Sign in

Dennis Morello

@morello.dev
155 followers 349 following 124 posts

Frontend Engineer. I build things for the web. Built defrag98.com. Building more. Mostly frontend, UX, shipping & weird ideas.

PostsRepliesMedia
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 29/09/2026
Defrag98 now runs ScanDisk after a blue screen, like Windows 98 did after a bad shutdown. It checks drive C in text mode for about 8 seconds, then the boot splash shows and you're back. Exit skips it.
010
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 29/09/2026
Try it at defrag98.com
defrag98.com
Windows 98 Disk Defrag Simulator
The classic Windows 98 Disk Defragmenter, free in your browser. Pick a drive, cue the HDD sounds, and relive 1998.
000
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 29/09/2026
Defrag98 now has a screensaver mode. Once it's on in Settings, Start takes the page full screen and keeps the screen awake until the defrag finishes.
120
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 29/09/2026
WebSkill proposes running agent skills entirely in the browser. Its own docs say Chrome's built-in on-device model can't call tools, so the setup that keeps data local can't run skills. I read the README and SDK: #ai #webdev #javascript
morello.dev
WebSkill: Agent Skills in the Browser
WebSkill (webskill.ai) is a draft proposal to run Agent Skills in the browser, using OPFS and Web Workers. How it works and where the claims are thin.
000
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 28/09/2026
Which skills do you use to build great-looking Expo apps on both Android and iOS?
000
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 22/09/2026
After extensive and rigorous testing, I can confirm: Opus 5.5 has passed my benchmark ✅
000
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 21/09/2026
Looking to connect with more builders who genuinely care about quality, thoughtful UX, and the little details that make a product feel great. If that’s your thing too, say hi 👋
020
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 14/09/2026
Defrag98 is now featured on BORED www.bored.com/link/defrag9...
bored.com
Defrag98 - Retro web | BORED
The Windows 98 Disk Defragmenter, back in your browser with the hard drive grinding along. Pick drive C, press Start, and watch the little blue squares find the
010
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 11/09/2026
You can even create custom drives now!
111
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 07/09/2026
Haha nice one, it's even more realistic than the "Realistic" mode I added recently.
100
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 03/09/2026
I just published a new post on my BMC: It's been a big couple of weeks for Defrag98
buymeacoffee.com
It's been a big couple of weeks for Defrag98 — Dennis Morello
Post by Dennis Morello
130
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 03/09/2026
Give it a try:
defrag98.com
Windows 98 Disk Defrag Simulator
The classic Windows 98 Disk Defragmenter, free in your browser. Pick a drive, cue the HDD sounds, and relive 1998.
021
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 03/09/2026
New in Defrag98: custom drives! 💾 Pick your drive size and speed, and make defragging as painful as you want.
Defrag98 settings dialog, with the form to create custom drives.
121
Reposted by Dennis Morello
HackerNewsTop5 @hackernewstop5.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Defrag98: Windows 98 Disk Defragmenter Simulator Online #HackerNews defrag98.com
Defrag98: Windows 98 Disk Defragmenter Simulator Online
043
Reposted by Dennis Morello
Winston / Enzo 🔜 MFF @winstonwuff.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
This is, by far, the greatest website I've seen today defrag98.com
defrag98.com
Windows 98 Disk Defrag Simulator
A free, browser-based simulator of the classic Microsoft Windows 98 Disk Defragmenter. Pick a drive, cue the HDD sounds, and relive the nostalgia of 1998.
34629122
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 02/09/2026
Want to see it for yourself? Click Settings, switch Simulation mode to Realistic, then start a defrag and wait.
defrag98.com
Windows 98 Disk Defrag Simulator
The classic Windows 98 Disk Defragmenter, free in your browser. Pick a drive, cue the HDD sounds, and relive 1998.
000
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 02/09/2026
Defrag98 has a new Realistic mode. It brings back the actual Windows 98 behaviour: the defrag restarts itself if anything touches the drive mid-run (antivirus, a screensaver), didn't matter.
100
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 01/09/2026
Thanks for reporting
020
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 01/09/2026
I accept PayPal as well, just write me on DM
010
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 01/09/2026
Hi! There’s a donation page if you’d like to contribute buymeacoffee.com/morellodev
buymeacoffee.com
Dennis Morello is The Windows 98 Disk Defragmenter, faithfully reborn in your browser
Hi 👋 I'm Dennis. You just defragmented a disk that hasn't existed in 25 years, and if those colorful blocks snapping into place scratched an itch you forgot you had, this one's for you....
