com/iphone-12-pro-first-impressions/\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor years I\u0026rsquo;ve been recycling an anecdote about a man who desperately wanted to be a professional photographer for Major League Baseball. But he wasn\u0026rsquo;t a professional photographer, and he didn\u0026rsquo;t have any ins with MLB. What he did have, however, was a front-row seat to his child\u0026rsquo;s weekend tee-ball games.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSo this guy decides you know what, I love taking photos, and I\u0026rsquo;m going to photograph this tee-ball team as though they were the freaking New York Yankees. He spent the whole season, every game, camera in hand, snapping the most striking photos of 5-year-olds struggling to swing a bat you\u0026rsquo;ve ever seen.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe anecdote, as I heard it, wraps up with this man\u0026rsquo;s local newspaper picking up and running a few of his photos. And then, eventually, an actual MLB team gives him the call to shoot one of their games.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI have no idea if this story is true. But what reminds me of the tale today is reading through Joshua Ginter\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;first impressions\u0026rdquo; of the iPhone 12 Pro over on \u003cem\u003eThe Sweet Setup\u003c/em\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e(I put \u0026ldquo;first impressions\u0026rdquo; in quotes because what credibility Mr. Ginter loses for misunderstanding what \u0026ldquo;impressions\u0026rdquo; means he makes up for by the time you finish his 3,400 word treatise.)\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is not only a good \u003cem\u003ereview\u003c/em\u003e of the iPhone 12 Pro, but also some of the best product photography of Apple\u0026rsquo;s newest phone I\u0026rsquo;ve seen anywhere. Save for maybe Apple themselves.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnyhow, what I\u0026rsquo;m trying to say is you should read the review. It\u0026rsquo;s a treat, and the photos are a delight. Once again, Mr. Ginter has hit it out of the park.\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "▲︎ WFH", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2020/wfh", "date_published": "2020-08-02T22:02:33-04:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2020/wfh", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\u003cp\u003eUp between 6–6:30. Drink a full glass of water, take a shower, get dressed. Make the bed; \u003ca href=\"https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/how-to-make-a-bed-using-hospital-corners/\"\u003ehospital corners\u003c/a\u003e. Put on tennis shoes. I tried slippers for a while, but a standing desk calls for extra arch support.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDownstairs, start the coffee. 50 grams for about 6 cups. It\u0026rsquo;s a weaker brew, but that means I can have a few cups without getting twitchy. Water into the stovetop pot. Add oats. Make breakfast. (How have more people not experienced the awesomeness of oats, greek yogurt, and a little brown sugar?)\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFamily time, morning talks, good vibes. It\u0026rsquo;s about 8:00. Another 10-15 minutes, then I’ll grab a large cup of coffee and head upstairs to the office.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCrack the windows, let sunshine stream in.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e8:15-45 is my chance to parse the day. I start with a beat of silence and a prayer, then I take a large sip of coffee and flick open a variety of windows.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFirst up, Slack and email.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e90% of my Slack channels are muted. My notifications are off by default, which helps me treat Slack more like email and less like a 90s pager. I scan all unread channels and DMs, then throw anything warranting a followup into Starred.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEmail is next. Through years of filter creation, my email is sort of like the Millenium Falcon—filled with really old stuff but tuned \u003cem\u003eexactly\u003c/em\u003e how I like it. Everything in my inbox is signal.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWithin several minutes, Slack and email are completely dispatched. Now to the calendar. What am I attending today? Tomorrow? What information do I need to have ready? Look at a handful of dashboards. How’s the bug count this week? Which teams have key members on PTO? Did the last 24 hours of pulse metrics look like I expected?\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eClose the windows, because the sun is doing its thing and warming up the Earth.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eVisually, my calendar is stuffed. But a third of those chunky boxes are meetings with myself. Margin time, at least 1-2 hours every single day. It’s here that I work on my Most Important Things.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhat are the Most Important Things? I have a simple system: take the top 2-4 most important things I could do this week and put them on a flashcard. The rest of the day will be about relentlessly attempting to complete everything on this list. I\u0026rsquo;ll usually get through about half, while adding 5-10 new items along the way. Tomorrow I’ll prune it back down to the top 2-4. Rinse, wash, repeat.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e(What about a to-do app? I use one, but I use it differently than most. The only things that go in here are commitments I’ve made to other people. My to-do app is my your-word-means-something app.)\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePop downstairs, grab some snuggles from the kiddo, refill the coffee, and climb back upstairs.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe rest of the day oscillates between meetings and my Most Important Things. For meetings, I have a yellow legal pad and a .5mm rollerball. I used to roll with a .38mm, but the .5 feels way more messy and therefore better. Once the day is wrapped, I go back through every page of notes and move things either into my to-do app or onto my calendar. I\u0026rsquo;ve considered an iPad for this daylong writing, but I like paper. Again, the mess is what makes it great.