Link tags: history

Constraints and the Lost Art of Optimization — Den Odell

The entire intellectual and creative output of a team that reinvented personal computing fits in a space that, today, we wouldn’t think twice about wasting on a single font file.

Somewhere in the years that followed we’ve lost the creative solutions, the art of optimization, that being constrained in that way produces.

The best engineers I’ve worked with carry this instinct even when others might think it crazy. They impose their own constraints. They ask what this would look like if it had to be half the size, or run twice as fast, or use a tenth of the memory. Not because anyone demanded it, but because just by thinking there could be a better, more efficient solution, one often emerges.

39C3 - Persist, resist, stitch - YouTube

A fascinating talk looking at the history of the intersection of knitting and stitching with wartime cryptography and resistance.

Web Backstories: Shadow DOM | Igalia

Eric Meyer and Brian Kardell chat with Jay Hoffmann and Jeremy Keith about Shadow DOM’s backstory and long origins

I enjoyed this chat, and it wasn’t just about Shadow DOM; it was about the history of chasing the dream of encapsulation on the web.

What happened to the comment section? - The History of the Web

I always enjoy reading Jay’s newsletter, but this was a particularly fun trip down memory lane.

There’s a link to an old post by Jeff Atwood who said:

A blog without comments is not a blog.

That was responding to an old post of mine where I declared:

Comments should be disabled 90% of the time.

That blog-to-blog conversation took place almost twenty years ago.

I still enjoy blog-to-blog conversations today.

My first months in cyberspace (Phil Gyford’s website)

This is a wonderfully evocative description of what it was like to go online 30 years ago.

Decentralizing quality || Matt Ström-Awn, designer-leader

I’ve personally struggled to implement a decentralized approach to quality in many of my teams. I believe in it from an academic standpoint, but in practice it works against the grain of every traditional management structure. Managers want ‘one neck to wring’ when things go wrong. Decentralized quality makes that impossible. So I’ve compromised, centralized, become the bottleneck I know slows things down. It’s easier to defend in meetings. But when I’ve managed to decentralize quality — most memorably when I was running a small agency and could write the org chart myself — I’ve been able to do some of the best work of my career.

Tim Berners-Lee Invented the World Wide Web. Now He Wants to Save It | The New Yorker

A profile of Tim and the World World Web.

Hack to the Future - Frontend - Matt Hobbs

Put the kettle on. This is a long one!

Matt takes a trip down memory lane and looks at all the frontend tools, technologies, and techniques that have come and gone over the years.

But this isn’t about nostalgia (although it does make you appreciate how far we’ve come). He’s looking at whether anything from the past is worth keeping today.

Studying past best practices and legacy systems is crucial for understanding the evolution of technology and making informed decisions today.

There’s only one technique that makes the cut:

After discussing countless legacy approaches and techniques best left in the past, you’ve finally arrived at a truly timeless and Incredibly important methodology.

We Are Still the Web - The History of the Web

The web is just people. Lots of people, connected across global networks. In 2005, it was the audience that made the web. In 2025, it will be the audience again.

Welcome to Medieval Murder Maps

CSI London, York, and Oxford:

Discover the murders, sudden deaths, sanctuary churches, and prisons of three thriving medieval cities.

Beautiful Public Data

A curated selection of visually interesting datasets collected by local, state and federal government agencies.

This site must’ve started as a way of showcasing really interesting collections, but now it’s turning into an archive of what’s being systematically destroyed by the current US regime.

Frame of preference – Aresluna

Marcin has outdone himself this time. Not only has he created an exhaustive history of the settings controls in Apple interfaces, he’s gone and made them all interactive!

While it’s easy to be blown away by the detail of the interactive elements here, it’s also worth taking a moment to appreciate just how good the writing is too.

Bravo!

Nuberodesign > Blog > Designing for the Eye

I love the interactive illustrations in this article filled with type and architecture nerdery!

Toolmen | A Working Library

Engaging with AI as a technology is to play the fool—it’s to observe the reflective surface of the thing without taking note of the way it sends roots deep down into the ground, breaking up bedrock, poisoning the soil, reaching far and wide to capture, uproot, strangle, and steal everything within its reach. It’s to stand aboveground and pontificate about the marvels of this bright new magic, to be dazzled by all its flickering, glittering glory, its smooth mirages and six-fingered messiahs, its apparent obsequiousness in response to all your commands, right up until the point when a sinkhole opens up and swallows you whole.

👏👏👏

Can Directories Rise Again? - The History of the Web

Search has bent in quality towards its earliest days, difficult to navigate and often unhelpful. And the remedy may be the same as it was a quarter century ago.

The history of album art || Matthew Ström, designer-leader

An enjoyable guided tour of album artwork starting at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Back to the Crazebox! - Toons Back To A Website - Homestar Runner

Let’s go back to a website!

Beach daydreams, lost at sea (Interconnected)

Matt’s beach thoughts are like a satisfying susurrus in my RSS reader.

An Ars Technica history of the Internet, part 1 - Ars Technica

Here’s a fun account of the early days of the ARPANET.

GeoCities Time Machine!

Fun!

But also …never forget, never forgive.