605: Jim Nielsen on Subversive URLs, Blogging + AI, and Design Engineers
Jim Nielsen joins us to about URLs and linking as the new subversive way to maintain the web, paying for news in Canada, should content creators be worried about AI, the case for design engineers, …
ShopTalk · shoptalkshow.com [1]
An absolute fantastic episode about blogging, thinking about a web1.0 kind of world today, and what it means moving forward.
Web 1.0 is robust, you own your own destiny, you own your data, you can do what you want. There is no platform to tell you what you can and cannot do. But the future web is stealing your data to build AI models, spam sites are duplicating your content and stealing your SEO. You may or may not care, but at the end whether you get traffic or now you own your web 1.0 sites.
Note
This post is a thought [2]. It’s a short note that I make
about someone else’s content online #thoughts
References:
[1]: https://shoptalkshow.com/605/
[2]: /thoughts/
Posts tagged: dev
All posts with the tag "dev"
303 posts
latest post 2026-06-01
Publishing rhythm
Placehold
Placehold is a simple, fast and free image placeholder service to generate SVG, PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP and AVIF placeholder images for your project.
placehold.co [1]
This is a handy placeholder generator for generating placeholder items like images, and videos.
Note
This post is a thought [2]. It’s a short note that I make
about someone else’s content online #thoughts
References:
[1]: https://placehold.co/
[2]: /thoughts/
tailwind and markdown
This post is a bit of an experiment to see what I can do. Lets start with a
block of pink text. I build my blog with my own static site generator called markata [1]
Setup Tailwind for Jinja [2]
Still Loving Tailwind [3]
{.text-pink-500}
This text should be pink
This text should be not pink
---
This text should be pink
This text should be not pink
---
Now will it work with bulleted lists
{.text-pink-500}
This block will be pink
{.text-pink-500}
* Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, officia excepteur ex fugiat reprehenderit enim
* labore culpa sint ad nisi Lorem pariatur mollit ex esse exercitation amet. Nisi
* anim cupidatat excepteur officia. Reprehenderit nostrud nostrud ipsum Lorem est
This block will not be pink.
* Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, officia excepteur ex fugiat reprehenderit enim
* labore culpa sint ad nisi Lorem pariatur mollit ex esse exercitation amet. Nisi
* anim cupidatat excepteur officia. Reprehenderit nostrud nostrud ipsum Lorem est
---
- Lorem ipsum dol...
-
Great take on low code. I have definitely felt the pressure of being presented low code options, “look it does almost everything you need, and you can do it without code.” Granted there are tons of great low code environments that serve their markets well (things like zapier).
As pointed out here when they fall short rather than being hard, it goes to nearly impossible. As Theo points out here many applications follow an 80/20 rule. 80% of the app is really easy to put together, and takes about 20% of the time, probably less. What no code does is it takes that 80% that is already easy, makes it even easier ( pitches it as faster whether or not that is true ), and makes the last 20% of the project impossibly hard to create and maintain, so you just should have picked a tool that had the capability of doing the whole thing from the start anyways.
Note
This post is a thought [1]. It’s a short note that I make
about someone else’s content online #thoughts
References:
[1]: /thoughts/
Template Designer Documentation — Jinja Documentation (3.1.x)
jinja.palletsprojects.com [1]
html [2] code generated by my jinja templates generally look half garbage because of indents and whitespace all over the place. I just learned about these pesky Whitespace Control characters that can get rid of the whitespace added from templating.
You can also strip whitespace in templates by hand. If you add a minus sign (-) to the start or end of a block (e.g. a For tag), a comment, or a variable expression, the whitespaces before or after that block will be removed:
{% for item in seq -%}
{{ item }}
{%- endfor %}
Note
This post is a thought [3]. It’s a short note that I make
about someone else’s content online #thoughts
References:
[1]: https://jinja.palletsprojects.com/en/3.0.x/templates/#whitespace-control
[2]: /html/
[3]: /thoughts/
bunny.net - The Global Edge Platform that truly Hops
Hop on bunny.net and speed up your web presence with the next-generation Content Delivery Service (CDN), Edge Storage, and Optimization Services at any scale.
bunny.net · bunny.net [1]
bunny.net looks like an interesting cloudflare alternative.
