Sign in

Robb Owen

@robbowen.digital
5.4K followers 724 following 1.3K posts

Independent Designer and full stack web developer from South Wales. Serial language botherer. Made Synthwave '84. 日本語OK robbowen.digital ※写真はイメージです

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Robb Owen
rem / Remy Sharp @remysharp.com · 29/09/2026
After careful consideration and a look at where the industry is spending it's funding we've decided to pivot #FFConf in a "new" direction. I present to you: ffconf.ai Please share with bots and humans alike.
ffconf.ai
FFConf.ai
The web conference, now with 100% less you. Agent-first, human-optional, ice cream not included in the Enterprise tier.
65419
Reposted by Robb Owen
Skybrush Threepwood @skybrush.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Next time I've done a shit job of something, I'm just going to tell people it's too dangerous to show them. The PowerPoint that I threw together last minute could actually pose a risk to humanity at large
416343
Robb Owen @robbowen.digital · 28/09/2026
I keep a drawer of my old phones for legacy device and browser testing, but today I discovered the battery in an old Samsung had inflated and pushed the back of the phone's case off. So I guess this is your PSA to periodically check your old devices for spicy pillows
2101
Reposted by Robb Owen
Ash @fishyash.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Friendly reminder that Duolingo was initially concieved to trick people into translating articles for free, which they later used as training data for MTL algorithms. Duolingo's primary purpose has NEVER been about teaching you a language, even from the start! slate.com/technology/2...
If it doesn’t charge users and, so far, doesn’t serve them any ads, how does Duolingo make money? It tricks you into working as an unpaid translation service. At the end of some lessons, Duolingo will ask you if you want to practice by translating a real-world document. Which will turn out to be, say, a BuzzFeed article. By melding together enough stabs at this task from high-level Duolingo users, the app can render a surprisingly accurate translation. Which is worth good money. So far, Duolingo has contracts with BuzzFeed and CNN to translate stories from English into languages such as Spanish, French, and Portuguese. This service is already earning Duolingo hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, but von Ahn predicts he will be adding a raft of new clients soon. “The language translations market is huge,” he says. “It’s a $30 billion per year market.”
2226981655
Reposted by Robb Owen
Andy Bell @bell.bz · 18/09/2026
New on the blog
bell.bz
You’ll miss publishers when they’re gone
Ever since Piccalilli started to get traction, I’ve always seen CSS-Tricks, Smashing Magazine and A List Apart (among others) as peers. We all help each other behind the scenes and importantly, back each other. When CSS-Tricks was initially acquired by DigitalOcean, I was really happy for Chris. The work that he’d put into that publication…
08825
Reposted by Robb Owen
red. logged on edition @likethecolour.red · 10/09/2026
apple we dont want folding phone we want printer i don't Shoot immediately with agun
3142
Robb Owen @robbowen.digital · 10/09/2026
If you have a Switch 2 and someone to play with, I can't recommend Orbitals highly enough. @evadage.co.uk and I are making our way through it and it's chaotic good fun (Also worth pointing out that with only one copy of the game you can still play online co-op or share it locally with a Switch 1)
youtu.be
Orbitals – Launch Trailer – Nintendo Switch 2
YouTube video by Nintendo of America
060
Reposted by Robb Owen
Scott Riley @scott.is · 10/09/2026
🦄🌈 launch day babeyyy 🌈🦄 super excited to announce the launch of mindful design products. calm products for a chaotic world. the goal is to build a line of lovely things that are designed for real people. first app is lorist, a writing app that gets out of your way. mindfuldesign.xyz/products/
mindfuldesign.xyz
Mindful Design Products – Mindful Design
Mindful Design products are forever–free products designed from the ground up to be calm, opinionated, and lovely to use.
65714
Reposted by Robb Owen
Scott Riley @scott.is · 08/09/2026
GO GET URSELF A BIG DISCOUNT ON THE MINDFUL DESIGN COURSE it‘s a nice course and you’ll learn how to make nice things i promise!
