Extra Future

Hi, I’m Phil Nelson, a writer, developer, and audio-visual maker of stuff. I have been making stuff online for over 25 years. I run RetroStrange and Set Side B. Good to see you.

Blog Archives

Month: March 2014

  • grid

    >[Drag and drop library for two-dimensional, resizable and responsive lists.][link]

    I’ve seen this done before but not so efficiently, responsively, and with no dependencies. (via [Jesper][jesp])

    [link]: https://github.com/ubervu/grid “uberVU/grid”
    [jesp]: http://waffle.wootest.net “Waffle, Jesper’s blog.”

  • Font-To-Width

    >[Font‑To‑Width (FTW!)][link] is a script by Nick Sherman and Chris Lewis that takes advantage of large type families to fit pieces of text snugly within their containers.

    Can definitely see using this for some datavis stuff. There is some FOUT (Flash of unstyled text) to deal with though.

    [link]: http://font-to-width.com/ “Font-To-Width”

  • Cognitive Lode by ribot

    Providing the “[Latest research on consumer behaviour, psychology and biases][link].” This stuff is like catnip for me.

    [link]: http://coglode.com/ “Latest research on consumer behaviour, psychology and biases – Cognitive Lode by ribot”

  • ASCII Delimited Text – Not CSV or TAB delimited text

    [Turns out we are doing delimited text all wrong][link]:

    >If you use ASCII 31 as your field separator instead of comma or tab, and ASCII 30 as your record separator instead of new line. Then you have a text file format that is trivial to write out and read in, with no restrictions on the text in fields or the need to try and escape characters.
    >
    >It is even part of the design of the file encoding system.

    Mind. Blown.

    [link]: https://ronaldduncan.wordpress.com/2009/10/31/text-file-formats-ascii-delimited-text-not-csv-or-tab-delimited-text/ “Text File formats – ASCII Delimited Text – Not CSV or TAB delimited text | Ronald Duncan's Blog”

  • MicIO.js

    [This is some crazy magicks and I love it][link]:

    > Use HTML5’s web audio API to create a hardware bus somewhat similar to how Square’s Credit Card readers works.

    I am abuzz with ideas for this right now and this is bad because I have actual work to do. (via [Jesper][jesp])

    [link]: http://colinbookman.com/2014/03/23/micio/ “MicIO.js”
    [jesp]: http://waffle.wootest.net “Waffle, Jesper’s blog”

  • obelisk.js

    [Obelisk.js is a JavaScript Engine for building isometric pixel objects.][link]

    … and it looks like a million bucks. This may have to be the basis for my life’s work: A modern remake of the SNES version of SimCity. (via [Jesper][jesp])

    [link]: https://github.com/nosir/obelisk.js “nosir/obelisk.js on GitHub”
    [jesp]: http://waffle.wootest.net “Waffle, Jesper’s blog”

  • Fund Brandon Boyer’s Cancer Treatment

    [GoFundMe link.][link]

    Boyer is, by all accounts, a good dude who means a lot to independent video games. He got badly fucked over by his insurance company. Let’s help him out.

    [link]: http://www.gofundme.com/brandonnn “Brandon Boyer Cancer Treatment Relief by Brandon Boyer – GoFundMe”

  • Introducing the ‘mozjpeg’ Project

    [Mozilla announces a quest to fully-optimize JPEG compression with their own open source encoder.][link]

    Snark: But why don’t they just contribute to [WebP][webp]?

    [link]: https://blog.mozilla.org/research/2014/03/05/introducing-the-mozjpeg-project/ “Introducing the ‘mozjpeg’ Project | Mozilla Research”
    [webp]: http://www.webpimages.com “WebP – The Google Image Format”

  • CSS3 text-align-last

    [Short and to-the-point post on the Adobe Web Platform blog about a cool new proposed CSS3 property: text-align-last][link]. Finally, FINALLY, we can justify the last line of a paragraph tag.

    My god, it’s full of stars.

    [link]: http://blogs.adobe.com/webplatform/2014/02/25/improving-your-sites-visual-details-css3-text-align-last/ “Improving your site’s visual details: CSS3 text-align-last | Web Platform Team Blog”