Frankie & Benny's offers a web-based payment system accessible via QR code, eliminating the need for a dedicated app. I tested the process, and while the Google Pay option encountered a glitch (already reported), the overall experience was smooth and efficient, taking about a minute to complete.

I love podcasts, but finding new ones is tough! I mostly rely on friend's recommendations. To make discovery easier, I'm sharing my personal podroll, which includes a variety of shows I enjoy. This list is frequently updated using a script, so check back often for new additions. You can find my podroll on Player.fm, a platform created by my friend Mike Mahemoff.

I added dark mode to my blog! Inspired by Jeremy Keith, I used CSS custom properties and media queries to switch between light and dark themes based on the user's preference. I also included a fallback for browsers that don't support custom properties and a temporary CSS class for testing since Chrome DevTools didn't yet have dark mode emulation.

This blog post discusses how to integrate Webmentions into a statically generated website built with Hugo, hosted on Zeit. Static sites lack dynamic features like comments, often relying on third-party solutions. This post explores using Webmentions as a decentralized alternative to services like Disqus. It leverages webmention.io as a hub to handle incoming mentions and pingbacks, validating the source and parsing page content. The integration process involves adding link tags to HTML, incorporating the webmention.io API into the build process, and efficiently mapping mention data to individual files for Hugo templates. Finally, a cron job triggers regular site rebuilds via Zeit's deployment API, ensuring timely updates with new mentions.

I explored the concept of "magic iframes" and using adoptNode to move iframes between windows. Initially, I thought I'd found a way to preserve iframe state during the move. However, after discussing with Jake Archibald, it turns out that appendChild already handles node adoption, making adoptNode redundant. Furthermore, moving iframes causes them to reload, negating the perceived benefit. While moving DOM elements between documents is still interesting, the original premise for iframes doesn't hold. The post includes a demo and discusses the potential of the <portal> API.

Some thoughts on AR after finding some during my travels. TL;DR - cheaper content creation and better discovery tools are needed.

Just got back from a trip to Carlisle Castle with the lads! It's a must-see if you're in the area. Learned a lot about its history in the conflicts between England and Scotland, which got me thinking about the potential impact of Brexit on Scotland's future, especially given Carlisle's proximity. I've included a few photos of the castle to give you a taste of what to expect.

During a trip to Llangollen, I noticed that the historical information on local signs wasn't available online. This sparked an idea to make such information accessible on the web, especially for those with reading difficulties. I experimented with my existing image text extraction tool and found it works surprisingly well on these types of images. I'm now considering creating a website dedicated to archiving and indexing the text from informational signs, inspired by Google's Navlekhā project which helps offline Indian publishers digitize their content.

I recently took my kids to the Liverpool World Museum. While some areas like the Space and Time section and the Bug enclosure were a bit underwhelming, the newly opened Egyptian exhibit was fantastic!

I revisited a bookstore in Llangollen, located above a cafe, that I fondly remember from my childhood visits with my grandparents. It's charmingly unchanged, but I wish they had a larger selection of comics, like they did back then. Check out their website!