---
layout: singlepost
tags: post
title: "Mixed nuts • September, 2020"
subtitle: "Oddities, observations, offal"
description: "Once more into the breach, dear friends, with assorted somethings-or-others."
author: Bryce Wray
date: 2020-09-03T07:05:00-05:00
#lastmod:
discussionId: "2020-09-mixed-nuts-2020-09"
featured_image: "mixed-nuts-peter-feghali-fZ7-IAReeSo-unsplash_4891x3261.jpg"
featured_image_width: 4891
featured_image_height: 3261
featured_image_alt: "Various mixed nuts"
featured_image_caption: |
  <span class="caption">Photo: <a href="https://unsplash.com/@peterf?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Peter Feghali</a>; <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/nuts?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></span>
---

Time for another "Mixed nuts" post, another selection of various and sundry emissions from my brain. And, no: I mean, even *more* various and sundry than usual.[^1]

---- 

If you like to advise your [tweeps](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tweep) every time you put something on your own website, save yourself some frustration, first, by running the URL past the [Twitter Card Validator](https://cards-dev.twitter.com/validator)---and do it as many times as it takes before the featured image appears. Otherwise, because Twitter refreshes its image cache only every few days, your tweet will show a generic placeholder image rather than the image you chose. (H/T to [Mito Studios](https://www.mitostudios.com/blog/how-to-clear-twitter-featured-image-cache/) for the tip.)

*While I'm on the subject of images: I have yet to regret anything about my [recent adoption](/posts/2020/07/transformed) of [Cloudinary](https://cloudinary.com)'s amazingly generous **free** tier for this site's image handling---**except** that I waited so long before making the choice. Incidentally: if you choose to avoid my error and give Cloudinary a try sooner rather than later, I humbly request that you [use this invite link](https://cloudinary.com/invites/lpov9zyyucivvxsnalc5/dqunpyaeqiizezj6lbdu), from which I will get a few extra [Cloudinary credits](https://cloudinary.com/pricing) if you sign up (even if only for the free tier).*

In the last ten weeks, I've [moved the site](/posts/2020/07/goodbye-hello) four times after its previously having been on [Netlify](https://netlify.com) every day since the (site's) launch in September, 2018. Coincidentally, I see the domain *happywanderer.com* is for sale, albeit out of my miniscule price range.

*If an email provider charges for support of a custom domain (so you can be jdoe@doecompany.com rather than johndoe362973@emailprovider.com), that's like a [cellular service provider charging for texts](https://www.wired.com/2008/12/text-messages-c/)---which is to say, a ripoff---because it costs the provider little or nothing to do this. [Change my mind](https://imgflip.com/memegenerator/Change-My-Mind).[^2] Really.*

Speaking of email-related sins: Microsoft continues its (willful?) failure to give the Mac version of Outlook one specific feature that Outlook for Windows has had forever: the ability to see one's **own** sent emails in conversation threads. And I don't mean the hacky, unintuitive "talk balloons" method the Mac version uses; I mean the way the Windows version does it. Microsoft should read **and act on** the hundreds of complaints, dating back for years, on its own frickin' ["Outlook User Voice" page about this missing capability](https://outlook.uservoice.com/forums/335538-outlook-for-mac-business/suggestions/16585903-show-sent-messages-in-conversations).[^3]

*I *will* say this for Microsoft, however: at least it keeps trying to [push the enterprise market away from the awful, obsolete Internet Explorer](https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-365-blog/microsoft-365-apps-say-farewell-to-internet-explorer-11-and/ba-p/1591666). Same goes for [Windows 7](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4057281/windows-7-support-ended-on-january-14-2020) (the FBI, too, has had [a few choice words to say about Windows 7](https://www.techrepublic.com/article/fbi-announcement-on-windows-7-end-of-life-prompts-worry-from-security-experts/)) and, for that matter, the totally-**not**-for-the-office [Windows 10 LTSC](https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-it-pro-blog/ltsc-what-is-it-and-when-should-it-be-used/ba-p/293181)*.

The data from [Fathom Analytics](https://usefathom.com/ref/ZKHYWX) (affiliate link) continues to tell me the same story that I received previously from Google Analytics and Netlify Analytics: this site's two most popular posts---and, as you’d therefore guess, highest-ranked on Google---are "[Why I left Ulysses](/posts/2019/04/why-left-ulysses)" and "[Why I left Hugo for Eleventy](/posts/2019/09/why-left-hugo-eleventy)." There's probably a lesson there somewhere, but I'm not sure what it is.

