Leaving Hugo It’s been a bit under two years since I migrated the site from Wordpress to Hugo. As discussed in this post one year ago, I was very happy with the general workflow of managing posts through markdown files in git, but had big problems with the Hugo build time, largely a consequence of my social media archiving. At that time, I didn’t want to invest effort into migrating to a different backend, but the problem has only gotten incrementally worse since then, so I decided to take the jump and started working on it last month.
All entries tagged meta.
You can subscribe to an RSS feed of this list.
Oct 2020
Jul 2020
-
So recently Github secretly rolled out a new feature where you can create a file named README.md in a repo named github.com/<your github username>/<your github username>, and that markdown file would be rendered on your Github profile page. It means, you can now put basically anything you want on your Github profile! I just read this post from Simon Willson about using this new feature + Github actions and a Python script to automatically generate and update his Github profile.
-
In several places on this site (like if you click Photos in the menu up top), I have a grid-like view of a list of photos/images: (Click to view full-size) 1 Jul 2020 12:00amClose I used to just have each thumbnail open the post permalink on click, with the anchor set to the image itself. The image would be shown in full size inline of the post.
May 2020
-
A while back I got an export of my Foursquare/Swarm data. If you’re not familiar, these were a pair of apps that were used for “checking-in” to particular locations, with a sort of gamification system where if you checked in at a place often enough, you would earn points and eventually become “Mayor” of the venue. The idea being that owners of those venues might give some benefits to those who check-in often at those locations (AFAIK, this never really caught on in the Philippines).
Dec 2019
-
A few days ago, a friend from a company I used to work for said to me something along the lines of “{Company Executive} asked me how you are doing”, and I couldn’t give anything other than a pithy “I’m alive” answer. I find that since I generally live an unconventional life, it’s a pain to describe how I’m doing. It’s not a straightforward “Oh, you know, still working as a freelance developer/consultant/solutions architect” for me, because I don’t really identify that much anymore with what work I’m doing or who I’m employed by.
Nov 2019
-
I mentioned before that I was looking into indieweb stuff. There’s a whole wiki of information about it if you’re into that sort of thing, but also here’s a recent post which kind of serves as an overview. I have some comments on the content of this post, more on that later. Indieweb things I’ve already implemented on this site: have a personal domain (since 2006) microformats (h-card and h-feeds and h-entrys), though I would have to be using some sort of microformats reader to make sure everything there is hunky-dory (no concrete plans for this yet) webmention support, via webmention.
-
FontAwesome has been fun and all, but in the interest of reducing load time and external dependencies, I removed the FA dependency on this blog and switched to SVG icons instead. Icons are from here, specifically the set by Bryn Taylor and the Special Social Icon Set #9. Not all the icons carried over, especially some of the social ones (Mastodon, etc). Workarounds had to be made. Hopefully nothing breaks!
Oct 2019
-
I made a 3AM decision to switch over the site’s front page to show what was previously under “Stream” and now the “Posts” section is listed in the menu as “Blog”. We’ll see if I like this better. Also, the root RSS feed now includes everything from “Stream” as well. IDK how many people were following this site via an RSS reader (I would like it if you guys told me!), but for those of you who do: surprise, you are in for a firehose! If you only want the longer-form traditional blog posts, an RSS feed for that is still available.
I also moved the fanfics from before into a new “Fiction” section. I had previously tried moving them under posts but it felt weird that the archive said I had posts from before 2002 since technically the blog hadn’t existed yet. So that this section isn’t made up entirely of old fanfiction, I also put up a short story I had written a couple of years ago. I probably have some more fiction hidden somewhere. If not, I’ll make some!
Smaller site updates like this will probably just be under “Notes” in the future, instead of full-length blog posts. All changes can still be followed using the changelog tag.
Aug 2019
-
Perhaps unsurprisingly, I’m enjoying tinkering with the site layout at the moment. I give up on expecting a “stable version” of the site anytime soon and readers can expect incremental updates unannounced going forward. This site is now perpetually under renovation. Current layout image (this image is recursive): (Click to view full-size) 14 Aug 2019 12:00amClose Recent changes: Someone called me out for not using a dark theme, so now here we are with a garish gray and green and orange theme, you’re welcome.
