# Writing Although I don't get the chance to write often, I do so occasionally and post it here! 01. ## [16 months with Loop Switch 2 earplugs](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/16-months-with-loop-switch-2-earplugs/) 25th March 2026 My thoughts on the Loop Switch 2, the adjustable model of the hyped-up earplugs company. Here are my thoughts using them over the past 18 months! 02. ## [Simple website analytics with Goatcounter](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/simple-website-analytics-with-goatcounter/) 24th March 2026 Using Goatcounter as a simple web analytics tool that is good for privacy, low in cost, lightweight, and simple. This is how I got on with it! 03. ## [I displayed an open graph image and had to pay how much?!](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/open-graph-licensing/) 22nd July 2025 A media company demanded a license fee for an Open Graph image used on my twitter archive. I gave in and paid it, but what does that mean for open graph images and copyright? 04. ## [Device notifications via HTTP with ntfy](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/ntfy/) 13th May 2025 ntfy is a super handy service that makes it easy to send notifications to a device via HTTP requests 05. ## [The Blog Questions Challenge](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/blog-questions-challenge/) 12th March 2025 Some answers to the Blog Questions Challenge — about my experience blogging here and in the past 06. ## [HTMHell Advent Calendar — Preloading fonts for web performance with link rel="preload"](https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/25/) 25th December 2024 A post on the the HTMHell Advent Calendar about how to use rel="preload" to improve font-loading performance! 07. ## [My anti-overlay client letter](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/accessibility-overlays-email/) 6th November 2024 I really dislike accessibility overlays and am often asked about my thoughts or to implement one. This is my email response when that discussion gets serious. 08. ## [Spring and Summer 2024 — Life, links and lmedia](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/spring-summer-2024/) 22nd September 2024 A summary of my past few months, including what I've been up to; blog posts I've written and enjoyed reading; and media I've been enjoying 09. ## [My day at State of the Browser 2024](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/state-of-the-browser-2024/) 19th September 2024 I attended State of the Browser 2024 in London, which had some exceptional talks. These are my thoughts from the day. 10. ## [Selling a small front-end web project — what I learned](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/selling-web-project/) 16th September 2024 In mid-2024 I sold a small unmonetised web project of mine called My Top for Spotify. This is my experience of the sale and what I learned! 11. ## [My response to UK CMA's potential remedies for mobile browser competition](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/cma-mobile-browsers-remedies/) 24th August 2024 My submission to a the potential remedies proposed by the UK Competition and Market's Authority consultation on Mobile Browser Competition 12. ## [Proxying an Image CDN with Cloudflare workers](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/cloudflare-worker-image-proxy/) 3rd August 2024 Using free Cloudflare workers to proxy an image CDN on the main origin for performance 13. ## [JS library compilation to browser, esm and cjs using esbuild](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/js-library-bundling-esbuild/) 19th July 2024 My setup using esbuild to compile a Javascript library for browser use, ES Module import and CommonJS require 14. ## [Simple, fast build tooling with live reload for a non-framework website](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/simple-build-tooling/) 14th July 2024 A nice modern bundling set up that can be used with CMS sites like WordPress without a framework. Uses Parcel and livereload 15. ## [My 2023 round-up](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/2023-roundup/) 24th January 2024 My belated round-up of 2023, including conferences, work, arts and crafts, personal life and media! 16. ## [Web Performance Calendar — Ten optimisation tips for an initial web performance audit](https://calendar.perfplanet.com/2023/ten-optimisation-tips-for-an-initial-web-performance-audit/) 14th December 2023 A post on the the Web Performance Calendar with handy tips for an site performance audit 17. ## [HTMHell Advent Calendar — Getting started with Web Performance](https://www.htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2023/14/) 14th December 2023 A post on the the HTMHell Advent Calendar about how to get started with web performance including some tips! 18. ## [Interop Priority Game 2024](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/interop-priority-game/) 17th November 2023 Prioritising the proposals for the Interop Project 2024 as I'd like, prompted by Brian Kardell's "Let's Play a Game" 19. ## [Alternative text for "I'm a Luddite (and So Can You!)"](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/im-a-luddite-alt-text/) 2nd August 2023 Alternative text for the web comic from Tom Humberstone about a history of the Luddites and how you can and should also be a Luddite 20. ## [Bone conduction earphones revolution — Aftershokz Aeropex review](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/aeropex-review/) 30th July 2023 The bone conduction earphones from Aftershokz blew my mind and are the best earphones I've ever used! Reviewed 9/10. 