Plurrrr

I recently read an excellent post by Manu Moreale titled A rant on web font licenses. I highly recommend you give it a read (it's relatively short) since Manu makes a solid argument against existing font licenses. After reading, I found myself thinking about it throughout the rest of the day.

I was trying to understand how we ended up in a situation where web/UI designers (myself included) have started to insist on using proprietary, custom web fonts. Do any users actively benefit from custom web fonts? Are there any useful and measurable goals achieved by including them? Do end-users actually care about a website's typeface?

For the most part, I believe the answer to all those questions is: not really.

I’m a fan of crusty old knives.

There’s a cold familiarity to them; you know what they’re good for and what they’re not, and despite their age, they remain largely the same as how you left them. In software, there aren’t a lot of tools that are allowed to get old. I feel like the default state is just a drop-off into obscurity.

But Django got old! Its twentieth birthday is almost here. I suppose that means Django has entered adulthood now, though 20ish years in software probably puts it more toward seniorhood than anything. When I stare at a CRUD-style use case, Django remains my default impulse. With the rise of stripped-down JS frameworks like HTMX, I thought it’d be exciting to pull out the crusty knives, sprinkle in some new JS goodness and explore the landscape. What follows in this article are my thoughts and lessons along the way. Enjoy!

The first Git release of the year is here! Take a look at some of our highlights on what's new in Git 2.40.