-
I thought about making a tag “things that would only interest me” for this one lol. I’ve uploaded some old web archives of the oldest versions of my site - back when I still had free sites hosted on the likes of Geocities, Tripod and the lesser-known TopCities. Click here for the index! I’ve had these archives for a while and only now decided to put them up on the site.
Jul 2019
-
As is my wont, I’m almost never satisfied with a website’s layout, so I’ve been tinkering with this blog’s layout on the backend. To make a long story short, I decided to start working on a Hugo theme. It’s still largely a work in progress, as there’s a bunch of things I wanted to implement. But it was good enough to replace the old one so I went ahead and deployed it, so maybe some bugs here and there on some pages.
Apr 2019
-
I read a recent blog post from a friend about the large page sizes on initial load of a web page. From there, I got to a link which said that the average page size nowadays is at least 3MB. This led me to check the performance of this very blog/site. Initial load of the home page clocks in with 13 requests weighing around 140KB total. This is not bad, in fact it would be a significant improvmenet since I migrated to a static site using Hugo.
Mar 2019
-
A few months back, my current web host WebFaction announced they had been purchased by GoDaddy, which was worrying. Back then they hadn’t announced any details other than there would be some account migrations and single sign on, so it wasn’t a big deal yet. I initially joined WebFaction back in 2008 because they were a Python-friendly and developer-friendly host that had some reasonable budget options, allowing me some space to host this blog and any side projects I wanted to deploy.
Jan 2019
-
I always wish I had kept screenshots of what my blog looked like back during each of the myriad theme changes I’ve done over the years, as a kind of timeline of how my website aesthetic has evolved (or gotten worse, whatever). I recently found the stylesheets and such for my old django-powered blog from circa 2008-2009, and recently there’s been this “10-year challenge” meme where people show how they’ve changed over the past 10 years.
Nov 2018
-
Leaving Wordpress I’ve been using Wordpress for this blog since circa 2006 I believe, but as I mentioned in an earlier blog post that I was not 100% happy with using Wordpress for this blog. I have a few issues with Wordpress, none of them a major dealbreaker, but collectively enough to make me consider something else: the new Gutenberg editor set to become standard in 5.0 was in my experience, very clunky and kinda annoying the code structure of Wordpress is very deep and complex, sometimes making it difficult for me to make changes I want.
Mar 2018
-
(Image credit: r/ProgrammerHumor) I’ve been meaning to add SSL to this blog ever since I first heard of Let’s Encrypt last year. Unfortunately, support on my otherwise awesome webhost was not yet first-class and seemed complicated at the time, so I kept putting it off. But recently I was testing something unrelated and found out that I needed to have SSL on my server in order for OAuth2 to work, so I grudgingly got to it.
May 2016
-
“The price for being the best is always having to be the best”
Jan 2009
-
Django admin works! I would write more but this input method is tedious.
Dec 2008
-
I came across a website that provided an online Speed Reading Test. Most people I know generally know me to be a fast reader so I decided to take the test. My results: 472 words per minute screen reading, at 82% comprehension, which the website says classifies me as a “good reader”. Apparently the best readers can read at 700wpm at 85% comprehension, sounds tough =/ Try the quiz and post your results here.
-
Previously I hosted two separate WordPress blogs on roytang.net, the old one I’ve had since forever, and a separate one that discussed only magic related articles. It was a bit bothersome to have two WordPress installs though. Now that I’ve migrated to a Django backend, I decided to merge the blogs back into one. The blog now has the following sections/categories: Magic the Gathering – for posts related to MTG Software Development – for posts related to Software Development (hopefully I can write more about this topic) Gaming – originally I didn’t have this category, but looking at previous contents of the blog and my delicious links, this is one of the things I write about the most, so I made it a separate category Weblog – everything else I can think of Each category has a separate RSS feed you can subscribe to – so that if you’re only interested in MTG posts you can subscribe to the MTG category feed, etc.
