WordPress does not respect an admin's preferred date format. Here's how the admin list of posts looks to me: I don't want it to look like that. I want it in RFC3339 format. I know what you're thinking, just change the default date display - but that only seems to work in some areas of WordPress. It doesn't change the column-date format. Here's what mine is set to: So that doesn't work. Instead, you need to use the slightly obscure post_date_column_time filter Add this to your theme's …
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My friend Manuel has sent me his latest book to review - and it is a corker. The best thing about this book is that it doesn't waste any time trying to convince you that Accessibility Is Good™. You're a professional web developer; you know that. Instead, it gets straight down to brass-tacks and gives you immediate and useful examples of what to do. You could read the book linearly - but it is much more suited to dipping into. Want to know exactly how to do something? There's almost certainly a…
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If you use Multi-Factor Authentication, you'll be well used to scanning in QR codes which allow you to share a secret code with a website. These are known as Time-based One Time Passwords (TOTP). As I've moaned about before, TOTP has never been properly standardised. It's a mish-mash of half-finished proposals with no active development, no test suite, and no-one looking after it. Which is exactly what you want from a security specification, right?! So let's try to find some edge-cases and…
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Take a look at these two QR codes. Scan them if you like, I promise there's nothing dodgy in them. Left is upper-case HTTPS://EDENT.TEL/ and right is lower-case https://edent.tel/ You can clearly see that the one on the left is a "smaller" QR as it has fewer bits of data in it. Both go to the same URl, the only difference is the casing. What's going on? Your first thought might be that there's a different level of error-correction. QR codes can have increasing levels of redundancy i…
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A friend mentioned that they were going to a Proust book club where they'd be discussing Swann's Way, the first volume of the masterpiece. "Well," I thought, "That sounds like a fun challenge!" It was not. I picked up the Standard eBooks version translated by C. K. Scott Moncrieff and started my journey. It starts with a young man having a wet dream and then, in excruciating detail, describing the process of waking up. The writing starts as dreamy but quickly becomes obtuse. The story (such…
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I went into this as a cynic and came out a grinning maniac. Look, it is basically "Stomp" but for kids. It's a join-in pantomime where four babbling fools play with junk in a recycling centre to make music. Oh, sure, you could analyse it as being a blend of Commedia dell'arte and modern dance, but it is closer to Minions. All cartoon violence, generic-Euro-mumble speech, and tunes that they'll recognise when they're older (but the parents will love). The kids in the audience were constantly…
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The purpose of table manners is to stop us killing each other. That's the rather provocative assertion in Margaret Visser's excellent deconstruction of why we have such elaborate and infuriating rituals around eating. It starts, naturally enough, with a chapter on human sacrifice. It is grim, violent, and soaked in blood. A delightful amuse-bouche this isn't! But it makes the case that this is (part) of the origin of our modern table manners. We no longer need to appease the gods and secure a …
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This post will show you how to programmatically get the cheapest possible price on eBooks from Kobo. Background Amazon have decided to stop letting customers download their purchased eBooks onto their computers. That means I can't strip the DRM and read on my non-Amazon eReader. So I guess I'm not spending money with Amazon any more. I'm moving to Kobo for three main reasons: They provide standard ePubs for download. ePub DRM is trivial to remove. Kobo will undercut Amazon's prices! …
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This is spoiler-free review. In one episode of Inside Number Nine, two old comedians are bickering. In a moment of understated savagery one says to the other "That's a cheap laugh, Len." Len replies with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, "Oh, come on. A laugh's a laugh however you earn it." That sets up the central tension for the West-End-Spectacular version of the show - Stage/Fright. What makes for a "cheap" scream of terror? It's easy to have a jump scare, or an on-stage explosion. The…
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I am a regular user of Transport for London's services. On my phone I have the TfL Go app for finding my way around the city, and a web shortcut to a specific bus stop so I can find my way home. Why are they different shades of blue⁉️⁉️⁉️ TfL, like most large organisations, have brand guidelines. It enables them to set a consistent look and feel across their services which, hopefully, makes it easier for users to identify them. A glowing roundel in the night tells you you're near a tube stat…
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Since time immemorial, software has had version numbers. A developer releases V1 of their product. Some time later, they add new features or fix bugs, and release the next version. What should that next version be called? Modern software broadly bifurcates into two competing standards; SemVer and CalVer. SemVer Semantic Versioning is usually in the form 1.2.3, the last digit is usually for minor bug fixes, the second digit for new functionality, and the primary digit for big and/or breaking …
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The venerable curl is one of the most fundamental pieces of code in the modern world. A seemingly simply utility - it enables other programs to interact with URls - it runs on millions of cars, is inside nearly every TV, used by billions of people, and is even in use on Mars. And, as of last week, features a small contribution by me! Look, I'm not an experienced bit-twiddler. I can't micro-optimise algorithms or spot intricate C-based memory leaks. What I can do is get annoyed at poor…
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