Hacker News: mthwl

Polyform - Source code licenses with limited rights

mthwl — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 10:31:00 +0000

Article URL: https://polyformproject.org/licenses/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45371256

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by mthwl in "Ask HN: Could you share your personal blog here?"

mthwl — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 03:20:51 +0000

https://www.matthewhowell.net/

A very small bit of writing, a reading log, some photos, and link to other work.

Ask HN: Examples of great PWAs

mthwl — Thu, 05 Jan 2023 17:12:05 +0000

Looking for examples of best-in-class of PWAs, a few of my favorites listed below.

Pinafore, a Mastodon client: https://pinafore.social/

Resilient Web Design, a PWA book by Jeremy Keith: https://resilientwebdesign.com

2048, the game: https://2048game.com

I see a bunch of praise for the Starbucks PWA, but I wasn’t too impressed: https://app.starbucks.com/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34262989

Points: 7

# Comments: 1

Philly welcomed PhilTel’s first free public phone as a way to resist big tech

mthwl — Sun, 18 Dec 2022 03:08:01 +0000

Article URL: https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/philtel-first-free-payphone-installed-philadelphia-20221217.html

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34034705

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by mthwl in "PhilTel is looking to install free payphones in Philadelphia"

mthwl — Sun, 04 Dec 2022 14:18:59 +0000

Maybe of note that Philadelphia also has a small, independent, wireless ISP: https://phillywisper.net/

New comment by mthwl in "Ask HN: Returning to work after 5 years?"

mthwl — Sat, 08 Oct 2022 02:50:08 +0000

Thanks! I’m of two minds about this.

The previous commenter is probably correct in one sense. Whatever version of React I was working with in 2017 is surely unsupported now and lol-nobody-uses-that-anymore-grandpa. And maybe everyone works with NextJS or Vue or Svelte or NewerJS.

But, at the same time, I’ve been programming long enough to understand that experience with a particular framework isn’t specifically valuable. The ability to learn and understand how software works and then help build/improve it is valuable and transferable.

Also, perhaps my least favorite part of web development is the ”everything is an app now” shift that happened however many years ago.

I kind of just maybe want a job writing high quality, accessible, rigorous html and css? Is that a thing? Jobs for companies that leverage static site generators maybe?

Ask HN: Returning to work after 5 years?

mthwl — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 20:02:59 +0000

After a 5 year hiatus, I’m planning to return to a programming job next fall (so I have about a year to prepare).

Previously, I’ve done generalist web development stuff (front end, back end, database/api, integrations, a bit of devops, design work).

And a few different kinds of employers: design agencies, product companies, universities, startups.

Since I haven’t been in the market for a long time, I’m curious to hear how it might have changed.

1) any recommendations on pieces of the web stack to focus on? I’ll be spending a year or so brushing on current tech.

2) what’s the current job market like? I see a lot of React jobs, but I can’t say I love React

3) any advice for reentering the job market after such a layoff?

Thanks!

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33126242

Points: 2

# Comments: 4

Ask HN: Experiences learning to drive on the left?

mthwl — Mon, 16 May 2022 16:53:04 +0000

Next year, my family is going to be relocating from the US to a country that drives on the left side of the road.

Anyone have experience making this transition (or the reverse)? Any tips or advice?

It's an interesting change since it's not easy to practice beforehand.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31400166

Points: 3

# Comments: 5

New comment by mthwl in "Show HN: Reasonable Colors, an open-source color system for accessible palettes"

mthwl — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 15:14:31 +0000

Hi! Launched Reasonable Colors today. It’s an open-source color system for building accessible, nice-looking color palettes.

The reason this might be interesting is that it’s built programmatically within the LCH color space. All of the color shades are pinned within certain relative luminance ranges, which means all of their contrast ratios end up being rather uniform.

You can do simple “shade number math” to find high-contrast combinations.

Examples: - Pick a color, move 2 shades apart, contrast ratio guaranteed to be at least 3:1 - Pick a color, move 3 shades apart, contrast ratio guaranteed to be at least 4.5:1 - Pick a color, move 4 shades apart, contrast ratio guaranteed to be at least 7:1

Check it out, feedback welcome!

Show HN: Reasonable Colors, an open-source color system for accessible palettes

mthwl — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 15:13:05 +0000

Article URL: https://reasonable.work/colors/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30989932

Points: 1

# Comments: 1

New comment by mthwl in "Ask HN: Experience living in NZ?"

mthwl — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 20:59:45 +0000

We’ll be firmly upper middle class, but I am aware that the housing market is pretty brutal at the moment.

If we moved, it wouldn’t be for financial benefit, looking for a quality of life improvement. Our bet would be that the social safety net (healthcare, public school quality, etc) would help blunt the higher cost of living.

New comment by mthwl in "CD sales grow for first time since 2004"

mthwl — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 17:52:52 +0000

I wrote a bit recently about why I still collect music on CDs. Here are my 3 reasons, which echo a lot of the comments:

1. To Support the Artist, 2. To Own the Music, 3. To Collect Artifacts (which is fun)

I also found a few recent attempts at creating new physical music formats, but most of them require Internet connectivity and are essentially cloud services that have physical access tokens :( I ended up just lamenting that we never got the Sony MiniDisc revolution that we all deserved.

The post is here: https://www.matthewhowell.net/notes/2022/on-collecting-music...

New comment by mthwl in "Ask HN: Experience living in NZ?"

mthwl — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 15:03:39 +0000

Thanks, but this isn’t helpful.

Ask HN: Experience living in NZ?

mthwl — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 14:25:32 +0000

My wife has a potential job opportunity in Auckland next year and we’re considering moving (with our two small children).

Our current quality of life in the US is pretty high, but we’re not very optimistic about the near future here. The move would be primarily aimed at giving our kids an opportunity to grow up with more nature, a better social safety net, and a (broadly speaking, I know) more tolerant society.

Background: our family identifies as 75% Asian. We’re English speakers and have lived overseas before, but never in NZ. I would plan on finding remote work once we’ve moved.

Anyone have any experience on moving, living, or working in NZ? Especially with children?

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30640273

Points: 1

# Comments: 4

New comment by mthwl in "[dead]"

mthwl — Mon, 07 Feb 2022 14:44:48 +0000

This one has been around for a few years now, without much active development.

Is there a reason it’s popping up again now, seems like they’ve shipped a new version? Anyone using it have an opinion?

Why the CD Revival Is Finally Here

mthwl — Fri, 21 Jan 2022 14:48:44 +0000

Article URL: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/cd-revival-compact-discs-rob-sheffield-1284487/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30024190

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

On Collecting Music

mthwl — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 13:02:22 +0000

Article URL: https://www.matthewhowell.net/notes/2022/on-collecting-music/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29808359

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

Clean Up the Web

mthwl — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 18:49:35 +0000

Article URL: https://cleanuptheweb.org/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26837625

Points: 17

# Comments: 1

New comment by mthwl in "Photos from the Surface of Venus (1982)"

mthwl — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 17:26:48 +0000

These are composites, not the actual photos, if I recall correctly. The perspective is shifted and I guess the horizon is just inferred from the corners?

I haven’t found great, high-res sources, but the real photos are on the Venera Smithsonian page here: https://airandspace.si.edu/multimedia-gallery/web12184-20116...

New comment by mthwl in "The Hippocratic License"

mthwl — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 19:59:37 +0000

This has been posted to HN a handful of times, mostly either ignored or criticized.

I’m posting it again in the hopes of fostering a discussion around the idea. Could something like this actually work?

What would it look like? Is the idea of defining harm so difficult and transient that it would always be a failure?