035
Reposted by Robb Owen
red. logged on edition @likethecolour.red · 02/09/2026
food quality vs website quality is in diametric opposition when you graph it btw. if the restaurant web site kicks ass don't waste your time if the web site is a half rendered index.html with a security warning the sauce is going to go insane. its just what it is
2307
Robb Owen @robbowen.digital · 03/09/2026
[intense choral music starts] Gentle Bean Patch Sentinel ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
140
Reposted by Robb Owen
Scott Riley @scott.is · 01/09/2026
y’all had a lot of love for my silly lil website idea so i got it to a state where it was just about shippable (it is very wonky on smaller screens pls don’t come for me). hope u enjoy clicken around scott.is
scott.is
Scott is… making fun shit
Welcome, dear friend, to my little slice of the web. This is where you’ll find whatever piece of myself I have been able to plonk into the ether.
10715
Robb Owen @robbowen.digital · 31/08/2026
The recent revival of interest in retro gaming, particularly hardware-emulated stuff like the Analogue consoles is so cool to see Really makes me regret selling off my entire collection in 2011 to fund [checks notes] an iPad 2, about six months before it was made obsolete by the retina iPad 🤦
2100
Robb Owen @robbowen.digital · 29/08/2026
Quiet man cleans toilets and tends plants
060
Reposted by Robb Owen
Robb Owen @robbowen.digital · 16/08/2026
One of my favourite things is that the Japanese Wikipedia entry for katsu curry has a whole section devoted to Britain getting this distinction wrong. It also mentions a group calling themselves the Katsu Curry Police, set on documenting cutlet-less katsu dishes ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%...
ja.wikipedia.org
カツカレー - Wikipedia
352
Robb Owen @robbowen.digital · 16/08/2026
Heading home from London after a weekend spending quality offline time with some dear online friends. Reminds me that the internet can be very good sometimes
060
Robb Owen @robbowen.digital · 14/08/2026
Not content to simultaneously scare the shit out of me / make me laugh with an emergency alert that was only in Welsh, they got me again ten minutes later with the English alert 🤦
240
Reposted by Robb Owen
Fionchadd @fionchadd.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Do I know anyone who’s built a website that’s needed to be accessible from China? Any tips / pitfalls etc I should be aware of?
313
Reposted by Robb Owen
Scott Riley @scott.is · 11/08/2026
i am incredibly experienced with freelancing and i've lived and worked through some very good and very bad times in this industry, but right now has to be the absolute nadir. it's so hard to find good work, and so many good folks are struggling. i'm forever an optimist, but times really are tricky.
4755
Robb Owen @robbowen.digital · 09/08/2026
Tonight my town is smoked out with the second major wildfire in the last four weeks. I've never known Wales to suffer like this. It's normally so damp and verdant but it can't hold out against this heat. Honestly, it makes me so angry to hear local people still dismissing it as "just a hot summer"
1100
Reposted by Robb Owen
Elliot Jay Stocks @elliotjaystocks.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Lovely to see a new website from Suitcase Type (whose Tabac superfamily I used for Lagom a few years ago): www.suitcasetype.com
051
Robb Owen @robbowen.digital · 03/08/2026
The way some folks post on LinkedIn reminds me of a client I once had who would very confidently (and unironically) pronounce it as "Linkydink", and how nobody else in the room ever tried to correct him
440
Reposted by Robb Owen
WDC @webdevconf.com · 27/07/2026
Summer is here which means WDC2026 is just around the corner! Tickets are just £99! We have an awesome lineup of speakers including @hidde.blog , @amyhupe.bsky.social , @cjforms.bsky.social @joshtumath.uk, @paavandesign.com and @duncanpetrie.com (more TBC!) webdevconf.com
webdevconf.com
WDC2026 - October 9 2026, Watershed, Bristol, UK | Web Developers Conference
WDC is the web design and development conference based in Bristol, taking place in autumn each year.
01012
Reposted by Robb Owen
Geri Coady (ジェリー) @gericoady.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Hello! Long time no post. 🌸 Here's some new work from my residency at the Mokuhanga School in Karuizawa, Japan. This woodblock print features the sumo referee's 'gunbai' fan combined with peonies, my favourite flower. Signed limited edition of 10. www.geridrawsjapan.com/art-prints-m...