100
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 31/08/2026
Just saw Fable writing a side-effect inside useState()
000
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 31/08/2026
For those of you who haven’t tried it yet, here you go: defrag98.com
defrag98.com
Windows 98 Disk Defrag Simulator
A free, browser-based simulator of the classic Microsoft Windows 98 Disk Defragmenter. Pick a drive, cue the HDD sounds, and relive the nostalgia of 1998.
100
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 31/08/2026
It’s incredible how a little project I made for fun over a rainy weekend became so popular. Defrag98 is getting so much love! ❤️
110
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 29/08/2026
To set it as yours, install defrag98.com as a PWA and make it full screen
defrag98.com
Windows 98 Disk Defrag Simulator
A free, browser-based simulator of the classic Microsoft Windows 98 Disk Defragmenter. Pick a drive, cue the HDD sounds, and relive the nostalgia of 1998.
000
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 29/08/2026
Rate my new screen saver
120
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 28/08/2026
The change I would have asked for: attributes like hx-confirm no longer silently inherit down the DOM. You add :inherited where you actually want it. Debugging no longer means walking up the tree in your head.
000
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 28/08/2026
htmx 4 is out. Every request now runs on fetch(), attribute inheritance is opt-in, and the back button hits your server instead of a cached snapshot. A major that breaks things on purpose. What changed and how to migrate: #htmx #webdev #javascrip
morello.dev
htmx 4: What's New, What Breaks, Why It's Not latest
htmx 4.0 is out: fetch() internals, explicit inheritance, no more history cache. What breaks, how to migrate, and why 2.x stays latest on npm until early 2027.
100
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 06/08/2026
A gently reminder to defrag your computer
defrag98.com
Windows 98 Disk Defrag Simulator
A free, browser-based simulator of the classic Microsoft Windows 98 Disk Defragmenter. Pick a drive, cue the HDD sounds, and relive the nostalgia of 1998.
000
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 06/08/2026
Tailwind v4 runs on native cascade layers, custom properties, and color-mix(), with Lightning CSS doing the build. On a solo content site that's an engine generating CSS my browsers already speak, so I pulled it and wrote every style by hand: #css #webdev #astro
morello.dev
Why I Replaced Tailwind CSS With Vanilla CSS
I pulled Tailwind CSS out of my Astro site and rewrote it in vanilla CSS. Here's why modern CSS made the framework optional in 2026, and how I did it.
050
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 01/08/2026
I called @bun.sh the Zig holdout two weeks ago. That line was already stale when it went up. Sumner ported 535k lines of Zig to Rust in 11 days with 64 Claude agents, and Bun 1.4 is in canary. I went back to read what's actually real: #rust #javascript #webdev
morello.dev
020
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 27/07/2026
Thanks for sharing! I think the COS API unlocks some really interesting use cases.
000
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 25/07/2026
After deep work sessions, taking time for ourselves is truly restorative. Take care!
A cottage in the mountainsA river flowing though the mountainsA sheep eating some grassA path crossing mountains
020
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 22/07/2026
4 web platform APIs went Baseline in 2026 and replaced real dependencies I used to install: Navigation API, container style queries, :open, and Math.sumPrecise(). Here's what each one replaced, with code before/after. #webdev #javascript #css
morello.dev
Baseline 2026: 4 APIs That Changed How I Code
Navigation API, container style queries, :open, and Math.sumPrecise() all became Baseline in 2026. The ones that replaced actual dependencies in my projects.
010
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 22/07/2026
Thanks Thomas! This API is going to have many useful applications, and I can’t wait to see it finalized and broadly available 👀
000
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 21/07/2026
Astro 7 is here: Rust compiler, native Markdown pipeline, Vite 8 with Rolldown. Builds are 15-61% faster. I broke down what changed and what breaks. #astro #webdev #rust
morello.dev
Astro 7: Rust Compiler, Vite 8, and the Speed Release
Astro 7 ships a Rust compiler, Sätteri markdown, Vite 8 with Rolldown, and advanced routing. Builds are 15-61% faster. Here's what changed and what breaks.
020
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 18/07/2026
Hermes Agent isn't an IDE copilot. It's an open-source autonomous agent that learns from experience, creates reusable skills, and runs anywhere. Here's how to get started. #hermes #ai #opensource
morello.dev
Hermes Agent Beginner Tutorial: Install, Write a Skill
A beginner tutorial for Hermes Agent, the open-source AI agent that learns from experience. Install it, connect a model, and write your first skill.
010
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 17/07/2026
The privacy design is the clever part. To stop 'do you have file X?' from becoming a tracking probe, the browser will report a rare file as absent even when it has it, and only confirms files popular enough across enough origins to stay anonymous.
