Dispatches From The Internets

Rebuilding a PHP App using Isomorphic JavaScript with Eleventy & Netlify

Painting of a cute red robot looking at itself in a full-body mirror.

Back in the early days of the iPhone, I created Tipr, a tip calculator that always produces a palindrome total. This is an overview of the minimal work I did to make it a modern web app that can run without a traditional back-end.



ChatGPT is great – you’re just using it wrong

Setting aside it’s current issues with facts, the idea of using ChatGPT as an improv partner is interesting. Could work well for brainstorming and getting your own creative juices flowing.



Use the dialog element (reasonably)

The dialog element is ready for prime time:

IMO, the dialog element has reached the tipping point of being the better option for web developers who need to implement dialogs in their web pages. The number of accessibility requirements a developer needs to be aware of, and the level of effort to implement custom ARIA dialogs is now largely taken care of by browsers.

Use it, don’t abuse it.


Screen Readers support for text level HTML semantics

Steve Faulkner updated his assessment of support for text-level semantics in screen readers and accessibility APIs. He discusses what’s changed in the last 15 years (since his last assessment) and what it means in terms of conformance with respect to accessibility guidelines.




Inclusion is Innovation

Having worked in the D&I space within Microsoft for a few years now, it’s great to see the things we’ve been discussing internally making it out into the world.

It all goes hand-in-hand:

  1. Screen in for diverse perspectives during the interview process.
  2. Foster inclusive teams that value and promote people for not only their productive capacity, but also their unique experiences & perspectives.
  3. Empower everyone to influence product/service design.
  4. Release products that serve everyone because those products were created by people who share lived experiences with everyone.