Note
This post is a thought [2]. It’s a short note that I make
about someone else’s content online #thoughts
References:
[1]: https://bunny.net/
[2]: /thoughts/
External Link
stackoverflow.com [1]
After struggling to get dependencies inside of middleware I learned that you can make global dependencies at the app level. I used this to set the user on every single route of the application without needing Depend on getting the user on each route.
from fastapi import Depends, FastAPI, Request
def get_db_session():
print("Calling 'get_db_session(...)'")
return "Some Value"
def get_current_user(session=Depends(get_db_session)):
print("Calling 'get_current_user(...)'")
return session
def recalculate_resources(request: Request, current_user=Depends(get_current_user)):
print("calling 'recalculate_resources(...)'")
request.state.foo = current_user
app = FastAPI(dependencies=[Depends(recalculate_resources)])
@app.get("/")
async def root(request: Request):
return {"foo_from_dependency": request.state.foo}
Note
This post is a thought [2]. It’s a short note that I make
about someone else’s content online #thoughts
References:
[1]: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/72243379/fastapi-dependency-inside-middleware#answer-72480781
[2]: /thoughts/
Handling Errors - FastAPI
FastAPI framework, high performance, easy to learn, fast to code, ready for production
fastapi.tiangolo.com [1]
This page shows how to customize your fastapi [2] errors. I found this very useful to setup common templates so that I can return the same 404’s both programatically and by default, so it all looks the same to the end user.
from fastapi import FastAPI, Request
from fastapi.responses import JSONResponse
class UnicornException(Exception):
def __init__(self, name: str):
self.name = name
app = FastAPI()
@app.exception_handler(UnicornException)
async def unicorn_exception_handler(request: Request, exc: UnicornException):
return JSONResponse(
status_code=418,
content={"message": f"Oops! {exc.name} did something. There goes a rainbow..."},
)
@app.get("/unicorns/{name}")
async def read_unicorn(name: str):
if name == "yolo":
raise UnicornException(name=name)
return {"unicorn_name": name}
Note
This post is a thought [3]. It’s a short note that I make
about someone else’s content online #thoughts
References:
[1]: https://fastapi.tiangolo.com/tutorial/handling-errors/
[2]: /fastapi/
[3]: /thoughts/
logs with FastAPI and Uvicorn · Issue #1508 · fastapi/fastapi
Hello, Thanks for FastAPI, easy to use in my Python projects ! However, I have an issue with logs. In my Python project, I use : app = FastAPI() uvicorn.run(app, host="0.0.0.0", port=8000) And when...
GitHub · github.com [1]
Setting an additional log handler to the uvicorn logger for access logs in fastapi [2] was not straightforward, but This post was very helpful.
@app.on_event("startup")
async def startup_event():
logger = logging.getLogger("uvicorn.access")
handler = logging.StreamHandler()
handler.setFormatter(logging.Formatter("%(asctime)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s"))
logger.addHandler(handler)
Note
This post is a thought [3]. It’s a short note that I make
about someone else’s content online #thoughts
References:
[1]: https://github.com/tiangolo/fastapi/issues/1508
[2]: /fastapi/
[3]: /thoughts/
External Link
stackoverflow.com [1]
Setting tags in your fastapi endpoints will group them in the docs. You can also set some metadata around the tags to get nice descriptions.
Here is a full example from the post.
from fastapi import FastAPI
tags_metadata = [
{"name": "Get Methods", "description": "One other way around"},
{"name": "Post Methods", "description": "Keep doing this"},
{"name": "Delete Methods", "description": "KILL 'EM ALL"},
{"name": "Put Methods", "description": "Boring"},
]
app = FastAPI(openapi_tags=tags_metadata)
@app.delete("/items", tags=["Delete Methods"])
@app.put("/items", tags=["Put Methods"])
@app.post("/items", tags=["Post Methods"])
@app.get("/items", tags=["Get Methods"])
async def handle_items():
return
Note
This post is a thought [2]. It’s a short note that I make
about someone else’s content online #thoughts
References:
[1]: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/63762387/how-to-group-fastapi-endpoints-in-swagger-ui#answer-63762765
[2]: /thoughts/
Show some equivalent list comprehensions in filter examples · Issue #1068 · pallets/jinja
I'm willing to write a pull-request for this, but I just want to see what people think before I write it. So the issue is this. I'm very familiar with python. I'm new to Jinja2. Often I find myself...
GitHub · github.com [1]
I often want to reach for non existing list comprehensions in jinja 2, Here are a few nice equivalents.
a: {{ data | selectattr('x', 'gt', 5) | list }}
b: {{ data | map(attribute='c') | list }}
c: {{ data | selectattr('x', 'gt', 5) | map(attribute='c') | list }}
Note
This post is a thought [2]. It’s a short note that I make
about someone else’s content online #thoughts
References:
[1]: https://github.com/pallets/jinja/issues/1068
[2]: /thoughts/
I am working on fokais.com’s signup page, and I want to hide the form input during
an htmx [1] request. I was seeing some issues where I was able to prevent spamming
the submit button, but was still able to get one extra hit on it.
