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Safari and WebKit aren’t teenagers anymore. I just want to make note of that. To quote a previous post: On June 25, 2001, I arrived at Apple Computer to lead the effort in building a new Web browser. It was also Ken Kocienda’s first day on the job, both at Apple and on that same project with me. For that reason, Ken and I have always considered our start date to be when Safari and WebKit were born. Not any other position on the calendar. Only June 25, 2001. We were there. We should know. That was 20 years ago today. Twenty years! Of course, it’s been over nine years since I retired from Apple. Obviously, I’m not a teenager anymore either. But I still remember that first day clearly. So, happy birthday to Safari and WebKit and the team now tasked with their adult supervision.
America is sick. And I don’t just mean with COVID-19. The bad news is that removing the ugly, orange tumor in the White House next week will not be enough to affect a cure. The malignancy has spread. It didn’t even start with the presidency. We’ve been brewing and self-dosing a toxic carcinogen for centuries. White supremacy is, of course, the not-so-secret ingredient. While responsibility for this has changed hands over the years, the modern Republican Party is obviously ensuring racism persists and even flourishes here in America. And for nothing more than electoral advantage. The GOP cannot maintain power if everyone is allowed to vote. We all know this. But even disenfranchising non-white, non-native and otherwise different people is not enough for them now. And their new strategy only starts by overturning election results they don’t like, achieved by lying to their lesser number of voters that they’ve been cheated. The violent insurrectionists at the Capitol last week weren’t really interested in elections, fair or otherwise. They wanted to install a dictator. And many in the GOP—federal, state and local officials as well as their voters—were encouraging that. It’s clear that Republicanism is no longer compatible with democracy. So we have a big problem. The reason so many of our fellow citizens are angry and demanding autocracy is more complicated than simple political disagreements. There’s something elemental going on here. An embrace of conspiracy theories, ignorance and grievance. And on a scale I’ve never seen. I’ll be honest that I have no idea how to cure this disease. I’m not even sure where to begin. But our nation needs some powerful medicine. Or the body will die.
After I posted that link to my latest podcast with Rene Ritchie, several folks alerted me via Twitter that all my colorful metaphors had been “bleeped” on the audio. I didn’t realize that because I hadn’t listened to the recording myself. And I don’t normally listen to my own podcasts because… that’s just sort of creepy, isn’t it? Obviously, that means I don’t mix the audio either. I don’t do that because 1) I don’t have relevant experience at it, 2) I’m really lazy and 3) fine folks elsewhere do all the hard work for me. My apologies if you didn’t get the whole “Melton” experience you were expecting. Rene tells me that episode was an accident and our next podcast won’t be censored. “Let Melton be Melton,” as he likes to say. Plus, we might just release an explicit version of the current show. Has everyone calmed the fuck down now?1 OK, here’s the thing—I was not upset at all about being censored. The show might be called “Melton” but that’s only because 1) Rene Ritchie is a generous man, 2) I’m vain and 3) we couldn’t think of a better name after we recorded the first episode. I consider the whole enterprise as something Rene and I do together. It’s our show. Not my show. If anything, I’m the co-host. This is exactly why I call Rene (and Kelly Guimont for our “Westworld” podcast) “boss.” I’m not trying to be funny, ironic or insult them. I’m reminding myself who really is in charge. And who does all the hard work. Seriously, I just talk into a microphone, folks. And it’s a microphone that Rene gave me! A really nice Røde Podcaster model, too. Talking is easy and I continue to be amazed that anyone out there cares about listening to what I have to say. I’m honored that all these nice people enable me to broadcast my various musings, opinions and rants. So if Rene and anyone else at iMore—or Jason Snell and anyone else at The Incomparable—decide to censor my many and frequent vulgarities, it’s their call. They’re the publishers. And being censored won’t damage my “brand”—whatever the hell that means. (Actually, it scares me thinking about what that means.) Yes, words matter. Exact words even. But the truth is that some people—whether they admit being offended or not—have difficulty listening to vulgarities. Especially at the pace I spew them. A friend of mine told me he’s sad that he can’t listen to my podcasts in his car anymore now that he has kids. I get it. There are valid reasons to hit the buzzer. As anyone who’s adventurous enough to follow me on Twitter knows, I’m saltier than most sailors. I don’t plan on changing that there or on this website. But if someone needs to filter me a bit elsewhere, I’m fine with that. A tired catchphrase which really needs retirement. I should know. ↩