-
Well, it’s a bit early. But if you’re reading this then I’ve successfully migrated the roytang.net website to a new host. See you after the jump! Merry Christmas!
Oct 2008
-
Actually, I’m writing this post to test comments on the blog, which someone has reported to be currently borken. See ya in the comments.
Sep 2008
-
After trying out usernamecheck.com, I decided to try claiming my username “roytang” at various websites. Here’s a list of various websites where I have this username. http://friendfeed.com/roytang– This one actually seems useful. http://twitter.com/roytang– Okay, I admit it. I’ve actually had this for a few weeks now. http://pownce.com/roytang/– I’m not yet too clear on what it’s used for. http://roytang.posterous.com/– would be useful if I didn’t already have a blog http://roytang.livejournal.com/– now I can be emo!
-
I was going through some old files today, I found this screenshot of my desktop from 2004: (Click to view full-size) 8 Sep 2008 12:00amClose Actually, I still like that wallpaper. It’s well-drawn. It’s from RPGamer Theme Central. Items I had in the quick-launch toolbar: mIRC (for downloading comics) Thunderbird IE IE again (?!) I believe this is EditPad, a notepad replacement Chami.
Jul 2008
-
Changed to Thematic zroytang : yung current na wordpress theme ko parang ang crowded (Anonymous) : baka it's the font... or less ugn spacing zroytang : papagalitan mo ko pag pinalitan ko e zroytang : haha (Anonymous) : haha hindi naman a (Anonymous) : sabihin ko lang na you're fickle like a girl (Anonymous) : haha zroytang : tsk! (Anonymous) : it's nice to be female.
Jun 2008
-
I added an iGoogle Gadget that allows me to post from iGoogle. Neat huh? But I’m not sure if it’s okay to trust the gadget with my blog account details…
May 2008
-
Someday I will find a WordPress theme that I could bear with for more than 2-4 weeks. Or I will make one.
-
In an attempt to reduce comment spam, I’ve renamed the comments submission page. This post is to test with comments. [Edit 21-May 10PM] That didn’t work at all! Need to look for a good anti-spam plugin.
Feb 2008
-
Your Character’s Alignment Based on your answers to the quiz, your character’s most likely alignment is Lawful Good .Lawful Good A lawful good character acts as a good person is expected or required to act. She combines a commitment to oppose evil with the discipline to fight relentlessly. She tells the truth, keeps her word, helps those in need, and speaks out against injustice.
Sep 2007
-
I’m planning to write more about Magic, so I created a separate space for that. All MtG-related posts are moved there.
Feb 2007
-
Your Entrepreneur Type: The Geek You are smart and insightful and you enjoy solving interesting problems and technology for their own sakes. Entrepreneurial strengths: academic and / or technical brilliance comfortable with the abstract obsession with new technology Entrepreneurial weaknesses: expertise tends to be quite narrow difficulty with people personality may not be forceful enough to lead
Jan 2007
-
The original is here. Yeah, I didn’t like the header image so I removed it. I’m tired of moving themes around, so I’ll settle on this for a while. Simple and clean. I’ll just fuss around with the plugins later. And yeah, I’m also changing the categories around. There should be a plugin to search posts and assign multiple posts to new categories at the same time. My vacation time is almost up… I still have too many things to watch…
-
I’m testing the Extreme Video Plugin for WordPress, and I thought, what better way to do so than to further propagate the extreme music videos of Ok Go. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbdbVhBGETQ Some of the new guys at the office performed the above dance as their Christmas initiation… er, presentation, and let me tell you, the audience was on its’ feet. Ok Go is an American band that is known for outrageous live performances like the above.
-
Yeah, I still have quite a bit of vacation to go. Might as well spruce up this website a bit. Move things around here and there, you know the drill. A work in progress of course, as always. I hope I don’t screw things up too badly. Better backup WordPress…
Oct 2006
-
As far as I can tell, I only hit 21 posts in October. Well, that’s not too bad. This month: NaNoWriMo!
-
I’m bored, let’s do this. I will blog every day of October. And no posting inane stuff either. Every post will have meaning. Or at least as much meaning as my previous posts have had. Enjoy!
