Web-Development on When Software Attacks!

Using Claude Code skills to maintain my blog

Sun, 30 Aug 2026 11:00:00 +0100

Five skills that hold the conventions of this site, and what writing them down forced me to admit.

Clarity and Google Analytics behind one consent gate

Sun, 30 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0100

Wiring Microsoft Clarity and GA4 into a Hugo site so neither sets a cookie until the reader says yes, with the three things that caught me out.

Rebuilding my blog with Claude

Sun, 30 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0100

Nineteen years of posts, a new Hugo theme, and an AI assistant that finally made the tidying up affordable.

Six tips when deploying SharePoint 2013 masterpages, page layouts and display templates

Mon, 03 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been hat-swapping again since just before christmas (which explains the lack of Azure IaaS posts I’m afraid). I’ve been working on a large SharePoint 2013 project, most lately on customising a number of elements around publishing. Getting those custom elements into SharePoint from my solution raised a number of little snags, most of which were solved by the great internet hive mind. It took me a long time to find some of those fixes, however, so I thought I’d collect them here and reference the original posts where appropriate.

A Virtual Ice Cream Sandwich: Android 4 x86 in a Hyper-V VM

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0000

More and more of our projects include a stipulation from the client that any web sites must work on the tablet devices of senior management. Up until recently that was exclusively iPads, but we are now seeing more Android devices out there. I wanted to find a straightforward way for us to test on such devices, preferably without needing to build up a collection of expensive physical kit.

Mix Remixed

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000

I don’t visit the Mix community site often – historically, the content has been of little interest and infrequently updated. Imagine my surprise, then, to find a relaunched Mix Online with a new Microformats project – Oomph.

Browsers are like buses

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0000

You wait around for ages and then two come along, all at once! No sooner have I downloaded IE8 beta 2 than Google announce Chrome!

I’ve been using IE8 for a few days and I’m quite impressed. I’ve just downloaded Chrome and I have to say, it’s a darn good browser. The feature I most wanted from any tab-based browser and one I’ve mentioned before in the context of IE is present in Chrome - tabs you can drag between windows.

Workflow and SQL Error: Update

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000

I posted last week about a couple of issues we were experiencing with SharePoint. I made some traction on the Workflow History issue at the end of last week and the revelation was pretty far-reaching, so I’m posting again.

Workflow History and SQL Error

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000

When trying to view an item in a list which has workflows run against it, you get an error:

Some part of your SQL statement is nested too deeply. Rewrite the query or break it up into smaller queries

Insightful

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Joel Spolsky has a biting and articulate article on the IE8 standards debate.

A great article on handy SharePoint controls

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

I don’t know about you, but I always mean to gather various bits of knowledge into one place, but just like tidying my filing at home, I never quite get around to it. Fortunately for me, Chris O’Brien is a bit more organised and in my ever expanding blogroll today I saw a great article about really useful SharePoint controls to use in custom pages for that handy bit of functionality.

IE8 Rapid Fire Site Test

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

I can’t spend much longer playing with IE8 or my wife will skin me. However, from my cursory browsing experience I’m worried. Either the devs have a good deal of work to do or I’m going to be very busy with CSS rules for a while.

Internet Explorer 8...

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Well, as expected, the public beta of IE8 appeared on the web pretty much straight after the Mix08 keynote mentioned it. I managed to grab it within mere moments and I now have it installed on my trusty laptop.

@media 2008

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000

After sadly missing last year due to workload, I am excited to be able to attend @media 2008 in London along with Tom and Lauren from Black Marble. If you know me and you want to meet up please get in touch!

Balancing customer needs against forward motion: IE8

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve watched the debate with interest but not posted anything until now. The news of Internet Explorer 8 keeping it’s new rendering engine to itself unless you tell it otherwise caused a strong outpouring of opinion around the web.

In the Mix

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Well, it’s just after 3pm on day one of Mix:UK 07. I’m taking a break with a coffee so I thought I’d post.

It’s mixed bag down here (sorry - no pun intended). The technology is fantastic - the stuff that can be achieved with WPF and Silverlight is excellent. I’m still a little uncertain that usability has been sacrificed on the sacrificial alter of bling, however. To be fair, that’s more telling about the rapid-development nature of conference demos, where the wow-factor is more important, but I think it’s a very, very significant issue which should not be allowed to get lost in the excitement.

Web site development: University of Bradford Part 1

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 00:00:00 +0000

One of the last projects I was involved in before I left the University of Bradford to join Black Marble was a new design for the external web site of the institution. I’d pretty much finished the construction of the page layouts and styles before I left, but it’s only now that the site is about to go live. I’ve threatened a few people with a series of posts on how the site is constructed and although I’m not there any more it seems topical.

Web development helpers: Redux

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 00:00:00 +0000

After posting yesterday about useful tools for development I stumbled across another little gem of a utility. IE7Pro is much more of a usability-enhancing tool but it has a wonderfully handy tool nestling within - Save Current Tab As Image. If you need to do grabs of pages for documentation or presentations and the page is more than a single screen in length this will transform your life - no more cropping and stitching!

Web development little helpers

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 00:00:00 +0000

As web development gets more and more complex having the right tools to help you figure out what’s going on is essential. I thought I’d do a quick post on the ones I find most useful. In no particular order, then, here they are.