@zachleat@zachleat.com cover
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zachleat

@[email protected]

Follow along to learn about web development news, best practices that “don’t work,” and web standards that are “not the future.”

🫣 Go to https://www.zachleat.com/
🎈 Maintainer of :11ty: @11ty https://www.11ty.dev/
🎉 Web Builder at :fontawesome: Font Awesome
🌾 A random person from Nebraska maintaining software
🕸️ Front of the front-end web developer
🏳️‍⚧️ Listen to Trans Folks
🌍 Keep building for the Web
🧞 he/him/they
🚐 Minivan Buddies 🤝
🔎 #searchable

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. View on remote instance

@zachleat@zachleat.com avatar zachleat , to random

it’s important to keep caring about how things work and how they’re built

@zachleat@zachleat.com avatar zachleat , to random

I’ve been testing 3d-printed whistle variations; preparing a batch for drop-off to some local helpers for distribution.

A yellow lanyard sports 8 different variations of yellow 3d printed whistles
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zachleat OP ,
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I have so many opinions about whistles, suddenly

zachleat OP ,
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I’ve tested about ~20 whistle variations. Optimizing for blowing efficiency, filament usage efficiency, and dB output volume, the single color print of this one is the best I’ve seen so far: https://makerworld.com/en/models/2365496-minnesota-state-flag-whistle (based on https://makerworld.com/en/models/1642251-flat-signal-whistles)

If I’m ignoring filament usage efficiency, this one is much bigger and unmatched: https://makerworld.com/en/models/548070-triple-tone-extreme-whistle

zachleat OP ,
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The collection of whistles destined for anti ICE information kits grows further still

@zachleat@zachleat.com avatar zachleat , to random

it’s time for a mental health check: how are we doing

zachleat OP ,
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@csilverman not death-star-esque fully operational, but operational

@zachleat@zachleat.com avatar zachleat , to random

if you want stable and reliable software, give developers stable and reliable employment

@zachleat@zachleat.com avatar zachleat , to random
@zachleat@zachleat.com avatar zachleat , to random

I wish dependencies would stop embedding their own arguments parser in a package that didn’t need a CLI to begin with.

Eleventy has three different dependencies with pretty hefty (and outdated) CLI argument parser libraries 😭

Is there an overrides-style feature that works for libraries? (afaik this feature is only for app-level code)

@zachleat@zachleat.com avatar zachleat , to random

tfw your web site is static

calm monkey is relaxing in water, eyes closed
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@Gargron@mastodon.social avatar Gargron , to random

Today I am stepping down from my role as the CEO of . Though this has been in the works for a while, I can't say I've fully processed how I feel about it. There is a bittersweet part to it, and I think I will miss it, but it also felt necessary. It feels like a goodbye, but it isn't—I intend to stay on and continue to advise the new leadership and contribute, because Mastodon—and the fediverse—is one of the very few beacons of hope for a better web.

https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2025/11/my-next-chapter-with-mastodon/

zachleat ,
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@Gargron incredible run: appreciate the honest and heartfelt post — a level of self awareness we should all aspire to ❤️

look forward to a more healthy future for you!

@zachleat@zachleat.com avatar zachleat , to random

the thing they don’t tell you about having two cats that look very similar is the implausible but persistent suspicion that you may actually have three cats that look very similar

zachleat OP ,
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here are two of the cats (allegedly this is all of them)

zachleat OP ,
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@csilverman @chriskirknielsen do you think this approach will work at work too

@404mediaco@mastodon.social avatar 404mediaco , to random

Goodreads volunteer moderator went rogue and changed a cover to Eric Trump's book Under Siege, and added the subtitle “Goodreads Censorship in Favor of Trump,”

🔗 https://www.404media.co/rogue-goodreads-librarian-edits-site-to-expose-censorship-in-favor-of-trump-fascism/

zachleat ,
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@404mediaco what does “employs” in the phrase “Goodreads employs a volunteer staff” mean

@zachleat@zachleat.com avatar zachleat , to random

has anyone stopped to consider that the rapture is just another supply chain attack

