As a research project, I built a needed tool with Claude Code. I though it would be a disaster, but It wasn't. I have some complicated feelings about it.

I used AI. It worked. I hated it.

I used Claude Code to build a tool I needed. It worked great, but I was miserable. I need to reckon with what it means.

taggart-tech.com

today and always ./🏳️‍⚧️

the very first correct ai overview in modern history, i fear

GlaireDaggers🍉🏳️‍⚧️🎄@glairedaggers.bsky.social · 4mo ago

.... I see.

Everyone has a right to exist.

Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani@mayor.nyc.gov · 4mo ago

If your title is "designer" & you keep using AI gen'd images for your articles & posts, all you're telling me is that you're too lazy to do the thing you claim to be an expert at. If I said I'm an expert chef & brought a microwave dinner to our pitch meeting, you'd laugh me out of the building.

"How much of this can be local" should be the default question every dev asks. Most have gotten too comfortable with defaulting to remote hosting even the tiniest services. Glad to see a growing pushback for local-first. A nice mini-doc from @cultrepo.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=10d8...

Local-First Software: Taking Back Control of Our Data | a mini-doc

YouTube video by CultRepo

youtube.com

Why do so many modern SaaS sites look the same? First, Tailwind. Second, agentic tools using it by default. From @jim-nielsen.com : "When you offload your thinking, you might be on-loading someone else’s you’d never agree to — personally or collectively." blog.jim-nielsen.com/2026/opacity...

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Considering some of the architectural choices within, I'm beginning to think Sanity[dot]io is ironically named.

I finally installed my own self-hosted instance of Gitea (about.gitea.com) and it's so good and so fast. I should have done this a long time ago. I really like Gitlab for a lot of reasons, but for 90% of my projects and especially solo work Gitea is fantastic.

Gitea Official Website

Gitea - Git with a cup of tea! Painless self-hosted all-in-one software development service, including Git hosting, code review, team collaboration, package registry and CI/CD

about.gitea.com

Nothing is illegal on stolen I.P.

Good.

Katelyn Burns@katelynburns.com · 5mo ago

anti-trans Dems ate shit last night

Food for thought from Terrible Software (which I found via @stefanjudis.com 's excellent newsletter): Stop asking "What do you think?" without including your own thinking and context first. You're just offloading your work to someone else.

Way too many people gleefully throw themselves into vendor lock-in for their sites and infrastructure. Maybe that no-code SaaS platform is great for you, but I implore you to first ask yourselves if you'll ever want to move your data, price shop other providers, or scale up beyond the basics.

This should make your blood boil. Please contact your reps (@resist.bot is a great way to do it) and keep the pressure on to stop this. No kid, no matter where they or their parents are from, should be imprisoned like this.

Nathan Kalman-Lamb@nkalamb.bsky.social · 6mo ago

“I don’t want to be in this place I want to go to my school.” - 7 year old imprisoned by ICE for 70 days in a concentration camp in Texas. Today, after @propublica.org published this story, the camp was raided to confiscate letters from the children. www.propublica.org/article/ice-...

Look at this horror show. This is just one span tag from high-profile production site. I won't say Tailwind is inherently bad, but it sure is a crutch that's used poorly more often than not.

I built a free #dnd tool that lets you add all of your character's available actions, set how many actions you can use per turn, and then easily plan your next turn. Runs in any browser (including your phone), no login or sign-up. jeffcouturier.com/blog/dd-acti...

It's the tail end of 2025 and I'm still seeing UI's with iconography that isn't descriptive at all. I have no idea what that weird box with an off-center circle inside is supposed to mean. "But it's our brand style." Then your brand style is a lack of clarity. Be clear first, then be fancy.

It's been years and years, and I still despise React's JSX camel case for HTML properties. I get it, that's how the DOM API works, but React leans in to wacky convention-breaking quirks like this. It still feels dirty and things like Svelte have proven it doesn't have to be like that.

Seeing designers use shoddy AI art as heroes for their blog posts is disappointing. We can and should do better, pressure be damned. Selling out your own craft doesn't reflect well on you.

As promised earlier, for your weekend joy: @ohhelloana.blog and her talk about "Maintaining and Modernising CSS" given at #btconf Berlin 2025. Have a wonderful weekend everyone! youtu.be/6ZP1e8iQtBQ

Ana Rodrigues – Maintaining and Modernising CSS – beyond tellerrand Berlin 2025

YouTube video by beyond tellerrand

youtu.be

Big tech has convinced most people that they *have to* use their walled gardens and pay for their apps. But you don't. That's the beauty of the web, and it's very easy and cheap (free options too!) to have your own site/blog/whatever. Take advantage of offers like this.

Michael Bishop@michaelbishop.me · 2y ago

If you would like help moving your substack to WordPress and use their MailPoet newsletter platform I'm available for consulting and development work.

Google changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Dump Truck just means it isn't a trusted source of information anymore. Geography isn't named by the POTUS.

The web has cancer, and this is a carcinogen.

I really like this from @simonwillison.net "I realized that one of the best things about open source software is that you can solve a problem once and then you can slap an open source license on that solution and you will never have to solve that problem ever again"

A selfish personal argument for releasing code as Open Source

I’m the guest for the most recent episode of the Real Python podcast with Christopher Bailey, talking about Using LLMs for Python Development. We covered a lot of other topics …

simonwillison.net

I was about to rant about unordered lists, and then I turned my volume up... 😂

David Darnes@darn.es · 2y ago

You know the _real_ reason why there isn't an <accordion> element? It's because we've never truly been able to accurately depict it in code… until now 🪗

For young adults everywhere…

Codetoday Unlimited@codetodayunlimited.com · 2y ago

We've got some great news: You can now get TWO MONTHS FREE to access ALL the courses at Codetoday Unlimited You can cancel within the two months and you'll never get charged—But we think you'd want to stay a bit longer. It's only $5 / month from the third month onwards codetodayunlimited.com

It is the year 2025. I should not be landing on your conference website and seeing a line up of only men.

If you're a front-end dev, you need to be watching HTMX closely right now. htmx.org/essays/future/