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Show HN: Controlling 3D models with voice and hand gestures
a year ago
- Control 3D models using hand gestures and voice commands in real-time.
- Interactive web app built with Three.js, MediaPipe, Web Speech API, and Rosebud AI.
- Voice commands: 'drag', 'rotate', 'scale', or 'animate' to change interaction mode.
- Pinch fingers to control the 3D model.
- Drag/drop GLTF format 3D models to import them.
- Requires modern browser with WebGL, camera, and microphone access.
- Technologies used: Three.js, MediaPipe, Web Speech API, HTML5 Canvas, JavaScript.
- MIT License.
- Other projects include hand tracking tutorials, particle animations, and ASCII video conversion.
- Contact and support details provided.
Experimenting with no-build Web Applications • AndreGarzia.com
a year ago
- Little Webby Press is a client-side eBook generator that converts Markdown files into EPUB3 and static websites without a backend.
- The original version used Svelte 3, BrowserFS, Handlebars, JsZip, Rollup, Tailwind, and Daisy for CSS.
- The author dislikes the current web development ecosystem's reliance on transpilation and frameworks, leading to a rewrite with no-build principles.
- The new version uses Mithril, Pico CSS, and importMap for dependencies, eliminating BrowserFS and build steps.
- Performance improved significantly, with EPUB generation time dropping from 2.5 seconds to 125 milliseconds.
- The app now auto-downloads files due to increased speed, and the repository serves as the deployment source.
- The author plans to focus on no-build web apps for future projects, prioritizing personal enjoyment.
FastHTML – Fasthtml
a year ago
- FastHTML enables building modern web applications in pure Python quickly.
- Supports simple dashboards to scalable web applications with minimal setup.
- Single Python file needed for app creation, supports Python and JS libraries.
- Provides full access to HTTP, HTML, JS, and CSS for flexible development.
- Fast and scalable applications, easy deployment on any Python-supporting hosting service.
- Runs anywhere Python does, including 1-click deploy options like Railway.app, Vercel, etc.
- Ideal for general-purpose web apps, dashboards, prototypes, and interactive reports.
- Comparable to FastAPI but focused on HTML/hypermedia applications rather than APIs.
- HTMX integration enhances functionality, allowing DOM updates directly from Python.
- Supports incorporating existing JS libraries, though many apps can be built with just Python.
- Performance often surpasses JS-heavy approaches due to lightweight nature.
<Blink> and <Marquee> (2020)
a year ago
- The <blink> and <marquee> tags were popular in the 90s but are now largely forgotten by younger developers.
- Lou Montulli, a pioneer web developer, is often credited with the invention of the <blink> tag, though he claims it was a joke by another Netscape engineer.
- Netscape Navigator 2.0, released in 1995, introduced the <blink> tag, animated GIFs, and early JavaScript, shaping the personal website experience.
- Microsoft's Internet Explorer 2.0 introduced the <marquee> tag as a response to Netscape's <blink>, offering more control over scrolling text effects.
- Some websites in the late 90s used both <blink> and <marquee> tags to ensure visibility across different browsers, combining flashing and scrolling effects.
- The modern web emphasizes progressive enhancement, ensuring content is accessible even without advanced features like JavaScript or CSS.
- Netscape 7 (2002) was one of the few browsers to support both <blink> and <marquee>, though inconsistently.
- The <blink> tag is obsolete, but can be replicated with CSS. The <marquee> tag still works in some browsers but is discouraged for modern use.
105 Vibe-Coded Tools
a year ago
- Tools on tools.simonwillison.net built using AI-assisted programming.
- Multi-Tab Chat app demonstrates real-time message sync across browser tabs using Broadcast Channel API.
- Transfer Time Calculator estimates file upload/download times with detailed breakdown.
- Date Calculator visualizes time spans between dates with business days/weekends marked.
- CSS Flexbox Playground provides interactive environment for testing flexbox properties.
- Conference schedule ICS generator with preview and download functionality.
- Annotated Presentation Creator adds accessibility alt text and markdown annotations to slides.
- SVG to JPEG/PNG converter with customizable output settings.
- Gemini API JSON visualizer for image generation responses.
- HTML Live Preview tool with responsive layout testing.
- Bluesky Thread Viewer with hierarchical display and export options.
- Markdown to HTML converter using GitHub's API.
- RTF to HTML converter preserving color formatting.
- Mask Visualizer for JSON data containing image masks.
