commit 047fabdb77ec578ac9492e6ded94ee676ef43e40
parent a0343c5ba29e95eceaacfacebe29a9e56dc7a1dc
Author: Jake Bauer <jbauer@paritybit.ca>
Date: Sat, 13 Jun 2020 15:40:48 -0400
Merge branch 'master' of git.sr.ht:~jbauer/paritybit.ca
Diffstat:
11 files changed, 140 insertions(+), 131 deletions(-)
diff --git a/pages/blog.md b/pages/blog.md
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ href="https://social.paritybit.ca/@jbauer">Mastodon</a>.
### 2020
<ul>
+ <li>2020-06-12 <a href="blog/making-my-site-easier-to-read">Making My Site Easier to Read</a></li>
<li>2020-06-11 <a href="blog/improving-my-blog-post-publishing-script">Improving My Blog Post Publishing Script</a></li>
<li>2020-06-11 <a href="blog/trying-out-dwm">Trying Out dwm</a></li>
<li>2020-06-09 <a href="blog/setting-up-a-status-page">Setting Up a Status Page</a></li>
diff --git a/pages/blog/making-my-site-easier-to-read.md b/pages/blog/making-my-site-easier-to-read.md
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+## Making My Site Easier to Read
+
+[//]: # "Kev Quirk recently posted an article about improving his website's design which sparked me to review my own site's typography and design."
+
+[//]: # "main.min.css"
+
+[//]: #
+
+<div class="byline">
+<b>Written By:</b> Jake Bauer |
+ <b>Posted:</b> 2020-06-12 |
+ <b>Last Updated:</b> 2020-06-12
+</div>
+
+Kev Quirk recently posted an [article about improving his website's
+design](https://kevq.uk/whats-in-a-font-researching-website-typography/) which
+sparked me to review my own site's typography and design. During my [previous
+site redesign](https://www.paritybit.ca/blog/website-redesign), I tried to make
+sure that things were as readable as possible but it never hurts to review
+things. There may be something I like more now or something I missed the first
+time.
+
+There were a few things in his article which caught my eye and made me
+reconsider if I was doing all I could regarding typography. For one, I had my
+line height set at `1.4em` which I've lowered to `1.3em` and I also increased
+the spacing between paragraph headers and the paragraph above so that individual
+paragraphs or sections feel more like a single unit. This made text- and
+section-heavy pages like my [About This Site](/about-site) page much nicer to
+read.
+
+I also played around with different fonts and line widths, but nothing other
+than what I currently have looked good to me. I've also considered adding a
+light theme back to my website via a `@media` query because it's supposedly
+easier to read, but I originally got rid of it because I didn't like the look of
+the light theme that I had, despite my best efforts to tweak it. I do also
+personally prefer dark themes, so I think I'll just stick with what I have for
+now.
+
+There was one thing I disagree with Kev about: font sizes. I laid out my
+[thoughts regarding font
+sizes](https://www.paritybit.ca/blog/a-quick-rant-about-web-font-sizes) in a
+previous blog post, but to summarize: font sizes should not be specified in
+`px`, they should be specified using some relative measurement like `rem`s or
+`%`s.
+
+Other than that (😉), I think it's an excellent post and I hope it influences
+others to make their websites more readable. Thanks Kev!
+
+_This is my forty-third post for the
+[#100DaysToOffload](https://social.paritybit.ca/tags/100DaysToOffload)
+challenge. You can learn more about this challenge over at
+[https://100daystooffload.com](https://100daystooffload.com)._
diff --git a/pages/blog/trying-out-dwm.md b/pages/blog/trying-out-dwm.md
@@ -96,9 +96,9 @@ tailored for my needs (which it is). It's also really fun to use because of [how
much I love scripting](/blog/scripting-my-way-to-success).
