Category: Software Development

I first learnt of OctoberCMS in a tweet from @CatkinFox, that said "OctoberCMS blows WordPress out of the water, in almost every regard. Definitely check it out!"

On 14th May, I discovered that SMS messages sent from my Simply Remind Me app since 1st March were not being delivered by my SMS provider, Textlocal.

Because they were successfully accepted by the gateway, Simply Remind Me correctly deducted the credits from your account. But the messages failed to arrive at their intended handsets.

The only explanation I can find is that Textlocal has, inexplicably, blocked the originator (sender ID) I was using: REMINDERS.

Software updates are a necessary evil on any device – from your smartphone, to laptops, through to servers and routers.

Updates for devices running the Linux operating system come in the form of packages. Using the Linux system’s package manager, you install new packages and upgrade them as new versions are released.

Earlier this week, I gave a sneak preview of version 3 of Simply Remind Me – my free e-mail and simple text reminder app.

The new version is now live and ready to welcome new and existing users.

With the new version, there is also a brand-new website. The site is similar in content as the previous one (if it ain’t broke, why fix it?) but has a bolder and more modern look.

It’s been four years since the last update to Simply Remind Me – my free e-mail and SMS (text message) reminders app. Since the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020, sign-ups have increased significantly. It’s therefore a perfect time for a refresh and an update.

This blog post shows you a preview of the new-look Simply Remind Me – version 3 – launching soon.

There are some major changes – such as a new look layout – but several subtle changes to improve your experience using the app.

It’s been almost 18 months – and a global pandemic – since the last update to Solid Tools for Developers, my suite of free online debugging tools for software developers and system administrators.

Today I’ve released a new update to Solid Tools which, unlike the previous update, is more evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

Over the past few weeks I’ve migrated my website to a new content management system.

I took the opportunity to upgrade my website’s front-end technologies to their latest releases – Bootstrap 5 and VueJS 3, for example.

This post documents some of the changes I came across migrating Bootstrap 4 to 5.

Please note: there will be other changes than these; I don’t use every component in the Bootstrap framework. Bootstrap 5 is still in beta and things may change before the final release.

Announced around a year ago, Microsoft today released their brand-new version of Edge – the default web browser since the Windows 10 release.

The new Edge browser is based on Google’s Chromium project. Chromium is the “base” software that Google builds the Chrome browser on.

It’s been over a year since the last update to Solid Tools for Developers – my suite of online tools for developers, system admins and network managers.

Yesterday I published my latest release to soliddevtools.com which gives the suite a fresh makeover and a few improvements to the tools.

It’s 3 years to the day since I made the first commit to what would become Blue Twilight – my open-source PHP photo gallery.

Today I’m delighted to announce the availability of Blue Twilight Cloud.

Blue Twilight Cloud allows you to run your own photo gallery as an alternative to sharing your photos on Instagram, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter.