I have a Github Pages test blog, adapted from a repo I found on Github.com. It's there simply to allow me to figure out how Git & Github work, to refamiliarise myself with basic HTML (and with Jekyll/yaml code), and to extend my very rudimentary knowledge of CSS.

The theme I chose for the site purports to be responsive to screen orientation and size: landscape with a sidebar, portrait a top bar.

But no.

When viewed on my 4.6 inch phone in portrait orientation it looks quite nice. When viewed in my 7 inch tablet in landscape orientation it also looks quite nice.

App.net's @hazardwarning was kind enough to alert me to a worrying thing:

When viewed on her tablet in portrait orientation, the sidebar obscures half of the content; an effect I can replicate it on my tablet. When I view the site on my phone in landscape, the same behaviour is very much in evidence.

Ahhh… a challenge!*

I'm pretty sure I can fix it if I restore the original 'hyde.css' file in \public\css; a file I edited (inexpertly, it has to be said!) in a successful attempt to reduce both sidebar impact and vertical white space.

*Damnit, I very nearly inserted a smiley face then!

I have absolutely no desire to learn command-line Git; the available GUI-based tools are more than sufficient for me, and especially that installed on my Android phone.

I'll let that sink in…

I use the really rather good Pocket Git, allied with its companion text editor DroidEdit. The only thing it seems to be missing, for this novice at least, is 'Issues' support.

Besides, github.com has, in theory, that and everything else I need. (But I have the ForkHub app anyway.)

Having a Git app on my phone, and working with a tiny amount of text visible above the virtual keyboard, might seem silly. But, I need no Internet connection to work on my stuff – not, that is, until it gets to a push.

Incidentally, DroidEdit isn't a text editor. It's a source code and text editor with syntax highlighting, and has support for "Dropbox, Drive, Box, (S)FTP servers and Git."

I haven't given anything Baz's Seal of approval recently. Pocket Git and DroidEdit both get awards.

I attempted to create an SVG file suitable for my test blog at bazbt3.github.io (or here if you’re reading it as a test!)

I’ve had partial success, but only in producing an image in the footer that links to my App.net (ADN) profile. (It’s why I started this.)

Rather than attempting a search I asked a question:

Bit of a longshot, this. Do any of you have an SVG version of the ADN icon, pastable into an (s)CSS file? Here’s an example of what I see for an RSS icon in a test I’ve been fiddling with, a text screenshot first:

An answer came quickly (thanks Barbara!):

@logista: @bazbt3 I don’t have one, but I found this one [simpleicons.org]

Looks great!

Unfortunately, it’s not in the same format as the rest in the file. No matter, I’ll search, an online converter won’t be hard to find, all I need is to get a smallish file, a file with a header looking a bit like…

  &.dribbble      { background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2Zy… 


In not-quite-desperation I eventually settled on one that produces a base64 jpeg instead of the SVG. One which obviously overfills the container it’s supposed to fit in.

Looks a bit crap.

But hey, it’s a test, right?

My first blog post using jekyll-now repo. Yes, this is indeed a test.

The date of the first post is simply a holdover from the repo from which I cloned mine.

For more instructions on how I did this, head over to the Jekyll Now repository on GitHub.

I don't read enough. I bought 3 novels a few months ago with the intention of making time. Of course it didn't work! To help speed things along I'm thinking of narrowing my focus somewhat – to something I'm certain can start this process off. At the dawn of the UK's home computer revolution I bought a book about computers.

A key phrase from it still resonates: something like "computers are fast rule following idiots", then the obligatory "garbage in equals garbage out." It seems that those words are both truer than ever and at the same time subject to disproval based on what we see every day. But that's a topic for another time…

I'd like to re-acquire a copy of the book.

A quick trawl through the histories of various computers and computer companies from that era indicates a publishing date after 1977, and before 1982. It's a fairly big window given the massive progress being made at that time, so how can I be sure?

Well, 1977 as I'm certain the Tandy TRS-80 was mentioned in the book, as was the Apple ][. 1982 because when my first computer (a 1K RAM Sinclair ZX81) arrived my focus narrowed from the previous theoretical 'what if' to the more practical 'eeek, what now?!'

I wonder, can you help me find it?

Some help:

• It's heavily slanted towards the U.S., relating to both that country's computing history and its then-contemporary devices. That's not surprising.
• It has a picture or a photo of a computer on the front.
• The colour beige or orange features predominantly on the cover.
• it's the same size as a thick novel.
• Er… I know it's not much help!

So, how about it? Have you got what this quest needs?