- Gemini API image segmentation mask visualizer.
- Base64 encoded gzip data decoder.
- Hacker News thread formatter with hierarchical comment numbering.
- Interactive footnote system with ARIA accessibility features.
- Rich text to clean HTML converter with live preview.
- Census data explorer with ACS survey visualization.
- Passkeys demo environment with credential management.
- Lightning Timer for presentations with visual time warnings.
- Incomplete JSON Pretty Printer for developer debugging.
- Clipboard Format Viewer showing raw paste data.
- Avatar Web Component for profile image cropping/resizing.
- Hugging Face model size checker.
- Filter Badge Component for interactive data filtering.
- U.S. presidential term tracker with progress visualization.
- Product catalog with HTML dialog side panels.
- Species observation map using iNaturalist data.
- Swagger API documentation subset creator.
- Token Usage Calculator for LLM API calls.
- CSS text wrapping properties guide with visual examples.
- Daylight Saving Time clock change information for California.
- HTML code extractor from formatted web content.
- Secure message encryption with passphrase using Web Crypto API.
- JSON Schema Builder with visual interface.
- Compact DSL to JSON Schema converter.
- Pipfile.lock dependency formatter.
- Multi-section text editor with auto-save.
- Jina Reader API interface for content processing.
- SQLite query analyzer using APSW library.
- SQL Pretty Printer with customizable formatting.
- GitHub issue to markdown converter.
- Image quality/filesize comparison tool.
- Image to JPEG converter with quality slider.
- Claude API citation renderer with sandboxed iframe.
- PHP serialized data to JSON converter.
- ARIA live regions screen reader demo.
- Bluesky handle to DID resolver.
- Bluesky WebSocket Feed Monitor for real-time data.
- YAML Explorer with interactive tree view.
- OpenAI audio API interface with WebRTC.
- GitHub Gist audio player for GPT-4o responses.
- GPT-4o text-to-speech generator with sharing options.
- JSON to YAML converter in multiple formats.
- Writing Style Analyzer detecting weak prose.
- Gemini AI chat interface with model selection.
- Timezone Meeting Planner for global scheduling.
- Prompts.js library demo for modern browser dialogs.
- Unix timestamp converter to human-readable dates.
- Bluesky timeline viewer with auto-refresh.
- Package file explorer for zip/tar.gz/wheel formats.
- API Explorer sandbox with secure iframe.
- Image bounding box coordinate tool.
- Web API browser support timeline viewer.
- HTML/JavaScript sandbox with security controls.
- Rainbow Border animation demo with toggle.
- Claude Token Counter for message analysis.
- Gemini model class implementation for LLM library.
- Base64 SVG embedding demo with security notes.
- Progressive SVG rendering visualizer.
- GitHub issue to markdown fetcher.
- QR Code Decoder for image extraction.
- ARES Phonetic Alphabet converter.
- HTML Entity Escaper for web-safe text.
- OpenAI GPT-4o audio recording interface.
- URL extractor from web page content.
- SQLite pelican sightings database explorer.
- Interactive CSS grid layout with animation.
- Event Planner with Google Calendar integration.
- Image to SVG converter using imagetracerjs.
- MapLibre GL demo with OpenFreeMap integration.
- User Agent string display page.
- Markdown/LaTeX real-time renderer.
- GitHub file uploader using API.
- Image Token Calculator for AI processing.
- YouTube thumbnail viewer/downloader.
- Pomodoro Timer with session logging.
- Automatic redirect implementation example.
- JPEG TIFF orientation metadata analyzer.
- Audio Spectrum Visualizer using Web Audio API.
- Camera-based haiku generator using Claude.
- EXIF Data Viewer for photo metadata.
- CSS box shadow customization tool.
- Gemini Nano model playground for Chrome Canary.
- PDF comparison tool with visual diff.
- LLM Elo ratings evolution visualization.
- PDF/image OCR tool using Tesseract.js.
- Interactive map with CSV marker data.
- Social Media Card Cropper with platform presets.
Selfish reasons for building accessible UIs
a year ago
- Accessibility is often deprioritized due to tight deadlines and other concerns.
- Moral arguments for accessibility are persuasive but may not change behavior effectively.
- Selfish reasons for building accessible UIs include improved debuggability and cleaner code.
- Using semantic HTML and ARIA roles makes debugging easier by clarifying element purposes.
- Accessibility guidelines provide clear naming conventions, reducing ambiguity in UI components.
- Accessible UIs enhance testability by allowing tests to rely on semantic structure rather than brittle selectors.
- Keyboard accessibility is crucial for power users and improves overall user experience.
- Current accessibility efforts have largely failed, with many websites still containing numerous errors.
