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Simon MacDonald

@macdonst.bsky.social
643 followers 215 following 88 posts

Father, Software Engineer, Comic Enthusiast, Coffee Lover, Human Goodreads and Head of Developer Experience at Begin. He/Him

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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Conference Appearances this Fall A surprisingly busy fall of workshops, talks, conferences, and volunteering from New York to Toronto. simonmacdonald.com/blog/posts/2026-…
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Opening Dialogs with the Invoker API Replacing some custom JavaScript with the Invoker API. simonmacdonald.com/blog/posts/2026-…
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Reposted by Simon MacDonald
London Web Standards @londonwebstandards.org · 04/06/2026
Many thanks to @tetralogical.com and these awesome people for supporting #SotB2027 @alexolder.com @andydavies.me @keithamus.social @remysharp.com @macdonst.bsky.social Why not join them: 2027.stateofthebrowser.com/supporters/
2027.stateofthebrowser.com
Supporters | State of the Browser
Help us make State of the Browser 15 even better by supporting us.
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Books I read in 2025 My 2025 wrap up post on books I read in the past year. simonmacdonald.com/blog/posts/2026-…
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
Next week Forward JS Ottawa will be meeting. RSVP now! www.meetup.com/ottawa-forwa...
meetup.com
ForwardJS Ottawa - September 2025, Thu, Sep 18, 2025, 6:00 PM | Meetup
**IMPORTANT: Please include your full name when you RSVP. Building security will check names at the entrance and provide name badges. Only people who RSVP and include their
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
NYC I will be in you for a two day @sanity.io conference. Join us on Monday September 29th for a hands on workshop. Then on Tuesday September 30th we'll have sessions on code, culture and community. RSVP at: everything.sanity.io
everything.sanity.io
Everything NYC 2025 – Sanity
Everything *[NYC] is where developers and creative thinkers come together to explore what it means to build digital experiences that move people, and the world forward. From content operations to cult...
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
Amazing editing by Evelina Wahlström our Technical Product Marketing Manager @sanity.io for turning my ramblings about the Functions product I work on into something coherent. www.youtube.com/shorts/HQ2tK...
youtube.com
"I never make mistakes writing code..."
YouTube video by Sanity
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Reposted by Simon MacDonald
Sanity @sanity.io · 29/08/2025
Auto-fix your blog's annoying problems with event-driven logic. Change a slug → create a redirect Add a code snippet → format it Modify the body → generate a changelog with AI Build it with Sanity Functions. youtu.be/W8f6jFLcCng
youtu.be
Auto-fix your blog's annoying problems
YouTube video by Sanity
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
Book Review - Web Accessibility Cookbook I learned something new in every chapter ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. simonmacdonald.com/blog/posts/2025-…
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Reposted by Simon MacDonald
Dan Denney @dandenney.com · 29/07/2025
"Dan Webb wrote about how he and his team migrated their site from Next.js to Eleventy and improved performance by 24%. But who knows, maybe he’s just deep in Big Static’s pocket" - Bytes etch.co/blog/we-migr...
etch.co
We migrated our site to Eleventy and increased performance by 24% | Etch Software Studio
How choosing the right tool for the job led to faster load times and fewer dependencies.
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
HTML day, Ottawa edition 🍁 August 2, 2025 12pm-5pm Brown's Inlet Park Come hang out and write some HTML!!! More info ➡️ html-day-ottawa.vercel.app Not in Ottawa? Other locations + online event here: html.energy/html-day/202...
html-day-ottawa.vercel.app
HTML Day 2025: Ottawa
Saturday, August 03, 2025, 12pm-5pm, Ottawa
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
Awesome to see Function Recipes from our DevRel team. Spoiler, functions has been what I've been up to since last Fall.
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
Newsletters that regularly hit my inbox these days Newsletters that I make a point of reading every week. simonmacdonald.com/blog/posts/2025-…
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
Pretty excited that all the work we've been doing at Sanity.io is finally public. It's been a wild ride since us Begin’ners joined last September. www.sanity.io/docs/compute...
sanity.io
The Content Operating System | Sanity
A fully customizable all-code backend for content-driven websites and apps—their builders and creators.
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Woof, I really dropped the ball on this one but today 4/24 is JS Naked Day. We celebrate today because HTTP error code 424 is “Failed Dependency”. I'm going to spend the rest of the day surfing with JS turned off and do a better job of promoting next year. js-naked-day.org
js-naked-day.org
JS Naked Day
JS Naked Day: The web should work without JavaScript
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
WALL·E Released: 2008-06-22 This is my favourite PIxar film of all time. 5 out of 5 stars!!
