Blog posts page 3 of 44

SemVer is an intent - not a promise

  • đź“…
  • đź“ť 480
  • đź•™ 3
  • 📦 Development

Semantic versioning is a simple agreement on how packages should be versioned.

Semantic versioning (SemVer) gives package developers a framework to version their software and provides consumers of packages an expectation of how changes will be handled over time.

ZX-Origins - free 8-bit fonts for games

I started designing fonts around 1987 on an 8-bit Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Many years later, my involvement in the Spectrum emulation scene led aul Dunn to ask me if I could provide fonts for his excellent BASIN Sinclair BASIC for Windows. My interest in 8x8 fonts was suitably rekindled, and I ended up delivering about 60 — some even extracted from my original +3 disk images.

I wanted to get these fonts online earlier! Raw 7698-byte files, however, are only of use to BASIN users or those suitably familiar with the convoluted process and tools to get them into a Spectrum or emulator. Even trying to use them on Windows was a pain given that TrueType only cares about scalable fonts (SBIT embedded bitmaps are rare these days).

Azure Pipeline Build Variables

  • đź“…
  • đź“ť 359
  • đź•™ 2
  • 📦 .NET

Azure Pipelines has been interesting to me especially given the generous free open source tier and seemingly instant availability of build agents. The setup is easy if you’re building .NET targets with lots of useful starters available.

Some areas have been frustrating, specifically build variables, the difficulty in getting the app installed, and the limitations on triggers if you can’t (non-GitHub apps can’t be installed on Enterprise accounts even if FREE).

Revisiting my BBC Micro - display, speech & more

It’s been a while since I blogged about Revitalizing my BBC Micro. In that time, I’ve performed a few upgrades readers might find interesting.

As useful as the tiny Amstrad CRT was, I wanted something bigger, brighter, and sharper. LCD is terrible for retro systems with blurry scaling attempting to draw images designed to take advantage of CRTs. Emulator authors spend significant effort trying to mimic CRT effects for an authentic retro feel — but the best option is to use a CRT.

WordPress to Jekyll part 5 - Hosting & building

The next stage is considering where to host the site and whether to use a content delivery network (CDN). My preferred approach on other sites has been to:

Adding the CloudFront CDN was essential if you wanted SSL with your domain name, but GitHub pages added support for SSL certs with custom domains

WordPress to Jekyll part 4 - Categories and tags

Jekyll does support categories and tags directly but doesn’t support the pagination of categories and tag list pages. The Paginate-v2 gem does solve this — and also lets you tweak the URL format.

My site used the URL formats /blog/category/{category-name}/blog/category/{category-name} and /blog/tag/{tag-name}/blog/tag/{tag-name} with 4 articles per page and a little pager at the bottom offering some indication of what page you are on, and some navigation arrows like this:

WordPress to Jekyll part 3 - Site search

Site search is a feature that WordPress got right. Analytics also tells me it is popular. A static site is at a disadvantage, but we have some options to address that.

My first consideration was to use Google Site Search alas it was deprecated last year. There are alternative options, but few are free. I agree that people should be paid for their services, something has to keep the lights on, but a small personal blog with no income stream can’t justify this cost.

WordPress to Jekyll part 2 - Comments & commenting

I do enjoy discussion and debate, whether designing software or writing articles. Many times the comments have explored the subject further or offered corrections or additional insights and tips. They are vital on my blog, and I was disappointed that Jekyll provides nothing out of the box to handle them.

Third-party solutions like Disqus exist that require you either pay a subscription or have ads inlined with the comments. That $9/month adds up. The alternative of injecting ads onto my blog to support comment infrastructure doesn’t sit right with me.

WordPress to Jekyll part 1 - My history and reasoning

It’s hard to believe it was 13 years ago, back in a cold December on the little island of Guernsey, when I decided to start blogging. I’d had a static site with a few odd musings since 2000, but this was to be more regularly updated and with technical content. Blogspot seemed the easiest way to get started.

Within 18 months of regular blogging, I’d moved over to Subtext, which, being a .NET app, required Windows hosting, so I threw it on a small Shuttle PC on my home DSL. I started using it as an experiment for CSS and web techniques but, within a year, I’d had my 1MB DSL brought to its knees twice through articles featured on BoingBoing.