- Building accessibly benefits both users and developers, making it a practical choice.
Tuxracer.js play Tux Racer in the browser
10 months ago
- TuxRacer.js is a browser-based port of Extreme Tux Racer, playable on desktop and mobile.
- The project is in early development but offers functional courses for enjoyment.
- Requirements include Node.js (v22 recommended) and cloning the GitHub repository.
- Install dependencies with `npm install` and start the dev server with `npm run dev`.
- Controls: Keyboard (WASD/arrow keys) or mouse for desktop; touch for mobile.
- Gameplay tips: Paddling helps initial speed, braking aids tight turns, terrain affects handling.
- Courses can be selected via URL parameters (e.g., `?course=frozen-river`).
- Environments (sunny, night, cloudy) are also customizable via URL.
- Contributions are welcome (issues, feature requests, pull requests).
- Developed by Jan Ebbe, licensed under GNU GPL v2.0.
The time is right for a DOM templating API
10 months ago
- Proposal for adding a declarative templating API to the web platform.
- Current DOM API lacks ergonomic templating, a cornerstone of modern web frameworks.
- Benefits of declarative templating include superior ergonomics, security against XSS, better performance, easier static analysis, and efficient server-side rendering.
- The absence of a native templating API leads to longer app download times, insecure apps, and increased developer overhead.
- Frameworks and libraries face challenges in implementing templating due to trade-offs between features, performance, and code size.
- Now is an opportune time to introduce a templating API, given the maturity of frameworks and developer demand.
- Popular templating systems share similar syntax and semantics, making standardization feasible.
- Tagged template literals in JavaScript provide a viable path for implementing templating without new syntax.
- JSX is popular but lacks semantics, making it difficult to standardize; tagged template literals offer a more immediate solution.
- HTML-based templating is a larger undertaking but could follow after establishing a JavaScript-based API.
- Reactivity models like VDOM, template identity, and signals have been explored, with template identity and signals being a promising combination.
- A proposal for a native templating API would benefit vanilla developers, web components, and frameworks, serving as a stepping stone to more advanced features.
- The proposal requires collaboration and effort to specify, but promises significant value for the web platform.
Conferences, Clarity, and Smokescreens
10 months ago
- The author thanks JSNation organizers and attendees for engaging debates and a well-organized event.
- JSNation featured strong talks, including Jeremias Menichelli's on outdated hacks and Vinicius Dallacqua's on LoAF.
- React Summit 2025 was criticized for lacking challenging content and promoting framework dogma without addressing quality issues.
- The author highlights a quality crisis in the React community, with poor user experiences and high costs.
- React conferences are described as marketing events rather than engineering-focused gatherings.
- Examples like Burger King and Bluesky show poor performance due to excessive JavaScript in React-based projects.
- The author contrasts React's inefficiencies with lighter alternatives like Astro, Hotwired, and 11ty.
- There's a call for frontend development to adopt professional standards, focusing on user needs over developer convenience.
- The author suggests that abandoning React might be necessary to improve web development quality.
Don't use "click here" as link text – W3C (2010)
10 months ago
- Avoid using 'click here' as link text; use meaningful text that explains the link's purpose.
- Link text should provide context when read alone, explain what the link offers, and avoid verb phrases.
- Example: Instead of 'click here to download Amaya,' use 'Get Amaya!' with 'get' not in the hyperlink.
- Further reading includes W3C guidelines and articles on hypertext writing and accessibility.
- W3C QA Tips are informative documents for web developers, not normative specifications.
We Serve Millions of Requests on a Single VM
10 months ago
- Use battle-tested technologies like Nginx, Redis, PostgreSQL, Debian, and Flask to save time and avoid bugs.
- Aggressive caching can significantly reduce network request times, especially for static data.
- Implement asynchronous programming for tasks exceeding 500 ms to maintain user responsiveness.
- Flat and simple data models improve both engineering speed and application performance.
- Avoid ORMs to prevent complex and potentially buggy database queries; use compile-time SQL checks instead.
Our Fullstack Architecture: Eta, Htmx, and Lit
10 months ago
