Duncan McAlester
@dmcalester.bsky.social
Design Technologist
Former Lead Astro UX Design System
Former Lead Astro UX Design System
Prediction for front end dev. HTML/CSS/JS apps will be easier for LLMs to generate, scale & maintain. They’ll be more resilient & easier for human-in-the-loop fixes. Complex SPA apps will start to falter under increasingly complex code bases & a realization that “maybe this should just be an app”
December 21, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Prediction for front end dev. HTML/CSS/JS apps will be easier for LLMs to generate, scale & maintain. They’ll be more resilient & easier for human-in-the-loop fixes. Complex SPA apps will start to falter under increasingly complex code bases & a realization that “maybe this should just be an app”
Materials have arrived for one of my sillier pursuits. Hoping to get some time to build a prototype this week.
December 15, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Materials have arrived for one of my sillier pursuits. Hoping to get some time to build a prototype this week.
Having a CompSci background or adjacency is an advantage working with LLMs right now, but it won’t be long before it’s an anchor.
December 15, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Having a CompSci background or adjacency is an advantage working with LLMs right now, but it won’t be long before it’s an anchor.
I’m thinking of changing my email signature to "Duncan is a human and can make mistakes. Please double-check responses.”
December 15, 2025 at 3:20 PM
I’m thinking of changing my email signature to "Duncan is a human and can make mistakes. Please double-check responses.”
Claude Code on an iPhone is kind of hilarious. In a good way.
December 13, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Claude Code on an iPhone is kind of hilarious. In a good way.
text-wrap: pretty to the rescue. I was showing my partner something unrelated to the title, but the response was "The UX of what now‽". Pesky widow was almost typographic fortune telling 🤣
December 12, 2025 at 8:02 PM
text-wrap: pretty to the rescue. I was showing my partner something unrelated to the title, but the response was "The UX of what now‽". Pesky widow was almost typographic fortune telling 🤣
Just heard a three word phrase that stopped me in my tracks (literally I was working out and had to stop to write this down):
Access predicts outcomes.
I have a lot more to say on this, but wow what an efficiently powerful statement.
Access predicts outcomes.
I have a lot more to say on this, but wow what an efficiently powerful statement.
December 10, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Just heard a three word phrase that stopped me in my tracks (literally I was working out and had to stop to write this down):
Access predicts outcomes.
I have a lot more to say on this, but wow what an efficiently powerful statement.
Access predicts outcomes.
I have a lot more to say on this, but wow what an efficiently powerful statement.
I’m gonna try this, but boy are my expectations low. American bread is too sweet. Japanese eggs are … better, but the biggest red flag is not cutting off the crusts.
I’m fine with crusts, but it shows there’s a lack of attention to detail.
www.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/news...
I’m fine with crusts, but it shows there’s a lack of attention to detail.
www.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/news...
You Can Finally Try This World-Famous Japanese Sandwich at 7-Elevens Across the U.S.
I tried the chain’s egg salad sando and the U.S. version has a few noticeable differences from its Japanese counterpart.
www.foodnetwork.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:54 PM
I’m gonna try this, but boy are my expectations low. American bread is too sweet. Japanese eggs are … better, but the biggest red flag is not cutting off the crusts.
I’m fine with crusts, but it shows there’s a lack of attention to detail.
www.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/news...
I’m fine with crusts, but it shows there’s a lack of attention to detail.
www.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/news...
Why do only toaster users get to laugh and then enjoy? Also, seriously designers, don’t make your instructions “fun”. It’s 6am – I’m trying to get coffee made, a distracted kid dressed and an unwell spouse some meds. I don’t need to laugh and enjoy. I need heating instructions larger than 11 point
December 5, 2025 at 1:24 AM
Why do only toaster users get to laugh and then enjoy? Also, seriously designers, don’t make your instructions “fun”. It’s 6am – I’m trying to get coffee made, a distracted kid dressed and an unwell spouse some meds. I don’t need to laugh and enjoy. I need heating instructions larger than 11 point
Marveling at the M-series-based laptops is a bit passé, but with a scheduled all-day power outage yesterday, it was absurdly easy to just keep working in my home office. Prior to this, I’d get maybe 2½–3 hours before having to decamp to a coffee shop.
December 4, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Marveling at the M-series-based laptops is a bit passé, but with a scheduled all-day power outage yesterday, it was absurdly easy to just keep working in my home office. Prior to this, I’d get maybe 2½–3 hours before having to decamp to a coffee shop.
You know what seems like it should be a simple CSS fix, but probably isn’t? Targeting the background/color of selected text in those custom text inputs like datetime-local. Always looks scruffy when those mismatch the rest of the text inputs.
December 2, 2025 at 2:57 PM
You know what seems like it should be a simple CSS fix, but probably isn’t? Targeting the background/color of selected text in those custom text inputs like datetime-local. Always looks scruffy when those mismatch the rest of the text inputs.
One area I’m gleefully looking forward to AI killing is TikTok travel. Watching so many people shoot take after take to get that perfect photo looking “amazed” instead of – you know being genuinely being amazed. Just upload your face to nano banana and skip the multiple takes.
November 30, 2025 at 10:43 PM
One area I’m gleefully looking forward to AI killing is TikTok travel. Watching so many people shoot take after take to get that perfect photo looking “amazed” instead of – you know being genuinely being amazed. Just upload your face to nano banana and skip the multiple takes.
The Global Entry program is a bad name. Understandably many foreign guests assume Global Entry was for non-US residents.
November 29, 2025 at 1:55 AM
The Global Entry program is a bad name. Understandably many foreign guests assume Global Entry was for non-US residents.
