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  "Oscilloscopes & Other Bad Ideas" I've been so swamped in work that I completely forgot that I am going to give a talk at the @smashingconf Jam Session next Monday. But with a title like that I already know it's going to be good. https://smashingconf.com/freiburg-2026/jam-session Now... is there any way I can bring an actual vintage oscilloscope with me on the plane to Freiburg? 🤔

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  Over the years I have brought some really weird things through airport security. I’ve set off the alarms once - they closed down the lane and started shouting in panic because it looked really serious on the scanners. But never a vintage oscilloscope. Until today. Freiburg, here we come!

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  Two weeks from now Fronteers Dark Mode will happen in Dordrecht in The Netherlands. There are still a few tickets left. Be quick ⚠️ Join us for an afternoon and evening of great talks. With a spectacular line up: Anjana Vakil, @tunetheweb, @Cyd, @csswizardry and @heydon. And let's not forget our amazing MC: @jaffathecake. Tickets are just €99 ⭐️ and a two-course dinner is included as well 🍽️ @fronteers members will get a 50 euro discount. 🎟️ www.fronteersconf.org

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  Fronteers Dark Mode conference is next week! Monday I'll send badges to the printer... which means if you want a proper badge... sign up now! We've got a handful of tickets left and they are only €100 for an evening of front-end talks by some amazing speakers. https://www.fronteersconf.org

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  RE: https://front-end.social/@heydon/117315437800953545 I've seen Heydon's talk a week or two ago at @smashingconf and it was amazing. I just loved it so much. So if you want to see it... come down to Dordrecht in The Netherlands... A handful of tickets are still available. https://www.fronteersconf.org

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  And this is what I've been spending my evenings on lately. A decoder for receipt printer protocols. You can take the bytes that get send to a receipt printer and inspect the commands that are inside of it. And... actually see a render of the receipt. Only useful for a hand full of people. And me.

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  RE: https://front-end.social/@html5test/116686493760532281 Every time I decide to write a talk I underestimate the time I need. I do have a rough idea, but there is this whole period of me just making random slides. Sometimes weeks. Then suddenly I am happy. Build the rest of the talk in a day or two. Way too long. Cut in half. And it just fits together.

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  On my way to #cssday, having a stop with some coffee and working on finishing my demos. What can go wrong. Totally prepared. Like a professional.

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  A PSA for the #cssday attendees: It is perfectly safe to attend this year. Left my CSS Flamethrower at home. Apparently they don’t want me to burn the venue down. But no worries. I am only bringing an oscilloscope - it been repaired since it exploded last year - and lasers. Perfectly safe.

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  Dropped my stuff off at the #cssday venue. Like you do. Totally normal.

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  Today exactly 10 years ago, I spoke at CSS Day. Around that time I created a list of a handful of conference that I would love to speak at. And I am so lucky that was able to tick off most of them over the last 10 years. I even got to speak again at CSS Day last week. Just one left... for now.

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  It's been a great year for conferences. I've spoken at @btconf and @cssday and I've been so lucky to attend so many others, like State of the Browser, Web Day Out and Smashing Conference. It's sharing knowledge, learning and getting inspired. But mostly the community. I will be posting about some conference that you should visit this fall. I will be at all of them – either organising myself or speaking. If you have any more tips for some great conferences tha...

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  First up: Fronteers Dark Mode in Dordrecht 🇳🇱 on October 2nd. With Cyd Stumpel, @heydon, @csswizardry, @tunetheweb and Anjana Vakil. And @jaffathecake as our MC. An amazing location and tickets only cost €99, and include dinner. Don't miss this! 🎟️ fronteersconf.org

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  Next: @ffconf in Brighton🇬🇧 This conference has been on my list for more than 10 years. I've heard so many great things, but somehow never managed to attend. But this year I am not only heading over to Brighton, but I'll actually be on stage. Tickets will be on sale next week: 🎟️ 2026.ffconf.org

