Alan Lavender
LightNews LightNews
banner
lavenderlens.bsky.social
Alan Lavender
@lavenderlens.bsky.social
110 followers 130 following 300 posts
✍ author
⚛️trainer: JS/React/Java/Python
💟#WorldwideWalkingWounded
🎬photographer/filmmaker
🎹musician
🚹he/him
🙏🏻Jer29:1
https://qoto.org/@lavenderlens
IE☘️/ UK🇬🇧 https://frontendcookbook.com
Posts Replies Media Videos
lavenderlens.bsky.social
Like another commenter, I thought this had already happened in ‘22.
Internet Explorer “Tombstone”, circa 2022
September 12, 2025 at 2:21 AM
lavenderlens.bsky.social
This is nothing short of heinous. It’s browser wars all over again.
July 25, 2025 at 4:12 PM
lavenderlens.bsky.social
My mate singer/songwriter Paul Archer has a new web site and new album out soon. He’s one to watch. 🙄🎸
paularcherofficial.com
July 22, 2025 at 11:30 PM
lavenderlens.bsky.social
Artwork from some of the rising stars at Belfast art school degree show ‘25.
Beeswax Bord Na Mona briquettes and kneeler. Pallet painted black with yellow writing “STANDDOWN” Cyanotype contact printed ferns and Bible verses Tooth and fingernail chess set
June 9, 2025 at 11:37 PM
lavenderlens.bsky.social
In M&S Derry post cyber attack. Looks like they have their own version of police tape for the block and collect booth.
Click and collect booth closed after cyber attack. M&S Derry, Northern Ireland Close up of police tape - M&S equivalent. It says “M&S”.
June 8, 2025 at 1:15 PM
lavenderlens.bsky.social
Having some fun with unstoppabledomains.com
ud.me/irelandthe.b... was 5 bucks **for life**
ud.me/alanlavender... was 2.
They are web 3.0 tokenisable onchain, and come with a default wallet, apparently. I really must get up to speed with the new kids.
support.unstoppabledomains.com/support/solu...
screenshot of my two new pride and joy web 3.0 domains from unstoppabledomains.com
June 5, 2025 at 10:00 PM
lavenderlens.bsky.social
Had a pleasant couple of days’ development as a gap in my schedule opened up. Very impressed with early indications of @nextjs.org. Routing made mad simple, SSG for SEO within a React app, Tailwind plumbed in, lazy loading as default, what’s not to like?⚛️🧑🏻‍💻💜
A sunny Irish window with tomato plants and a laptop screen showing a NextJS app.
May 21, 2025 at 4:57 PM
lavenderlens.bsky.social
This. Now we're expected to willingly hand over driver data which can then be hacked and sold to the highest bidder. Or not even hacked, just sold. Says it records just 150 miles but...
"You'll receive insights for every journey you make, alongside rolling 14-day and 365-day scores"🚗🧐
Screenshot of promo email for DriverScore, by U.K. based ClearScore credit check agency. The list of features shows that the app initially records 150 miles of driving to calculate a score of one to one thousand based on accelerometer readings etc. But when users opt in it also continues calculating for every journey. In my opinion this is way too much data to hand over.
May 15, 2025 at 9:24 AM
lavenderlens.bsky.social
Lovely. So every car insurance company now knows precise journey data for opt-in customers. I'll bet that's worth hacking and flogging to the highest bidder. Ah but "you could access score-powered discounts"... So we WANT it, right? 🚗🧐🕵️
Screenshot of DriverScore (features) by U.K.-based ClearScore, which offers discounts on motor insurance plus other partnered consumer products based on an app recording 150 miles of your driving and producing a score from 1 to 1,000 using accelerometer and watch position geolocation data etc.
May 15, 2025 at 9:08 AM
lavenderlens.bsky.social
Maisie in the garage and Cujo wrapped up warm. Made me realise I hadn’t taken any pet pics for a while. Hope your job stress passes quickly.
May 10, 2025 at 12:16 AM
lavenderlens.bsky.social
Sunset over Ballyness Bay.
Sunset over Ballyness Bay, Gortahork, Co. Donegal. Cloudless, pastel hues, calm seas, the islands and beaches visible from a high viewpoint, framed by a car window.
April 10, 2025 at 2:36 AM
lavenderlens.bsky.social
Very fortunate to catch a Q&A panel session at
#socialmediafest 2025 by @tweetinggoddess.bsky.social. My virtual ticket allows me to train #Python today, attend that session over a bowl of porridge at lunch, and catch up whenever I can on all the talks. Also frank open discussion in the comments. 😎☘️
A screen grab from #socialmediafest 2025. Samantha Kelly onstage, Esther Ocampo in foreground. Some #Python code. Don't give up your day job, Alan... Me having a bowl of porridge at lunchtime while listening to a talk from #socialmediafest 2025.
April 9, 2025 at 12:41 PM
lavenderlens.bsky.social
Update on #studioInAShed project. Moving in lights. Power connected. Thanks to the all-powerful *Seamus Doohan electrical, Falcarragh*. Yes you may have seen him on YouTube with one of his many other talented hats on.
Photo of me moving in my lighting heads flight cases to the new studio in my shed. Evening. Lighting is old school Bowens Quad, for those of you who remember. Or care.
January 26, 2025 at 5:20 PM
lavenderlens.bsky.social
Glad to see all's well in Ireland with the impending #RedStormÉowyn. One of the resources #Airbnb shared in an email to hosts was An Garda Síochána's Facebook page. Top story on the eve of the storm? We get to wear baseball caps! Phew. So thankful for our guardians.
January 23, 2025 at 8:17 PM
lavenderlens.bsky.social
4. Live acceptance test. Feel free to look yourselves, the app is at choros.ie.
5. Message the Whatsapp group back to notify of publishing.
Screenshot of live app, at choros.ie. Screenshot of message back to Whatsapp group: this week's site is now live.
January 11, 2025 at 12:45 PM
lavenderlens.bsky.social
3. Deploy - this app gets deployed several times a month.
>>>
Screenshot of Netlify deploys area for easy drag-and-drop mode. Note how many times the app got deployed over the busy Christmas season.
January 11, 2025 at 12:41 PM
lavenderlens.bsky.social
From alert on the choir Whatsapp group, to published site with updated songs for tonight's Mass, in 5 easy steps. Built with #React, #Vite, #Tailwind, and #axios. Hosted on #Netlify.
1. Songs on the Whatsapp.
2. Edit JSON and npm run build.
>>>
screenshot of my VS Code showing React app. Editing JSON to update songs for tonight. Screenshot of choir Whatsapp group where I get to see the program for tonight's Mass.
January 11, 2025 at 12:37 PM
lavenderlens.bsky.social
The time has come to use these:
Photoshopped image of a pair of general admission Ticketmaster event tickets. The acts are: STAY HOME, and DO NOTHING, and GO TO BED EARLY. The venue is COUCH.
December 31, 2024 at 8:55 PM
lavenderlens.bsky.social
#Redux, #React, and #RTK shennanigans on the penultimate working day before the man in the red suit visits.