Japan is exactly the futuristic city you think it is, with one glaring exception: the web. I swear everything is running on a Perl/CGI back end on a Pentium III with a 56kbps modem.
200mph trains that run every 10 minutes – to the second. Booking tickets takes just about as long.
200mph trains that run every 10 minutes – to the second. Booking tickets takes just about as long.
November 27, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Japan is exactly the futuristic city you think it is, with one glaring exception: the web. I swear everything is running on a Perl/CGI back end on a Pentium III with a 56kbps modem.
200mph trains that run every 10 minutes – to the second. Booking tickets takes just about as long.
200mph trains that run every 10 minutes – to the second. Booking tickets takes just about as long.
I don’t know if there’s a term for the inverse of diagetic music, but if there is listening to the Blade Runner soundtrack walking through Dotonbori is definitely that.
Now off to find some noodles. Four fish and some noodles – though maybe two will do.
Now off to find some noodles. Four fish and some noodles – though maybe two will do.
November 20, 2025 at 12:29 PM
I don’t know if there’s a term for the inverse of diagetic music, but if there is listening to the Blade Runner soundtrack walking through Dotonbori is definitely that.
Now off to find some noodles. Four fish and some noodles – though maybe two will do.
Now off to find some noodles. Four fish and some noodles – though maybe two will do.
As I leave my role leading a design system, this article really hit home. All the kind words I received from people (both internal and external) weren’t about metrics or performance; they were about the culture I helped build.
t.co/TJneJVui3G
t.co/TJneJVui3G
https://medium.com/@cedriclodewijckx/design-systems-are-not-just-components-theyre-culture-63690eb1f266
t.co
November 10, 2025 at 3:31 PM
As I leave my role leading a design system, this article really hit home. All the kind words I received from people (both internal and external) weren’t about metrics or performance; they were about the culture I helped build.
t.co/TJneJVui3G
t.co/TJneJVui3G
There’s something deeply ironic about not being able to find an AirTag.
November 9, 2025 at 1:38 AM
There’s something deeply ironic about not being able to find an AirTag.
Apple is so close to a “Pareto” product development suite: Notes (withMarkdown import/export), Reminders (in Kanban view), Freeform, Pixelmator, and tie it all together with Shortcuts.
Native, local, private, lean, and most importantly not reliant on feature bloat for MRR.
Native, local, private, lean, and most importantly not reliant on feature bloat for MRR.
October 31, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Apple is so close to a “Pareto” product development suite: Notes (withMarkdown import/export), Reminders (in Kanban view), Freeform, Pixelmator, and tie it all together with Shortcuts.
Native, local, private, lean, and most importantly not reliant on feature bloat for MRR.
Native, local, private, lean, and most importantly not reliant on feature bloat for MRR.
A failing of design systems has been how we have more often than not clung to the illusion of control. They rarely invite derivation and routinely explicitly forbid it. Systems that are incapable of evolving and adapting are doomed to fail, either through disuse or disdain.
October 29, 2025 at 3:12 PM
A failing of design systems has been how we have more often than not clung to the illusion of control. They rarely invite derivation and routinely explicitly forbid it. Systems that are incapable of evolving and adapting are doomed to fail, either through disuse or disdain.
I’d be interested in the rationale behind WCAG 1.4.12, specifically “Letter spacing (tracking) to at least 0.12 times the font size”. Why is there a blanket formula being applied to thousands of fonts many of which have had their geometry expertly crafted by typographers?
October 28, 2025 at 12:23 AM
I’d be interested in the rationale behind WCAG 1.4.12, specifically “Letter spacing (tracking) to at least 0.12 times the font size”. Why is there a blanket formula being applied to thousands of fonts many of which have had their geometry expertly crafted by typographers?
Three blocks north and a mile south and I get these speeds. I get a very reasonable 150 Mbps down and less reasonable 3 Mbps up, but I’d ditch my cable connection in a heartbeat for these speeds.
October 27, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Three blocks north and a mile south and I get these speeds. I get a very reasonable 150 Mbps down and less reasonable 3 Mbps up, but I’d ditch my cable connection in a heartbeat for these speeds.
I know you’re not supposed to fall in love with the first concept sketch … I’m just saying the next ones are going to need to be pretty special.
October 26, 2025 at 5:35 PM
I know you’re not supposed to fall in love with the first concept sketch … I’m just saying the next ones are going to need to be pretty special.
Looking at my music library & feeling the urge to nuke it & start from zero. 40 years of Colombia House, record shop jobs, Napster et. al., iTunes, Apple Music … has left me with tens of thousands of songs. 95% are unplayed in the last 15 years & easily found on Spotify/Apple Music if I so desired
October 11, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Looking at my music library & feeling the urge to nuke it & start from zero. 40 years of Colombia House, record shop jobs, Napster et. al., iTunes, Apple Music … has left me with tens of thousands of songs. 95% are unplayed in the last 15 years & easily found on Spotify/Apple Music if I so desired
What’s the German word for that feeling you get when you’ve hit your annual deductible? Some combo of recognizing you’re getting old, annoyance that you’ve spent thousands on top of your exorbitant monthly premiums, and industry seeing what you should get for “free” in the last quarter of 2025.
October 8, 2025 at 7:52 PM
What’s the German word for that feeling you get when you’ve hit your annual deductible? Some combo of recognizing you’re getting old, annoyance that you’ve spent thousands on top of your exorbitant monthly premiums, and industry seeing what you should get for “free” in the last quarter of 2025.
Remember when magnets and computers and displays were an awful combo? Now you have a whole industry of accessories based around sticking things to your phone with magnets.
September 29, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Remember when magnets and computers and displays were an awful combo? Now you have a whole industry of accessories based around sticking things to your phone with magnets.