*Another thing about [Ulysses](https://ulysses.app) that perhaps is worth a note: I originally expected "[Posting with Ulysses](/posts/2020/08/posting-with-ulysses)" to be a one-shot experiment but, lo and behold, here we are a month after "Posting with Ulysses" and I'm still using Big U rather than [iA Writer](https://ia.net/writer) for at least the *writing* of these posts, as opposed to the final creation of their [Markdown](/posts/2019/03/mark-it-down)---which, from Ulysses, is best done as an export.[^4] Sue me, but I really like writing in Ulysses, especially with the great dashboard improvements [introduced in Ulysses 20](https://blog.ulysses.app/video-dashboard-mac/)*.

In large part, this experience with Ulysses is because, as novelist [Chris Rosser](https://chrisrosser.net) [observed](https://chrisrosser.net/posts/2020/07/17/ia-writer-56-review/) about these apps: "Where iA [Writer] tries to create a zen-like focused drafting experience, Ulysses nails it with its aesthetics and the graceful way in which it handles ugly markup." So exactly how *does* each app handle "ugly markup"? Look at these screen captures of how the two handle the same paragraph---in this case, the one, above, that starts with "Another thing about Ulysses." Ulysses goes first.[^5]

{% imgc "Ulysses_paragraph_sample_1366x562.png", "Screen capture of Ulysses for a given paragraph", 1366, 562 %}
<br />
{% imgc "iA_Writer_paragraph_sample_1334x682.png", "Screen capture of iA Writer for a given paragraph", 1334, 682 %}

*Although the [Next.js](https://nextjs.org) and [Nuxt.js](https://nuxtjs.org) JavaScript frameworks have [significantly](https://nextjs.org/blog/next-9-3) [improved](https://nuxtjs.org/blog/nuxt-static-improvements) their abilities to generate [static websites](https://dev.to/gtanyware/what-is-a-static-website-4k3o), **dedicated** [static site generators (SSGs)](https://staticgen.com) like [Eleventy](https://11ty.dev) (which powers this site) are ’waaaay easier to use and far less finicky. Want to build a web **app**? Either Next.js or Nuxt.js is great for that. Want to build and maintain a web**site**? Use a dedicated SSG.*

The vast majority of all web browsing now occurs through only two browser engines: [Blink](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blink_(browser_engine)) (e.g., Chrome) and [WebKit](https://webkit.org/) (e.g., Safari). By comparison, Firefox's [Gecko](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gecko_(software)) engine is now down to about 4% and headed south. (Data: [StatCounter](https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share) and [NetMarketShare](https://netmarketshare.com/browser-market-share.aspx).) It'll be a sad day, especially for [those who write and maintain CSS](https://blog.logrocket.com/firefox-devtools-for-css-authors-1511f41d1e3/), if this trend continues to its perhaps inevitable conclusion.

[^1]:	For those unfamiliar with the point (if that's the word) of this particular type of post, please see the [original from last year](/posts/2019/11/mixed-nuts-2019-11).

[^2]:	There are hack-y ways out there to do this from a free email account (both receiving to and sending from your custom domain), but that's not the point. I'm talking about doing so *without* such hacks, as simply one option. (Whether it's wise to *use* free email, given the likely compromises involved in such, is a totally different question.)

[^3]:	Maybe I should've saved this for my third annual post of "curmudgeonish" observations (see the [previous](/posts/2018/11/some-curmudgeonish-thoughts) [examples](/posts/2019/11/curmudgeonish-2019)); but I thought I'd do it while I'm mad about yet another brief try of the Mac version of what now is called [Microsoft 365](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365).

[^4]:	I still hold out slim hope that Ulysses will be given more friendliness with standalone Markdown files, as I noted in "Posting with Ulysses," but also am realistic enough to know that's not something for which the vast majority of Ulysses users are screaming.

[^5]:	The iA Writer sample actually shows the Markdown exported from Ulysses; so, in fact, had I indulged in my previously typical iA Writer habit and used an identifier word for the footnote reference (shown here as *`[^5]`*, indicating the accurate footnote number as of when I did the screen captures), it would have been even nastier-looking. Moreover, when writing in iA Writer, I usually put each footnote right under the paragraph in which its reference goes, simply as a way of keeping it all straight; but, with Ulysses's export process moving it all down neatly to the end, that kept the Markdown still "prettier" than it would've been otherwise. If you're curious to see the differences, look at this site's [GitHub repo](https://github.com/brycewray/eleventy_solo) and compare the Markdown for the following two posts: "[Transformed](/posts/2020/07/transformed)" ([GitHub version here](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/brycewray/eleventy_solo/master/src/posts/2020/07/transformed.md)), done with iA Writer in straight Markdown; and the post you're reading now ([GitHub version here](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/brycewray/eleventy_solo/master/src/posts/2020/09/mixed-nuts-2020-09.md)), done with Ulysses and exported to Markdown.