Mar 2006
-
Full description Edit 2018: The old link was broken because the site in question changed their format. Here’s a fixed link.
Feb 2006
-
I am honored, I am now worthy of being comment-spammed. Made me sign up for a WordPress.com account so I could activate Akismet.
-
Yeah, so I was bored and went ahead and got a domain name. ^_^I’m wondering if I’ve wasted money, but webhosting is really cheap nowadays anyway. Thanks to the nice folks at pinoywebhosting.com for their quick service! Anyway, I hope you’ll pardon me if some parts of the site aren’t fully up-and-running (the about page is still the wordpress template for one), I haven’t had much time to play around with wordpress yet.
Dec 2005
-
I was getting a bit bored with the place, so I spruced it up a bit, switched some colors, moved stuff around. You know, just to pretend something’s happening. And to showcase my sorely lacking UI design skills. :p Screenshot captured for posterity: (Click to view full-size) 11 Dec 2005 4:08pmClose I also cleaned up some of the global files that were being accessed from fateback, since I will eventually drop that host completely.
Aug 2005
-
I’m thinking of getting some webhosting. Not that I’m unsatisfied with my free webhosting and Blogger mind you, but sometimes I just get the urge to do some server-side chicanery. Mandatory: PHP/mySQL Good service, tech support, fast response time No-hassle payments (which means I prefer local, I don’t want to have to pay through credit cards or anything) Of course, a good deal on space, bandwidth, reliability, etc. Optional:
Apr 2005
-
Wordpress host – free blog I’ve wanted to try WordPress for a while now, but not having easy access to a PHP-enabled server of my own, I haven’t had the chance. Blogsome is a new, free service that provides WordPress for blogging. I signed up, and roy.blogsome.com was still available (nothing there, don’t bother looking) Am I going to leave blogger? I don’t know, really, I’m already pretty comfortable with it already, and moving to WordPress means learning a while new templating language (I know it would take all of an hour to get it down, but still… inertia).
Mar 2005
-
As it may mention in the page title, I’m currently screwing around with the blogger template, so this blog may look a bit… um… screwy for a while. I’ve been wanting to toy around with Javascript hacks to extend the Blogger template functionality. The first thing I did was add some Javascript that allows you to show/hide individual posts on the page. But actually, I don’t really like it, I’ll remove it later.
Jan 2005
-
If you’ve been paying attention to this blog (yeah, you, both of you), you’ll notice that the archives now go all the way back to January of 2002. That’s when I started the site on topcities some time back. I moved some of the “journal” posts I had from there into blogger, using a very detailed process I shall refer to as “manual copy-and-paste and editing of links”. I still had some backup copies of most of the old site around, and archive.
Nov 2004
-
I went to the dentist yesterday (irrelevant), and at National Bookstore Shangri-la, I found a copy of The Waste Lands, a day after I blogged about looking for it! They also had a copy of the fourth book Wizard and Glass, but I only had enough cash for one. On a website note, if you’ll notice, I added entries from my del.icio.us account to the blog. It’s done using the excellent Feed2JS tool.
Apr 2004
-
I’m not sure yet. I obviously don’t have much time to maintain it. I’d like pretty much to have a “professional” website, with the domain name and everything, but I’m afraid it would fall into misuse as well. Arrr… .I’ll figure something out.
Oct 2003
-
“If history is to change, let it change! If the world is to be destroyed, so be it! If my fate is to die, I must simply laugh.” – Magus, Chrono Trigger For as long as I have known about it, I have always liked this quote. It speaks of a certain ferocity, a certain stubbornness, a firm, unbending belief that whatever life throws at you, you will be able to not only handle it, but laugh in the face of its absurdity.
Jul 2002
-
I originally wasn’t going to have a rant today, but while surfing the web I thought about one of the things I like about it: personal websites. That’s right, personal pages. Some people might argue that personal pages are like the dregs of the internet. And they’re probably right. Given that any random joe-on-the-street can get on Geocities and build his own website, (like royness.vze.com for instance) we’re certainly bound to see all sorts of stuff (and accordingly, all sorts of crap) on the internet.