Toby Osbourn

Tech Stack Toby uses most often

Right now Toby is most interested in the following languages;

• Ruby
• Ruby on Rails
• JavaScript
• CSS

He has a firm grounding in HTML, PHP, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Git, Jekyll, and more. He can turn his hand to most things.

Toby on Social Media

If you want to chat or connect on social media, here are the best options;

• Twitter
• LinkedIn

Articles Toby has written

• Quickly create gifs from movs in the command line
  How to quickly take your .mov files and turn them into .gif
• Removing unused Trix Editor buttons
  How to quickly remove unused Trix Editor buttons
• Creating a SagePay Encryption in Ruby
  A SagePay encryption for Ruby that some folk might find useful.
• Setting SEO titles in Jekyll
  What titles work best for SEO and for your readers sometimes differ, let's see how we can have the best of both
• Wildcard A Records
  Wildcard A records are a big no-no unless you know what you are doing (I didn't)
• iOS simulator battery level
  I have always enjoyed this fun feature
• How to build your email list
  We look at some ways you can build your email list
• Google Search Console and S3
  Hosting your sitemap somewhere other than your main domain requires some additional steps in Google Search Console
• What Kind of Jobs Can You Get with Java Programming Training?
  A discussion about the career path of a Java programming with appropriate training
• TextExpander Usage Statistics
  I was curious about how TextExpander calculated usage across different apps, here is what I've found
• Making your Trix toolbar sticky
  Editing long sections of text can be cumbersome with the Trix editor. Let's make it better.
• Tools I Use When Blogging
  A summary of the tools I use when blogging, updated for 2019
• Removing Zoom
  How to completely remove Zoom from your Mac, including some of the stuff it leaves behind
• Python Tutor Help – Effective Way to Solve any Academic Task in Programming
  Learn about a new offering from Assign Code about teaching Python
• Testing ActionText without JavaScript
  I needed JS to get out of the way so I could do basic testing.
• Exit Interviews
  Why exit interviews are important and how to go about doing one
• Website Checklist before Launching
  Top 20 things to consider before launching your website
• Getting wireless printing working on Virgin Media Hub 3
  A guide on how to get wireless printing working on Virgin Media if yours has suddenly stopped working.
• TextExpander Review
  In this TextExpander review I cover what it is and why I have been using it for years to be more productive.
• Office 365 Security
  Office 365 is an incredibly popular product with some amazing security features
• 10 EdTech Apps Every Student Needs to Conquer College
  Lets talk through 10 apps and services that every student should be aware of
• How to install a beta version of Rails
  This article will show you how using the gem command you can install beta versions of Rails
• The Welcome to Rails image is more inclusive
  When playing with the new beta of Rails I noticed a more inclusive image
• Ruby Conferences
  Ruby conferences are a chance for the Ruby community to come together and share what we have learned recently
• TextExpander snippets I like
  These are some of my favourite Text Expander snippets that help me do my work and have some fun.
• Cocoon Development Training
  We'd highly recommend Cocoon for Apple development and Apple training
• Adding issues from other organisations into Github Projects
  Let's talk about how you can add issues from other organisations into your Github Project
• Our hardware and software setup
  Here is a writeup of the hardware and software we use on a daily basis
• Testing DNS Speeds
  Here are some quick scripts for testing DNS speeds and comparing the results.
• Compilers - Let's understand compilers a bit better
  Let's learn about Compilers, what they are and how they work.
• Abstract Syntax Trees
  Let's learn about Abstract Syntax Trees, what they are and why we need them.
• FrontEnders - Web Performance
  Sharing some of my thoughts on a FrontEnders meetup on the topic of Web Performance
• Tips for how to ask for time off to attend conferences
  Asking for time off to attend a conference can be nerve-racking, these tips will get you closer to attending the conferences you're interested in.
• Reducing PDF image size on OS X
  How you can greatly reduce the size of PDF files using stock applications that come with OS X
• Creating a download button for Wistia videos
  Here is how you can quickly add an external download button for Wistia videos
• Companies House First Time Director Seminar
  My thoughts on the Companies House First Time Director Seminar
• 10 Tips To Creating Better Essays. A Roadmap for Writers.
  10 Tips To Creating Better Essays. A Roadmap for Writers.
• Fixing Elixir issues after installing High Sierra
  If you experience segfaults after updating to High Sierra, here is how to fix it.
• Hiding Secrets in Terraform
  Let's discuss how you can hide secrets in Terraform. There are several methods, some more dangerous than others!
• Thank You – We've survived a year!
  We’ve a lot to be thankful for in our first year in business
• How to use the howTo Schema type
  How to use the howTo Schema Type to mark up How To articles
• The Hiring Book Review
  This is my review of The Hiring Book, a book on hiring web developers by Happy Bear Software
• Rebuttal: How to get developers to implement SEO recommendations
  An article by Search Engine Land was really off the mark in my opinion, here is why
• Adding Semantic UI to Phoenix 1.3
  A short post on what you need to do to add Semantic UI to a Phoenix 1.3 application
• Keeping Elixir Packages Updated
  How to check that your mix.exs file is giving you the latest and greatest
• Simple Postgres Commands I always forget
  Here are some simple Postgres commands that I almost always forget
• Elixir Default Params
  Learn how to assign a default parameter or argument to your Elixir functions
• Testing Absinthe with ExUnit
  This is how I tested some GraphQL endpoints using ExUnit
• How to add content grouping for Google Analytics in Jekyll
  How to add content grouping for Google Analytics to a Jekyll website
• How to change the column type with Rails migrate
  How to change the column type with a Rails migration. Lets find out how to do this common Rails task.
• Jeremy Keith Interview
  Today I interview Jeremy Keith about all things related to Print CSS
• JavaScript 30 Review
  JavaScript 30 is a free JavaScript fundamentals video course, this is my review of it.
• Could charities open source their websites?
  Could and should charities open source their websites? Would developers get involved more if they did?
• Andy Croll Interview
  In my interview with Andy Croll we talk about how he is finding freelancing amongst other subjects.
• Live Dictation Review
  I live review the inbuilt dictation software on Mac OSx
• Orphans and Widows in CSS
  What are orphans and widows in CSS and how can we use them the best?
• How to get spoken to at conferences
  Speaking to people is over-rated, let people speak to you
• Andreas Jung Interview
  I interview Andreas Jung about print based CSS and his work on print-css.rocks
• Interview with Håkon Wium Lie
  Håkon Wium Lie talks about CSS printing, its history, and Prince
• When to include irb in Ruby 2.4.0
  When should you include irb into your scripts and when you don't need to in Ruby 2.4.0
• The Settlers Packaging
  I recently found the packaging for The Settlers, I’m sure some of you will appreciate
• BuzzSumo Review
  I’ve been trialling BuzzSumo for a while, here is my review
• How I Started a UK Business
  I am often asked how I started my UK business, so here it is
• Working when you want is amazing & challenging
  Some of the unique challenges and perks that come with being able to work when you like.
• ActiveJob Vs ApplicationJob
  A very quick clarification on ActiveJob and ApplicationJob
• Doubling Down on Recurring Revenue
  A short article on why I am going to double down on recurring revenue as ways to make money
• Some stats from frontend focus
  I wanted to play with some array manipulations in JavaScript to compiled some interesting stats
• Removing Kadira from Meteor
  How to remove Kadira from your Meteor Project (since it is going away)
• My first thoughts of Alexa
  My first thoughts of Amazon’s Alexa service, not a review but does contain a fun video!
• What I’ve learned from looking through my old posts
  Here are some things I’ve learned from looking through lots of old posts of mine
• A guide to writing up conference talks
  A short guide on how to write up conference talks, written by someone who loves to write up conference talks!
• Reducing Image Size for better page load times
  The ultimate guide to reducing image sizes for more performant web pages
• Eric Brantner Freelancing Interview
  I interview Eric Brantner about Freelancing and find out how he has been being so successful all these years.
• Removing AMP pages from your Jekyll Sitemap
  In this quick post we look at how to remove AMP pages from the sitemap generated by Jekyll
• Daniel Miller Freelancing Interview
  I interview Daniel Miller about Freelancing as a Conference Organiser
• Getting OS X to trust self-signed SSL certificates
  Here is a quick trick you can use to make sure your browsers accept self-generated SSL certificates on OS X.