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  Next: HalfStack is back! November 26th in Vienna🇦🇹 Another favourite. I am kind of part of the furniture, because this is going to be the 15th time I'm speaking at HalfStack 😅 Tickets are just €200 euro and with this code you'll get 20% off: Niels_HSVienna26_Awesome20 🎟️ halfstackconf.com/vienna

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  Not this fall, but the this conference needs to be included as well: State of the Browser organised by @webstandards will be back in 2027 on the 6th of March in the Barbican in London🇬🇧 I've already got my ticket – just £80, which is a steal. 🎟️ 2027.stateofthebrowser.com

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  The #cssday photos have been published and they are great. Love them. https://cssday.nl/2026/pix/photos/ But these... These made my day. These were taken during my talk and it makes all of the work I put into it worth it. ❤️

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  This is happening! Multi-player cssDOOM death match. Rendering was already pretty much decoupled from gameplay, so the two side-by-side viewports were *almost* free. Still so much work to do, but made significant progress. In other news, I did not get much sleep last night.

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  Made progress with cssDOOM last evening. Created a special multi-player deathmatch version for CSS Day that runs in kiosk mode. It uses a video wall controller to split up the screen into sections. On the computer it is just one full screen window, but it drives two separate screens.

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  Am I really doing this? Maybe... Not even sure if I can pull this off in about a month or so before CSS Day. Wouldn't it be cool if you could play cssDOOM during the breaks and try to beat other attendees in a two-player Death Match game. And I still have to write my talk too... https://cssday.nl

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  My office is in utter chaos. Tomorrow I am leaving for Düsseldorf for @btconf and I’ve never had so much tech to take with me. The talk is done. Has been for a week. But this is me practicing the demos and figuring out the tech that I need to bring.

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  Arrived in Amsterdam for @smashingconf and booked an apartment for the coming days. But… I did not expect to step into a Rembrandt or Vermeer painting… 🤩

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  First talk of the year is done: CSS is DOOMed, which was just a very last minute idea for the @smashingconf Jam Sessions. 10 minutes. No preparations. No slides. Off the cuff. But I had lots of fun playing cssDOOM and showing how it works under the hood.

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  HTML DOM in Canvas? No. DOOM-ception in Canvas. Maybe I should be working on my slides for Friday, instead I'm at @smashingconf.com creating a playable DOOM terminal in my cssDOOM project. It is a Canvas with an iframe of cssDOOM. And... it works. You can play DOOM in DOOM.

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  Most of my talk preparations follow this pattern: 1. Idea 2. Worry about having enough content 3. Worry more about finishing 20 minutes early 4. Make slides 5. Practice 6. Panic, because it is 20 minute over time 7. Remove about a third of my talk 8. Panic, because I removed all the good jokes...

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  RE: https://mastodon.social/@cssday/116244197568782653 So happy to be back on the CSS Day stage this June with so many other fantastic speakers. And I can't wait to show what I've been working on the last year or two. Yes it will be about Doom, Lasers and CSS, and so much more. ✨ I do feel I've hit peak talk title with "CSS Doom Laser".

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  Next week is @smashingconf week. I've never been before and can't wait to be there as an attendee. On Monday there is the Jam Session, where I will be giving a 10 minute run-through of cssDoom. No slides, just me playing DOOM and showing how I build it. https://smashingconf.com/amsterdam-2026/jam-session

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  Over the last week I've fixed some cssDOOM issues and improved the gameplay to better match the original game. And the best part – because it is just a website, you don't have to download any updates. Best browser to run this is still latest Firefox, with Safari a good second. https://cssdoom.wtf/

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  CSS Flamethrower 🔥 We definitely need dedicated CSS specification for this. The flamethrower is connected with DMX and WebUSB. All DMX devices including lamps and stage FX devices get a DOM element with an id. You can use CSS to set colours or... throw flames.

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  Is it just me, or has Keynote has become terrible to use lately. Copying text blocks changes the font.... Copy source code... pasting a table?!?!