Tech Posts at Shannon Kay

Make Your Own Website

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 13:26:00 -0800

This guide is intended to help beginners make their first website with HTML/CSS.

I originally wrote it for my daughter, then 12 years old, so she could make a website for a school project. I think it is now complete-enough for anyone to follow to get started making a personal or hobby site.

New NAS

Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:57:00 -0800

We got a new NAS! It’s a Synology DiskStation DS1522+ to replace the DiskStation DS1511+ we’ve been running for over 13 years(solidly and beautifully).

I’m swooning over the stack of 22 TB hard drives we’ve installed and can hardly contain my excitement at seeing 100 TB of hard drives in my server.

It took a while to transfer everything from the old NAS(DiskStation DS1511+) and do a restore, but now we have things running on it easily that I was struggling with before.

I’m excited!

Use Photos in GoodReads Reviews

Sat, 25 May 2024 00:15:14 -0700

Did you know that you can put photos in your GoodReads reviews? If you’re a “bookstagrammer” and also use GoodReads, adding one(or more!) of your photos to a review can let even more book lovers enjoy them.

Here’s how to do it.

Upload your photo to an image host. Some choices include Postimages, imgur, and Flickr. I normally use SmugMug because I have a paid account there for my photos, and embedding is allowed. I’ll use Postimages for this example.

After uploading your photo, copy the direct link to the image. GoodReads allows some HTML formatting in reviews and we can use that to add a picture.

Here is the HTML you need to embed the photo. Replace the LINK TO IMAGE with the direct link, and put in your own alt text.

<img src="LINK TO IMAGE" alt="BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF YOUR PICTURE" />

Here’s what mine looks like.

<img src="https://i.postimg.cc/76jG8W1R/20231010-11-06-05.jpg" alt="Percy Jackson and the Chalice of the Gods on a table next to a pink mug" />

Paste this code into your review on GoodReads, and save it. You can also click on “preview” to see what it looks like before you save. Paste the code wherever you want it to show up in the review. It could be at the beginning, at the end, or somewhere in the middle. It’s up to you.

Here’s my review with the photo embedded.

These are the formatting tips from the GoodReads review editor. This tells us which HTML tags are supported. Notice that you can also include links. You could link to your blog, Instagram account, or even the direct link to a specific Instagram post.

Goodreads allows some html formatting.

well formed web urls automatically get turned into links
link: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com">my link text</a>
link to book: use the "add book/author" link or [book: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]
link to author: use the "add book/author" link or [author: J.K. Rowling]
image: <img src="https://www.goodreads.com/image..." width="40" height="100" alt="description"/> (Width must be 0-400, Height must be 0-1000, alt is a description of the image. All three are optional, but recommended.)
bold text: <b>...</b>
italic text: <i>...</i>
underline text: <u>...</u>
strike text: <s>...</s>
exact spacing: <pre>...</pre>
blockquote: <blockquote>...</blockquote>
paragraph: <p>...</p>
spoiler: <spoiler>...</spoiler>

Note: tags must be properly nested, example:
OK <i><b>test</b></i>
Not OK <i><b>test</i></b>

Enjoy!

New iPhone

Fri, 15 Sep 2023 13:39:00 -0700

The first 21st century Apple product that caught my eye was the pink iPod mini. After the Apple event on Tuesday, I ordered the pink Apple Watch series 9. I’m really excited about it, and planning to pass my current watch down to my tween daughter.

I have a 13 Pro now and planned to upgrade, excited to move to the usb-c connector. I love the look of the pink iPhone 15, but didn’t want to give up all three camera lenses, plus the other new/pro features. I wish they’d make an iPhone Pro in pink! The Pro colors are pretty boring.

So I’ve been mulling for the past couple days about if I would be happy with the pretty!pink iPhone 15, or if I should go for an iPhone Pro as usual. I’ve decided to go with the iPhone 15 Pro(blue titanium), and I’m ready to preorder it in the morning. My tween was disappointed by my choice, though.

Reply By Email

Wed, 12 Apr 2023 00:11:00 -0700

I opened my RSS reeder to my newly formed folder of Personal Blog feeds and read a nice post on Zinzy’s website about her puppy meeting a cat. I noticed that she has a “reply by email” link. It was just a normal mailto link to her email address. I made a short reply by email and thought that was a pretty nice way to comment.