• Banks Getting My Name Wrong
  Banks seem to like to get my name wrong, gah. I'm Toby not Tony!
• Why Centralise Email Functionality
  Why should you look to consolidate your transactional and marketing emails into one system
• Judson Lester Freelancing Interview
  I interview Judson Lester about Freelancing, we talk about his background and what he is working on now.
• Tom Hirst Freelancing Interview
  I interview Tom Hirst about Freelancing, what he loves about freelance WordPress development and what he has learned along the way.
• Conor O'Neill Freelancing Interview
  I interview Conor O'Neill about how he started freelancing and what he loves about it
• Najaf Ali Freelancing Interview
  I interview Najaf Ali about freelancing, things he has learned and what advice he has on freelancing.
• Gina Charles Freelancing Interview
  I interview Gina Charles about what she loves about Freelancing and what she has had to do that she didn't think she would.
• Freelancer Interviews
  I’ve been interviewing freelancers about their experiences!
• Owning the conversation about your company
  Why it is important to own the conversation about your site and how you can do it.
• Going Freelance
  I am going freelance! Learn what I will be doing and why I have decided to take the plunge
• How I try and accelerate my learning
  How I try and accelerate my learning by setting projects for myself and focusing on concrete tasks
• Spring and Foreman complaining about secret_key not being set
  Spring and Foreman when freshly set up can complain about secret_key not being set when it is, I will show you how to fix this
• API - Application Programming Interface. APIs explained simply
  The term API described in really simple terms. You don't need a Computer Science degree to understand!
• Dealing with team culture and an employees depression
  What to do if your employee is worried about team culture and their depression
• Rust (explained simply)
  The Rust programming language described in really simple terms
• Slack Shortcuts
  Here are some of my most used Slack shortcuts, using these will improve your Slack experience, making it quicker to get to the conversations that matter!
• LRUG July 2016
  My writeup of the July 2016 LRUG, a monthly Ruby User Group meetup in London, England
• Brighton Ruby 2016
  My writeup of Brighton Ruby 2016, an annual Ruby conference in Brighton, England
• AWS Summit
  I attended the AWS Summit in London in 2016, here is my writeup of it
• Lead Developer Conference Reading List
  My Reading list have the Lead Developer Conference in London recently
• Some notes on my last Out of Office message
  Some notes on my last Out of Office message which I think you will find useful if you need to write an out of office message yourself.
• Captioning at Conferences
  Captioning at Conferences is a fantastic idea that really helps a lot of people
• Code Review
  My thoughts on Code Review, when code review should happen and what to review during it.
• Nginx Cache Busting Rewrite Rule
  Following on from an excellent guide on cache busting, we see how you can accomplish this in nginx
• List of Countries without a Postcode
  If Stripe doesn’t always expect a postcode, it is because some countries don’t have them – here is a list of countries that don't
• Fixing No Default Alternative Specified error in rails
  If you spot an error saying No default alternative specified when starting up rails, we can fix that!
• GitKraken Review
  GitKraken is a great GUI for interacting with Git. This is my review of it
• Posting to Slack with PHP
  Posting to Slack with PHP is incredibly quick and easy, here is how you can.
• Quickly tidy up old git branches
  How to quickly tidy up your local and remote git branches
• Tracking AdWords Conversions within JavaScript
  How you can track Adwords Conversions from JavaScript callbacks, AJAX requests etc.
• Fueling Hyper Growth – A Salesforce Event
  My writeup of a set of talks around the subject of hyper growth
• Close proximity leads to ideas being shared too soon
  Does sharing a close proximity with someone lead to ideas being shared too soon? I think so.
• Complete list of custom icon properties for Bootstrap 3 Datepicker
  Complete list of custom icon properties for Bootstrap 3 Datepicker
• Getting access to Channel 13 on a Raspberry Pi 3
  Getting access to Channel 13 on a Raspberry Pi 3. In some countries you need to change these channels, I can show you how
• My takeaways from the Productive Habits email course
  My takeaways from the Productive Habits email course, a course by Belle Beth Cooper.
• Basic intro to Reddit and Hacker News
  A basic intro to Reddit and Hacker News and how you can submit content to them.
• Open iTerm2 links in Vim
  A quick tip on how you can open iTerm2 links in Vim (or any text editor you can access from the command line)
• Fix for OpenSSL::SSL::SSLError on RestForce / Faraday
  Fix for OpenSSL::SSL::SSLError on RestForce / Faraday. Hopefully this will save you some time if you see this RestForce error
• S3 – A guide to Simple Storage Service from Amazon.
  S3 described in really simple terms. By the end of this guide you should understand what S3 is and why we use it.
• What to do when things go wrong
  Steps to take when something goes horribly wrong with a website or app that you are building.
• The EU Cookie Law
  A backup of the EU cookie law website which used to live at theeucookielaw.com, the content is hosted here instead.
• Using Slack as part of the GTD capture stage
  Using Slack as part of the GTD capture stage to make sure you have all your tasks down in Omnifocus
• Recursion Explained in simple terms
  Recursion described in really simple terms, this guide assumes no knowledge of computer science topics and by the end of it you should understand recursion.
• Introducing Simple CS
  Introducing a project to explain computer science concepts in an easy to understand way
• CSS - Cascading Style Sheets - Understanding CSS
  CSS described in really simple terms. This article assumes no prior knowledge and by the end of it you should understand what CSS means.
• Stopping your wireless from turning off on your Raspberry PI
  How to stop your wireless from turning off on your Raspberry Pi
• Loading a specific file into Dotenv
  Loading a specific file into Dotenv. A quick guide for when you want to run Ruby files from outside of a document root.
• Steps for replacing an SSL certificate
  Some basic steps for replacing an SSL certificate on a certificate. Always defer to the issuers instructions though!
• See what disk space is left on your Linux web server
  How to find out how much disk space is left on your Linux web server
• Review Pibow Zero
  My review of the Pibow Zero – a case for the Raspberry Pi Zero which I love and I think you will too.
• The SSH Command
  A beginners guide to the SSH command, what it is and how you use it during normal web development.
• Grep flags that I like
  Here are some grep flags that I use often, almost to the point of automatically appending them regardless of the search!
• How to overcome thinking that no one will find your posts useful
  How to overcome thinking that no one will find your posts useful
• Viewing what is running on the server
  Here is how to view what is running on the server along with the resources each process is using.
• How does Capistrano work?
  How does Capistrano work? There is nothing magic, there is nothing to be scared of.
• Debriefing Development Teams
  11 Best Practices and Tips I borrowed from an article aimed at intensive care situations.
• Art & Math & Science, Oh My!
  My writeup of Amy Wibowo’s recent talk on the intersection of art and science
• Setting up Moat and DFP
  Setting up Moat and DFP isn't as straightforward as I would like. Here is a guide to getting it done.
• Omnifocus Custom Columns
  I love seeing Estimated Duration using Omnifocus Custom Columns
• My notes from November 2015's LRUG
  My notes from the London Ruby User Group that happened in November 2015.
• Pictures from LRUG Nov ‘15
  Some pictures from November 2015’s London Ruby User Group
• Safari Extensions I am using
  Safari Extensions I am using at the moment. There might be something useful here for you if you're a Safari user.
• What I have learned about roadmaps
  What I have learned about roadmaps and the process of roadmapping
• Speeding up accessing Safari’s URL bar on El Capitan
  Tonight, my friends, I have found what I believe to be a fix to interacting with the URL bar in Safari
• Meteor @dev was not detected
  Why do you see @dev was not detected in test output when running cucumber tests for Meteor.
• The steps I take before a large backup on the Mac
  Here are the steps I take before doing a large backup on the Mac
• Setting up the Windows 200 Wired keyboard on the Mac
  How to setup your mac to work well with the Windows 200 Wired keyboard
• Udemy Fail
  Udemy sent me some crappy marketing to try and get me to promote a crappy page of theirs (spoiler, it didn't happen)
• Adding Alt tags to images using image_tag in Rails
  Rails makes it easy to add alt tags to images using a handy helper method.
• Breathing new life into an older Mac
  Find out some tips on how to breath life into an older Mac
• Finding new people on Chatter
  How to quickly find new people on Chatter. Salesforce's Chatter tool is great but you can't follow all by default.
• Review: BubbleSort – How do Calculators Even
  