It also felt like nothing was happening while sending the email to the user for
verification. Now I get the form to disappear and a spinner to show during the
request.
HTML # [3]
Let’s start off with the form. It uses htmx to submit a post request to the
post_request route. Note that there is a spinner in the post_request with the
htmx-indicator class.
The intent is to hide the spinner until the request is running, and hide all of
the form input during the request.
<form
id="signup-form"
hx-swap-oob="outerHTML"
class="m-4 mx-auto mb-6 flex w-80 flex-col rounded-lg b p-4 shadow-xlc shadow-cyan-500/10"
method="POST"
action="{{ url_for('post_signup') }}"
hx-post="{{ url_for('post_signup') }}"
>
<!--markata-attribution-->
<input
class="mx-8 mt-6 mb-4 border border-black bg-zinc-900 p-1 text-center focus:bg-zinc-800"
<!--markata-attribution-->
type="text"
<!--markata-attribution-->
value="{{ full_name }}"
<!--markata-attribution-->
name...
Adam Wathan (@adamwathan) on X
Hear me out. https://t.co/QHkEI6SJYZ
X (formerly Twitter) · twitter.com [1]
I’m going to give this trick a shot on my sites, and see how I like it.
* {
min-width: 0
}
Down in the comments @adamwathan [2] goes on to say.
Basically every layout overflow bug ever boils down to some flex or grid child needing min-width: 0 😄
Oh and @ryanflorence [3] also says in the comments.
I … do this.
Note
This post is a thought [4]. It’s a short note that I make
about someone else’s content online #thoughts
References:
[1]: https://twitter.com/adamwathan/status/1734696245015494711
[2]: https://twitter.com/adamwathan/
[3]: https://twitter.com/ryanflorence
[4]: /thoughts/
Path Operation Advanced Configuration - FastAPI
FastAPI framework, high performance, easy to learn, fast to code, ready for production
fastapi.tiangolo.com [1]
Excluding routes from fastapi docs, can be done from the route configuration using `include_in_schema`. This is handy for routes that are not really api based or duplicates.
From the Docs # [2]
from fastapi import FastAPI
app = FastAPI()
@app.get("/items/", include_in_schema=False)
async def read_items():
return [{"item_id": "Foo"}]
trailing slash # [3]
I’ve had better luck just routing both naked and trailing slash routes in fastapi [4]. I’ve had api’s deployed as a subroute to a site rather than a subdomain, and the automatic redirect betweens them tended to always get messed up. This is pretty easy fix for the pain is causes just give vim a yyp, and if you don’t want deuplicates in your docs, ignore one.
from fastapi import FastAPI
app = FastAPI()
@app.get("/items")
@app.get("/items/", include_in_schema=False)
async def read_items():
return [{"item_id": "Foo"}]
favicon.ico # [5]
Now you do not need to deploy favicons to your api in any way, it is nice to have it in your browser tab, but more importantly ...
Protect API docs behind authentication? · Issue #364 · fastapi/fastapi
Basic Question Does FastAPI provide a method for implementing authentication middleware or similar on the docs themselves (e.g. to protect access to /docs and /redoc)? Additional context My company...
GitHub · github.com [1]
You can protect your fastapi [2] docs behind auth so that not only can certain roles not run certain routes, but they cannot even see the docs at all. This way no one that shouldn’t be poking around can even discover routes they shouldn’t be using.
Here is the soluteion provided by @kennylajara [3]
from fastapi import FastAPI
from fastapi.openapi.docs import get_redoc_html, get_swagger_ui_html
from fastapi.openapi.utils import get_openapi
import secrets
from fastapi import Depends, FastAPI, HTTPException, status
from fastapi.security import HTTPBasic, HTTPBasicCredentials
app = FastAPI(
title="FastAPI",
version="0.1.0",
docs_url=None,
redoc_url=None,
openapi_url = None,
)
security = HTTPBasic()
def get_current_username(credentials: HTTPBasicCredentials = Depends(security)):
correct_username = secrets.compare_digest(credentials.username, "user")
correct_password = secrets...
Cancel subscriptions
Cancel subscriptions immediately or at the end of the subscription period with proration options, invoice handling, and automatic cancellation after failed payment attempts.
stripe.com [1]
This is a handy guide to cancelling stripe subscriptions.
