-
Gutenberg, Technical Debt, and the Art of Waiting for Maturity
Many have argued that WordPress’s Gutenberg blocks were the way forward. In fact, I remember a conversation with colleagues back in 2014, debating whether blocks were the future and if we should build such a system ourselves. But there was a problem. We knew that doing it well would be incredibly hard. There are key…
-
A Xmas story involving AI
AI, through the current set of large language models, is a wonderful tool. But like all powerful tools, it must be wielded with care and intelligence. One thing I’ve noticed is that people, instead of coming up with some simple needs, have taken to over-egging their requirements. Instead of “let’s do some marketing” you get…
-
The AI locusts and the inevitable outcome for publishers
We had a problem over at Design Week recently. The server was groaning a little bit and a huge amount of bandwidth being eaten up. On investigation, it seemed to be a bot that was stuck in a loop, reading the same content again and again and again. Always the same handful of URLs.
-
Negotiating with a change of leadership isn’t easy
I was watching the recent discussion and failed negotiations between Zelenskyy, Trump and JD Vance at the White House. It went badly. For everybody. And I think that the set up could only have gone badly. It also reminded me of a few excellent relationships I’ve had with customers and/or suppliers which have been spoiled by…
-
Will there be a successful WordPress fork?
Lately, the WordPress community and even the broader web community has spent a lot of time thinking about WordPress and what might happen with respect to a fork. All largely kicked off by the huge spat Matt Mullenweg has had with WP Engine that has already resulted in legal action against him, which he is…
-
2024 – A recovery year of experiences to make 2025 a banger
I’m going to cut straight to it. 2024 wasn’t easy for me in business. In life it was good. I’ve continued with feeling healthy after my heart issues – in fact, it marked five years since I had my heart attack. I had a few key takeaways to note down:
David Coveney
A personal blog transitioning into an exploration of the intersection of design, technology and ethics
Why I blog
Thanks for turning up here. I blog because sometimes I need to get ideas and thoughts out without boring the people immediately around me. Feel free to read around, and if you want to know more, there’s an about page.
David Coveney
Easily distracted technologist, writer, publisher, developer and old fart.