Daniel D. Beck

i have compiled a list of free image resources inspired by our conversation about this last week. livelaugh.blog/posts/non-ai...

When inaccurate technical writing has negative value because you bit off more than you can chew, you’re better off deleting it, and figuring out what you can afford to maintain.

And when you make trade offs, think twice before sacrificing accuracy.

Write like a caveman Break a style block with a little help from our ancestors.

I wrote about a silly but effective trick I use to get past style issues when editing existing documentation or writing from a specification

Or maybe it's not fine! (seeing the second post in the thread)

Something I admire about your work is your seeming indifference to that lumping. You seem fine to keep doing the thing (whatever it is), instead of trying to be more like the things you've been lumped into (which I've seen many others do). Is that cultivated or characterological or what?

Digital painting of a landscape with a large airship burning a forest in the distance. Two people plant trees in the foreground.

Replanting

Normal school - Wikipedia

Today @shockandaudrey.bsky.social acquainted me with the existence of some totally normal universities en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_...

The build-breaking TODO I use a linter to “force” me to resolve incomplete tasks. When I’m writing new text, configuration, or code, I leave comments prefixed with XXX…

I wrote a little about the benefits of having source code comments with consequences, the build-breaking TODO: ddbeck.com/notes/build-...

Emily Wilson's translation is so, so good

A guiding principle for marking up documentation for accessibility Reconcile your documentation’s visual styles and accessible markup.

I wrote about how to resolve differences between your docs' visual style and what your markup says it is: ddbeck.com/markup-confl...

This is art

You should use mktemp more You should use mktemp more.It makes temporary files with unique names, which is great for ephemeral searches and tests.I recently read “Yo...

You should use mktemp more ddbeck.com/notes/you-sh...

documentation — definition, examples, related words and more at Wordnik All the words

As is annual tradition, I am the adopter of none other than "documentation" on @wordnik.com: www.wordnik.com/words/docume...

Here's an underappreciated thing that some of the best technical writers I know do and something I've tried to learn from:

If you're trying to solve a big diffuse problem, start by making a spreadsheet.

Oh no I want "it's kinda my community obligation to make sure your feel welcome" on some stickers or something

Skin Deep is really fun and funny. When you're finished, check out the behind-the-scenes deleted level and modding demos. I'm not someone who makes games, but I learned a lot about how a game like this is made (which in turn has made me appreciate more things about games I'm playing recently).

A real US phone number abroad Sometimes American websites won’t accept an international number or a US-based VoIP number for registration and two-factor authentication...

I took some notes on how I got a real (non-VoIP) phone number for the US while abroad because SMS 2FA is still an annoying thing that banks and others continue to insist on ddbeck.com/notes/real-u...

Patrick - How to convince your boss to sponsor Open Web Docs A blog post by Patrick Brosset: How to convince your boss to sponsor Open Web Docs

Does your organization rely on MDN for reference docs?
Do you often check browser compat on MDN or caniuse.com?
Do you use tools like browser DevTools or VSCode in your work?

If so, you rely directly on the work that Open Web Docs does and should consider sponsoring.

To convince your boss.

Announcing the Website, Tickets, Call for Proposals, and Sponsorship Prospectus We’re excited to announce the full Berlin conference website, including: Our Call for Proposals., An updated sponsorship prospectus., Ticket sales are open., Opportunity Grant program applications ...

I'm legit *excited* to bring this conference back to Europe, and in my home town of Berlin to boot! Get those talk proposals rolling into my eye balls so we can make this an amazing one, and mash the boost button repeatedly! Buy a ticket while you're there. ;-)

www.writethedocs.org/conf/berlin/...

Choosy? choosy.app

Though I am enjoying wondering: what *is* Dutch's nearest approximation of "to pave the cowpath"?

Pure Gold It's an artwork, but you can use it. Pee in our urinals while enjoying the hypnotizing videos by Kamiel Rongen. We are happy to collect your fluid contribution…

It's art! www.mediamatic.net/en/page/8435...

A Chicago Pope implies the existence of an MLA Pope and APA Pope

Thank you!

Is it possible to get a print of this?

Astroblocking Starlink Fuck Starlink is a protest tool to geoblock astroblock users of SpaceX’s mobile internet service from your website.Set aside the noxious co...

Brief notes on astroblocking ddbeck.com/notes/2025-0...

I liked watching Andrea Kao’s FOSS Backstage talk, particularly the way Andrea talked about the word “content”: it doesn't just diminish the work, it also diminishes the people do the work. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmwp...

I took some longer notes here: ddbeck.com/notes/dimini... #WriteTheDocs

Every school child in America has lived for decades with death threats. Many actually die.

“Wow that’s a sharp bit of writing but I’m not sharing a substack” is a thing I keep thinking as I scroll, and I thought I’d externalize the thought for emphasis

Reposting for visibility