You can view the scripts I use as well as other configuration information in [my
-dotfiles repo](https://git.sr.ht/~jbauer/dotfiles). My custom builds for each of
-the suckless tools I use are contained in the `custom` branch of each tool's
-repository: [dwm](https://git.sr.ht/~jbauer/dwm),
+dotfiles repo](https://git.sr.ht/~jbauer/dotfiles-legacy). My custom builds for
+each of the suckless tools I use are contained in the `custom` branch of each
+tool's repository: [dwm](https://git.sr.ht/~jbauer/dwm),
[st](https://git.sr.ht/~jbauer/st),
[slstatus](https://git.sr.ht/~jbauer/slstatus), and
[dmenu](https://git.sr.ht/~jbauer/dmenu). The patches I chose to apply are in
diff --git a/pages/home.md b/pages/home.md
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ extent)! Access through `gopher://paritybit.ca` or `gemini://paritybit.ca`.
src="/img/feed-icon.png" width="15" height="15" alt="Click for RSS Feed"/>
</a>
</div>
+2020-06-12 <a class="feed-item" href="blog/making-my-site-easier-to-read">Making My Site Easier to Read</a>
+
2020-06-11 <a class="feed-item" href="blog/improving-my-blog-post-publishing-script">Improving My Blog Post Publishing Script</a>
2020-06-11 <a class="feed-item" href="blog/trying-out-dwm">Trying Out dwm</a>
@@ -37,8 +39,6 @@ extent)! Access through `gopher://paritybit.ca` or `gemini://paritybit.ca`.
2020-06-02 <a class="feed-item" href="blog/dnd-xp-system">My Custom XP System for DnD</a>
2020-05-31 <a class="feed-item" href="blog/it-doesnt-have-to-be-perfect">It Doesn't Have to Be Perfect</a>
-
-2020-05-29 <a class="feed-item" href="blog/book-review-the-mediocre-programmer">Book Review: The Mediocre Programmer</a>
### What is a Parity Bit?
It is a bit (in the 1's and 0's sense) used in checking for errors in digital
diff --git a/pages/now.md b/pages/now.md
@@ -9,32 +9,18 @@
This is a "now" page. It gives an overview of what's going on in my life at the
moment. [Learn more about now pages here](https://nownownow.com/about).
-**Last Updated:** 2020-03-18
+**Last Updated:** 2020-06-12
### Day-to-Day
-Working full time as part of work terms scheduled into my degree program.
+Working full time, from home, as part of work terms scheduled into my degree
+program.
-Currently working from home due to the human malware going around the world
-right now.
+### Interests/Projects
-### Interests
+I've become quite interested in the Gentoo Linux distribution and I'm playing
+around with FreeBSD and OpenBSD.
-Looking to get into the BSD family of operating systems as I'd like to attend
-the upcoming BSDCan conference and would like a little bit of knowledge before
-attending.
-
-I am planning to pick up learning French again as it will be very useful later
-on in my life. I also need to make sure I'm keeping on top of my German so that
-it doesn't slowly start to slip away.
-
-I would also like to learn American Sign Language (possibly along with French
-Sign Language) as I have encountered a few situations in my life where it would
-have been useful and it also seems like it would be very interesting to learn.
-
-### Music
-
-I have recently discovered and am very much enjoying the artists _The Black
-Keys_, _Greta Van Fleet_, _The Dreadnoughts_, _The HU_, _Tengger Cavalry_,
-_Blood Incantation_, _Rivers of Nihil_, _Witchcraft_, _Volbeat_, _Stone Sour_,
-_Trivium_, _Apocalypse Orchestra_, and many more related artists.
+I've recently been refining my website's backend scripts and trying to slim down
+the software I use. Also, I'm learning and using Perl to create a script to
+convert HTML pages to a format compatible with the Gopher protocol.
diff --git a/pages/uses.md b/pages/uses.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
## What I Use
-[//]: # "This page is for those whom are curious about the programs and equipment I use to get work done. It is inspired by uses.tech."
+[//]: # "This page is for those who are curious about the programs and equipment I use to get work done. It is inspired by uses.tech."