• What is a Gemfile
  What is a Gemfile? Here is my detailed explanation of what a Gemfile is and what it does, enjoy!
• Finding the List ID for the Marketo API
  Here is how you find the LIst ID when using the Marketo API
• Adding skip_after_filter to Rails Admin
  How I added a skip_after_filter to rails_admin, which is something I recently had to do to extend the functionality of Rails Admin.
• 6 Months in and bowing out
  I am stopping my writing project early. I wanted to write daily for a year but couldn't quite manage it.
• Checking for both versions of Google Analytics with JavaScript
  Here is how I check for both versions of Google Analytics
• Tracking Ctrl+F events in Google Analytics
  How I decided to track Ctrl+F events in Google Analytics
• Key code for Command on OS X
  There are a couple of key codes for the OS X Command Key
• Join the Anthony Nolan Register
  I joined the Anthony Nolan Register and I think you should too.
• Uploading files with Capybara in Rspec tests
  You can easily upload files with Capybara when testing with rspec
• An experiment in highlighting words
  An experiment in highlighting words using only some CSS and JavaScript.
• The difference between Render and Redirect in Rails
  Find out the difference between Render and Redirect in Rails
• Quality of your Input and Output
  I try and prune my inputs as much as possible to keep the quality high.
• Mastering Your Tools
  I need to get better at mastering my tools, I feel like I knew much more about my tools years ago than I do today.
• The iPhone is my main content creation computer
  The iPhone is my main content creation computer, I do lots of stuff on it given how portable and powerful they have become.
• Let's talk vasectomies
  
