building things Flutter and the case of the haunted JDK
A real-world debugging story about Flutter, Android tooling, Homebrew, Gradle, and one very persistent Java path.
Building Things
28 posts
building things 
building things Building a custom page style for WebCenter Portal
I am currently trying to get on top of the WebCenter Portal product, something that has been around for a long time, it does a job, and it does it okay, but really getting to grips with developing within the environment takes some effort.
building things Another Level (Website Refresh)
I have been asked to give the website for AnotherLevel a bit of a refresh in readiness for some promotion work they plan to do in the coming year. Here we go.
building things Timesheet System - core functionality
A Timesheet System that has core timesheet functionality, that might be a good idea right about now.
building things Timesheet System - Time Codes and Staff Relationships
We're still working on the Timesheet application, and we're still not ready for timesheets, this week we focus on building blocks like how to link Managers to Team Members and how to manage time codes etc.
building things Timesheet System - Initial Setup & Authentication
Last week we created a Project Plan for our Timesheet application, this week, we're working on Sprint 1 - Initial Setup & Authentication.
building things Adding Inline YouTube Videos
I recently migrated from Gatsby to Astro, my Gatsby blog had inline YouTube videos which I didn't get working when I first dropped the Astro blog into production, so let's fix that today.
building things Building a CRUD application with Laravel
For this post we're goign to build a simple CRUD application. CRUD stands for Create, Read, Update, and Delete - the four fundamental operations performed on database records in software applications.
building things A basic introduction to Laravel 11
I love working with PHP and Laravel, in this post we're going to have a look at the directory structure for a Laravel project and build some simple things with Laravel 11.
building things Tracking Job Applications
I built several versions of a job application tracking system, to help me figure out how many jobs I have applied for and what the application status is From Spreadsheets, through Kanban boards, Laravel, React, NextJS and most recently, a Flutter app, This post discusses that journey.
building things Migrating from Gatsby to Astro
Gatsby had been the home of this blog for the last 18 months or so, but it started giving me problems.
building things Adding Comments, broke this blog!
Gatsby sucks, kinda. And what I'm doing about it
building things PHP is still cool. Trust me!
Why PHP is Still Cool in 2024.
building things SharePoint Framework
SharePoint can be more than boring squares next to other boring squares on a boring page.
building things Lessons from the Flutter Trenches
Lots of emulator testing is not enough!
building things Building a Pomodoro App in Flutter
I wanted a pomodoro app that doesn't spy on my, charge me, or throw adverts at me, so I built my own...
building things Building an SEO Personal Portfolio
Search Engine Optimisation, built in!
building things Playwright - My New Best Mate for Web Testing ðŸŽ
Automating my QA
building things Testing 101
Is testing important?
building things Building an Amazon Storefront in React
How I rebuilt my Chinese Hotpot project site into an Amazon Associates store front.
building things Building in Public but Hiding your API Keys
How to build in public, but protect those private API keys...
building things Building a simple Number Bonds website
I recently built a simple web site to help my 6 year old master Number Bonds...
building things What's with all of the JavaScript Frameworks?
The front-end development landscape is constantly evolving, and with it, the tools and frameworks we use. One of the most significant shifts recently has been the move from Create React App (CRA) to Vite.
building things That New Job
How do you track your job hunting activities?
building things Is PHP dead?
Why does PHP get so much hate?
building things Getting to know FlutterFlow
Using FlutterFlow to for 'rapid development' of a Proof of Concept mobile application.
building things Dart Type System
I'm currently looking at the Dart Language.
building things Reducers in React
What the heck is a Reducer and why do I need to know about it?