
Cool Links Vol. 4: October, 2024
5 min read
Links to the best stuff I've read or watched during the month of October, 2024
A chronological view of everything I've posted here, since the beginning of time (or the blog's inception, whichever comes first).

Cool Links Vol. 4: October, 2024
5 min read
Links to the best stuff I've read or watched during the month of October, 2024
Building on the previous paradox: did you know that HTML was originally meant to be understandable and writable by anyone?
Before us web devs came along and scared people off, HTML was actually seen as a very simple way of structuring and linking data.
And it still is! This course aims to teach HTML to people with no technical knowledge, so theyāre able to build their own simple web pages (or just mess around with existing ones, which is really fun).
I donāt know if youāve heard, but The Browser Company, the company behind the Arc Browser (which Iāve been using for a couple years as my main browser) has announced that theyāve pretty much given up on monetizing it and will just keep it working as-is in the future, with no new development.
This article reflects a bit on how it seems that tech companies seem to be running out of problems to solve, which results in great products that canāt find their footing (outside of small niches) due to not really changing much about their userās lives.
nvmĀ (Node Version Manager) is one of the best tools in my web dev toolkit. It allows you to keep multiple versions of NodeJS installed, which is usually a must if you swap between different projects all day. Iād even say itās worth it even if you only have one version, since installing NodeJS via nvm isĀ wayĀ easier than the official way.
This is a way of using nvm with a graphical interface, in case youāre not too fond of CLIs (or simply prefer a simple GUI instead).
These āState ofā results are always fun, if only for the graphics alone. This one has pretty good data though, as 2024 was one of CSSās best years, withĀ Container Queries, :has() (which allows forĀ Quantity Queries), native nesting, native page transitions, and more.
Iāve been growing increasingly unhappy with JavaScript frameworks as of late, but I still have a soft spot for Svelte. Svelte isĀ what my blog is built with, and itās always been a pleasure to use. Version 5 significantly changes some of its core features, apparently for the better. Iām excited to upgrade eventually (andĀ really gladĀ that they kept backwards compatibility).
The web is, at its core, just links to HTML files with some CSS and JS on top. Thatās how it was years ago and how it technically still is.
Over the years, things became more complex and many layers of abstraction were introduced. A lot of web developers have never had any real contact with the core of the web.
So we ended up on a place where itās much easier to find and use an overly-complex, bloated solution for websites than just having the bare minimum (that usually works better).
Isnāt that wild?Ā In the authorās words:
āthe web doesnāt belong just to software engineers. The more we make the web complex, the more we push normal users into the enclosures that we like to call social networks.ā
Iāve been a web developer for over 10 years now and I can afford the luxury of building my own website - a static, simple, lean one. People with less or no coding knowledge canāt have that. They need to use tooling that ships so much code and complexity if they want to have their own. Or, even worse - theyāll stick to social media platforms instead. š±
You should be using an RSS reader
Thereās really nothing else I can add to this argument that Cory hasnāt already said. But really, RSS is the best way to follow a publication or a person there can be. Itās the best way for you to actually have control of what you read and decide when to do so.
The Substance
Reviewed on Oct 25, 2024
What the fuck?
Late Night with the Devil
Reviewed on Oct 20, 2024
One of the best horror movie setups Iāve ever seen. Its premise of being footage of a 70s talk show works really well and it draws you in really quickly.
No ending could have lived up to the quality of that setup, though. Which made me feel a bit confused and disappointed when it ended. Still a great watch though!