I remembered that you can configure a subject for a mailto link, and thought about how I could set my Jekyll blog up to fill in a subject based on the blog post title.

I couldn’t quite remember the syntax for adding the subject to the mailto link, so I did a search. I found this nice tool for creating mailto links. I added a prefix to the subject, and used the Jekyll templating for page title. I use a forwarding email address that I can change in case it starts getting spam.

See the Pen Untitled by Shannon (@shannonkay) on CodePen.

I added the email link to the top of my comments html file. Now when you click on the “Reply by Email” link under my blog post, it will fill in the subject in with the title of the blog post you‘re replying to. It’s simple, but customized.

Emoji Subdomain

Wed, 22 Feb 2023 23:29:15 -0800

So I made myself an emoji subdomain. It works, which is really fun. But I guess I need to add it to my certificate.

Given the option, why would I not use a 🦄 subdomain?

You can try going to my homepage at the alternate subdomain 🦄.shannonkay.com

Update: Here’s how I set up the emoji subdomain.

To create an emoji subdomain, you need to get the punycode for the emoji. (Note that the punycode is different from the unicode.) I used Punycoder to get the punycode. Just paste the emoji you want to use into the “text” box, and click “convert to punycode”. You can now copy the resulting punycode from the punycode box.

The unicorn emoji 🦄 punycode is “xn–3s9h”(without the quotes).

Next, you can go to your domain registrar and create a subdomain. I use Name.com. When you create the subdomain, use the emoji’s punycode where you want the emoji to go. (For me, making a subdomain meant going to “manage DNS” and creating a CNAME record with the subdomain pointing to my website).

A subdomain is something like unicorn.shannonkay.com. To make it 🦄.shannonkay.com instead, create the subdomain xn–3s9h.shannonkay.com. When I did this, the emoji showed up in the Manage DNS list for the subdomain as soon as I added the DNS record.

To set the subdomain up with your hosting, add it to your your SSL certificate, etc. You’ll need to use the punycode version of the subdomain. But once you’ve done that, you should be able to type the emoji version into your browser and link to it from most places.

There are some downsides to the emoji subdomain. It’s not good for email, and places like Instagram don’t support using emoji in links. So it’s probably best not to have emoji in your only linking option.

Photos

Mon, 16 Jan 2023 23:40:12 -0800

I received a new Fujifilm X-T5 camera for Christmas, but I haven’t gotten to play with it much because our family was sick for most of winter break. Then it was very rainy and cloudy most days. The sun is finally out again, and I took the opportunity to pull out the camera.

Beatrix was my only cooperative model.

I’m still figuring out where all the controls are. I’ve had a Fuji XT-200 and Canon DSLRs.

Shifting Your Social Media

Fri, 16 Dec 2022 12:57:14 -0800

So you want an alternative to Twitter, and you’ve heard of Mastodon and the Fediverse, but you’re not sure what to do. Maybe you’re confused, or you’ve tried to join and given up. Lots of more extensive guides have been written. This is meant to help simplify the “getting started” process.

Short Version

If you want to join Mastodon, I recommend selecting one of the servers from my “short list” below. Small servers are good! Set up an account, then copy your username and paste it into your Twitter bio. Not the link, just the handle, like mine is @shannonkay@bookstodon.com

All you have to do to browse is go to the main page of your chosen server. Once you’ve signed up on a Mastodon server, you can follow and interact with accounts from any other Mastodon server, as well as many other places in the “Fediverse”.

The Fediverse is what we’re calling all of these federated websites that can talk to each other. Don’t let it confuse you, but there are lots of cool things about that, like an instagram alternative called PixelFed, that you can follow from your Mastodon account.

Finding Your Friends

I told you to paste your Mastodon handle into your Twitter bio, and here is why. You can use software to scan your twitter contacts for Fediverse handles. Pasting yours in the Twitter bio will let them find you!

~~Movetodon~~ seems to be down, but Fedifinder is working, so I recommend using Fedifinder.

You will have to authorize your Twitter account to use these. Fedifinder gives you a list of how many users are on each instance and if registration is open or not. Plus, it lets you export a CSV that you can import into Mastodon to follow them all if you want to.

Which Server Do I Join?

I think that choosing a server or “instance” is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for a lot of people who want to try joining the fediverse. I also think it’s one of the most fun things about browsing posts. I love seeing new servers in usernames, and like to go check out the website to see what it’s about!

