Hi friend,
Wish you are staying safe.
I have paused this email newsletter for 4 weeks.
If we work at weekend, we are not only working 7 days in a row. Instead, it is 12 days in a row.
And in September, I was having extra works in 2 weekends in a row. And then another Saturday working in the 3rd weekend. So I was literally working 20 days in a row.
We cannot stress ourself too much, otherwise, we burnt out. This is exactly what happened in September to me. I got sick for few days and took a 5 days rest during the mid-autumn and national day. So now things seems getting back to normal and my schedule is not as full as before. Finally having some leisure time to read and think.
So my lesson learnt: Don’t work on Sunday until it is really necessary.
Links worth sharing
Simplify Your Stack With A Custom-Made Static Site Generator
Excel: Why using Microsoft's tool caused Covid-19 results to be lost
→ A11y Resources
https://a11yresources.webflow.io/
A growing list of accessibility resources with checklists, bookmarklets, and tools.
→ Misc. things about CSS variables you might not know
https://patrickbrosset.com/articles/2020-09-21-3-things-about-css-variables-you-might-not-know/
This article explains what happens when var() meets undefined, fallback and nesting.
→ BBC Sound Effects
http://bbcsfx.acropolis.org.uk
The BBC releases over 16,000 sound effects for free download
→ Mono icons
https://icons.mono.company
136 open-sourced SVG icons.
→ Simplify Your Stack With A Custom-Made Static Site Generator
https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2020/09/stack-custom-made-static-site-generator/
It is a good learning process to buidl a simple static site generator.
But if you are seeking a production-ready and simple SSG, I recommend Eleventy (https://www.11ty.dev)
This is useful techniques that I have applied to achieve more habits.
→ Excel: Why using Microsoft's tool caused Covid-19 results to be lost
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54423988
One of the problem of using the old .xls format.
→ WiteBoard
https://witeboard.com/
An online whiteboard with real-time collaboration and instant sketching without any signup required. Work on mobile web too.
There are similar tools that I use daily during teaching and idea sketching:
→ ExcaliDraw
https://excalidraw.com
I have introduced this in previous email newsletter. I can quickly create chart in doodle style.
→ MZ-Draw
https://draw.mz-lab.com
My own canvas implementation for sketching. Static hosted via Github and Netlify. When I am outside using public computer and need to sketch something, I use this because I can remember the URL.
p.s. I am considering to migrate the newsletter from Substack to Sendy+Amazon SES. I will do some experiments later this week. I am seeking to zero tracking at all and currently I can’t do that with Substack. Let me report my findings with Sendy and the comparison with Substack next week.
Until next week,
Thomas Mak