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Once a year at my church, I usually give one sermon. I was asked to tie the theme to a young adult retreat we had taken to the Sunshine Coast. My first experience giving a sermon was many years ago at my old home church in El Monte, California. It was a Vietnamese-American church, but…
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As with my last post on AI, let me open with a statement: Just because most people hold AI a certain way, doesn’t mean that we always must, either now or in the future. As I noted in that piece, and my shades of gray post, I am well aware — and agree with — … Continue reading Must we always use LLMs this way? →
The CSS Working Group resolved to use cursor: pointer for buttons and other clickable form controls in the new appearance: base styles. That happened on October 21, but I posted about it yesterday and, uh, people have feelings about cursors. I wrote about buttons and cursors back in 2022, when a post titled "Buttons shouldn't have a hand cursor" was making the rounds. I admitted I didn't have a strong opinion either way, then argued that not using the hand cursor had become the new anti-pattern anyway. The web isn't an operating system, and people expect clickable things to show a hand. The issue is Cursors For Base Appearance in CSS Forms Level 1. The group adopted the rules from this comment, and the part that's triggering half the Web is: select, option, input[type=checkbox], input[type=radio], button, input[type=button], input[type=submit], input[type=reset], input[type=color], input[type=image], ::file-selector-button { cursor: pointer; } It seems like we have a tabs vs. spaces sort of debate. Again. Nicole Sullivan pulled cursor data from a bunch of design systems and, in September, 27 of the 33 systems that set a cursor used pointer. After she added more systems, it was closer to a 50/50 split. Elika Etemad made the usability case in the meeting. Per the minutes, she said the hand "makes it clear, as soon as you're hovering an interactive control, you're supposed to click on it," and called it a "usability benefit even if not historically done on some platforms." "But the hand means it's a link" Haz had an interesting reaction: The debate is over, and evil has won. His point is that he can't tell whether ⌘-clicking something will open it in a new window anymore. He feels more confident clicking a button when he knows it won't change the URL, like when it just opens a popover or a panel. He's not wrong about that.* I replied that I've been on team evil since 2022 (albeit without a strong opinion, just following what users seem to expect). Touch screens don't have a cursor at all, and on desktop, browsers show a link's URL in the corner when you hover it. That's some type of hint, at least. Haz pushed back that he'd have to watch the bottom-left corner with his peripheral vision, which is fair. He also said he never cared which cursor buttons got, he just wanted links to have their own. I can appreciate that. "But desktop apps don't do it!" Jacob Paris liked the standard cursor on buttons because it makes web apps feel more like desktop apps than websites. My opinion hasn't changed, though. People have already learned that a hand cursor means clickable on the Web. It's by no means mandatory, but it's familiar and satisfying, so it stuck. Either way, nothing changes today. The resolution only covers appearance: base, which browsers haven't shipped yet. Buttons and selects still use appearance: auto, and their cursor is still default. If your CSS reset, design system, or web components already set cursor: pointer on buttons, keep it. When appearance: base ships, controls that opt in will get the same cursors by default. But remember, these are only defaults! You can still add whatever cursor you want to whatever element you want. Nobody's gonna stop you. In 2022, I said I'd keep changing the cursor on buttons until there's a good reason to stop. In 2026, I still haven't found one…and neither has the CSS Working Group. *Thinking about this more, if 50% of design systems opted to add cursor: pointer to buttons already, isn't this already a moot argument? **In general, I think the Web should be more personal and expressive so who even cares about a default? This is especially true for personal and fun sites. Just don't go too crazy, especially when it affects accessibility and the overall user experience.