A limited-edition Japanese mokuhanga woodblock print featuring a traditional sumo gyōji’s gunbai fan surrounded by blooming peonies.
0155
Reposted by Robb Owen
AJ Jefferies @moonjam.com · 21/07/2026
Hey, that's a nice [THING YOU DO FOR PERSONAL PLEASURE], be a real shame if somebody were to [CONVINCE YOU TO MONETIZE IT, TRANSFORMING YOUR RELATIONSHIP INTO AN OBLIGATION AND ROBBING YOU OF JOY]
7170182067
Robb Owen @robbowen.digital · 19/07/2026
Spent the last hour in holiday traffic, behind an imported Mazda Bongo Friendee mini-camper It was enough time that, likely by the name alone, I have convinced myself I now need to own one
030
Robb Owen @robbowen.digital · 17/07/2026
Have to wonder if there's a greater sign that the industry's haunted than a system bugging out so badly that it invoices billions of dollars, whilst at the same time being believable enough that people are pausing to check their usage. Truly cursed business models
090
Reposted by Robb Owen
stephanie @sclawr.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
👋🏿 it’s been a while. I’ve been on Threads, but I wanted to post here as well: I’ve definitely caught that KNICKS IN 5 energy 💙🧡💙🧡, and made a little update to my website
3164
Robb Owen @robbowen.digital · 16/07/2026
Gotta say that some of the UI design in this game is really fun. I love how this little sketchy train icon next to the score looks like 点, the kanji for points
A screenshot of the UI from Denshattack. Next to the high score is a small train icon that looks like the kanji character for points
3165
Reposted by Robb Owen
Sara Soueidan @sarasoueidan.com · 15/07/2026
"Your vulnerability is your strength. The mistakes shrink down until they are almost nothing, dwarfed by the enormity of the mountain you’ve climbed. You’ve achieved the impossible. This is where you’re meant to be." @michelleb.bsky.social Very relatable read 🩷 michellebarker.co.uk/writing/stag...
michellebarker.co.uk
Stage Fright
2151
Robb Owen @robbowen.digital · 16/07/2026
Took a punt on Denshattack for Switch 2 last night. It's intensely weird and feels like it belongs on the Dreamcast (very complimentary)
280
Robb Owen @robbowen.digital · 16/07/2026
This reminds me of the time that, in an effort to stop people signing out of the game, typing /pizza in Everquest 2's chat would take you directly to Pizza Hut's website
040
Robb Owen @robbowen.digital · 16/07/2026
Made a little time to work through this and I have two things to share: @scott.is's writing remains undefeated and @arielsalminen.com has made an absolute banger of a library. If you haven't tried using Elena yet, I can't recommend it highly enough and this post is the perfect intro
385
Reposted by Robb Owen
Daniel Benneworth-Gray @danielgray.com · 13/07/2026
Sam Neill on tackling depression and imposter syndrome when you’re between jobs.
64107513683
Reposted by Robb Owen
sami 🔵 @hellosami.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
I made a website that lets you cut out old magazines from the internet archive (or any PDFs you own) and make collage art out of them: ✂️ clipart.studio
401515503
Reposted by Robb Owen
Simon Collison @colly.com · 10/07/2026
In the meantime, I’ve got space for new projects. I help teams look at problems from fresh angles through playful exploration and a wide mix of inputs and cultural context, then turn that into meticulous, detail-oriented direction. If that sounds useful, please give me a shout. 2/2
053
Robb Owen @robbowen.digital · 10/07/2026
Receiving SEO spam for a domain I don't own because someone ripped off my entire personal website and forgot to change the mailto links is certainly something 😵‍💫
13440
Reposted by Robb Owen
Jonathan Speights @jspeights.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
I agree with this, but wonder if there are other dimensions to it. Physical ownership provides agency. Curating what gets added to a collection is an expression of agency. The rituals involved with physical media are small affirmations of connection to the physical world. It's not all hoarding.
