CrowderSoup

A website about technology and life.

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Aaron Crowder

Hi, I'm Aaron Crowder. Or—if you know me online—CrowderSoup.

Father of two, Software developer, and lover of the open web. I like to take things apart (and sometimes even put them back together). I can frequently be found tinkering with some bit of code in my spare time.

Pronouns: He/Him, They/Them

A Comprehensive Guide to PADD: Your Personal Aggregation Display Dashboard
Aaron Crowder

If you spend any time in the IndieWeb community, you've probably heard of feed readers; tools that let you follow blogs and websites without being beholden to any single platform. PADD (Personal Aggregation Display Dashboard) is one such reader, built by me with the IndieWeb philosophy at its core. I've been using it daily and wanted to walk through everything it offers. What Is PADD? PADD is a Microsub-compatible feed reader and social reader. The name says it all: it's a personal aggregati...

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So... #PADD is getting "Notifications". If your microsub server has a notifications channel then PADD will automatically treat them as such!

I realized that part of the #Microsub spec calls for a notifications channel when I was adding a microsub server to my blog software. So naturally if my blog was going to publish it, I figured my reader should consume it naturally.

Seriously, I am having so much fun building this stuff.

Aaron Crowder

If it feels like I've been absent for a moment, that's because I was. I have some posts I need to catch up on making from the weekend, but in the meantime know that I am back!

This weekend was a busy one and on top of that I decided to migrate to using my own home-grown Microsub server. That didn't go quite as planned so I was "heads-down" working on that any time I had computer time. That was limited until lunchtime today when I got the rest of my issues fixed I think.

We shall see!

Aaron Crowder

Never thought I'd be thinking about building a shader in WebGL so that I can post fancily edited photos to my blog from my phone using a Star Trek themed web app I made.

Just #IndieWeb things I guess, lol

ps, how good does PADD look??

Aaron Crowder

I shaved my beard the other day! Do I regret it? Yes. Would I do it again? Also yes!

It's seriously been about 10 years since I've fully shaved my beard. It was time to start fresh!

Aaron Crowder

PADD Gets a Big Upgrade
Aaron Crowder

I've been busy! There's a big batch of improvements landing in PADD today. It touches pretty much every part of the app so I'm writing this post to walk y'all through it. First though, I want to give a disclaimer: I'm building this stuff primarily for myself (not you, sorry). I want a good way to quickly post to my own site and read the blogs I care about. PADD is my attempt at that. If it turns out to be useful to other people, that's great. If not? Well, then at least I have a reader I like...

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New PADD Features: Comming Soon!
Aaron Crowder

Things coming to #PADD (my #IndieWeb reader) soon: Photo editing Harvest to Gardn button Better input for tags on post editor Control over syndication targets via micropub Import/Export OPML files to and from your Microsub server A "Discover" page so you can see what other users are interacting with (not their interactions, just counts) to help you find more blogs to follow. I can't wait for this to be done cooking!

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