Paul’s Weblog is a personal, tech-adjacent blog mixing software engineering insights, weeknotes, developer tips, and thoughtful cultural commentary. Short, witty posts covering tools, events, and reflections from life in tech.
113 articles from this blog
Explores the nuances of open-source licensing, the 'open core' model, and the distinction between 'free as in speech' vs. 'free as in beer'.
A developer discusses the deprecation of Unsplash Source, a service for embedding random photos, and explores potential alternatives.
A guide on how to permanently remove a file containing sensitive data (like a password) from your entire Git repository history using a specific command.
A personal recap and notes from the Open Source North 2024 conference, covering talks on AI, automation, leadership, and developer practices.
Explains the concept of humane alphabets for URLs to avoid ambiguous characters, with a practical implementation example using Sqids.
A developer shares two technical learnings: using GitHub Desktop as a CLI tool and the purpose of the Public Suffix List for web security.
A personal recap and notes from the Minnebar 18 tech conference, covering sessions on startups, accessibility, recruiting, and more.
VS Code includes a built-in Simple Browser, useful for demos and pair programming to reduce window switching.
Author discusses writing a technical article on using Alembic for database migrations in Python, published on TestDriven.io.
A personal reflection on the acquisition and uncertain future of CSS-Tricks, a popular web development blog, following its purchase by DigitalOcean.
An open letter urging Apple to reverse its decision to kill Progressive Web App (PWA) support in Safari, calling it a regression for the web.
A developer discusses personal email address strategies using custom domains, focusing on productivity and professional identity.
A developer details the process of scraping a restaurant week website's API to create a better UI, covering reverse-engineering and data presentation.
A developer's experience trying out GoatCounter, a privacy-focused, open-source alternative to Google Analytics for basic website traffic tracking.
A tutorial on dynamically embedding the latest GitHub release version into project documentation using JavaScript and the GitHub API.
Explores a dark pattern in Substack's UI where subscription pricing is hidden, and reveals a workaround to view it without signing up.
Informal notes and takeaways from attending Frontend Masters workshops, covering JavaScript tasks, Angular, and web accessibility.
A developer shares their positive experience attending free in-person workshops by Frontend Masters and discusses the platform's new publication, Boost.
Argues that any product website charging money should have a dedicated /pricing URL for clear and easy access to cost information.
A developer shares their experience using the Remarkable 2 e-ink tablet for writing and reading, and details creating a script to convert PDF notes to Markdown.