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Hello world!
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Reposted by Simon MacDonald
tbeseda @tbeseda.com · 09/11/2024
Dang, this is really nice. dandavison.github.io/delta/introd... > brew install git-delta edit ~/.gitconfig: ``` [core] pager = delta [interactive] diffFilter = delta --color-only [delta] navigate = true ``` try it in a repo w changes: > git diff
A git diff powered by `delta`
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
Nope, no problem with bots over here.
Two new followers with the same profile.
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
Books I read in 2024 My 2024 wrap up post on books I read in the past year. simonmacdonald.com/blog/posts/2025-…
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Reposted by Simon MacDonald
London Web Standards @londonwebstandards.org · 18/12/2024
We are delight to welcome #ForwardJS to our group of supporters for #SotB2025. If you're in Ottowa then checkout their meetups www.meetup.com/ottawa-forwa...
meetup.com
ForwardJS Ottawa Meetup | Meetup
ForwardJS Ottawa (formerly React Ottawa), founded in 2018, is a non-profit tech meetup group focused on web development technologies. Our talks cover a wide range of web development and career topics....
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Oh we are back on this bullshit again.
A picture of a residential neighbourhood with a light dusting of snow.
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 24/10/2024
At Sanity we are looking to hire a senior backend software engineer to work on our Content Lake team. You wouldn't be working on the same team as me but would be working with some truly great people. Complex, scalable, distributed backend systems and a bit of Golang! www.sanity.io/careers/seni...
sanity.io
Senior Software Engineer (Backend) - Content Lake DX
We’re looking for a Senior Software Engineer to build Sanity’s Internet-scale content storage and distribution platform at the heart of our Content Operating System.
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 23/10/2024
Big news. We are absolutely stoked to be joining Sanity. I chart my career using the guiding principle of “solve interesting problems with cool people”. At Sanity we'll be able to keep working on challenging problems with a much larger team. begin.com/blog/posts/2... www.sanity.io/blog/welcomi...
begin.com
With Gratitude We Say Goodbye: Sunsetting Begin — Begin Blog
Begin joins Sanity
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 13/09/2024
Forward JS Ottawa A Forward JS Ottawa meetup you say?
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 04/09/2024
'Queen of Shadows' by Sarah J. Maas I'm surprised I continued with this series, as I found the earlier books were okay but not great. I only kept reading due to the encouragement of a friend. I'm glad I did continue, as book 4 of Sara J. Ma… bookrecs.org//posts/2023-04-27-quee…
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 04/09/2024
'Red Team Blues' by Cory Doctorow I've been a fan of Cory Doctorow for a long time, so Kickstarting Red Team Blues was an easy decision. I don't even think I looked at the description. That's why I was surprised that the novel's protagonist i… bookrecs.org//posts/2023-05-03-red-…
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 04/09/2024
'Babel: An Arcane History' by R. F. Kuang This is an impressive book, 4.5 out of 5 stars from me. One would think a book about academics at Oxford wouldn't be so gripping, but the author R.F. Kuang paints an incredible picture. The b… bookrecs.org//posts/2023-05-14-babe…
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 04/09/2024
'Outlive' by Peter Attia I thought this was a pretty good book about getting and staying healthy. Perhaps this is confirmation bias since I've been trying to follow these guidelines for approximately half my life. Back when I was 23 my mom died sudd… bookrecs.org//posts/2023-09-06-outl…
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 04/09/2024
'Moonflower Murders' by Anthony Horowitz I enjoyed the second Susan Ryeland book quite a bit. The quirk about these novels is that our "detective" is a book editor. Her biggest client writes mystery novels. Each book is like two mysteries… bookrecs.org//posts/2023-04-21-moon…
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 04/09/2024
'The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires' by Grady Hendrix I'm not a big horror fan, but I was intrigued by the premise of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires. Set in Charleston, So… bookrecs.org//posts/2023-05-01-the-…
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 31/07/2024
🛑 Block the Bots in Enhance Projects Introducing a new plugin for Architect and Enhance projects to block AI crawler bots. We are making it easier to reduce the burden on your bandwidth usage by blocking AI crawler bots. More features to come soon. begin.com/blog/posts/2...
begin.com
Block the Bots in Enhance Projects — Begin Blog
Introducing a new plugin for Architect and Enhance projects to block AI crawler bots.