2223
Reposted by Robb Owen
Nic Chan @nicmakesstuff.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
@ryelle.codes wrote this incredibly useful piece on text balancing for CJK languages. I don't think many folks know that the ideal text-wrap strategy is language specific and should be applied with intention and thought! ryelle.codes/2025/04/typo...
ryelle.codes
Typography troubles: Balancing lines in Japanese & Korean | ryelle codes
Text wrapping works differently across languages. Here’s a look at how text-wrap: balance affects Japanese and Korean text—and what to do about it.
3103
Robb Owen @robbowen.digital · 03/07/2026
This left me in awe. Just a group of absurdly talented musicians, playing deeply beautiful music
youtu.be
The Yussef Dayes Experience - Live From Cape Town
YouTube video by Yussef Dayes
180
Reposted by Robb Owen
Ursula K. Le Guin Bot @leguinbot.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
You are like a lantern swathed and covered, hidden away in a dark place. Yet the light shines; they could not put out the light. They could not hide you.
04721
Reposted by Robb Owen
Andy Bell @bell.bz · 03/07/2026
New on the blog: bell.bz/youll-miss-t...
bell.bz
You’ll miss the soul when it’s gone
Pretty grim day of news in the industry today, with Salma Alam-Naylor stepping away from developer relations work permanently, Josh Comeau taking a sabbatical from making courses and GSAP’s once-vibrant forums descending into a ghost town. The reason your token guzzler “produces” anything that could be described as “good” is because of the years of […]
39830
Reposted by Robb Owen
red. logged on edition @likethecolour.red · 03/07/2026
it needs to start becoming clear that many, many of the best people in the industry are being so affected by the bin fire that ravenous corporations have turned the internet into that they’re leaving it behind it’s bad, and it’s worse without them
08014
Reposted by Robb Owen
⭑ salma @whitep4nth3r.com · 03/07/2026
Hi, friends. The last 6 years have been a blast, but I just don't like being on The Internet anymore. I'm leaving DevRel, and I wrote a little bit about why. Look after yourselves, and each other. Love, Salma
whitep4nth3r.com
Goodbye, forever, probably.
I’m leaving developer relations and developer education. Rather than disappear completely unannounced, I wanted to tell you why.
12361763
Reposted by Robb Owen
henry ✷ @strange.website · 02/07/2026
added delphitools to my links page :) coolest set of small and useful tools for all sorts of common Computer Jobs i've seen in a minute — long live the handmade web. tools.rmv.fyi
A website, delphitools, which explains itself to be "a collection of small, low stakes, and low effort tools. No logins, no registration, no data collection. I can't believe I have to say that. Long live the handmade web.". Tools visible include a meta tag generator, qr generator, regex tester, algebra calculator, etc.
414419
Robb Owen @robbowen.digital · 02/07/2026
Absolutely rips
040
Reposted by Robb Owen
Jake Archibald @jakearchibald.com · 29/06/2026
There's an ideal set of sizing constraints for custom <select>, but the CSS is a bit tricky. Here's how to make it work, and a tour of new CSS features along the way. jakearchibald.com/2026/goldilo...
jakearchibald.com
The Goldilocks customizable select height
The 'ideal' sizing is more complicated than you think…
1331055
Reposted by Robb Owen
red. logged on edition @likethecolour.red · 24/06/2026
beautiful by henry, i love our little project
063
Reposted by Robb Owen
Gareth Watkins @garethwatkins.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Me: Okay, there's been a thunderstorm, the heatwave should be over now. (New health bar appears) (The sun is now named 'Sol, Starflame of Regret') (Objectively the greatest piece of classical music ever recorded starts playing).
2245311596
Reposted by Robb Owen
Scott Riley @scott.is · 25/06/2026
tried to write a snappy 'by humans for humans' page for mindful design but it turned into Yet Another Manifesto™ mindfuldesign.xyz/by-humans/
mindfuldesign.xyz
By Humans, For Humans – Mindful Design
Now, more than ever, we need to consider the real, human impact of the work we do. This is a fundamental principle of Mindful Design.
0163