Dan Q

Magician Automattician on a Geoposition Mission. Blogs at https://danq.me. Founded https://threerings.org.uk. Based between Oxford and Witney, UK. Queerer than the average bear.

Blog auto-syndicates to @blog.

:heart_pride: :bisexual_flag: :polyamory_flag: :europe: :automattic: :wordpress: :firefoxnew:

#IndieWeb #WordPress #InfoSec #Magic #Geohashing #Geocaching #DnD #Pizza #WebDev #IndieWeb #Queer #Polyamory #Bisexual #Automattic #Volunteer #Volunteering #Oxford #Witney #UK #fedi22

Public Key

npub16q683l02w9pmsyvf539vpdmhm4gt0r87auuv9qvrtwlakf36xs4szvv95f

NIP-05 Address

dan_at_m.danq.me@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsdqdrclh48zsaczxy6gjkqkama659h3nlw7wxzsxp4h07mycarg2cs5za5v

Author Public Key

npub16q683l02w9pmsyvf539vpdmhm4gt0r87auuv9qvrtwlakf36xs4szvv95f

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Last Notes

2024-10-19 08:29:04

@npub10kr…n9vn continue to keep adding more and more non-news content to the BBC News RSS feed (like this ad for the iPlayer app!), so I've once again had to update my script ( https://danq.me/bbc-news-without-the-crap ) to "fix" the feed so that it only contains, y'know, NEWS.
#note #news #openSource #programming #rss #ruby #web
Via: 🔗 https://danq.me/2024/10/19/fixing-bbc-news-yet-again/
https://m.danq.me/system/media_attachments/files/113/333/144/441/696/513/original/aa963a9416698039.png

2024-09-26 14:00:33

My thoughts on #WPEngine and the recent #WordPress drama -
1. WP Engine certainly act in ways that are unethical and antithetical to the spirit of open source
2. @npub1ksy…89q5 calling them out at #WCUS2024 muddied the waters between ethical, moral, and legal issues, and probably didn't get his point across as well as he'd have liked
3. I'm not qualified to comment on the legal merits of the trademark case, but I've certainly witnessed people be confused by WP Engine's marketing
Disclaimer: I'm an @npub15nl…rqv9 employee; but these are my personal opinions.
🔗 Full thoughts: https://danq.me/wp-engine

2024-09-11 11:04:10

Such poise! Such grace! While out for a run around with her doggy pals this Eleventh of Bleptember, our dog takes every opportunity to show off her elegance and style and definitely not just look like a derpy little wazzock.
Photo courtesy Lisa from Muddy Paws.
#note #dogs #bleptember
Via: 🔗 https://danq.me/2024/09/11/11-bleptember/
https://m.danq.me/system/media_attachments/files/113/118/586/488/270/700/original/8e346f321f70c33f.jpeg

2024-09-10 11:10:30

According to news media: today, a billionaire is being taken into space, where the crew will open the rocket door and put him outside.
This seems like a great start, and I hope that the remaining 1,780+ billionaires left here on earth will be following suit soon.
#note #space #capitalism
Via: 🔗 https://danq.me/2024/09/10/private-spacewalk/
https://m.danq.me/system/media_attachments/files/113/112/949/093/789/708/original/0146f4d7bbb5146b.jpeg

2024-09-10 10:17:21

Why don't I like pickled onion crisps?
I like pickled onions. And I imagine that the flavourings used in pickled onion crisps are basically the onion flavouring from cheese & onion and the vinegar flavouring from salt & vinegar, both of which are varieties I like.
#note #crisps #food
Via: 🔗 https://danq.me/2024/09/10/pickled-onion-crisps/

2024-07-29 18:14:23

I initially answered "No" to @npub19lt…qfjk's poll today, asking "do you have a joint email address with [a significant other]"?
Then I changed my mind to "Yes".
It turns out it's a complicated enough question for me that the answer became a blog post: https://danq.me/shared-email-addresses

2024-05-10 05:32:01

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@npub1zyl…t54n It turns out that once spam reaches a medium, it never leaves, even when there's nobody left who'll respond to it. There's still spam on Usenet, too.

2024-05-09 12:00:08

I just published my 5,000th blog post! 🙌
It only took me... /checks/ two and a half decades! 🫨
https://danq.me/5k

2024-04-19 13:42:22

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@npub1zyl…t54n In around 2001, I suggested my friend call his band "MP3" to make it near-impossible for people to pirate his songs. (This was before bands started providing legitimate MP3 recordings, of course!)

2024-04-02 14:18:12

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@npub12ks…6ymq Absolutely fantastic. Good to see that somebody's willing to teach the Internet the proper way to make tea.
My micro-review: https://danq.me/a-proper-cup-of-tea

2024-03-28 17:04:59

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@npub13lw…3tz6 I only discovered Taskmaster late last year and I'm still playing catchup! I'm on Season 8 I think!

2024-03-15 20:13:25

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@npub19lt…qfjk I do this SO much; it's great for performance, security, and a smug sense of self-satisfaction.

