The more things change... #webcomics #comicsky

Whoever chose Look Mum No Computer is someone who actually gets Eurovision. Fantastic.

Facebook is quite... down right now.

This. I realised that whilst I run @designweek.co.uk I'm also, originally, a software developer and the sources that I feel can support us just aren't there. At best we have The Register, but that's rather more IT than software design. So I'll make more space for software design in Design Week.

I hope as Tommy Robinson flees Dubai he settles in the first safe country he arrives in

The only way to genuinely beat Reform is to work very hard to improve people’s lives. Most people - even Reform voters- are don’t wish ill on fellow humans, they just want their own lives to improve. Reform is thriving on 16 years of standards of living sliding backwards out of control

Why yes. We've all had that feeling.

Bent over to water a plant and a leaf managed to go straight into my eye and under the eyelid, spearing straight over my eye. It's a very peculiar feeling.

Just watched Metal Lords with youngest. A perfect coming of age movie for the metaller in your family. Executive producer was, of all people, Tom Morello. Of Rage Against the Machine fame, so the music was pretty much spot on. Cute really.

Why would you pig-headedly ignore the voice of the next generation? Why would you saddle them with debt, shrink the job market and limit their opportunities? It runs counter to everything politics and society should want for them. For all of us. They’re the future. www.itv.com/news/2026-02...

I always feel that people who hark back to a past they didn't experience must be truly miserable within the life they do experience. I swear the world would be a better place if everyone had to have ten therapy sessions a year.

Tax-funded schools should have NO religious ethos. They should give every child a fair chance to attend. Assemblies shouldn't be opportunities for prayer and worship, but should inspire children to think for themselves. Yet across the UK, thousands of parents are still forced to play along.

I spend a chunk of my time interviewing designers, design leaders, that kind of person. They're all quite lovely, really. I think though that I'd really get a certain sadistic pleasure in interviewing nasty people. Maybe we can persuade Farage on to talk about design policy?

The voice inside your head also has legs. #webcomics #comicsky

People are finally noticing Substack have some problematic ideas. If you're looking for better alternatives: WordPress (self hosted) Ghost CMS Various simpler options like Jekyll, but less user friendly. All open source, all you can get help with from independents like my firm Standfirst.

The most underrated Windows feature is clipboard history. It's incredibly useful. After 18 months with a MacBook Pro which got broken I've started using Windows again...and I must admit, it's like meeting an old friend. Yes, there's plenty of infuriating stuff in Windows but so productive.

Apps that get DNS verification functionality wrong really cause a lot of pain for their users. Having explained the problem a number of times, I finally decided to write it down so now I can just share a link.

I've never felt more creative than right now.

I know someone who works with Macron. Apparently he's incredibly kind to work for, yet firm when he needs to be.

Every now and again my wife asks what song is in my head. A couple of times I've had to go: "Badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger Mushroom, mushroom!" I wonder how many internet nerds of a certain age have the same affliction?

I have to say that Bluesky is coming along quite nicely. I find myself enjoying it more as time passes, and I login frequently. Has anyone got lists of WordPress, Laravel and Design people I should be following here?

Being liberal is acknowledging that other people know their lives and needs and best and so long as they're not harming others all is fine. You may disapprove of what they do, or feel it's not for you, and the weapon you have to change things is only respectful argument and data.

Do you want to know if you can watch a film on the BBC tonight?

Jeff's a good guy. If you're doing web products or apps he's got just the right balance of skills and human insight to do a great job. And he's been a communicator in the WordPress for as long as I remember.

The exact moment when tech started to suck was when Byte magazine covers went from this, to this, which was September 1987. Sorry if that's earlier than you thought, but Silicon Valley was ahead on these trends.

Word up to people wanting to get into Design Week - do NOT send us a massive picture with text and visual assets for it as a press release. I can read it but it's a nightmare to get the assets out of, the text can't be copied and pasted... a key thing is to make the job of a journalist easy!

I met with Migrante creative director Valerio Le Moli and Davide Lupi of Stellantis to talk about the new visual identity for Abarth. As an old school gamer I'm all for pixel heavy artwork! Now they just need to add it to the dashboard UI... @designweek.co.uk

Oh I like this. And I like the source it's based on too. Going to play with this one! I have a poster sized hole in my wall after being annoyed by one that was winding me up.

The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy. It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.

That would be since... 2016? I wonder what happened then?

Who are the designers on Bluesky we need to be following but aren't? Hit us up!

Here we go designers, the first event of the year has been announced. Derby, we're coming for you! More info here: www.designweek.co.uk/events/desig...

Misread the ranking score. People who code these systems...did I just bring down someone's average? Will my later replies be parsed?

Leonardo DiCaprio has stopped using Wikipedia.

My Surface Pro was getting very hot and therefore slow doing a big update, so I placed it flush against a metal laptop stand to act as a big heatsink and it worked! You don't get these problems with proper tower PCs. Or ARM based laptops. But my MacBook is broken and I prefer Windows anyway.

I've been reading about fascism lately and where it got its support. Almost everywhere it comes up it's because of support from a wealthy class who fear they may lose their privilege and property. As socialist style talk has grown with wage stagnation the wealthy are scared.

I honestly find these old excerpts shine quite a light on a different era. One where women were rather more pigeonholed in what society expected.

I'm not quite sure I get full on Web Brutalism. It's been around a while now but... I mean, Design Week actually took on some elements of it in its design, but we had to keep it sensible because usability and accessibility matter. What are your thoughts on the trend?

Americans! I've actually lived in a fascist state and I see some parallels in what I remember and know of Franco's dictatorship of Spain so I'm here to warn you of what to watch out. First, the parallels. 🧵

What you're seeing here is common in a lot of failing organisations, institutions, businesses and even crime syndicates... When loyalty is favoured over competence you're going to screw up big style in time.

Widnes gets a lot of flack. But we also have almost no Union Jacks on lampposts. Sometimes people try but they're lucky if they stay up a day. Not sure if it's the council or residents taking them down but either way is a win. Other towns have increasingly tatty sadness flags.

Chevron CEO Sure In Good Mood This Week https://theonion.com/chevron-ceo-sure-in-good-mood-this-week/

I've been rewatching The Godfather series and what struck me is that Mafia and capitalist cycles are remarkably aligned and can fail for the same human reasons. A thread which will probably go unseen as my Bluesky following is thin...but I like writing things down to cement my thoughts. So... 🧵 1/n

Keir Starmer should condemn Trump’s illegal action in Venezuela. Maduro is a brutal and illegitimate dictator, but unlawful attacks like this make us all less safe. Trump is giving a green light to the likes of Putin and Xi to attack other countries with impunity.

Fiddling with the loudspeaker on my shelf and started a cascade of knocking some pictures off... which resulted in chaos and the speaker itself getting dropped. On my MacBook that lives beneath it. Amazingly it's merely dented, but I swear this MacBook is cursed.

Compulsive tracking doesn’t measure what really counts ft.trib.al/A97zUG0 | opinion

I genuinely feel that we in the software world could learn from the music hardware world. Buttons and lights that stay in the same place are UX/UI heaven. Muscle memory is one of the most robust systems we have in our biology.

MerrAI Christmas everyone!

People say neighbourly values don't exist any more. Well, I asked in our street WhatsApp if anyone could spare a few dining chairs for this evening (we do a Polish style Xmas Eve dinner) and in three minutes the doorbell went with a neighbour stood there holding two chairs!

What if you used AI to properly specify your Xmas dinner? davidcoveney.com/305535/a-xma...