• Mac Apps I use to say productive
  
• Some of my favourite mac shortcuts
  
• Up the tracking speed on your mouse
  
• Hiding the dock for fun and profit
  OS X doesn't need the honking great dock that you get with a stock install. Kill it.
• What is a Proc?
  
• Raspberry Pi for Secret Agents
  
• Getting HTTP Status Codes from the Command Line
  
• Custom Routing of Github emails
  You can update your email preferences on a per organisation basis in Github.
• HTTP Status Codes for SEO
  Lets learn what the important status codes are for SEO.
• iTerm2 Tricks
  Some of my favourite iTerm2 tips and tricks. A mixture of useful and fun tips for iTerm2!
• Deleting Attachments with rails_admin
  
• Scrutiny 5 review
  
• Fixing a "broken" webcam on OS X
  You can’t use the webcam on OS X without having a Photo Booth Library?!?!
• Never assume your wage is safe.
  Unfortunately you can never assume your pay is safe, you need to take steps to protect yourself.
• Adding Descriptions to Pages with Jekyll
  What is a page description and how to add one with Jekyll
• iPhone photos not freeing up space when deleted
  
• Speeding up the internet on OSx Yosemite
  
• Come play Codewars with me
  
• What a Developer can take away from SEO Now 2015
  Here is what I think a developer can take away from SEO Now 2015
• I love programming
  
• My first screencast
  
• Good Habits for Student Developers – Documentation
  
• A Pragmatic Approach to adding Schema
  Adding Schema to your website doesn't have to be daunting, here is a pragmatic approach
• Updating a Slug on a live Rails System
  
• Katrina Owen – Here be Dragons
  
• Robert Wint – Using Content to Improve the Customer Journey
  
• Re-building the Marketing Department to be Fit for the Future
  A talk from Patrick Jubb at the Chief Digital Officer Forum in London.
• Martin Trickey – Do we Tell Stories Differently Now?
  