[//]: # "main.min.css"
@@ -33,9 +33,9 @@ the time (November, 2017) were absolutely horrendous.
#### Laptop
-I also own a Thinkpad T440s (I don't actually mind the trackpad) which I
-purchased second-hand off of eBay for a grand total of $215 USD after
-shipping/etc with the following specifications:
+I own a Thinkpad T440s (I don't actually mind the trackpad) which I purchased
+second-hand off of eBay for a grand total of $215 USD after shipping/etc with
+the following specifications:
* **CPU:** Intel i5-4300U
* **RAM:** 4GB Soldered + 4GB Samsung DDR3L SO-DIMM
@@ -70,6 +70,9 @@ had to swap the battery yet.
- 16GB Storage
- Runs LineageOS with no Google stuff added
+Once this phone becomes unusable, I'll be replacing it with a
+[PinePhone](https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/).
+
#### Server Equipment
I try to self-host most of my services and I aim for low-cost, power-efficient,
@@ -77,8 +80,8 @@ and silent equipment. Below is a list of the equipment which I currently use:
##### OPNSense Router
-I got this computer for free so I decided to make it my home router. I added 2
-more gigabit NICs with a PCIe card for a total of three (one WAN, one LAN, one
+I got this computer as a reward for helping a friend build a PC. I added 2 more
+gigabit NICs with a PCIe card for a total of three (one WAN, one LAN, one
Wi-Fi). It has more horsepower than a router typically needs, but it also does
more than a typical router. For example, it runs intrusion detection software
which scans every packet. It also typically only draws 15-20W and stays very
@@ -89,19 +92,6 @@ quiet. Here are the specifications:
- **RAM:** 2x2GB DDR3
- **Storage:** 160GB Fujitsu 2.5" SATA-II HDD
-##### Rackmount Server **[DECOMMISSIONED]**
-
-I got this for a mere $95 USD with shipping and it served me well for about a
-year before [I found out it was literally less powerful than an old laptop I
-had](/blog/decommissioning-my-rackmount-server). Here are the specs:
-
-* Dell R415 w/ Proprietary Motherboard/Case/2x PSUs
- - **CPU:** 2x AMD Opteron 4130 @ 2.26GHz (4C/4T each)
- - **RAM:** 8x2GB DDR3 ECC
- - **RAID Card:** Dell Perc H700 w/ Backup Battery
- - **Storage:** 2x HGST 4.0TB 7200RPM HDD Model #: HDN726040ALE614 in RAID-1
- - **Backup Storage:** HGST Deskstar 5K4000 4.0TB 5700RPM HDD
-
##### Proxmox Server
This is one of my old laptops. I've owned it for at least 7 years if not longer
@@ -125,14 +115,14 @@ Purchased for $20 including a case from a local seller.
### Software
<figure>
- <a href="/img/desktop.png"><img src="/img/desktop-thumb.png" alt="A picture
- of my desktop with some applications open."/></a>
+ <a href="/img/dwm-laptop.png"><img src="/img/dwm-laptop.png" alt="A picture
+ of my desktop with neofetch open."/></a>
</figure>
-As far as software goes, I try to stay as far away from proprietary applications
-as I possibly can. I typically use terminal-based applications over GUI ones as
-I find that terminal-based applications feel more efficient once I've learned
-how to use them. It's just a preference though.
+I try to stay as far away from proprietary applications as I possibly can. I
+typically use terminal-based applications over GUI ones as I find that they feel
+more efficient once I've learned how to use them. Many also support vim-like
+keybindings which are burned into my muscle memory now.
View [my dotfiles](https://git.sr.ht/~jbauer/dotfiles)
([mirror](https://git.paritybit.ca/jbauer/dotfiles)).