# Set your secret key. Remember to switch to your live secret key in production.
# See your keys here: https://dashboard.stripe.com/apikeys
import stripe
stripe.api_key = "sk_test_51ODvHtB26msLKqCAPBAo1qkBBuIfT5tQBX6YFWCLMsPixIExxITCRVa9tNCIqkdQS8olhR79NYXsFWBPKsM3LbGO00zEcNQfNI"
stripe.Subscription.modify(
"sub_49ty4767H20z6a",
cancel_at_period_end=True,
)
You can even inverse it by flipping True to False and re activate the subscription.
Note
This post is a thought [2]. It’s a short note that I make
about someone else’s content online #thoughts
References:
[1]: https://stripe.com/docs/billing/subscriptions/cancel#canceling
[2]: /thoughts/
External Link
stripe.com [1]
You can find your customers next billing date through the stripe api by using Invoice. and passing in customer, customer_details, subscription, or schedule.
import stripe
stripe.api_key = "sk_test_51ODvHtB26msLKqCAPBAo1qkBBuIfT5tQBX6YFWCLMsPixIExxITCRVa9tNCIqkdQS8olhR79NYXsFWBPKsM3LbGO00zEcNQfNI"
invoice = stripe.Invoice.upcoming(customer="cus_NeZwdNtLEOXuvB")
Within the invoice, you can find the next_payment_attempt as a epoch.
date = datetime.fromtimestamp(invoice.next_payment_attempt)
amount = invoice.amount_due
currency = invoice.currency
Note
This post is a thought [2]. It’s a short note that I make
about someone else’s content online #thoughts
References:
[1]: https://stripe.com/docs/api/invoices/upcoming
[2]: /thoughts/
Search
Use the search APIs to look up and retrieve objects in your Stripe data. Using search is a faster alternative to paginating through all resources.
stripe.com [1]
Stripe has it’s own query language for querying data. I’m just getting into using it and it seems pretty good so far. I needed to lookup the price for products. I was able to find prices for my product using the python api as shown below.
stripe.Price.search(query="active: 'true' and product: 'prod_P8SfwtxJ45cWE2'")
Note
This post is a thought [2]. It’s a short note that I make
about someone else’s content online #thoughts
References:
[1]: https://stripe.com/docs/search#search-query-language
[2]: /thoughts/
stripe-keys-and-ids.tsv [1]
tsv
Prefix Description Notes
ac_ Platform Client ID Identifier for an auth code/client id.
acct_ Account ID Identifier for an Account object.
aliacc_ Alipay Account ID Identifier for an Alipay account.
ba_ Bank Account ID Identifier for a Bank Account object.
btok_ Bank Token ID Identifier for a Bank Token object.
card_ Card ID Identifier for a Card object.
cbtxn_ Customer Balance Transaction ID Identifier for a Customer Balance Transaction object.
ch_ Charge ID Identifier for a Charge object.
cn_ Credit Note ID Identifier for a Credit Note object.
cs_live_ Live Checkout Session ID Identifier for a checkout Session object in live mode.
cs_test_ Test Checkout Session ID Identifier for a checkout Session object in test mode.
cus_ Customer ID Identifier for a Customer object.
dp_ Dispute ID Identifier for a Dispute object.
evt_ Event ID Identifier for an Event object.
fee_ Application Fee ID Identifier for an Application Fee object.
file_ File ID Identifier for a File object.
fr_ Application Fee Refund ID Identifier for an Application Fee Refund object.
iauth_ Issuing Authorization ID Identifier for an Issuing Authorization object.
ic_ Issuing Card ID ...
Looking for a Heroku replacement, What I found was shocking!
Your browser does not support the audio element.
I’ve long hosted my personal blog as a static site on waylonwalker.com. It’s
all markdown, converted to html [1], and shipped as is. It’s been great, I’ve
moved it from GitHub Pages, to Netlify, tried Vercel for a minute, and have
landed on Cloudflare Pages. Each migration has not really been that
hard, it’s just pointing ci to a different host after the site has built.
[2]
What about server side # [3]
Now the part that I have struggled with is how to cheaply host a server
rendered application that can just live on forever without me paying for it.
This is a harder problem as it costs more to keep servers spinning, memory, and
disk all ready for you to use at a moments notice.
Honestly # [4]
I never really deployed anything that useful on heroku, but it seems like the
klenex of the bunch that’s why they are in the title. I’ve moved between
digital ocean and fly.io, and have had some great experiences with both. I
just don’t want...