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFinally, I journal for 5-10 minutes. This is some of the most important writing I do each day. I focus on any decisions I made and my rationale for making them.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDownstairs, dinner, books, bed, and hope to be just a little bit better tomorrow.\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "Medium testing new visual customization", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2020/medium-adds-themes", "date_published": "2020-08-02T15:50:01-04:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2020/medium-adds-themes", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eRe: \u003ca href=\"https://blog.medium.com/a-more-expressive-medium-483e567b19ff\"\u003ehttps://blog.medium.com/a-more-expressive-medium-483e567b19ff\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLooks pretty limited right now. And half of the themes are\u0026hellip; meh? No word on custom domains, so ostensibly everything is still very much locked into their platform.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs usual, Medium is the message.\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "On Having Full RSS Feeds", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2020/full-rss-feeds", "date_published": "2020-04-15T20:18:33-04:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2020/full-rss-feeds", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eRe: \u003ca href=\"https://zacs.site/blog/maybe-a-good-idead.html\"\u003ehttps://zacs.site/blog/maybe-a-good-idead.html\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKev Quirk \u003ca href=\"https://kevq.uk/why-having-a-full-post-rss-feed-is-a-good-idea/\"\u003ethinks having a non-truncated RSS feed is a good idea\u003c/a\u003e. I agree. So does Zac Szewczyk:\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhenever I find a new writer, I go through everything they have ever written — turns out, good writers write good things often; this helps me find great works from their past. RSS feeds with, say, the site’s ten most recent posts make this much harder than ones with every article in them, so when I restarted this site, I took the latter route. Over a thousand posts would make my feed a hefty __ MB, though, so truncating the individual posts allowed me to strike a nice balance between the two.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWait, how many people have their \u003cem\u003eentire\u003c/em\u003e site\u0026rsquo;s archive available through the RSS feed? I\u0026rsquo;ve only ever seen sites with the most recent 20-40 articles at max.\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "Google Spins the Wheel on What to Call Hangouts, Again", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2020/google-rebrands-hangouts", "date_published": "2020-04-09T20:19:13-04:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2020/google-rebrands-hangouts", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eRe: \u003ca href=\"https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/9/21215588/google-chat-hangouts-meet-g-suite-name-change-rebranding\"\u003ehttps://www.theverge.com/2020/4/9/21215588/google-chat-hangouts-meet-g-suite-name-change-rebranding\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNick Stat, \u003cem\u003eThe Verge\u003c/em\u003e:\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGoogle has officially removed the Hangouts brand from its enterprise G Suite offering with the rebranding of Hangouts Chat as Google Chat, the company confirmed to \u003cem\u003eThe Verge\u003c/em\u003e on Thursday. The rebranding follows a similar name change, \u003ca href=\"https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/8/21214059/google-hangouts-meet-rebrand-video-chat-conferencing\"\u003econfirmed yesterday\u003c/a\u003e, from the companion videoconferencing app Hangouts Meet to Google Meet.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis latest modification was first hinted at by an \u003ca href=\"https://support.google.com/a/table/7539891?hl=en\"\u003eupdated G Suite support document\u003c/a\u003e listing the Google Chat name alongside Google Meet. Of course, this version of Chat is not to be confused with the \u003cem\u003eother\u003c/em\u003e version of Chat, the name Google inexplicably gave its \u003ca href=\"https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/14/20964477/googles-rcs-chat-android-rollout-us-ccmi-texting-sms\"\u003erelatively new RCS-based Android messaging protocol\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs for the Hangouts brand, it will continue to live on as the name of the consumer chat app that Google spun out of its shutdown social network Google+ back in 2013 as a spiritual successor to Gchat. “There will be no changes to the consumer (classic) version of Hangouts,” a Google spokesperson tells \u003cem\u003eThe Verge\u003c/em\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWho thought changing the \u003cem\u003erecognized\u003c/em\u003e name of a product currently experiencing unprecedented demand was a good idea? Not that this will hurt their SEO, mind you.\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "Mary Dash's Guide to Plain Language", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2020/mary-dash-plain-language", "date_published": "2020-03-18T11:12:48-04:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2020/mary-dash-plain-language", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eRe: \u003ca href=\"https://plainlanguage.gov/resources/articles/dash-writing-tips/\"\u003ehttps://plainlanguage.gov/resources/articles/dash-writing-tips/\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMary Dash, Chief of the Congressional Correspondence and Quality Review Branch of the Internal Revenue Service, with some excellent tips:\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAvoid passive voice\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDon\u0026rsquo;t use jargon\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWrite and speak aloud\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLots more in there.