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 24/07/2024
I'm speaking at Web Unleashed 2024 this Fall. webunleashed.ca Save 20% off an in-person OR online ticket with coupon code WEBU24BEGIN
webunleashed.ca
Web Unleashed 2024 // October 10-11 // Toronto & Online
The ultimate conference for front-end dev experts
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 19/07/2024
Upcoming Conferences this Fall Fall conference season is once again upon us and I'll speaking at a bunch over the next few months. simonmacdonald.com/blog/posts/2024-…
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 10/07/2024
New post on which I opine that web components and island architecture go great together like chocolate and peanut butter. begin.com/blog/posts/2...
begin.com
Island Architecture with Web Components — Begin Blog
Learn about island architecture with web components and how it fits seamlessly with Enhance's philosophy.
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 03/07/2024
Frontend Nation 2024 Last month I did a lightning talk at Frontend Nation 2024 on SSR Web Components Everywhere (with WASM). The video is now up for anyone who wants to give it a watch. simonmacdonald.com/blog/posts/2024-…
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 25/06/2024
📜 Building an OS Selector for Documentation Sites Let's build a component that allows users to select their preferred operating system while viewing documentation. begin.com/blog/posts/2...
begin.com
OS Selector for Documentation Sites — Begin Blog
Let's build a component that allows users to select their preferred operating system while viewing documentation.
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 20/06/2024
💬 Component Communication in Enhance Enhance makes it easy to build apps composed of web components. Each component encapsulates its own UI and functionality. Under some circumstances you may need to communicate between components to share data or react to changes. begin.com/blog/posts/2...
begin.com
Component Communication in Enhance — Begin Blog
Enhance makes it easy to build applications composed of web components. Each component encapsulates its own UI and functionality. However, under some circumstances you may need to communicate between ...
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 16/05/2024
My Appearance on Talking Serverless I had a great chat with Paul Chin Jr. on the Talking Serverless podcast. simonmacdonald.com/blog/posts/2024-…
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 02/05/2024
Detect Missing Adblocker Component Nudging folks to install an Adblocker in order to protect themselves simonmacdonald.com/blog/posts/2024-…
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 22/04/2024
A funny thing happened on my way up the stairs My trip through the good, bad and ugly of Ontario healthcare simonmacdonald.com/blog/posts/2024-…
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 12/04/2024
Introducing JS Naked Day Kicking off the first annual JS Naked Day on April 24, 2024. simonmacdonald.com/blog/posts/2024-…
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 05/04/2024
The Case for Slack Most companies do agile wrong. My case for more slack in the system. simonmacdonald.com/blog/posts/2024-…
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 08/03/2024
My latest blog post is up on Begin's blog where I talk about the things that often trip up React developers when they start writing Enhance components or plain vanilla web components. #WebComponents begin.com/blog/posts/2...
begin.com
A React Developers Guide to Writing Enhance Components — Begin Blog
Frequently, we are asked by React developers why patterns they have learned while writing components using JSX do not translate to writing web components. In this post, I'll try to capture some common...
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 23/02/2024
@signalwatch.bsky.social I’m not sure what to think here. I need your take. On one hand it is Uncle Scrooge and Jason Aaron but… www.comicsbeat.com/uncle-scroog...
comicsbeat.com
Uncle Scrooge enters the multiverse in new one-shot from Marvel
The richest duck in the world is back as Uncle Scrooge enters the multiverse in epic new one-shot this June.
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 19/02/2024
Books I read in 2023 My 2023 wrap up post on books I read in the past year. simonmacdonald.com/blog/posts/2024-…
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 02/02/2024
Read It To Me Component I love HTML Web Components but that doesn't mean we should never use the Shadow DOM. One component that greatly benefits from the Shadow DOM is the read it to me component I introduce in this post. simonmacdonald.com/blog/posts/2024-…
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 18/01/2024
ConFoo Enhance Workshop In February I'll be at ConFoo in Montreal to give two presentations and a workshop on Enhance. simonmacdonald.com/blog/posts/2024-…
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 28/11/2023
Default apps for 2023 I saw posts by Chris Coyier and Baldur Bjarnason and decided to get on the bandwagon. simonmacdonald.com/blog/posts/2023-…
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Simon MacDonald @macdonst.bsky.social · 10/11/2023
I'm proud of the work behind this latest blog post. We are enabling devs to write light DOM #webcomponents with client-side slotting style encapsulation and still not losing the ability to server-side render these components using enhance.dev. begin.com/blog/posts/2...
begin.com
Head Toward the Light DOM — Begin Blog
Recently, there has been a spate of articles that talk about using the Light DOM in Web Components. Everyone knows we are extremely pro-Light DOM web components. Today we are announcing some new clien...
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