@@ -141,54 +131,34 @@ View [my dotfiles](https://git.sr.ht/~jbauer/dotfiles)
My operating system of choice is [Debian GNU/Linux](https://www.debian.org). I
run the stable variant (which is Debian 10 Buster at the time of writing) on all
-of my machines as I love how stable and dependable it is. Debian Stable sees a
-new major release once every two or so years but, despite that, I don't find
-myself wanting for newer software. The backports repository brings in newer
-versions of most of the popular programs and other software like Steam and Riot
-which update frequently have their own repositories. I haven't yet found myself
-needing or wanting to run something else for newer software.
-
-Here are 7 main reasons why I run Debian:
-
-* I am very comfortable in the Debian ecosystem as far as administrating systems
- and understanding how it works.
-* Arch/Gentoo aren't as well-suited for servers and I like the fact that I am
- running the exact same operating system on both my development machines and my
- servers.
-* Debian is backed by volunteers instead of a commercial organization like, for
- example, Ubuntu is by Canonical.
-* I strongly agree with the Debian philosophy and the way they do things. (See
- the Debian Social Contract, Debian Constitution, and the Debian Policy Manual
- in particular).
-* Debian comes with a high degree of polish; technical excellence and "doing
- things right" are core values of the organization.
-* Debian has a minimal installation option just like Arch which allows me to
- install the distribution without a desktop environment and then build up my
- own.
-* I hope to one day become at least a Debian Maintainer if not a Debian
- Developer.
+of my machines as I love how stable and dependable it is. I also like the fact
+that I can do a minimal install with no GUI environment and build my system up
+from that (much like Arch).
+
+Although I really like Debian, I have been experimenting with other
+distributions and operating systems. Gentoo has piqued my interest and I've
+enjoyed using FreeBSD and OpenBSD (though I don't think I'll be using BSDs on
+the desktop for now).
I am not evangelistic about running specific Linux distributions and prefer to
encourage others to use whichever distribution they are most comfortable with.
#### Desktop Environment/Window Manager
-I don't use a typical desktop environment like Gnome or KDE as, once I
-discovered tiling window managers, those felt quite "bloated". Gnome in
-particular frustrated me as it felt like it actively got in the way of me using
-my computer effectively. Instead, I have essentially built my own desktop
+I use a tiling window manager and have essentially built my own desktop
environment from the ground up by gluing together different components à la the
-Unix philosophy.
-
-I use [bspwm](https://github.com/baskerville/bspwm) as my tiling window manager,
-[polybar](https://polybar.github.io/) as my status bar,
-[rofi](https://github.com/davatorium/rofi) as my application launcher,
-[dunst](https://dunst-project.org/) as my notification daemon,
-[nitrogen](https://github.com/l3ib/nitrogen/) for my desktop backgrounds,
-[betterlockscreen](https://github.com/pavanjadhaw/betterlockscreen) as my lock
-screen, and [sxhkd](https://github.com/baskerville/sxhkd) as my shortcut key
-daemon. The environment is launched via `startx` and I don't use a login/display
-manager.
+Unix philosophy. I don't use a display manager; the environment is started with
+`startx`.
+
+I use:
+
+* [dwm](https://dwm.suckless.org) as my tiling window manager,
+* [slstatus](https://tools.suckless.org/slstatus) as my status bar,
+* [dmenu](https://tools.suckless.org/dmenu) as my application launcher,
+* [dunst](https://dunst-project.org/) as my notification daemon,
+* [feh](https://feh.finalrewind.org/) to set my desktop background,
+* and [betterlockscreen](https://github.com/pavanjadhaw/betterlockscreen) as my
+ lock screen.
#### Colourscheme
@@ -218,22 +188,17 @@ manager.
#### Text Editor/IDE
-[Neovim](https://neovim.io/). I am very comfortable with the keybindings and
-modal nature of vim and vim-like editors. I use a select few plugins and a
-colour scheme but try to keep things as small and manageable as possible. Vim is
-quite powerful as both a text editor and a language-agnostic IDE. For example,
-its LaTeX support with the various LaTeX plugins (I use
-[LaTeX-Box](https://github.com/LaTeX-Box-Team/LaTeX-Box) as part of
-[vim-polyglot](https://github.com/sheerun/vim-polyglot)) is top notch.