• Mark Elkins – From Passion to Purchase
  
• Kerensa Samanidis – Breaking in to the online video market
  
• Chief Digital Officer Summit London - Day 1 Morning
  
• Ana Serrano – Digital Transformation & Continuous Innovation
  
• Amanda Neylon – The Importance of Focusing on Social Strategy
  
• Ruby’s Partition for Enumerables
  
• Getting Money out of Uganda
  
• POODIR On Testing
  
• Good habits for student developers – Time Keeping
  
• Creating an iOS application in 5 minutes using Meteor.
  
• What to do when refactoring a large codebase without tests
  
• What I would look for in a junior developer
  
• How the technical direction of a project can be influenced
  
• Squash br inside contenteditable
  
• Good Habits for Student Developers - Backups
  
• Facebook's Anonymous Login
  
• CSS last-of-type as a fix for last-child in Ember applications
  
• Using Monodraw for fun tweets
  
• Rails Migrations for Beginners
  
• CreepedIn - calling out the creepiest assholes on LinkedIn
  
• Getting Rid of Vintage Belfast – Do you want it?
  
• A beginners guide to ARIA
  
• Set Intersection in Ruby
  
• Please don't actually use Retweet and Favourite for polls on Twitter
  
• Hearthstone APIs
  
• My thoughts on the latest TechHubTuesday Demo Night
  
• Some useful resources for generating content ideas
  
• My time at Buffer wasn't great
  
• Divs still have their place
  
• Making an app in just over an hour with Meteor and Heroku
  
• My highlights from On the Shortness of Life by Seneca
  
• View Markdown Files in your Terminal
  
• The correct way to markup an image and caption in HTML
  
• Some stumbling blocks I hit following my first Swift tutorial
  
• Quick Semantic Wins
  
• Accessibility and SEO are tightly linked
  
• How I am using Omnifocus
  
• My Birthday Haul
  
• What the header element can be used for
  
• Review: A Web for Everyone: Designing Accessible User Experiences
  
• Gender Neutral Swear Words
  
• Every developer makes mistakes all the time
  
• A rough guide I am going to try and follow for blog posts
  
• Backblaze is part of a great backup solution
  
• Imagine your RAM was erroring
  
• 365 Articles in 2015
  
• My Wedding Speech
  
• Backup of Making Your Website Pay for Itself
  
• Review: Abraham Lincoln: Presidential Fuck Machine
  
• Some notes and links on websockets with rails
  
• Please stop using features by testing for browser
  
• Great content has no shelf life
  
• Kill off any process on a particular port - An explaination
  
• Space Invaders
  
• Nokogiri won't install? Check that you have accepted Xcode's EULA
  
• WhiteHat Aviator Phoning Home?
  
• Converting numbers to hex using to_s in Ruby
  
• Backing up an s3 bucket to another s3 bucket
  
• Force a CSV download from a WordPress Plugin
  
• Nav Elements, not just ul wrappers
  
• The ways I have made Sites Pay for Themselves
  
• Review: PiFace Control and Display
  
• How Much Does Your Website Cost You?
  
• Marketing is More Important than Your Code
  
• Review: Raspberry Pi Camera Board
  My review of the Raspberry Pi Camera Board, a useful camera for the Raspberry Pi
• VimR - A first look
  
• Running VimR From the Command Line
  
• Turning off the PiFace Control and Display
  
• I fucked up
  I fucked up, I won't do it again. I wrote a book and rushed to get it out. It wasn't to a standard I was happy with.
• Derek Johnson talking about Modern Web Design
  
• Review: HTML5 Game Development Hotshot
  
• Question: When should you send your first email list email?
  I'm wondering what the recommended practice should be with the amount of subscribers and when I first send.
• Review: Penetration Testing with the Bash Shell
  
• Review: Node.js Blueprints
  
• Kali Linux 32 bit mini ISO getting stuck on samba
  
• Advertising in China
  
• Get the name of a Ruby class
  
• My face - on a stamp!
  
• Belfast Bloggers 3rd Meetup
  
• Review: Raspberry Pi Server Essentials
  
• Review: Raspberry Pi Robotic Projects
  
• Packt Publishing
  
• Why thinking small helps create software that lasts.
  Why thinking small helps create software that lasts. Some thoughts and notes from the Dublin Web Summit
• Removing Protected and Private from WordPress posts
  By default WP will prepend Protected to any post title that is protected by a password and will prepend Private to any that is set as private, let's fix that.
• Copy and Rename multiple files in Linux
  
• The worst thing you can do for your productivity
  
• Resources for making your website pay for itself.
  
• Not able to cd or ls into drive mounted by s3fs
  
• Using Ember's App.reset() to kill off any local data
  
• What App.reset() does in Ember
  
• The Tim Ferriss Show might be the most important podcast I listen to
  
• Quitting Postgres psql
  
• The safest way to track goal URLs in Google Analytics
  
• Research has shown a case for closing down Vim for a while.
  