- Combines Eta for server-side templating, HTMX for dynamic interactions, and Lit for client-side logic.
- Aims to reduce JavaScript bundle size for faster page loads and better mobile performance.
- Eta templates render HTML on the server, ensuring fast initial page loads.
- HTMX handles 90% of dynamic interactions with minimal JavaScript.
- Lit Web Components manage complex client-side state for the remaining 10% of interactions.
- Uses the View Transitions API for smooth animations between DOM updates.
- Demonstrates significant reduction in JS size compared to React-based SPAs.
- Promotes a pragmatic, maintainable approach to web development.
Epanet-JS
10 months ago
- epanet-js is a web application combining modern web maps with the EPANET hydraulic simulation algorithm for water utility planning.
- Developed by Iterating experts Luke Butler and Sam Payá, it targets professionals in hydraulic simulation.
- The project uses code from Placemark, an open-source tool previously developed by the author, under a permissive MIT license.
- Iterating has contributed back to the Placemark codebase, showcasing a positive open-source collaboration.
- epanet-js is open-sourced under the Functional Source License, with contributions becoming open source after two years.
- The tool runs in browsers using WASM, offering a modern alternative to expensive, Windows-only EPANET software costing $16,000/year.
- The author expresses admiration for the project, highlighting its potential to disrupt traditional hydraulic simulation tools.
Infinite Mac Construction Set
10 months ago
- Infinite Mac now allows embedding any OS from System 1.0 (1984) to Mac OS X 10.4 (2005) into websites.
- New `/embed` endpoint enables seamless iframing with controls for resolution, input events, and screen updates.
- Auto-pausing feature added for embedded instances using `IntersectionObserver` and `visibilitychange` signals.
- Embedding supports customization via query parameters and `message` events for programmatic control.
- Infinite Monkey demo connects an emulated Mac 128K to OpenAI and Anthropic models, showcasing cross-era tech interaction.
- Challenges included Safari's lack of `SharedArrayBuffer` support in iframes and slow disk image loading.
- Prefetching and service worker caching improved boot times for Mac OS 8.5 and NeXTStep images.
- LLMs struggle with older UI conventions, like pull-down menus, despite their ability to control the emulated Mac.
- Modernized Cloudflare setup with static assets and Vite plugin for better maintenance and dev experience.
- Potential for speed settings to accurately emulate older hardware performance in the web-based emulator.
I'm more proud of these 128 kilobytes than anything I've built since
10 months ago
- The author challenges the belief that good design and accessibility are mutually exclusive, arguing that constraints can lead to better solutions.
- A project in Africa with severe technical constraints (128KB page budget, feature phones, poor connectivity) led to innovative design solutions.
- Key constraints included the 128K Rule (total page size), Extreme Responsiveness (240px to 4K displays), and Universal Compatibility (Opera Mini support).
- Solutions included using system fonts to save bytes, creating a minimal custom library (Whizz) instead of frameworks, and optimizing images with techniques like SVG and TinyPNG.
- SVG optimization was labor-intensive but effective, involving manual cleanup and creative reuse of paths to reduce file size.
- The final product was fast and worked on a wide range of devices, from feature phones to Lynx, proving the value of constrained design.
- Constraints fostered creativity, leading to universal solutions that worked well under various network conditions and device capabilities.
- The author advocates for embracing constraints in design to achieve better, more scalable results, contrasting modern web bloat with efficient solutions like the original DOOM game.
Why I'm Writing Pure HTML and CSS in 2025
10 months ago
- Pure HTML and CSS enable instant-loading, easily deployable, and secure web pages.
- Modern web development often over-engineers with complex frameworks and JavaScript.
- HTML, created by Tim Berners-Lee in 1991, remains compatible with modern browsers.
- Average web page size is 2.65MB in 2024, growing 8% yearly, impacting performance and accessibility.
- Pure HTML and CSS pages are fast, lightweight, and work well on any network.
- Hosting pure HTML pages is simple and cost-effective, with options like GitHub or Raspberry Pi.
- Semantic HTML improves accessibility and SEO without custom components.
- Static HTML pages have minimal security risks and require no updates.
- Modern projects often involve complex build steps, whereas pure HTML simplifies deployment.
- Joel Dare promotes a Five-Day Neat Starter Email Course for building lean HTML/CSS sites.