+I use [Neovim](https://neovim.io/). I am very comfortable with the keybindings
+and modal nature of vim and vim-like editors. I use a select few plugins and a
+colour scheme but try to keep things as minimal as possible.
#### Web Browser
[Firefox](https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/). I tried using some other
-browsers like qutebrowser but always [kept coming back to
+browsers such as qutebrowser but always [kept coming back to
Firefox](/blog/qutebrowser-to-firefox) thanks to its focus on privacy, excellent
-ad-blocking support, and general usability. I do use
-[lynx](https://lynx.invisible-island.net/) for browsing on the command line
-though I don't do this often.
+ad-blocking support, and general usability. I also use
+[lynx](https://lynx.invisible-island.net/) for browsing on the command line.
I use Firefox with the following addons:
@@ -246,10 +211,10 @@ I use Firefox with the following addons:
#### Mail Client
-I use [neomutt](https://neomutt.org/). It's light, fast, and lets me efficiently
-manage my mail. It only displays in plain-text so I can avoid those annoying
-HTML emails and it makes me feel much more comfortable using email. I
-synchronize my mail with [mbsync](http://isync.sourceforge.net/).
+I use [aerc](https://aerc-mail.org/). It's light, fast, and lets me efficiently
+manage my mail. It makes me feel much more comfortable using email. When I need
+to go offline, I synchronize my mail with
+[mbsync](http://isync.sourceforge.net/).
#### IRC Client
@@ -264,27 +229,20 @@ would be a bit too complicated.
#### Password Manager
-For this I use [KeepassXC](https://keepassxc.org/). It's a community-supported,
-cross-platform fork of Keepass which is actually regularly maintained unlike
-KeepassX. I chose it for being really simple to manage compared to something
-like BitWarden and because I really like the user interface.
+I use [KeepassXC](https://keepassxc.org/). I chose it for being really simple to
+manage compared to something like BitWarden and because I really like the user
+interface.
#### Music Player
-I typically use [ncmpcpp](https://rybczak.net/ncmpcpp/) (awful name) along with
-[mpd](https://www.musicpd.org/) for playing music. I find it a really good tool
-for managing my tens-of-gigabytes large music collection.
+I now use [cmus](https://cmus.github.io/) for its simplicity and ease-of-use. It
+does everything I need from a music player.
#### Video Player
[mpv](https://mpv.io/) is my video player of choice. It's light, simple, and
-versatile. It also integrates with youtube-dl so I can watch Youtube videos
-without opening my web browser.
-
-#### Music Visualizer
-
-I use [vis](https://github.com/dpayne/cli-visualizer). Even though ncmpcpp has
-built-in visualizers, I like the way vis looks.
+versatile. It also integrates with youtube-dl so I can watch Youtube videos or
+Twitch streams without opening my web browser.
#### RSS Feed Reader
@@ -294,10 +252,9 @@ application I want (e.g. open a Youtube feed in MPV).
#### Document Creation
-I will typically write documents in either markdown or LaTeX. I use
-[LibreOffice](https://www.libreoffice.org/) for those tasks which require
-spreadsheets (I have a fairly complex budgeting spreadsheet) or when someone
-"requires" that something be submitted in `.docx` format.
+I will typically write documents in either markdown or LaTeX. For instances
+where I need to interact with `.docx` files and whatnot, I use
+[Libreoffice](https://www.libreoffice.org/).
