My love of Android waxes and wanes according to how much the software feels like it is fighting me. On a good day, I can flash the OS and install whatever apps I want. On a bad day, I can't remove bloatware and I'm forbidden from changing the internals.
I started using the latest Google version of Android on their Pixel 8 Pro. I say "their" because it never really felt like the device was mine. Google kept popping up and asking me to do things which were clearly in their interest; not mine. There was very little way to remove Google's features. I was beholden to them. Forget that noise! I flashed GrapheneOS and regained some control.
But there are still some things missing from the modern Android experience. Things which I'm sure used to exist on earlier versions, but have since been scrapped or severely restricted.
I can't remember which version of Android I first had which let me change the font to Comic Sans. But that ability doesn't exist any more - not without rooting your phone and severely monkeying with its internals.
Google's Noto font is, sadly, abandonware. Aside from new Emoji, Google show no interest in putting a modern font stack into Android. So we're left with a fairly dull and incomplete corporate font.
Android originally had the back button on the right of the screen. Then, in Google's infinite wisdom, it was swapped to the left. Why? Fuck your muscle-memory, I guess?
Nevertheless, Android used to let you swap the order of the on-screen keys. This is not a particularly challenging software requirement - yet seems beyond modern Android.
I'm sure that I used to be able to set a different vibration pattern for different sorts of alerts. But I can't find that functionality anywhere these days. Same for different alert tones for different people.
If I want to close all my open apps, I have to go to task switcher then scroll all the way across. It was handy when there was a "close all" button at the bottom of the screen.
I have multiple SIMs. They can both receive calls and texts, but only one can be used for data. There used to be a button I could press to flip between the two. Now I have to go into the settings, and fiddle with a bunch of options. Annoying!
In the 1990s and early 2000s, tiny animated GIF banners of 88 x 31 pixels could be found on lots of sites, usually functioning as a button or clickable ad, linking to a different site.
@booters has collected a truckload of those old school banners for your nostalgic pleasure:
In case anyone else is fed up of seeing the "Code 55% faster with Github Copilot" message on Github, the following filter works a treat with uBlock Origin
Why can't i create a new group when i click on that #button for the #groups
I get the message that i have no #access to that (but i am the admin of the server)
My 14 year old and a friend decided they were going to make buttons to hand out / sell to friends at school. I told them, "If you're making one, I have a very specific one I want."
I sent a pic from the recent Mashle special chapter of Mash himself being awesome.
I am not the worlds greatest photographer and have never sought that title. I often find myself fascinated by the mundane and try and see the story behind the scenes.
This is a unique button, it is mine but is sitting in stasis. I removed the button from a shirt long ago, and it has been sitting on a homespun tablecloth undisturbed for 15 or more years.
Untouched in a room filled with activity it sits ignored waiting to be readded to a shirt long since discarded. This button has not been disturbed by the passage of time that has removed the people from my life that had been involved in my life. This button was stripped from an outfit worn by an entirely different man. A man unconcerned with the Presidential elections, or airborne illnesses.
Small picture to be sure, but it was meaningful to me and I felt compelled to share.
I haven't tried this, but I think it would be a good #GPT programming pattern:
If you are in a situation where you might create a DSL, instead create a simpler system using JSON and an execution loop. Like {"action": "click", "target": "#button"} if you are doing some testing.
Create a document/prompt describing the JSON and your "DSL" will instead be the natural language prompts to GPT. GPT can also decompile. Some interesting migration patterns may emerge.
#WordWeavers Oct 1 Introduce MC from antagonist's POV.
I had heard about her, of course. Her recruiter gave me a report, and he mentioned the trophies on her wall, so clearly had been using her power to win—some do and some do not—but I did not understand until I saw her move. She is a natural. She can do anything physical, any sport, any fighting style. But she lacked intentionality. It was just movement for her, so I knew I needed to make her desire to hurt her opponent. This is necessary.
My scene structure is getting really solid. I have a start and an end point. I have things I want to accomplish. I improvise setting and flow and pop-up characters. But I get it done. And I really like ending on a #button, a line or image or sornething that dramatically closes the little narrative of that one scene. When it works, it makes every individual scene a story. I cannot bring a scene in for a landing until I find a button.
It irks me when I see a #button that can only be clicked in a small portion of its surface. I wrote about it nearly a decade ago, but it’s still relevant because people are still doing it! #HTML#CSS
How can I change the background color of the search bar in the history and downloads menu? (ctrl+j) (fedia.io)
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