Seriously Good Technical Writing and Content
This page showcases some of the high quality articles that I have been involved in the creation of. Many of these were written on behalf of others after interviewing them to find out what story they want to tell, while others are the result of extensive research into a...
1949 PYE Type 39 J/H Radio – Restored!
Follow up from https://bmorton.com/posts/pye49/ The Pye radio lives again! I’m pretty happy with how this turned out. It was in worse shape than I’d anticipated – the varnish was pretty far gone and the paint was chipped. The wood had swelled from water damage at some point. A bit...
My Compaq Presario 433
Check out my “new” MS-DOS workhorse – the Presario 433. I picked it up alongside an old Acorn machine (yet to be fixed). It’s been scrubbed with a toothbrush, and matching speakers added. Looks sharp. Probably most importantly – I’ve found a replacement floppy drive which fits the unit...
MacOS Automator Script to Summarize your Calendar Day
I don’t like the layout of most calendar apps, and I want to be able to make notes, mark things as done, scribble etc. So, I built an automator script to export all of my calendar events and reminders for the day into a text file. I’m on Mac,...
On Content Agencies
βοΈ Why I only provide technical writing services through agencies (and why I’m super picky about which ones I work with) π Quality: I only work with agencies that employ professional editors that review all content that is published. Written content can provide value for years, so it’s worth...
Ego
π£ Ego isn’t a dirty word. You need confidence in yourself, and your product to sell it with conviction. ποΈ Written content allows individuals and teams to fully explain their product, the problem it solves, and the value to users. You then can hone your message based on the...
Documentation Ensures Product Success
A software development product’s sales pitch and feature set may attract interested developers to your site, but to ensure that they convert to users you will need good documentation π. Technical stake holders are more willing to invest in products that their teams can get up and running with...
Why Your Vintage Electronics Smells Like Fish
When I’m not writing or coding I like to restore vintage computers. I’ve got a collection of early Macs, Apple IIs, Commodore 64s and PCs. My favourite is my Compaq Presario 433. π Something strange I’ve noticed about these early home computers is the odour – old electronics often...
π§
Doorbellcode.com continues to grow, and now has a growing active userbase on every continent π β¦Well, almost every continent. I still need Antarctica. π§ Does anyone know if penguins need doorbells? Jokes aside, I still get excited when I see users arrive from a new country or region, moreso...
You CAN build a unique brand affordably using off-the shelf WordPress assets
A client of mine had a successful, but aging website that was based on an obsolete version of WordPress and that was designed to look flashy, but not load quickly or show the information users arrive looking for without a lot of clicking around. This was impacting both usability...
Donuts.
Some topics are not as exciting to write about as others. If you’re concerned that this may be reflected in the tone of your writing, consider putting some light at the end of the tunnel. Promise yourself a donut once the task is completed π© You’ll gain momentum and...
Inclusive, Engaging, and Always Accessible β Written Content Is an Evergreen Medium to Sell Your Idea
Written content is one of the most effective ways you can communicate the benefits of your product to your audience. It allows you to fully explain your product and educate your current and future users about how the product can be used. Unlike podcasts, videos, and other multi-media, written...
11 Tips to Improve Your Work by Sandboxing It from the Rest of Your Life
I work as a freelance technical writer and developer. I love working, but the quality suffers if I let it completely take over. Thinking about work tasks when I’m not working just preemptively fatigues me from that task. While inspiration (and bugfixes) often strike me when I’m out enjoying...
We Don’t Need Another ‘Everything’ App
We don’t need an ‘everything’ app – we already have one. It is a platform with billions of active users that lets you create and share anything you can imagine. You can chat, send payments, create apps, games, and art, connect with audiences and build a business, or just...
Mini Case Study: Improve Your Product and Marketing by Paying Attention to Your Existing Users
Doorbellcode.com provides free QR doorbells that notifies you via email or phone call when a QR code is scanned. Itβs a neat little app that I developed a while back when I lived on the second floor of an old building with a non-functioning intercom system. The idea has...
New Product: Glossowary! Embedable JS Glossaries
Here’s a little project I’ve been working on – a way to add a glossary to any page. Words in the glossary are subtly underlined, and clicking them will show the definition. This should work on any page, you just need to create a glossary at glossowary.com, add the...
MongoDB with MAMP (and Laravel!) on MacOS
Here’s how I got MongoDB working with MAMP (an Apache/PHP server) on MacOS. There was a bit of messing about involved, including building the MongoDB PHP extension, so I’ve documented it for my future self – hopefully it helps others too. Prequisites Getting MongoDB working with MAMP’s built-in PHP...
Fixing full screen video in VLC on Raspberry Pi
Out of the box, VLC seems to frequently crash when running full screen on Raspberry Pi 4’s. Keyboard and mouse input will stop responding, and playback may or may not hang. It’s not possible to force a clean reboot either, so it’s quite an inconvenience. I’ve had this happen...
Company name brainstorming…
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Configuring a Raspberry Pi Zero with USB Ethernet and OpenWRT
I needed a quick and dirty Wifi bridge and the Pi Zero W seemed perfect. However, it did not automatically configure the USB ethernet adapter I was using. Here’s how I got it working. The Setup The aim here is to supply internet to the Pi via WiFi and...
Technical Writing: Process and Lessons Learned
This is a living document outlining the technical writing process I’ve been using, cobbled together after reviewing the materials provided by clients along with their expectations and comments/feedback received during the editing process. It will be updated as I learn and tweak things. This process includes mitigation steps for...
Automatically Clearing the Clipboard in MacOS Monterey
Your clipboard contains a lot of sensitive info – passwords from password managers being the most obvious. Any app or website can read from the clipboard, so having this data just hanging around is a bit of a problem – a password could be read by some unintended app...
Cheap DIY Photography Lightbox
I photograph the odd collectable for gadski.com – and my flat is the worst possible place for it. It’s dimly lit, at best. To solve this, I’ve put together a cheap (less than 5 pounds) photography lightbox. The construction is simple: Ingredients 2x 2.5L Coke bottles (or the largest...
My First Laravel Package – laravel-session-ignore
I’ve published my first Laravel package. It’s simple, but useful. My Laravel databases have been getting far too large, a result of 1) Long session lifetimes and 2) Sessions being created periodically by various bots and uptime monitors. This middleware solves this by allowing you to specify a list...
MacOS Cheat Sheet for Windows Users
I’ve had a few friends and family members moving from Windows to Mac in the last few months, so I’ve put together a quick single-page cheat sheet showing where to find everything. It’s a bit rough at the moment, improvements will be made based on user feedback, but it...
New Product! GADSKI.COM
I’ve made a site for sharing your collectables with other collectors – check it out at: https://gadski.com/ It’s come together pretty well and I already have a list of suggestions and improvements to get to work on so go check it out!...