000
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 17/07/2026
Loading React from a public CDN used to mean a visitor probably already had it from another site. Browsers killed that in 2020 to stop cache-timing tracking, so every site now downloads its own copy. The Cross-Origin Storage API keys files by hash to bring sharing back: #webdev #javascript
morello.dev
Cross-Origin Storage API: Stop Downloading Files Twice
The Cross-Origin Storage API lets sites share one cached copy of a file (a JS library, font, or AI model) across origins by SHA-256 hash. Here's how it works.
230
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 16/07/2026
Full deep dive, written for React devs:
morello.dev
SolidJS 2.0 Async Data: A Deep Dive for React Devs
How SolidJS 2.0 handles async data: promises in the reactive graph, the Loading boundary, isPending, and generator actions, explained for React developers.
000
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 16/07/2026
SolidJS 2.0 deleted createResource. Data fetching is now a memo that returns a promise: the graph waits on it, nothing re-renders, no dependency array, no await in your components. Wrote up what it looks like for React devs. #solidjs #react #webdev
Code comparison. Solid 1.x: const [user] = createResource(userId, fetchUser). Solid 2.0, the memo returns a promise and the graph waits on it: const user = createMemo(() => fetchUser(userId())).
140
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 15/07/2026
Worth knowing: it's still alpha (v12.0.0-alpha.12), and the Rust engine has been landing incrementally through v11. You can already try it today with pnpm self-update next-12.
010
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 15/07/2026
@pnpm.io v12 is being rewritten in Rust. Not a redesign, a 1:1 port: same CLI, same lockfile, same node_modules. What changes is the speed. A warm install drops from 381ms to 12ms, the number you hit on every CI run. #webdev #javascript #rust
morello.dev
pnpm v12 Is Being Rewritten in Rust
pnpm v12 ports its install engine to Rust: a 1:1 rewrite with no Node.js launcher and warm installs up to 30x faster. Here's what's real and what's still alpha.
230
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 14/07/2026
Actually flipped recently: navigator.modelContext got deprecated in Chrome 150, document.modelContext is current now. The polyfill still keeps navigator as an alias, so easy to miss.
developer.chrome.com
Imperative API  |  AI on Chrome  |  Chrome for Developers
Define many types of WebMCP tools with standard JavaScript.
100
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 13/07/2026
The honest caveat: it's Chromium-only (Gecko and WebKit both report no signal), gated behind an origin trial, and the declarative form API isn't even specced yet. Promising shape, very much a preview.
000
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 13/07/2026
Instead of an AI agent scraping your DOM to guess where to click, your page can hand it typed functions to call. That's WebMCP: you register tools with document.modelContext.registerTool and the in-browser agent invokes them. Chrome is trialing it now: #webdev #ai
morello.dev
WebMCP: Making Your Site Usable by AI Agents
WebMCP lets a web page expose typed tools that browser AI agents call directly, no DOM scraping. What it is, how to try it in Chrome, and the caveats.
320
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 12/07/2026
Why it's safe: Satori already renders text as SVG <path> outlines, so the font data is inlined. The PNG step has no text left to resolve, so resvg-js never needs those system fonts anyway.
000
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 12/07/2026
Every page on my site gets its own OG image, generated at build time with Satori + resvg-js. The renders were slow until I found it: resvg-js scans every system font by default. One flag, loadSystemFonts: false, cut per-image render time ~20x. #webdev #astro
morello.dev
Generating OG Images at Build Time with Satori and Astro
How this Astro site renders social cards at build time with Satori and resvg-js, and the design and performance choices that keep it fast.
140
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 10/07/2026
The part that surprised me: there's no npx shadcn add command for it. You build the file in a visual builder, copy it into your project, and import it after Tailwind. Distribution is literally: here's the CSS, it's yours now.
010
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 10/07/2026
shadcn shipped an alternative to Tailwind's prose plugin: shadcn/typeset. One CSS file you own. No npm package, no CLI. And it's built so streaming markdown (think LLM chat output) doesn't reflow as tokens land. morello.dev/blog/shadcn-... #webdev #css #tailwindcss
morello.dev
shadcn/typeset vs Tailwind Typography: Styling Markdown
shadcn/typeset styles rendered markdown with one CSS file you own. Here's how it works and how it compares to Tailwind Typography and its prose class.
250
Dennis Morello @morello.dev · 10/07/2026
The interesting part is why Go and not Rust. The compiler spends most of its time walking graphs, and idiomatic Go already looked like the existing TypeScript codebase. That resemblance is what made porting 100k+ lines tractable instead of a multi-year rewrite.
000