2024-02-06 10:50:42

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@npub1kf8…sm5q @npub1z9m…rz2z That's amazing. Wish I could get my YouTube-obsessed 10-year-old more-interested in the open Web!
I especially appreciated the way the theme switcher's progressive enhancement was implemented. So much that I wrote a blog post about it! - https://danq.me/2024/02/06/shiftless-progressive-enhancement/

2024-02-02 09:48:26

Back in 1996, Netscape announced the imminent launch of Webstories, a column showcasing the best in Web development. Over the next two years, they kept pushing the launch date back and back before quietly forgetting the whole thing.
With the help of the Wayback Machine, let's take a look at this never-launched column, and learn a little about late 90s Web culture and technology along the way: https://danq.me/netscapes-untold-webstories
#Web #WebDesign #WebDevelopment #ComputerHistory #WebHistory #Nostalgia

2023-12-20 14:51:29

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@npub1vwr…fnzd Folks have sometimes asked me - and which they choose says quite a lot about them, I find - "Q? Is that like Q from Star Trek, or Q from James Bond?"
My response: "No, it's like Q, the set of all rational numbers."
Source: https://danq.me/q

2023-12-19 14:21:09

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@npub1zyl…t54n @npub1e6z…g0aa Protip: instead of convincing a car dealership to give you bad code snippets, save time by going directly to StackOverflow.

2023-12-18 17:19:34

British Gas's programmers don't believe that a surname can be only a single character.
Their customer service agents worked around this by adding a parenthetical note to my record.
The result is hilarious postal mail that tries to reassure me that my surname really is what it is:
https://m.danq.me/system/media_attachments/files/111/602/552/424/626/821/original/6700e44b6a7a0ce7.jpeg

2023-12-07 05:24:34

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@npub1upk…tcwy Frankly amazed that git bisect appears in so few people's history! It's such a useful command that's saved my bacon so many times!
Sure, it's not an everyday command, but I'd have thought that it ought to appear in most people's history somewhere! And it's not an obvious candidate for aliasing.)

2023-09-07 10:08:52

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@npub1psa…xhme This is amazing! Thanks for doing what I didn't have time to!
(Looks like your well-known-feeds implementation is still waiting for a code commit though!)

2023-09-05 11:59:10

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@npub19lt…qfjk Speaking as an Automattician: I don't think you necessarily need Automattic's input on this one. It's always nice to have their blessing, as the biggest WordPress contributor, but WordPress is bigger and broader than Automattic and you can bring about change from outside it.
(Every major contribution I made to WordPress itself - i.e. not related to WP-CLI or WooCommerce or whatever - was made outside of my role with Automattic!)
But speaking as a WordPress user, I love this idea, and if I get a moment I might do an experiment or two...

2023-08-27 13:45:19

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@npub19lt…qfjk I used to, many years ago. Nowadays I've embraced the fact that sometimes I'll just go weeks (or ocassionally even months) without a post. It's fine.

2023-08-23 14:12:04

Idea: .well-known/feeds should provide an OPML file containing a list of some of the feeds associated with a website, as a lightweight, centralised, and "doesn't need to appear on every page" alternative/supplement to <link> tags. Convenient for both publishers and feed readers.
More: https://danq.me/well-known-feeds
Example: https://danq.me/.well-known/feeds
Draft spec: https://github.com/Dan-Q/well-known-feeds
What do you think, @npub16gl…syzj?
#rss #standards #opml #feeds #wellknown

2023-08-03 21:19:53

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@npub19lt…qfjk said "At least centralised services usually have a modicum of awareness of basic privacy."
Awareness, sure. Respect? Lol.

2023-07-28 19:04:40

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@npub19lt…qfjk This post got me thinking about the "thumbnail" images that get embedded in RSS feeds, and how they don't have alt-text. So (among other RSS changes I was making anyway today) I started adding <media:description />s to my blog's RSS feeds!
Thanks for the inspiration. Here's the result: https://danq.me/better-wordpress-rss-feeds

2023-07-18 12:04:20

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@npub19lt…qfjk didn't touch my keyboard even once... 😁
https://m.danq.me/system/media_attachments/files/110/734/982/421/750/138/original/16b76ccf7b8175aa.mp4

2023-07-18 10:48:01

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@npub1zdz…tl8u I especially love the artist's attention to detail in the depiction of the pig's cold dead eyes as they're forced to slice up their own family members with a variety of horrific implements for the amusement of their feline overlords. Truly a horror story for the ages.
But at least they get a "roll of paper" to wipe their trotters on afterwards.

2023-06-08 16:22:47

Today is Contributor Day at WordCamp Europe, and I made my first contributions to WP-CLI. Here's the full joy: https://danq.me/wceu23-1
#WCEU #WCEU2023 #WPCLI

2023-05-10 13:50:03

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@npub19lt…qfjk You're right, it can't be done. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/option#styling_with_css for a list of CSS attributes that CAN be set on <option>s. It's not many.
You can see how this limitation makes sense for regular, single-selection (dropdown) <select>s, but given that a <select multiple> behaves a lot more like other block elements you'd hope it would work like them... but it doesn't.
I thought there might be a hacky workaround by wrapping each <option> in an <optgroup>, but it turns out you can't really style an <optgroup> either.
@npub1xgx…4t7k has a good point, although if you want multiple selection checkboxes seem like a better choice IMHO.