#### Presentations
diff --git a/public/feeds/sitewide-feed.xml b/public/feeds/sitewide-feed.xml
@@ -7,6 +7,22 @@
<description>The feed that covers all notable additions, updates, announcements,
and other changes for the entire paritybit.ca website.</description>
<item>
+ <title>Making My Site Easier to Read</title>
+ <link>https://www.paritybit.ca/blog/making-my-site-easier-to-read</link>
+ <guid>https://www.paritybit.ca/blog/making-my-site-easier-to-read</guid>
+ <pubDate>Fri, 12 Jun 2020 18:32:02 -0400</pubDate>
+ <description><![CDATA[<h2 id="making-my-site-easier-to-read">Making My Site Easier to Read</h2>
+<div class="byline">
+<p><b>Written By:</b> Jake Bauer | <b>Posted:</b> 2020-06-12 | <b>Last Updated:</b> 2020-06-12</p>
+</div>
+<p>Kev Quirk recently posted an <a href="https://kevq.uk/whats-in-a-font-researching-website-typography/">article about improving his website’s design</a> which sparked me to review my own site’s typography and design. During my <a href="https://www.paritybit.ca/blog/website-redesign">previous site redesign</a>, I tried to make sure that things were as readable as possible but it never hurts to review things. There may be something I like more now or something I missed the first time.</p>
+<p>There were a few things in his article which caught my eye and made me reconsider if I was doing all I could regarding typography. For one, I had my line height set at <code>1.4em</code> which I’ve lowered to <code>1.3em</code> and I also increased the spacing between paragraph headers and the paragraph above so that individual paragraphs or sections feel more like a single unit. This made text- and section-heavy pages like my <a href="/about-site">About This Site</a> page much nicer to read.</p>
+<p>I also played around with different fonts and line widths, but nothing other than what I currently have looked good to me. I’ve also considered adding a light theme back to my website via a <code>@media</code> query because it’s supposedly easier to read, but I originally got rid of it because I didn’t like the look of the light theme that I had, despite my best efforts to tweak it. I do also personally prefer dark themes, so I think I’ll just stick with what I have for now.</p>
+<p>There was one thing I disagree with Kev about: font sizes. I laid out my <a href="https://www.paritybit.ca/blog/a-quick-rant-about-web-font-sizes">thoughts regarding font sizes</a> in a previous blog post, but to summarize: font sizes should not be specified in <code>px</code>, they should be specified using some relative measurement like <code>rem</code>s or <code>%</code>s.</p>
+<p>Other than that (😉), I think it’s an excellent post and I hope it influences others to make their websites more readable. Thanks Kev!</p>
+<p><em>This is my forty-third post for the <a href="https://social.paritybit.ca/tags/100DaysToOffload">#100DaysToOffload</a> challenge. You can learn more about this challenge over at <a href="https://100daystooffload.com" class="uri">https://100daystooffload.com</a>.</em></p>]]></description>
+ </item>
+<item>
<title>Improving My Blog Post Publishing Script</title>
<link>https://www.paritybit.ca/blog/improving-my-blog-post-publishing-script</link>
<guid>https://www.paritybit.ca/blog/improving-my-blog-post-publishing-script</guid>
diff --git a/public/img/desktop-thumb.png b/public/img/desktop-thumb.png
Binary files differ.
diff --git a/public/img/desktop.png b/public/img/desktop.png
Binary files differ.
diff --git a/public/sitemap.xml b/public/sitemap.xml
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
<url><loc>https://www.paritybit.ca</loc></url>
<url><loc>https://www.paritybit.ca/home</loc></url>
<url><loc>https://www.paritybit.ca/blog</loc></url>
+ <url><loc>https://www.paritybit.ca/blog/making-my-site-easier-to-read</loc></url>
<url><loc>https://www.paritybit.ca/blog/improving-my-blog-post-publishing-script</loc></url>
<url><loc>https://www.paritybit.ca/blog/trying-out-dwm</loc></url>
<url><loc>https://www.paritybit.ca/blog/setting-up-a-status-page</loc></url>
diff --git a/publish b/publish
@@ -28,10 +28,6 @@ if [ ! -x "$(command -v rsync)" ]; then
echo "rsync is needed but was not found."
exit 1
fi
-if [ ! -x "$(command -v ed)" ]; then
- echo "ed is needed but was not found."
- exit 1
-fi
if [ -x "$(command -v nvim)" ]; then
vim_ver="nvim"
elif [ ! -x "$(command -v vim)" ]; then
