meerific's recent activity
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
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Comment on The Tildes' Make Something Month (Timasomo) 2020 Showcase Thread in ~creative
meerific Link ParentThanks for the kind words! I'm glad you've gone through and replied to everyone's submission. I really like Tildes. In fact, I only joined because I was thinking about this problem and stumbled...Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad you've gone through and replied to everyone's submission.
I really like Tildes. In fact, I only joined because I was thinking about this problem and stumbled across the Philosophy page. I like that it's small, and will probably stay small. I like that folks contribute substantial comments to discussions. We seem to be generally supportive of each other.
The only issue I've noticed is what people have called out in the census thread: we aren't a very diverse bunch. I know there are efforts to address that, and those efforts take time and care. But I think it's valuable to have varied experiences and opinions in the public forum, as long as we can discuss them civilly. I don't want Tildes to turn into an echo chamber.
Thanks again for hosting TiMaSoMo this year. We all appreciate your diligence!
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Comment on The Tildes' Make Something Month (Timasomo) 2020 Showcase Thread in ~creative
meerific (edited )LinkThe Community Series I wrote some pieces and designed some tools which captured my thoughts around community: guidelines for making good ones and features that community tools might want to...The Community Series
I wrote some pieces and designed some tools which captured my thoughts around community: guidelines for making good ones and features that community tools might want to include.
I started with a few pieces on my personal site which explored personal experiences related to community:
I took these, plus conversations with people who have varied community experiences, and turned them into a broader piece: Humane Communities: how we can live and grow together. It gives some recommendations for building communities.
Finally, based on this piece, I designed a tool for hosting communities which includes features promoting healthy interaction: Pueblo, the humane community platform.
I'd appreciate any feedback, criticism, or calling out of anything I failed to address. Overall, I had a nice time with this.
By the way, my website host is having some issues at the moment, so if you see "Service Unavailable" give it another go.
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Comment on Show Tildes: critique my first portfolio site in ~comp
meerific Link ParentOn Hamburger Menu icon vs. "Menu": I think either is fine for accessibility. You can use whichever you prefer. On social locations: You only have a couple, so if it was me, I'd just turn them into...- On Hamburger Menu icon vs. "Menu": I think either is fine for accessibility. You can use whichever you prefer.
- On social locations: You only have a couple, so if it was me, I'd just turn them into "GitHub" and "LinkedIn" and keep them in the header. If you had more, say 4+, I'd put them all in the footer. Then again, six links borders on the most I'd put in a portfolio site's navigation. You could just combine the GitHub/LinkedIn links with your résumé. Use that to highlight the projects/accomplishments you're most proud of, and provide links to GitHub/LinkedIn from there as proof.
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Comment on Show Tildes: critique my first portfolio site in ~comp
meerific LinkA few more comments that others haven't mentioned already: Fonts: Playfair Display is good for headers, but not for body text. The letters are very thin at points, which makes them harder to read...A few more comments that others haven't mentioned already:
- Fonts: Playfair Display is good for headers, but not for body text. The letters are very thin at points, which makes them harder to read at smaller sizes. I notice you use Lato elsewhere, which is a fine font to use. I'd just say...try using that for everything that's not a header. (Tip: If a font has "Display" in the name, they want you to use it at large sizes only!)
- External Links: As @mat mentioned, use
target="_blank". I'd also include therel="noopener noreferrer"attribute for reasons. - Accessibility: The homepage line about your internship search is hard to read for some people. Check it yourself with the Accessible Colors checker.
- Navigation: It's a little weird to have both text links and icons in the same navigation block. You can switch those over to text, or you can put all your social links in a footer.
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Comment on Timasomo 2020 Thread #5: Final Update Thread in ~creative
meerific LinkI posted a draft of my design piece to my website: Pueblo, the archetypal community platform. I think it's mostly done, but I still feel like there's something missing, which is why I kept it as a...I posted a draft of my design piece to my website: Pueblo, the archetypal community platform. I think it's mostly done, but I still feel like there's something missing, which is why I kept it as a draft. You, dear reader, can help: Is there anything I haven't addressed or that I'm missing? Let me know!