\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "Susan Fowler’s Year in Review", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2019/fowler-year-in-review", "date_published": "2019-12-16T20:00:47-05:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2019/fowler-year-in-review", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eRe: \u003ca href=\"https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2019/12/10/my-year-in-review-2019\"\u003ehttps://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2019/12/10/my-year-in-review-2019\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA wonderful writeup from one of my favorite editors. I particularly enjoyed this bit on the craft:\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis year was transformative for me as far as my writing skills are concerned. I got to the point where I can now sit down and knock out 3000-5000 \u003cem\u003egood\u003c/em\u003e words in one sitting, even when completely exhausted at the end of a long workday. My day job as an editor made all the difference here: since I’m so used to thinking of writing and editing as work, I no longer get writer’s block and writing has lost most of its mythical quality (which is a good thing, as far as I’m concerned). In addition to finishing my memoir, I also wrote a couple of pieces for the Times, two novels (which I am currently revising), and one very joyful screenplay.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWriting is like working out—there\u0026rsquo;s no shortcut to putting in your reps.\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "▲︎ Indifference", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2019/indifference", "date_published": "2019-12-17T00:00:00+00:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2019/indifference", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\u003cp\u003eLately I\u0026rsquo;ve been thinking about Elie Wiesel\u0026rsquo;s quote on love and hate. \u0026ldquo;The opposite of love is not hate, it\u0026rsquo;s indifference\u0026rdquo; he says.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn software circles, we talk a lot about trying to create products people love. Like, really love. Love to the point you can\u0026rsquo;t wait to tell your friends. You\u0026rsquo;ve likely experienced this—an app so good you were excited to bring it into someone\u0026rsquo;s life.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLogically then, if the goal is Love, a product team might try hard to avoid making changes or additions that people hate. But more than hate, I think the bigger risk is making something to which people are indifferent.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhy not focus on hate? For starters, eliciting hate is actually quite hard to do if the product team is competent. Even talking with your customers once a week should steer you clear of danger.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIndifference on the other hand is a product killer. Building something that doesn\u0026rsquo;t even register an emotional response eliminates the opportunity to learn. And a product team that cannot quickly learn—and then iterate to learn again—is a team that will slowly bring growth and progress to a halt.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSo when we think about the big risks of building products, we should consider indifference towards the top of the list. You can learn from love or hate. But the moment you sense indifference from your customers you need to reconsider the core problem you\u0026rsquo;re trying to solve.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf you don\u0026rsquo;t, I can promise you\u0026rsquo;ll hate what happens next—even if your customers don\u0026rsquo;t care.\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "▲︎ Weekend Tweaks", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2019/forgive-the-tests", "date_published": "2019-12-14T20:44:22-05:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2019/forgive-the-tests", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;m making a handful of changes to the site today, so please forgive any RSS oddities. Thanks.\u003c/p\u003e\n" } , { "title": "▲︎ Don’t Hide the Date", "url": "https://audacious.blog/2019/dont-hide-the-date", "date_published": "2019-12-14T08:30:46-05:00", "id": "https://audacious.blog/2019/dont-hide-the-date", "author": { "name" : "K.Q. Dreger" }, "content_html": "\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;ve noticed an interesting (growing?) trend over the past few years. Some bloggers (or their designers) choose to hide \u003cem\u003ewhen\u003c/em\u003e a post was written. I usually see this via dates excluded from the URL and/or the page itself. Why they\u0026rsquo;re doing this, I\u0026rsquo;m not sure.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor URLs, I think dates are useful. Take this URL for example:\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e/2019/dont-hide-the-date\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJust looking at it, you have a sense of when it was written and what it might be about. Instantly. That\u0026rsquo;s a good user experience.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e(My favorite URL approach is from sites like Medium, where they opt for the questionable /title-GI83R1SH article ID at the end of their post URLs which manages to thread the needle of being both impossible to guess and devoid of any date context. I call this URL style post-modern, because what starts out understandable quickly turns convoluted.)\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut I understand not wanting extra cruft in your URLs. Having a clean website.com/post-title structure is attractive to my inner minimalist. Going title-only also makes it easier to recall the URL of a once-visited post, since you\u0026rsquo;re more likely to guess the title of an article than the title and date.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThen there\u0026rsquo;s the date on the page itself. I generally see a lot of designs use the smallest type size or the faintest gray color possible—if they even include the date at all. I think that\u0026rsquo;s the wrong way to go. Whether the post is timely or timeless, dates provide a sense of place and serve as an important piece of context for your readers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eYou don\u0026rsquo;t have to overemphasize the \u003cem\u003ewhen\u003c/em\u003e something was written, but please don\u0026rsquo;t leave it out completely.\u003c/p\u003e\n" } ] }