• Setting to change to get notified of all interactions on Twitter
  
• Using JavaScript's debugger statement with Firefox
  
• Review: Raspberry Pi Projects for Kids
  
• Disable a button component with Ember
  
• Setting I changed to up my Chromebook's internet speed
  
• Review: Understanding the 4 Rules of Simple Design
  
• Programmatically finding out the size of the retry queue with Sidekiq
  
• Problems with Evergreen Content
  
• My Chromecast Setup
  
• Making Tech for the sake of Tech isn't always right, but it is necessary
  Making Tech for the sake of making tech isn't always the right thing to do, but it is sometimes the necessary thing to do.
• Using Ruby to get access to Google Keywords
  
• Font Faces for Dyslexic Folk
  
• David Stewart thinks it is OK to creep on females on LinkedIn
  
• Review: Backbone.js Patterns and Best Practice
  
• Generating migrations with couchrest_model
  
• CouchRest Rails Setup - Blank username/password issues
  Setting a blank username/password is not the same as not setting a username/password
• An introduction to Ruby/Rails/Git - Belfast Ruby
  
• When testing the datasift ruby gem locally be sure to turn SSL off
  
• Review: Work - How to find joy and meaning in each hour of the day
  
• Things I do not love
  
• Tools & principles I am most passionate about
  What tools / technologies / ideas / principles / things I am most passionate about
• Who is Marvel's Mightiest Hero? (I will give you a clue - it is Beast)
  
• A case for writing unit tests for your blog posts
  
• Hacker News follow up post
  
• Some HipChat Tips and Tricks
  
• CodeIgniter - when to use get_instance()
  
• Resources for getting up to speed with Redis
  
• How to install the latest version of Redis on Ubuntu
  
• My first week at Buffer
  
• I get very ill if I mix Citalopram and Green Tea
  
• Newbie Programming Resources
  
• Open a file in Github from your command line
  
• Values returned to ActiveMerchant by SagePayGateway during 3d secure
  
• Soon I will be joining the Buffer team!
  
• Some Interview Tips for Junior Developers
  
• You should serve up assets without a protocol
  
• Review: Whitehat Aviator
  
• Things to remember to do before any video conference / online call
  
• Keep your CV fresh
  
• Looking for Bootstrap's popover-inner?
  
• Good things happen to those that blog
  
• Indenting Text using Vim
  
• GitGutter – A Sublime Text plugin for seeing changes in git
  
• Copy and Paste in Vim
  
• Belfast Ruby: Talks on Elixir, Tmux and Jekyll
  
• A quick post about depression and software development
  
• Interview with Trevor Orsztynowicz about Caliper
  We get chatting to Trevor Orsztynowicz about Caliper. A performance monitor for Single Page Web apps
• Using Devise to verify an email address and password
  
• Show off your Localhost with LocalTunnel
  
• navigator.mozApps.installPackage no longer works
  navigator.mozApps.installPackage will no longer work use navigator.mozApps.install
• Barry Gordon talks about Vagrant - Belfast Ruby
  
• Accessing Popover Data with Bootstrap 3
  
• Right clicking inside Linux on your Chromebook
  
• Getting Debian to recognise your UK Chromebook
  
• Automation is a lot like your windscreen wipers
  
• Upgrading from Bootstrap's Typeahead to Typeahead.js
  
• A fix for window.location.origin in Internet Explorer
  
• Transliteration with Typeahead.js
  
• Typeahead.js The Book!
  
• Setting a minimum length for your search in Typeahead.js
  How you can set a minimum length for your search in Typeahead.js
• Cheap Belfast PHP/WordPress Hosting
  
• Getting the flot-rails gem to play nicely with IE8
  
• Refreshing local data with typeahead.js
  
• Rspec's be_an_instance_of is pretty useful
  
• If someone does something really sucky, hit them in the Twitter
  
• Passing a day of the week into Ruby's Date.parse
  
• Some things I have learned about Ruby's fetch method
  
• Nobody Will Train You But You - A talk by Zach Briggs
  
• The quickest way to get from nothing to Ruby and Rails
  
• Getting rid of text selection at the bottom of Sublime Text docs
  Getting rid of annoying text selection at the bottom of Sublime Text documents
• Some useful Github shortcuts
  
• Deploying a particular branch to Engine Yard from the command line
  
• Killing all instances of Ruby on Rails running on a certain port.
  
• Bad example of how to do unsubscribe pages.
  
• Using Loops in Jasmine
  
• Useful Chrome Extension for Backbone.js Debugging
  
• Insane Chown Posse
  
• Stacking the founder chips in your favour.
  
