Release notes

1.6.0

• How we ask about analytics and advertising now depends on where you are, because the rules do. In the United Kingdom, the European Economic Area and Switzerland nothing is loaded and no cookie is set until you choose to allow it, exactly as before. Everywhere else, measurement begins when you arrive and we tell you so in a notice that carries a button to turn it off.
• Turning it off is one click, it takes effect immediately, and nothing about the site changes if you do.
• If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal we still treat that as a refusal, everywhere, without asking you and without loading anything.
• Our Privacy Policy has been updated to describe all of this, including every way to opt out.

1.5.0

• We have started advertising, so the consent request now covers advertising as well as analytics. If you allow it, information about your visit goes to Google and may be used to measure and target advertising, including advertising shown to you on other websites.
• Nothing changes if you say no. Refusing is still one click, ignoring the request still counts as no, and if your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal we still treat that as a refusal without asking you at all.
• Our Privacy Policy describes all of this in full, and sets out three ways to opt out, each of which works on its own. We still do not sell your personal information for money, and your own content is never used for advertising.

1.4.1

• The analytics request is easier to read and easier to say no to. It leads with the question instead of the disclosure, the decline button says "No thanks", and pressing Escape clears it without counting as an answer either way, so you are asked again next time rather than having a choice recorded for you.

1.4.0

• We now measure how this site is used, with Google Analytics, and only if you allow it. You are asked once in a banner at the bottom of the page. Refusing takes a single click, exactly like allowing, and the site works the same either way. Until you allow it nothing is loaded, no request is made to Google, and no analytics cookie is set.
• Google's advertising features are switched off and stay off even after you allow analytics, so your visit is not used to build an advertising profile or to follow you to other websites. We still do not sell or share your personal information.
• If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat that as a refusal and do not ask you at all.
• To change your mind, clear site data for this domain in your browser settings and you will be asked again on your next visit.

1.3.1

• The filters along the top of the page read Gardening, Sustainability, Design and Science. The Science filter shows the same posts the Python one did, and an existing link to it still works - only the word has changed, so it says something you can place without writing software for a living.
• AWS and IoT have come off that top row. Nothing has been removed: both still have a row of their own further down the front page, every post still carries its own tags, and View All Posts shows the lot.
• The LinkedIn icon has been taken off the site. The other profiles are unchanged and sit where they always have.
• The Roost build guide is called "Build Your Own Smart Security Camera" on the front page now. The guide itself, and its address, are unchanged.

1.3.0

Some polish on the front page, and the footer now points at the business.

• The fireflies drift away from your cursor. It is a small thing and it is meant to be: they still wander on their own, they just give the pointer a little room. They do not do it on a touch screen, where there is nothing to move away from, and they do not do it at all if you have asked your device to reduce motion.
• Two of the illustrated cards looked wrong when they came up as the big featured story. The homelab clock sat against the top of an otherwise empty panel instead of in the middle of it, and the chat card was drawn so small it was hard to read. Both are sized for the bigger slot now, and the chat sits at the bottom of the panel the way a real one does.
• About and Contact in the footer go to Bottle Blue LLC's own pages now, rather than to the matching sections of my portfolio, and the LinkedIn icon goes to the company page. The menu at the top still links to my own pages.

1.2.0

The block at the top of the front page is called Featured now, and it moves.

• The big story up top is drawn from my featured posts, and a different one comes up each time you open the page. I do not publish every week, so this puts older work back in front of you instead of showing you the same thing on every visit. The list beside it is still the newest posts.
• On a phone, the rows in that list sat too close together, so a headline that wrapped onto a second line ran into the row below it. The rows have room between them now, and a faint line to separate them.

1.1.0

Two additions to the front page.

• The five things I build are now shown on the blog: a couple of them appear between posts, and all five sit together near the bottom. They are my own products, they are labelled, and they are plain links. Nothing about them watches you.
• A small signup card now appears in the corner after you have been reading a while. Close it and it will not come back on this browser, and if you sign up it will not ask you again either.

The front page also shows more of the archive by category than it did.

1.0.0

The first numbered release of the blog.

Nothing here is new to you if you have been reading along. The site has been running for years; this is the point where it gets a version number you can quote, and a page where you can see what changed and when.

What the blog is today:

• Ten long-form build write-ups and essays, from smart gardens and hydroponics to self-hosted cameras and dashboards.
• A front page that leads with the newest piece and keeps the recent ones beside it, plus filters so you can read just one subject.
• Category sections at the bottom, so you can follow a thread through the archive rather than scrolling past everything else.
• Reading time on every article, and links to the next and previous piece and to related reading at the end of each one.
• A dark reading theme throughout, with motion kept out of the way if your device asks for less of it.

New in this release:

• Email signup. Leave your address at the bottom of the front page and new posts come to you. No schedule and no spam, and you can unsubscribe whenever you like.
• More category sections on the front page, so more of the archive is reachable without searching for it.
• The top menu now links to the business rather than the video channel. The channel is still there, on the icon row.
• Two links inside articles pointed at the wrong place and now point at the right one.

Nothing on this site tracks you. There is no analytics, no advertising network and no third-party script watching what you read.