Nathan Rice

I'm more and more convinced that short form video content consumption will be our undoing. Especially when its delivered algorithmically.

Frankly, I'm not sure if the benefits of AI technology outweigh the very obvious and possibly unavoidable societal decay.

If I'm wrong, please let me know.

If you have any interest in checking it out, getting involved, or just want an excuse to learn a little about how Laravel works from a WordPress developer's perspective, let me know.

OK, if you've gotten this far in the thread, here's the buried headline: what started as a learning project has kind of turned into something I might be interested in building out further. It's far from prod ready, but I'm close to what I would consider "very early alpha" state.

The procedural code in WordPress is a bit easier to grok by looking directly at the source code. A particular method in #Laravel might be several layers deep in an abstract class, traits, etc. But I almost never find myself needing to look at the source, the docs are THAT good.

The documentation is detailed AND extensive. I almost never get "stuck". I learn a new trick or technique almost every day just by following accounts like
x.com/@tnylea, x.com/@PovilasKorop, x.com/@mmartin_joo, @calebporzio.bsky.social , @aaronfrancis.com, and others.

I have to say, I'm blown away by how well it's going. #Laravel has everything you might want. All the stuff we take for granted that WordPress (if you think of it as a framework) does, but honestly, way more, and better in pretty much every way.

Coming from deep within the WordPress world, I figured why not try to build a CMS like WordPress? Worst case scenario, it's too hard to do, and maybe I'll still learn something from trying.

A few weeks ago, I set out to get some experience building something with PHP that is NOT #WordPress, and decided that I'd dive deep into #Laravel. I figured the best way to approach it would be to just build *something*, and see how far I could get. A project for learning.

“I can’t see how to do a good job, and I don’t want to do a bad one.”

I feel seen.

WordPress has become an anachronism on the web, running on old architecture with old programming ideas as if the web in 2024 is what it was in 2012. As a result, WP skills are becoming less and less transferable.

The clearest evidence to me that human brains have some irreconcilable differences comes from the popularity of the idea that the only button a microwave oven needs is +30 seconds and how that doesn't fit at all with how much I would hate such a microwave with a passion.

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These let you update just parts of the page, perfect with htmx or Turbo. Keep it dynamic and sleek!

I understand the benefits of rapid prototyping, and I'm even starting to come around to the idea of utility classes for CSS (see adamwathan.me/css-utility-... for more), but does every tool/tutorial and UI library need a Tailwind dependency?

What's the best (and preferably easiest) way of crossposting between Bluesky and X/Twitter?

My least favorite #Laravel feature ;-)

"Webmasters" is a fantastic name. I love it!

I just learned that some people are referring to the act of "tweeting on bluesky" ... skeeting.

I do not love it.

Some of these tools will help you learn how to write *good* PHP. Others, not so much.

Another thing-I-made promo for those who've not seen it. And a timely one given that #php v8.4 is out this week:

caniphp.com

A handy reference of what was added, when. With links to references. Like caniuse.com but for PHP!

A nice way to explore new features and see what has changed!

I know my audience is mostly WordPress folks, but
Laracasts is currently running a 50% off deal on everything.

I bought the lifetime plan.
laracasts.com/subscription...

I *highly* recommend you do the same.