Make Prism.js show line numbers by default (without CSS classes)

• September 16, 2017

For client-side syntax highlighting with Hugo, I think Prism.js is the best of the many options available to web developers. It’s highly configurable, supports plenty of languages, and produces a very attractive-looking end product. There was one bugaboo bothering me, though. One of the Prism features that really impressed me was its ability to put in line numbers in code blocks. This looks good and makes it easier to reference small pieces of code when writing and commenting on it. Read More

Hemingway App 3.0 update review: A gimmick becomes a real app

• January 21, 2017

Hemingway App has been around for a while, first as a web app and then as a paid desktop app that had seen one major update in its two or so years of existence. We reviewed the original desktop app as well as the 2.0 update, concluding in the first case that it may not be worth the cost and that the update had too many compromises to go along with its price hike. How about the newest version? The price is still on the higher end of plain-text writing apps, but new features and improvements make it worth considering.

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Hugo vs. WordPress page load speed comparison: Hugo leaves WordPress in its dust

• January 8, 2017

Getting Things Tech recently moved from WordPress to Hugo, partly motivated by the hope for better page load performance. Has the bet paid off? Without a doubt. With over a month on this new platform, we now have some data to show off the differences.

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Hemingway App 2.0 update: A worthwhile update comes with unfortunate price hike

• January 8, 2017

About 2 years ago, we reviewed the first version of Hemingway App. It built on the web app that serves largely the same function, but with offline convenience and some exporting ability not found in the browser-based edition. In the intervening months, the developers have released a major update to version 2.0. Let’s take a closer look.

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How to view academic journal articles off campus using your library's proxy

• January 7, 2017

If you are a student or researcher, you are probably aware that much of the academic research out there is not free to access. However, if you’re affiliated with a university, you may also notice that you can access academic journals and similar content without any effort when you’re connected to your institution’s WiFi.

Suddenly, at home, the journal websites complain that you need to pay up to see the content. Chances are, though, that you can use your library’s proxy to see it.

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How to deploy a Hugo site to DigitalOcean automatically with Wercker

• December 24, 2016

Getting Things Tech recently switched from WordPress to Hugo, the latter of which is a static website generator. Further, we moved our hosting over to DigitalOcean, which makes things very speedy. As we like to do, it’s time to look under the hood and show you how to deploy a Hugo site like this one to DigitalOcean painlessly, with Wercker.

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GTT has a new look, new Hugo backend, and new host with Digital Ocean

• December 22, 2016

Return visitors to Getting Things Tech might notice a change to our look, but it’s much more than a facelift. In the past few weeks, Getting Things Tech has also moved away from WordPress and onto a new web host, which has made things work much more quickly around here.

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Hemingway App for desktops review: Promising, but probably not worth your money

• January 4, 2015

A quick note: I used the Mac version for this review. I don’t have any particular reason to believe that the Mac and Windows versions are different, but you can take the appropriate grain of salt if needed. Above is a capture of Hemingway App at work. We will get into more detail as we go, but you will immediately notice that it highlights sentences and words that require attention. Read More

A Zotero workflow with ZotFile

• November 21, 2014

I’ve talked before about why you should use Zotero, but for many people, it takes some guidance to get it really working for you. This is especially true if you’d like to use a Zotero workflow that involves managing your documents and research more generally. Here’s our primer on using Zotero to organize your documents in addition to using its citation and bibliography-building capabilities. The Zotero add-on called ZotFile will help out, too.

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How to opt out of ad tracking online: A complete guide

• July 24, 2014

We often talk about privacy here at Getting Things Tech and one of the things we are talking about when we say privacy is the massive data collection that goes on as a means to sell more effective advertising. There are pros and cons to this and we generally consent because we are assured that it lets things stay free.

However, when we know the extent to which the NSA and other intelligence organizations are gaining access to any stores of data, it might just make sense to disallow anyone from gathering personal information online, even if it is “just” to target you with ads.

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