This site is as much an experiment in me learning to code as it is a place to showcase my other work, so documenting my changes here seems worthwhile!

Tags

The tagging system on the blog is now working! Granted, there’s not much to look at at the minute, but as this site grows I plan to allow users to filter posts to see only what’s relevant to them (be that topic, location, or project based), and to offer RSS feeds for each tag category (more on that in a second). A search feature would also be a nice thing to have, but that’s some ways down the road for now.

Comments

I have implemented commenting on the website, using a (free) Disqus account. I really hope to receive feedback in the future, as I firmly believe that it will result in better work in the long run. Unfortunately, Disqus will probably place some ads on my site - I think for now that it’s still the best solution, but I’ll be looking into other options in the future.

RSS feeds

I have strong feelings about the direction that the internet has taken in the last few years, with a huge proportion of all web content hosted on non-customisable social media sites run by huge for-profit corporations. RSS is an old-fashioned way of receiving updates from sites you’re interested in, akin to following or subscribing, without the need to create an account on the website. At the minute there’s just one global RSS feed, however I have plans to implement feeds on a tag-by-tag basis as well!

I suspect RSS, or a modern equivalent, will make a major comeback at some point, as the user-retention focused form the internet has taken strikes me as profoundly unsustainable. How many people want to use Facebook or Twitter, compared to those who find the experience miserable, but feel obliged to in order to not fall entirely out-of-the-loop? I would guess not many!

Other Stuff

I’ve also made a couple of minor design changes, and plan to keep polishing the look and feel of the site as time goes on. If you have a specific request for a change, please do let me know, because I’d be delighted to receive feedback!

That’s all for now, but I’ll be back pretty soon with my post on DART+ Southwest, seeing as that public consultation will be closing soon. See you then!