CCSSite:Opinions

12/12/2023

COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2. Coronavirus. Pandemic. These words/terms changed my life. Once thought to be only temporary, they have now become a nearly four year old saga.

In the early days, I canceled plans with others, stayed home, tried to lighten the load and await the promised vaccine. And then the vaccine came and we were still in a pandemic. More vaccines followed, but…we were still facing a dangerous respiratory illness. Lethality may have been reduced, but then we were introduced to the term “Long Covid.” *sigh*

It’s tiring. To constantly mask—and yet I continue to for not just my safety, but those around me. Hoping that one day we can beat this thing. Our previous periods of isolation have taken out a few viruses—just not COVID.

The constant vigilance about wearing a mask, worrying if it’s fitting correctly or too old, dirty, or damaged. The loss of spontaneity of eating out or with friends. Cuddling with strangers. The isolation remains while we watch others go out, have fun, and eventually catch COVID.

Do I want a gold star for not having (to my knowledge) caught this virus? No. I just want my sacrifice to have meaning. I want those who normally have immune limitations to have a bit less restriction on their lives. I want this virus not to have long-lasting effects on more lives.

I long for the day I hang out at a friend’s place without weight of asking them to mask for me. To duck into a shop without the dance of the N95 respirator bands over my head. To sing and share food with friends up close.

Until that time, I am appreciating the closeness I share with the ones I live with. Being in solidarity of the ones who continue to mask up. Fighting the fight for a just and accessible world for all—one breath at a time.

1/14/2023

I recently came across someone talking about how Apple didn't support Flash at one point, but other companies did and it was a bad decision. Yes, This is true, but in my opinion, it’s not merely because of flaws in Flash. Since I’m not doing heavy research on this subject (and this is just a place for me to share my opinions), I’m going to share how I remember and saw the fall of Flash happening.

Back in the early aughts, Flash was everywhere. So many websites relied on Flash. Yes, it made for a cool experience (if you didn't rely on assistive technology), but it really sucked on the Mac. I recall hitting websites with so many Flash ads (pretty sure I talked about this in my OkCupid experience) and my laptop’s fans kicked into high gear, the system heated up, crashes—it was not great.

When the iPhone came out, it did not support Flash and Apple said that it wasn't going to. I believe Steve Jobs actually said some things about it. Okay, so I want to include a link for this, so I looked it up and, well, here’s some details: ON April 29, 2010, Steve Jobs laid out the issues he saw with Flash. As a Mac user at the time, I agreed. He was spot on.

But despite those issues with Flash, I don't think that’s what killed it. Using it on Windows, I didn't notice the same kinds of issues I’d been seeing on my Mac. I blame poorly optimized software for Mac OS.

But with the popularity of the iPhone and iPad, I saw a number of traditionally Flash websites (photography portfolios were what I particularly worked with) being converted to HTML5—because they wanted them to run on iOS. iDevices, in my opinion, killed Flash. And I’m not sad about that, other than the fact that it had so many security vulnerabiliies that it is difficult to get a browser to work for all of that old Flash content (mainly games). HTML 5 is much more accessible (or at least it can be).

1/5/2023

I’ve been developing Drupal 8+ sites on and off for a few years now. I’m still learning the basics. When I go online to find solutions to my problems or goals, too often it’s something relating to Drupal 7, or it’s outdated. Tonight, I spent several hours working on integrating php-qrcode (a really cool library for generating neat QR codes) into a website I’m working on. Wanting to do things the right way (use Composer instead of adding the package directly to my module), I looked up details on how to do it. I wound up trying to follow the path Webform uses to include libraries, but PHP and Javascript libraries are treated a bit differently(?). After hours of bashing my head around why I wasn't locating the appropriate class, I came across some clear instructions that I’d initially discarded because they were a link to an external site—sometimes they’re great, but when you’re in a hurry and up way past your bedtime, you don't want to read an article.

After finally figuring out the correct way to do some of the things (I still need to figure out all of the boiler plate stuff for things to “just work”), I was able to produce some QR codes. Much appreciation to the folks who create FOSS. I do wish the world could work that way. Throw yourself into something that brings you passion and all your needs are met along the way…

Anyway, I’m just a little bit closer to becoming a "good" Drupal developer. Even though I don't under stand why Composer, I appreciate the machine that does the thing when you stack it all just right. :-)