@zachleat@zachleat.com avatar zachleat , to random

✅ an HTML web site hosted on a disposable vape
⛔️ a JavaScript-heavy web site that feels like its loading from a disposable vape

@zachleat@zachleat.com avatar zachleat , to random

The most underrated code comment continues to be:

// Start here tomorrow

@zachleat@zachleat.com avatar zachleat , to random

work has started on @11ty 4.0 👀

@zachleat@zachleat.com avatar zachleat , to random

web components are usb-c
react is the lightning cable
thank you for coming to my ted talk

vkc , to random

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    zachleat ,
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    @vkc @11ty wow, this is incredible — what a lovely endorsement 🥰

    zachleat ,
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    @vkc @11ty thank you and you’re very welcome!!

    @zachleat@zachleat.com avatar zachleat , to random

    maybe as a society we should spend less time “Verifying that you are a human” and more time “Verifying your humanity”

    @zachleat@zachleat.com avatar zachleat , to random

    bribecoding is a new phenomenon where you pay open source developers a living wage to work on projects that your business uses

    zachleat OP ,
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    @JessTheUnstill wait hear me out what if we start a new gig economy app and ecosystem focused on stability where you can favorite gig workers which puts them on a subscription model — this means those workers will show up regularly to complete tasks for you and in exchange you give them salary and benefits

    @zachleat@zachleat.com avatar zachleat , to random

    let me just say up front that I love Star Trek—but we have to agree that LCARS is not good UI. societal utopia, sure—where are the user interface folks

    zachleat OP ,
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    @csilverman a person of good taste, thank you 🙌

    @zachleat@zachleat.com avatar zachleat , to random

    automated themed screenshot border colors

    A 4×4 grid of small square screenshots, with border colors specific to each site’s favicon. This is the Built With Eleventy section on the home page of 11ty.dev
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    zachleat OP ,
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    If you’re curious, I used the brand new @11ty/image-color to fetch the border colors from each site’s favicon/avatar: https://fosstodon.org/@eleventy/114076444351199781

    zachleat OP ,
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    This open source work is part of a larger migration of the Font Awesome blog (Blog Awesome) from WordPress to Eleventy, currently ongoing!

    https://github.com/11ty/eleventy-import was also born from that too!

    vkc , to random

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    zachleat ,
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    @vkc I heard eleventy was good tho

    zachleat ,
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    @vkc yes! me too!!

    vkc , to random

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    zachleat ,
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    @vkc this is the 2025 energy we need

    @zachleat@zachleat.com avatar zachleat , to random

    “Bluesky is insulated from billionaire influence because everything is open source!”

    oh you sweet summer child

    @stefan@front-end.social avatar stefan , to random

    For the bloggers: the W3C WebDX Community Group released a web component to display web feature baseline info. Drop baseline-status into your HTML and display some juicy browser compat data. 💯

    https://github.com/web-platform-dx/baseline-status

    `baseline-status` web component rendering browser support info.
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    zachleat ,
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    @stefan this is the future we want

    zachleat ,
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    @aral @stefan fair point!

    @zachleat@zachleat.com avatar zachleat , to random

    Absolutely LOVE to see the new fediverse:creator tags showing up on shared URLs, providing automated attribution controlled by the source!

    https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2024/07/highlighting-journalism-on-mastodon/

    Incredible feature.

    @molly0xfff@hachyderm.io avatar molly0xfff , to random

    barrier to creating any shirt i want: low

    barrier to creating any sticker i want: even lower

    shop link: https://store.mollywhite.net/products/leader-of-the-luddites-sticker

    Molly’s hand, holding a 3”x4” rectangular sticker with the 1812 hand-colored etching titled “The Leader of the Luddites”. It shows a large person wearing a blue polka dot dress over their clothing, gesturing a group of people forward who are raising their hats and sticks in the air. Behind them is a burning factory. Below is the text “The Leader of the Luddites”.
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    zachleat ,
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    @molly0xfff hit an error trying to ship these to Iowa, USA—intentional? a few other stickers went through fine

    zachleat ,
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    @molly0xfff yay! “ope” startlingly on brand for Iowa too