[dgplug-users] [dgplug newsletter] issue #4

Fri Jun 15 00:48:46 PDT 2018

Hello, hello everyone,
The release of this issue has been a bit delayed, as the always-busy
team had to cross off some other items from their todo lists first.
However, we will take all your suggestions and contributions you posted
in the meantime into account for the next letter.
As usual, you can find the online version of issue #4 here
https://dgplug.org/newsletter/issue_0004/

Best regards,
your editors team

dgplug Newsletter #4
====================

Inquisitive phone books
-----------------------

An important part in browsing the web is to resolve human readable
domain names into server IP addresses, so our requests reach the correct
destinations. The Domain Name System (DNS) is like a phone book for the
internet, resolvers look up the domain names and return the
corresponding addresses.
There are two major aspects to consider:

1. Most Internet Service Providers (ISP) offer their own DNS services to
their customers per default. This technically allows them to log the
browsing history and to generate profiles on browsing habits etc.
2. If an entry in this phone book is missing, you might not be able to
reach the server you're looking for (unless you can get the address
elsewhere or have a good memory for numbers).

Some of the articles below discuss open and independent DNS services.
For the sake of security and privacy, the used DNS service should at
least be open and auditable; an important factor to consider for our
everyday web surfing.

Recent activities of \#dgplug members
-------------------------------------

- [Kushal Das - Remembering John Perry Barlow][1]: John Perry Barlow,
founding member of the [Electronic Frontier Foundation][link:EFF] and
the [Freedom of the Press Foundation][link:FotP], died on February 7th
2018. Kushal writes about the symposium that was organized ath the
[Internet Archive][link:archive] two months later, and about the
ideological legacy of JPB.
- [SaptakS - What's the preferred unit in CSS for responsive
design?][2]: Designing a responsive (AND attractive) UI in web apps can
be challenging and, given the diversity of scaling units we have in CSS,
also quite confusing. Saptak shares his experience on which units prove
themselves in certain situations.
- [Kushal Das - Using ZNC on Tor Onion Network for Freenode and
OFTC][3]: IRC is an commonly used medium for text communication around
the globe. IRC is great, but has two major drawbacks: You have to be
online to receive messages and it's not encrypted by default. Using ZNC
on TOR Onion Network solves both issues in one go.
- [SaptakS - FOSSASIA 2018: Conference Report][4]: FOSSASIA is a
non-profit organization that aims for supporting social change with free
software. Saptak attended the annual conference that took place from
22-25 March 2018 in Singapore, also giving a talk.
- [Mario Jason Braganza - On Capturing Value; my newest mental model][5]
Hard work does not always pay. To get the most out of the efforts we
bring, is something to be learned to make a comfortable living, as Jason
writes.

Further reading
---------------

- [kushaldas -
https://www.jetbrains.com/research/python-developers-survey-2017/][6]:
Here are exciting results of the Python Developers Survey conducted by
JetBrains. It gives insight into how Python is used and by whom, which
Framework are the most pupular and many more things.
- [kushaldas -
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/zmg3ky/surveillance-memes-nsa-fbi-facebook][7]:
Some nifty memes about mass surveillance that will stay in your head and
come to your mind whenever you see the popular originals.
- [bhavin192 - https://blog.cloudflare.com/dns-resolver-1-1-1-1][8]:
Since 1st of April 2018, CloudFlare runs a new dns resolver that
focusses on privacy and security, and to become the fastest dns resolver
on this globe.
- [jasonbraganza -
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/04/how-to-keep-your-isps-nose-out-of-your-browser-history-with-encrypted-dns/][9]:
The choise of dns resolver is not trivial when regarding privacy. Even
encrypted dns resolver services can log histories. CloudFlare has
promised to not log dns traffic, and although the code is not open
source, CloudFlare at least approves audits by external companies.
- [SaptakS - https://lawsofux.com/fittss-law.html][10]: A nice design is
not necessarily in line with a nice user experience. Fitts's law is a
model to predict human interaction and can be applied to design more
intuitive user interfaces.
- [SaptakS -
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/top-10-mistakes-web-design/][11]: Only
the fewest web developers drive the users nuts on purpose. Most are just
not aware of the mistakes they do in their web design. This article
lists "The ten most egregious offenses against users".
- [jasonbraganza -
https://stratechery.com/2018/the-end-of-windows/][12]: The situation for
personal computers has changed drastically since Microsoft Windows was
the unchallenged market leader. Flops like Windows 8 and Windows Phone
gave the company a hard time. This article is a review of decisions and
consequences in Microsoft's strategy during the last years.
- [jasonbraganza -
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2018/04/words-on-slides.html][13]:
A few simple but very powerful tips to make your slides and
presentations less boring and easier to follow. The core statement: With
text on slides, less is more.
- [farhaanbukhsh - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlR5gYd6um0][14]: You
will most probably not succeed in mastering the Vim language in 36
minutes. However, these 36 minutes are still well spent to learn about
the possibilities and get deeper insights in Vim.

Did we miss something?
----------------------

Since this project is still in its infancy, we may have overlooked
content that you would like to have included. We will work on constantly
improving this letter and review external sources. If you think there is
something we've missed, feel free to add your ideas for the [next
issue][link:next_issue].

[1]: https://kushaldas.in/posts/remembering-john-perry-barlow.html
[2]: https://saptak013.blogspot.com/2018/04/preferred-unit-in-css.html
[3]:
https://kushaldas.in/posts/using-znc-on-tor-onion-network-for-freenode-and-oftc.html
[4]:
https://saptak013.blogspot.com/2018/04/fossasia-2018-conference-report.html
[5]: https://janusworx.com/on-capturing-value.html
[6]: https://www.jetbrains.com/research/python-developers-survey-2017/
[7]:
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/zmg3ky/surveillance-memes-nsa-fbi-facebook
[8]: https://blog.cloudflare.com/dns-resolver-1-1-1-1
[9]:
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/04/how-to-keep-your-isps-nose-out-of-your-browser-history-with-encrypted-dns/
[10]: https://lawsofux.com/fittss-law.html
[11]: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/top-10-mistakes-web-design/
[12]: https://stratechery.com/2018/the-end-of-windows/
[13]: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2018/04/words-on-slides.html
[14]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlR5gYd6um0

[img:logo]: /assets/img/main-dgp.png
[link:dgplug]: https://dgplug.org
[link:planet]: http://planet.dgplug.org
[link:students_planet]: http://students.planet.dgplug.org
[link:next_issue]: https://github.com/dgplug/newsletter/issues/12
[link:FotP]: https://freedom.press
[link:EFF]: https://www.eff.org
[link:archive]: https://archive.org