Mapping out any Redux-enabled app via component trees and pseudocode is, I find, essential.

>>>more...>>>
Screenshot of my VS Code showing pseudocode for a SongSearch component, which does not need any state persisted in the Redux store. Ask yourself the whole time do I need Redux for this? Screenshot of my VS Code showing the pseudocode for a little state tree of 3 components, the first with just UI state, the second with this state as conventional props, dispatching an action to the Redux store via useDispatch() and RTK, and the third selecting that state to become its props, via useSelector() and RTK. Ask yourself the whole time do I need Redux for this?
December 23, 2024 at 12:16 PM
lavenderlens.bsky.social

🎄❄️☘️🙏🎄❄️☘️🙏
THOSE OF YOU FOR WHOM Christmas ain’t the kind of thing you see on a TV ad campaign (whenever is it?):
🎄❄️☘️🙏🎄❄️☘️🙏
Just try and breathe, live in the moment, leave your cares aside, worry never changed a thing: know you are loved. And I’ll see you on the other side in 2025.
🎄❄️☘️🙏🎄❄️☘️🙏
A red and clear bauble on our Christmas tree here in Donegal, Ireland, with bokeh, shot with 35mm f/2 prime. Happy Christmas wherever you are. Hang in there. You’ll be ok. A clear and silver bauble on our Christmas tree here in Donegal, Ireland, with bokeh, shot with 35mm f/2 prime. Happy Christmas wherever you are. Hang in there. You’ll be ok.
December 23, 2024 at 10:22 AM
lavenderlens.bsky.social
Oh goodness. This thing just blew up and 10X'ed in complexity.
#React
#Redux
#RTK
#TypeScript
#NextJS
#serverComponents
screenshot of Visual Studio Code with an open boilerplate template NextJS React/Redux project, with source code written in TypeScript.
December 12, 2024 at 5:37 PM
lavenderlens.bsky.social
Well you could've fooled me. Specify the other dimension as "auto" when specifying width or height? And use "priority" attribute for an LCP element? New #CSS best practices.
screenshot from dev tools of new console messages re: image attributes
December 12, 2024 at 5:30 PM
lavenderlens.bsky.social
Yesterday’s haul: an excellent pair of ski/winter gloves from #LIDL:
German made, of course, impressive specs
November 23, 2024 at 11:47 AM
lavenderlens.bsky.social
Update: it's bloody amazing when working on your own in a language or framework where you do not yet have mastery. But super annoying and everywhere and has to be uninstalled when I deliver training. For the record I slimmed down my #VSC extensions recently, here's them post-cull:
November 21, 2024 at 12:28 PM
lavenderlens.bsky.social
Thanks Norah! Yes the Orcadian stones and forts are amazing. Here’s my own shot of some standing stones there, for client Allied Distillers. Excuse the long in the tooth legacy photo site🤣
www.alanlavender.com/editorial.ht...
November 21, 2024 at 10:38 AM