Here’s a short list of Mastodon instances that I found of interest and thought people might like to join. These are mostly instances that I’ve seen being used by people or promoted as now open and welcoming new members. You can also see a huge list on Join Mastodon Servers, or try the Mastodon Instance Search Engine if you want to look at more options.

Joining a small instance is good! If you end up finding a different instance you prefer later, you can move your account.

I’ve linked to the about pages, so that you can see what they’re about. Clicking “local” will show you only posts from people on that instance.

The “Short List”

Zirk.us - Literature, philosophy, film, music, culture, politics, history, architecture: join the circus of the arts and humanities! For readers, writers, academics or anyone wanting to follow the conversation.
Hachyderm.io - Tech pros and enthusiasts
Historians.social - History
masto.ai - A general-purpose Mastodon server for all languages, owned by Stux.
CupOfTea.social - “Wholesome Content”
BlackTwitter.io - “Black Twitter”
WorldKey.io - Disney fans
Universeodon.com - Where the universe meets Mastodon.
mstdn.games - Gaming
Deacon.social - Christians of all backgrounds and faith traditions to build an inclusive and loving community. “The name deacon (διακονέω) means one who serves or “server,” and since this is a server, and our goal is to serve each other, the name is doubly appropriate.”
Artisan.chat - Artisans/Crafters
Vivaldi Social - ( @vivaldi.net) Hosted in Iceland by the makers of Vivaldi Browser. Everyone is welcome to join.

Books and Writing

Bookstodon.com - Welcomes book lovers and all things bookish.
Writing.exchange - A stable, long-running Mastodon instance for writers since 2017.
MastodonBooks.net - Your hub for fun and informative discussion related to books, reviews, currently reading, best in genre and of course authors.
Bookstodon by The Storygraph - Mastodon instance run by The Storygraph

Star Trek

Local

PDX.social - Portland Area
mstdn.ca - for Canadians
SFBA.social - San Francisco Bay Area

Bonus

Most Mastodon servers are run by volunteers. If you are able, please consider donating to your instance or joining their Patreon if they have one.

What About Apps?

You may have heard that the official Mastodon app is not good, but recent updates have been made and you might like it. One of the nice things about the open source nature of Mastodon, is that any developer who wants to can make a great app for it. I’m using Metatext and brand new app Ice Cubes on iOS. On desktop, I mostly use the default website of my server and haven’t had a problem. More apps for lots of platforms are listed on Join Mastodon Apps(scroll down a little for the third party apps). Lots of new apps are in development too, including devs who formerly made Twitter clients.

More Resources

This guide was meant to help you get started, and of course there’s much more to discover if you want to dive in deeper. Here are a some links for more detailed guides and more information.

Come Join the Fun in Mastodon — I Promise, It’s Easy! by podfeet
The Basics of Mastodon by Tom Merritt
How to get started with Mastodon by Mignon Fogarty, aka “Grammar Girl”. This guide has lots of tips for what to do once you’re on Mastodon.
Fedi Tips - An informal, unofficial guide for non-technical people who want to use Mastodon and the wider Fediverse
Mastodon Help
Crossposting between Twitter and Mastodon - Moa.party
Followgraph - This tool allows you to expand your connection graph and find new people to follow. It works by looking up your “follows’ follows”.
Mastodon Instances Search Engine
Inclusive Instances List
Fandom Instances List
Join Mastodon - the official website for the Mastodon project
Fedi.Garden - a fediverse instance directory.

Have Fun!

I hope to see you in the Fediverse!

New Kindle

Sat, 30 Oct 2021 11:52:31 -0700

I finished reading My Contrary Mary today, and it did not disappoint. More of a review of the book will be coming soon. Life and kids got in the way of my finishing it sooner, but I was excited to finish reading My Contrary Mary on my new Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition.

The Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition is a nice upgrade from my older Kindle Paperwhite. Some points of improvement:

Modern charging standards, with a USB-C port and wireless charging
No ads!
The option to show my current book cover on the ad-free screen when it’s locked
A flush screen, not a screen that’s lower than the bezel (as on my previous Kindle)
Faster loading, and better responsiveness
Nice case that automatically locks and unlocks when I open and close it. (Wireless charging works through the case too!)
Audible support with bluetooth for headphones (though I haven’t tried this yet).

Overall, this Kindle is definitely worth upgrading to!