21. ## [Simple, cheap GeoIP API using Netlify Edge functions](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/netlify-geoip/) 1st May 2023 How you can use Netlify to set up your own GeoIP API service with no rate limits, payment plans or tracking! 22. ## [Simple, cheap GeoIP API using Vercel Edge functions](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/vercel-geoip/) 30th April 2023 How you can use Vercel to set up your own GeoIP API service with no rate limits, payment plans or tracking! 23. ## [Searching for a Mastodon app for Android](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/mastodon-android/) 26th March 2023 There are plenty Android apps to access Mastodon and the Fediverse, which one works best for me? 24. ## [Displaying Hillwalking routes on the web with GPX files and Leaflet](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/hillwalking-maps-with-leaflet/) 23rd January 2023 Display GPX route files from a GPS tracker on the web using Javascript, Leaflet and an Outdoors Tilelayer 25. ## [GrapheneOS as my daily-driver mobile OS](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/grapheneos/) 15th January 2023 My experience running GrapheneOS on a Google Pixel 6 over the past few months as my daily-driver phone OS 26. ## [My 2022 round-up](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/2022-roundup/) 30th December 2022 Happy new year! This is a round-up of my 2022, including conferences, work, personal life and media! 27. ## [My comments to Competition and Markets Authority on mobile browser competition](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/cma-mobile-browsers-mir/) 18th July 2022 My submission to a Competition and Market's Authority consultation on Mobile Browser Competition 28. ## [Code Splitting in Alpine.js](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/code-splitting-alpine/) 30th May 2022 Code splitting in JavaScript projects and for Alpine.js 29. ## [Async Alpine — Asynchronous Alpine component loading](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/async-alpine/) 30th May 2022 Async Alpine for loading Alpine.js components asynchronously and lazily 30. ## [SVG generative mountain ridge dividers](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/svg-generative-ridges/) 21st April 2022 Generative mountain ridge dividers using videogame terrain generation techniques, JavaScript and SVG 31. ## [Managing tracking consent with Cead Consent](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/cead-consent/) 10th April 2022 How to manage tracking scripts and consent easily using Cead Consent 32. ## [Personal site stack for alistairshepherd.uk](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/personal-site-stack/) 23rd December 2021 The technical stack for alistairshepherd.uk including 11ty, Sass, esbuild and gulp 33. ## [Web Nostalgia and Lost In Translation](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/lost-in-translation-and-nostalgia/) 30th August 2021 Ramblings about web nostalgia, early web experiments and translating through many different languages 34. ## [Front End Web Development Feeds and Newsletters](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/frontend-feeds-newsletters/) 15th July 2021 Blogs, articles and newsletters I follow to keep up-to-date with Frontend web development. 35. ## [Conditionally loading a native image lazyload polyfill/library](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/image-lazyload-conditional-polyfill/) 11th June 2021 How you can feature detect native image lazyloading support and load a JS library if not. 36. ## [Conditionally loading a polyfill for :focus-visible](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/focus-visible-conditional-polyfill/) 21st May 2021 Helpful snippet to load the polyfill for CSS pseudo class :focus-visible conditionally. 37. ## [SVG Landscape with live colour theming - new site part 2](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/parallax-svg-landscape-2/) 17th February 2021 'Live' colour-changing landscape using custom properties for an SVG landscape. 38. ## [Making a Parallax SVG Landscape - new site part 1](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/parallax-svg-landscape-1/) 29th January 2021 How I made the parallax SVG landscape in the header of my website. First of a series of two. 39. ## [Fixes for Koken Problems](https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/fixes-for-koken-problems/) 17th September 2020 Koken is an old CMS for photographers I've worked with, these are some fixes for those still using it.