• Internet Explorer Version 999.1
  
• MySQLslap - A quickstart guide
  
• Unboxing the Firefox OS Developer Preview Phone
  
• Review: jQuery HotShot
  
• Location, Location, Location
  
• Web Developer Equipment
  
• BornInBlood
  
• Using Dropdowns in Watir Webdriver
  
• Controlling a jQuery datepicker with Watir
  
• Write simple rspec tests on one line for fun and profit
  
• Using Bootstrap's typeahead from inside a modal window
  
• Stack Exchange is winning the internet and this is not a good thing
  
• Adding Data Attributes using haml_tag
  
• Sublime Text reading SASS files as HAML
  
• Getting the rmagick 2.12.2 gem working on Mac OS X
  
• Safari on Windows doesn't like outline inside of :after
  
• Turn Off the built in apache on OSx
  
• Ruby Podcasts I have been recommended
  
• Review: Wunderlist
  
• My immediate impressions of the Samsung Chromebook
  
• Speculation on why Google stopped blocking sites
  
• Firefox honours !important in CSS animations, no one else seems to
  
• Review: Mastering Redmine
  
• Good Surge Protecting Power Blocks
  
• Open all your browsers at once in OSx
  
• Link Dump of everything that was in my Google Reader
  
• Validation Helpers
  
• Some Notes on SSL Certificates
  
• Different ways to undo in Git
  
• Big Wet Fish Get Marketing
  
• Some command line tips for the web developer
  
• Insert Gists without JavaScript
  
• How to turn on invisible characters in Sublime Text 2
  
• Update your Git install
  
• Installing PEAR for PHP on OSx
  
• Google Translate tracking in Analytics
  
• Quick Tip for Reddit and Imgur and multiple sub-sections
  
• What you need to make Firefox OS applications
  A checklist of things you will need to learn to make Firefox OS applications
• Using Mozilla's Mortar and App stub for bootstrapping Firefox OS apps
  
• Getting Firefox OS on your Android phone.
  
• If you store WordPress code on Github think about your wp-config.php
  
• Secure your Redmine install by patching Ruby on Rails
  
• Using Stack Exchange to be better at what you do.
  
• Added some non-js social share buttons
  
• Dealing with interruptions whilst you are developing
  A pragmatic approach to dealing with interruptions whilst you are developing
• Replacing Social Media Share Buttons with non-JavaScript counterparts
  
• Quick email tip if you need to clear out your inbox
  
• Finding email to delete if you are over quota in mail.app on OSx
  
• Editing remote files locally in OSx
  
• Git branches seem to be case insensitive
  
• Barry Adams SEO Talk About the Future of SEO at DigiExNI
  
• People who give a shit will always get my business
  
• Shopify Workshop
  
• Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner - Except Me.
  I am devilishly funny. Especially when I use CSS to make bad puns.
• Changing the font-style of placeholder text CSS
  
• Every time you write non-standard or invalid code
  
• This Charmander is adorable
  
• Setting up Redmine from a blank Ubuntu install
  
• Apache and PHP webserver version
  Finding out what version of Apache and PHP a webserver is running when you have little access
• Commit Driven Development
  
• Entering your email at the inbox is a bad idea
  
• Setting up Apache on OSx Mountain Lion
  
• Parallels: Learning to drive & learning to code
  Things about learning to drive I wish I knew when I was learning to program
• The trigger that gets hit when you get a positive Twitter ratio.
  
• Facebook - The optimal size for posting an image to a page wall
  
• CakePHP and htaccess caching funtimes
  
• What is the RAILS_GEM_VERSION
  
• Styling Scroll Bars
  
• Google should minify their 404 page
  
• An interview with Umut Muhaddisoglu from Uptime Robot
  We catch up with Umut Muhaddisoglu from Uptime Robot about his involvement with the project.
• How to search PayPal transactions by email address or name
  
• How I use MindNode to help craft blog posts
  
• Zoe Bogner: What would you like to see more of on the web?
  We follow up with Zoe Bogner about what she would like to see more of on the net.
• The EU Cookie Law website
  
• Review: CodeLobster
  
• What Meteor does when you install it
  
• A case for going agile
  A talk I wrote for an internal meeting about changing our style of development, presenting a case for going agile.
• Interview with Stephen Kinkaid from Big Wet Fish
  We get chatting to Stephen Kinkaid. Owner and Founder of the Northern Irish based hosting company Big Wet Fish.
• Copying a CakePHP Project from Linux to Windows
  
• PHP - Turn UK Date into US Date
  
• Review: The CSS3 Anthology
  
• Interview with Derek Johnson
  An interview with frontend developer Derek Johnson. We cover all things, well, frontend!
• Things to check for in your htaccess file
  
• Hit Tail - What was it and what I used it for
  
• Useful WordPress Links
  
• Chrome's Lord of the Rings Easter Egg
  
• Printing on the web
  
• Validation in CakePHP 1.3
  
• Permissions issue with Iomega Home Media Network Drive
  
• Deleting Magento Session Files
  
• Reducing Google Contacts storage on Android devices
  
• My scribbled thoughts on Belfast Ruby's first meet up.
  
• CakePHP 2.0 Read Recursive
  
• CSS Vendor Prefixes - A potential use case
  
• Canonical and Base URLs
  
• What can The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo teach us about web design.
  
• Ruby Fizz Buzz Solution
  
• Having FTP in your IDE is part of a broken model
  
• Useful Web Developer Bookmarklets
  
• Updating PHP5.2 to PHP5.3 using apt-get
  
• Too many posts about the same thing on your Twitter timeline?
  
