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Jason Fried Valid
Text • Jason Fried

Thoughts on the search for life

Just listened to Lex Fridman and Sara Walker talk about the origins of life, the search for life, what is life, etc. It was a wonderfully refreshing, nourishing conversation.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwhTfyX9J34It made me want to spill out some random thoughts on the...

Daring Fireball Valid
Text • John Gruber

★ Training Large Language Models on the Public Web

The whole point of the public web is that it’s there to learn from — even if the learner isn’t human. Is there a single LLM that was *not* trained on the public web? To my knowledge there is not, and a model that is ignorant of all information available on the public web would be, well, pretty ignorant of the world.

Jason Fried Valid
Text • Jason Fried

Lighten your grip

I recently took up drumming. Again.One of the first things you realize, other than you suck, is that you’re gripping the sticks too hard.A tight grip denies certain degrees of freedom, limits subtlety, and ups the fatigue factor. Plus you give up the gift of bounce the dru...

Jason Fried Valid
Text • Jason Fried

Separation

In my experience, a key skill to develop is the ability to separate one thing from another. To prevent the small from becoming the all. Take a policy, for example. Could be a government, or a school, or a home owner’s association, or something at work. Whatever it is, you...

Ana Rodrigues Supports Webmention Valid
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I want it all but, it is impossible

I want to read all the newsletters I subscribed to. I want to read everything in the ten web dev community slacks I joined. I want to read everything on the seven Discord servers I am on. I want to read every blog post in the hundreds of feeds I follow. I want to read every ...

Jason Fried Valid
Text • Jason Fried

Why am I still doing this?

I’ve been doing this for 25 years, so I’ll often be asked why I’m still in it and how I stay motivated.It ain’t the money, as I’ve been fortunate enough to make more than I’ll ever be able to spend.I enjoy the work and we have a great crew, each a true pleasure to work wit...

Jason Fried Valid
Text • Jason Fried

Osmo Wiio: Communication usually fails, except by accident

Osmo Wiio was a Finnish researcher of human communication. His laws of communication are the human communications equivalent of Murphy’s Laws.Wiio's laws state... If communication can fail, it will. If a message can be understood in different ways, it will be understood...

Jason Fried Valid
Text • Jason Fried

Surface area vs. Depth in product design

Some of the most rewarding features to add to products are ones that don’t increase surface area, but increase depth.This is how you continue to make a product a whole lot better without it feeling like it got a whole lot bigger.Basecamp’s new References feature is a great...

Ana Rodrigues Supports Webmention Valid
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I am not a good interviewer and probably neither are you

I cringe whenever I look back to the days I was the interviewer for roles at the companies I worked for. When I was just starting out my career at a company with hundreds of developers, I remember thinking and feeling that being the developer picked to interview someone mean...

Jason Fried Valid
Text • Jason Fried

Motivation

I can fake enough. I can fake a lot.

But I’ve noticed there’s one thing in particular I can’t fake: Motivation.

And in the end, at least for me, it all comes down to motivation. I may have the talent, I may know the tricks, I may be able to go through the motions.

But if I deeply don’t want to do it, it won’t be good. Simple as that. It might get done, or more likely it may not, but it’ll be hollow. Something will be missing.

And that’s the spiral — doing empty work dissolves my motivation even more.

I’m more likely to do something I’m terrible at if I really want it, than something I’m great at that I don’t.

Motivation is my essential element. And you can’t mine it. It mines you.

-Jason

Ana Rodrigues Supports Webmention Valid
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Speaking at WebExpo!

Flyer with my photo and details of the event.

I'm over the moon to share that I am one of the speakers for this year's WebExpo! It will be my first time attending WebExpo. I was impressed with how keen the organising team was on the community and the attendees' experience.

It will also be my first time at a multi-track conference, and the speakers list is so good! I know it will be difficult for me to choose what to attend.

Since I gave this talk at the State of the Browser and FFConf, I've been working on new experiments and sharing the things I've learned.

Tickets are still available; you should get them before they increase the price!

See you there?

Ana Rodrigues Supports Webmention Valid
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Reflections from IndieWebCamp Brighton

The other weekend, I attended IndieWebCamp Brighton and had a wonderful time! I've been working from home for four years, and most of my friends have left London, so events like this excite me to see internet buddies! Like Jeremy said, I, too, feel like it was my RSS feed co...

Jason Fried Valid
Text • Jason Fried

Avoiding pile-ups

One of the reasons we work in six week cycles, is that it gives us a different definition of later.When you work on really long projects — say 3, 6, 9 month projects — or projects that don’t have any end in sight, “we can do that later” typically means you’ll get to it eve...

Ana Rodrigues Supports Webmention Valid
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You don't have to be a “content creator” to have a website.

This is clearly the result of living in a capitalist society. In recent years, people have felt the pressure to monetise their hobbies, so there’s a constant state of hustle. We all need money to exist in our society. In the online communities and circles where I try to hang...

Ana Rodrigues Supports Webmention Valid
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Testing IndieKit

I am at IndieWebCamp Brighton and I am testing IndieKit! Ignore this post.

Ana Rodrigues Supports Webmention Valid
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My loss. Their public consumption.

Growing up, I wasn’t close to my extended family. My parents weren’t close to them or were not on speaking terms, so, as a child, I followed their pattern. It probably explains why it took until recently for me to experience grieving while online. I just flew back from Portu...

Jason Fried Valid
Text • Jason Fried

Hooks, towel bars, and software

Strangely, a recent bathroom renovation crystalized my perspective on product development.When being asked to choose between towel hooks or a towel bar, the choice was obvious: Hooks, of course.Hooks take up no space. Towel bars suck up space.Hooks hold towels no matter ho...

Jason Fried Valid
Text • Jason Fried

Do learn

Imagine teaching guitar without putting an instrument in someone’s hands.Or teaching ceramics without having people work with clay.Or teaching tennis without swinging the racket and hitting balls.I’m sure there’s some way to teach those things without doing those things, b...

Ana Rodrigues Supports Webmention Valid
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TIL: How to fix it when an element blinks when using intersection observer.

I recently built a page where a positioned sticky element would appear when another element wasn't visible anymore. For this, I used the intersection observer.

Later on, it was noticed that on an iPhone using Safari, it was as if this sticky item would start blinking, appearing and disappearing at certain scroll positions.

I had no idea why, but eventually, I found a comment buried on a GitHub thread that fixed my issue. I replaced position: sticky with position: fixed, and it got fixed! Why? I don't know. But now I know, I guess.

The project I was working on wasn't using React or any other JavaScript framework. Still, sometimes, the framework used is a red herring. It's best not to dismiss search results based on their title and just have a look.

Jason Fried Valid
Text • Jason Fried

You couldn't know

Have you ever been asked "What do you wish you knew then that you know now?" I have. And I hate the question. It's usually framed in a way that encourages you to pretend to place yourself in the nascent days of your career, or early adulthood. Back when you didn't know m...