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Diego Maradona: Argentina legend dies aged 60
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Comment on Timasomo 2020 Thread #4: Update Thread 3 in ~creative
meerific LinkI edited my post from last week to include the article I wrote: Humane Communities - how we can live and grow together. I would appreciate any feedback or criticism you have! I wasn't able to get...I edited my post from last week to include the article I wrote: Humane Communities - how we can live and grow together. I would appreciate any feedback or criticism you have!
I wasn't able to get much done this week other than thinking of ideas for tools I'd want to design. I'll start pixel-placing this week. The first tool will be an archetypal communications tool for communities. I don't think it will be groundbreaking in any way, because there are plenty of communications apps out there to use. But it may include some features that other platforms lack. Think of it as an example of how to use communications tools to build a community in a way I'd like[1].
I had another idea for a learning tool I'd build, unrelated to community. I may work on that if I don't slack off this week. I plan to continue generating ideas for other apps, but in all likelihood I'll finish the communications tool + writeup this month and that's it.
[1] I can't make any guarantees about how effective my ideas are
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
meerific LinkI built a basic Express endpoint for collecting mailing list subscriptions. Form collection has a ton of SaaS offerings, but I decided to just do it myself.I built a basic Express endpoint for collecting mailing list subscriptions. Form collection has a ton of SaaS offerings, but I decided to just do it myself.
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Comment on Timasomo 2020 Thread #3: Update Thread 2 in ~creative
meerific (edited )LinkI talked to more people about their experience with community this week. One lived in a commune for a few years, another has lived in five countries over the past eight years, and a third has...I talked to more people about their experience with community this week. One lived in a commune for a few years, another has lived in five countries over the past eight years, and a third has lived in San Francisco since the 80s and watched it change. Their perspectives were all very interesting.
I wrote a first draft for my post, which I always scrap. The second draft is usually the one I publish, and I'll try to get that done early next week. I didn't expect removing my wisdom teeth and breaking my phone this past week would affect me as much as it did. Oh well, I'm feeling better now. No excuses this week!
EDIT: I finished it up last night and published it this morning! Let me know what you think: Humane Communities: how we can live and grow together
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Comment on Privacy is a lonely bastion. Anyone know how to meet friends online these days? in ~tech
meerific Link ParentFair enough, some people are like that. Other profiles are much tamer. For example, here's mine.Fair enough, some people are like that. Other profiles are much tamer. For example, here's mine.
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Comment on Modern IDEs are magic. Why are so many coders still using Vim and Emacs? in ~comp
meerific Link ParentI do all my work on a ~2015 Macbook Air. It has 4GB of RAM. Maybe it's true that many machines these days have plenty of RAM to handle all these programs. But, to paraphrase Parkinson's Law If we...I do all my work on a ~2015 Macbook Air. It has 4GB of RAM.
Maybe it's true that many machines these days have plenty of RAM to handle all these programs. But, to paraphrase Parkinson's Law
"App RAM usage expands so as to fill the RAM available for it to run."
If we build all our apps with this mindset, cheaper/low-end devices would become practically unusable. That puts people who can't afford good machines at at disadvantage.
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Comment on Privacy is a lonely bastion. Anyone know how to meet friends online these days? in ~tech
meerific Link ParentYeah, that's a good point. I guess I won't be deleting my account until they update that to comply with CCPA.Yeah, that's a good point. I guess I won't be deleting my account until they update that to comply with CCPA.
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Comment on Privacy is a lonely bastion. Anyone know how to meet friends online these days? in ~tech
meerific Link Parent(shameless plug) My Timasomo project is actually related to this. I want to design online tools which help create and manage good communities. I'm in the research/writing phase right now, and...(shameless plug) My Timasomo project is actually related to this. I want to design online tools which help create and manage good communities. I'm in the research/writing phase right now, and would appreciate any feedback on what I've already written or advice for what I need to consider, especially from people who are looking for good communities to join!