XMLUI
9 months ago
- XMLUI brings the Visual Basic model to modern web development, allowing users to compose apps with XML markup without deep React or CSS knowledge.
- XMLUI provides a suite of components, including interactive and behind-the-scenes ones like DataSource and APICall, enabling easy app development.
- Users can define custom components in XMLUI, which interoperate with native components, enhancing flexibility and reusability.
- XMLUI supports reactive data binding, similar to spreadsheets, where changes in one component automatically propagate to dependent components.
- Themes in XMLUI are designed to look good by default, with extensive theme variables for customization without requiring CSS expertise.
- Scripting in XMLUI is minimal, using JavaScript for small snippets, with LLM assistance available for more complex tasks.
- The Model Context Protocol (MCP) enhances collaboration with LLMs by providing tools for agents to ask and answer questions about XMLUI components and usage.
- XMLUI simplifies content management, allowing users to build and document apps in the same framework, showcasing live demos within documentation.
- Extensibility in XMLUI allows React-savvy developers to wrap additional React components, expanding the component library.
- Deployment of XMLUI apps is straightforward, requiring minimal files and any static web server, with optional additional backend services for specific needs.
- XMLUI aims to make UI development accessible to backend developers and solution builders, reducing reliance on frontend specialists.
Subreply – an open source text-only social network
9 months ago
- Tiny, but mighty social network available at subreply.com
- Install dependencies using pip3 install -r requirements.txt
- Run database migrations with python3 manage.py migrate
- Create project/local.py file and generate SIGNATURE using cryptography.fernet
- Performance target: speed of 50ms or lower for each page request
- Code quality: clean, easy to read, and easy to modify
Why not to use iframes for embedded dashboards
10 months ago
- Embedded analytics dashboards require a smooth UI/UX for users and easy embedding for developers.
- Iframes, traditionally used for embedding, are outdated and problematic for modern applications.
- Iframes create visual mismatches as they don't inherit parent styles, leading to inconsistent branding.
- Limited interaction between iframes and parent applications complicates event handling and state management.
- Iframes cause layout issues like double scrollbars and responsiveness problems, especially on mobile.
- Debugging iframes is difficult due to separate execution contexts and cross-origin restrictions.
- Security risks with iframes include cross-frame scripting, clickjacking, and credential phishing.
- Performance overhead with iframes includes redundant network requests and memory usage.
- Browser policies like third-party cookie blocking further complicate iframe-based authentication.
- Maintaining iframes ties product development to third-party updates, reducing long-term flexibility.
- Embeddable offers a modern alternative with native React/Vue embeds, ensuring design consistency and performance.
A media company demanded a license fee for an Open Graph image I used on Twitter
9 months ago
- A media company demanded a license fee for an Open Graph image used on a Twitter archive.
- The author paid the fee to avoid potential legal consequences, despite feeling the demand was unjust.
- The situation raises concerns about copyright risks associated with displaying Open Graph images.
- The Open Graph protocol, designed for sharing metadata, lacks clear guidelines on image licensing.
- The author suggests that Facebook should have considered copyright implications in the Open Graph protocol.
- The incident highlights broader frustrations with copyright enforcement on the web, especially for individuals versus large tech companies.

Hasty Briefsbeta

#web-development

Show HN: Controlling 3D models with voice and hand gestures

Experimenting with no-build Web Applications • AndreGarzia.com

FastHTML – Fasthtml

<Blink> and <Marquee> (2020)

105 Vibe-Coded Tools

Selfish reasons for building accessible UIs

Tuxracer.js play Tux Racer in the browser

The time is right for a DOM templating API

Conferences, Clarity, and Smokescreens

Don't use "click here" as link text – W3C (2010)

We Serve Millions of Requests on a Single VM

Our Fullstack Architecture: Eta, Htmx, and Lit

Epanet-JS

Infinite Mac Construction Set

I'm more proud of these 128 kilobytes than anything I've built since

Why I'm Writing Pure HTML and CSS in 2025

XMLUI

Subreply – an open source text-only social network

Why not to use iframes for embedded dashboards

A media company demanded a license fee for an Open Graph image I used on Twitter