Interfaces
The last mile of a cursor blink
Every product team argues about latency at the edges. Almost nobody argues about the frequency of a blinking cursor. They should.
Working notes
Why our copilot forgets by lunchtime
A working note on why the assistant that helped you all morning is somehow a stranger by 2pm — and what that says about how these things are stitched together.
The web
The economics of the tab bar
A browser tab used to cost the operating system a few megabytes of RAM. What it costs the person opening it is a different question.
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Networks
Where the fediverse gets its footing
After a decade of near-misses, decentralised social software finally started to feel — for a few thousand people — normal. What did the software actually do differently?
Ownership
The offline map is having a moment
For years, offline maps were the province of hikers and travelling salespeople. Something is different now, and it has more to do with trust than with signal.
The web
Notes on the disappearing footer
Site footers used to be the small print of the internet. Now they are increasingly, and quietly, being replaced by nothing at all.
The web
A short defense of long URLs
The push to make URLs shorter, prettier, and more brand-consistent has quietly stripped them of something they used to be very good at.
Interfaces
The typography of expiring passwords
The password reset email is a genre. It has fonts, tones, a rhythm. Almost nobody designs it on purpose.