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Comment on Privacy is a lonely bastion. Anyone know how to meet friends online these days? in ~tech
meerific (edited )LinkYeah, I'm in a similar boat. Here's my suggestion: Lunchclub. It sets you up with a few networking calls every week based on when you're free, what you're looking for, and the interests you give...Yeah, I'm in a similar boat. Here's my suggestion: Lunchclub. It sets you up with a few networking calls every week based on when you're free, what you're looking for, and the interests you give it. I always pick "I want to meet interesting people" as my objective. My experience has been overwhelmingly positive; the calls have kept me sane for the past several months.
Edit: I should mention Lunchclub isn't necessarily for finding friends, although that may be possible. It's more for professional contacts and networking. That's all I need right now, though, so it works for me.
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Comment on Timasomo 2020 Thread #2: Update Thread 1 in ~creative
meerific LinkWrote a couple short pieces last week: On Lurking and Minimal Commonality. These will form a basis for a longer article on community, which I plan to write next week. That aricle, in turn, will...Wrote a couple short pieces last week: On Lurking and Minimal Commonality. These will form a basis for a longer article on community, which I plan to write next week. That aricle, in turn, will guide my designs.
As a side note, I'm planning to re-crop a few of my old nature photos and upload them here over the course of this month.
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Comment on Timasomo 2020 Thread #1: Roll Call and Beginning! in ~creative
meerific LinkAs mentioned in my post on the last thread, I'll be focusing on community this month. Specifically: how we can build better communities online and in real life -- for everyone. I'll talk to a...As mentioned in my post on the last thread, I'll be focusing on community this month. Specifically: how we can build better communities online and in real life -- for everyone. I'll talk to a diverse group of people about it, write about some of the ideas we come up with, then design tools based on these ideas. I want to get a couple designs completed by the end of the month, maybe more, we'll see what the research reveals.
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Comment on Rate my homepage! in ~creative
meerific Link ParentYeah, fair enough, I had that there at one point and decided to remove it. I'll remove that line from the HTML now.Yeah, fair enough, I had that there at one point and decided to remove it. I'll remove that line from the HTML now.
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Comment on Rate my homepage! in ~creative
meerific Link ParentThe font is DM Mono. I use the WhatFont extension to help figure that out. The shaking is an intentional animation.The font is DM Mono. I use the WhatFont extension to help figure that out.
The shaking is an intentional animation.
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Comment on Rate my homepage! in ~creative
meerific Link ParentPlenty of people have a homepage that's just contact info, so you're in good company there. The purple-on-brown text is a bit hard to read, so be careful with that. A few recommendations for the...Plenty of people have a homepage that's just contact info, so you're in good company there.
The purple-on-brown text is a bit hard to read, so be careful with that.
A few recommendations for the blog:
- keep the body text's max width between two and three alphabets wide.
- since you're using DM Mono, consider using DM Sans as your sans-serif font.
I built Typical: typing practice/copywork in the terminal.
It's based on Typing.io, Typelit, and the results of a paper about typing practice as a learning tool and to improve programming ability. The online platforms look interesting, but I'd rather work in the terminal. I saw some related projects on GitHub, in addition to the much-loved GNU Typist, but I wanted a straightforward way to practice typing out custom files and projects.
I wrote Typical in Rust. I don't know Rust, but I read HackerNews so I know it's the greatest programming language of all time.
Joking aside, Rust's website says it's good for building command-line apps.
The current version provides visual feedback, i.e. correct letters turn green and incorrect letters turn red. It has a typewriter-like layout, meaning your current line stays in the middle of the screen and other lines scroll up and down. I plan to add in statistics like time to completion, # of backspaces, % correct, etc.