• Ruby Testing and Documenting best practice
  
• The Importance of First Contact
  
• Interview with Patrick McKenzie and Keith Perhac about their podcast
  We speak to Patrick McKenzie and Keith Perhac about the Kalzumeus podcast
• Get rid of var $name in CakePHP
  
• Keeping on top of my to-do list.
  
• Kalzumeus Podcast
  
• BuildConf is still being awesome even after the event.
  
• Proposal: Companies get your employees on Stack Exchange
  Get your employees to answer questions on Stack Exchange and contribute to the community.
• A recipe for creating a great workshop
  
• Interview with Shiela Dixon
  We ask Shiela Dixon about the applications she is building.
• Managing a Facebook development project.
  
• Testing if your domain is accessible from China
  
• Checking if a password field is present in Selenium.
  
• My first doodle in about 7 years.
  
• An open letter to EUKHost
  
• Trying to get a designer into a meeting...
  
• Less Than Vs Less Than or Equal To - which is more efficient?
  
• Magento Auto Install
  A small script for helping automate installing Magento websites.
• Netbeans Private Key Authorisation Problem
  
• MySQLTuner - An excellent free MySQL tool
  
• Apache - [notice] cannot use a full URL in a 401
  [notice] cannot use a full URL in a 401 ErrorDocument directive --- ignoring!
• Accessing PHP variables from within JavaScript under WordPress
  
• What I would change about the Computer Science degree course
  
• IsTwitterUp? Nope
  
• W3C Web Application Privacy Best Practices - A Guide
  The W3C have released Web Application Privacy Best Practices - What do we do with it?
• My Feelings On Adobe Edge
  
• Disqus showing bullets.
  
• Changing upload permissions in vsftpd
  
• Getting Netbeans Working with OS X Lion
  
• Settings up Netbeans to develop Android applications
  
• The importance of using the ellipsis character.
  
• Soon I will be in the market for a new laptop.
  
• New Challenges
  
• Using Git to create an archive of changed files.
  
• Interview: Your take on the rise of e-learning sites
  We ask Matt Johnston, Paul Synnott, and Toby Osbourn about the rise of e-learning websites.
• Enabling telnet in Windows 7
  
• Uninstalling Lotus Notes Traveler from your Android Device
  
• IE7 td colspan width 'issue'
  
• Git command to show files changed in a commit
  
• The importance of supporting OWASP
  
• Edit an option of a select menu using jQuery
  
• Interview: What would you like to see more of on the web
  We ask Matt Johnson, Simon Staton, and Zoe Bogner what they would like to see more of on the web.
• Netbeans Redmine Integration Version 0.1 released.
  
• Netbeans and Redmine Integration.
  
• Explaining Version Control (Git) in Simple Terms
  
• Yum not installing 7zip.
  
• Speed up Lotus Notes on a Mac
  
• Location of bookmarks.nsf on the mac.
  
• Got an article printed in the IEEE software journal.
  
• Getting my Dublin Core on
  
• Two excellent talks on Git
  
• Howto: Email A Support Request
  
• Getting the most out of StackExchange
  
• Quick way to switch between folders in the terminal
  
• Importing a backup file from another MS SQL machine.
  
• Possible issue when using parseInt function.
  
• PHP Security - General PHP setup Gotchas
  
• MySQL snippet - Selecting from table a items that aren't in table b.
  
• Finding your SQL Server Version
  
• PHP - Quick Is Not Set Replace
  
• Internet Explorer Cannot Open The Internet Site - Operation Aborted
  
• What you actually do when you untar something.
  
• Find out which version of Ubuntu I am on.
  
• Allowing your own From header with sSMTP
  
• Useful Git Links
  
• Using Open Source - Some Legal Considerations
  
• Robin Christopherson - Accessibility in Web Design
  
• Eoghan McCabe and Des Traynor - Sexy or Meaningful
  
• Skipfish - No such file or directory.
  
• Owen DeLong - Content Providers must lead the way to IPv6
  
• Martha Rotter - Too Much Information [University Session]
  
• Renier Lemmens - The future of Mobile Apps
  
• Simon Wardley - What is the cloud?
  
• Raffi Krikorian - How to use Geolocation in your web app
  
• Replace ereg with preg_match
  
• Clean up your variables
  
• PHP_DEBUG a very handy little constant
  
• Uptime Robot
  
• Editing Git Repository Descriptions
  
• Switching between full screen modes in PuTTY
  
• YayQuery (my new favourite podcast)
  
• InFrame - Dynamic iFrame creation with jQuery
  
• Exploring Built In Functions
  
• Mapping the inside of buildings.
  
• JavaScript KeyCodes
  
• Refresh Belfast - The State of Typography on the Web
  
• Webmasters - Clean out your links!
  
• Acronym and Abbreviation Tags
  
• Internet Explorer 8 Checkbox Issues
  
• About Pages - Are they totally necessary?
  
• Out of the box design