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//// Vol. 10

DavidSoards

DYS logo
//// User Experience Engineer
//// Cover story  / 

Better references, better AI design

How magazine pages and a book cover shaped my blog redesign, from three AI mockups to the details across real posts.

Filed under: design // ai

Editor's letter//// From David

Full-stack engineer and designer, in that order some days and the reverse on others. I design interfaces and turn ideas into working software. This is where I share what I'm working on and what I figured out along the way, from front-end development to building with AI.

Also in this issue

//// / AI

Bringing Claude Code's Output Styles to Pi

Building pi-voice, a lightweight Pi extension for switching between concise, proactive, explanatory, and learning output styles.

//// / AI

My MacBook is a client now

Why I moved development to a dedicated Mac mini, and how Tailscale, SSH, Herdr, Zed, and Codex Desktop make the remote workflow practical.

//// / AI

Building “Decide for Me” Permissions for Pi with Jev

Building pi-jev-gate, a small Pi extension that combines local permission rules with Jev judgments.

//// / AI

Figma Config 2026 Recap

A personal recap of Figma Config 2026, from Figma's product launch to AI workflows, PM onboarding, and designing trust at Waymo.

//// / Infra

Quick Tip: Setup PostgreSQL w/ pgvector in a docker container

Quickly get an instance of PostgreSQL with pgvector running to use for local development of a RAG pipeline.

//// / Infra

Switch from NGINX to Caddy

How to switch from NGINX to Caddy and simplify your server setup.

Back issues

//// 15 stories
Quick Tip: Setup a local MySQL in a docker containerEasy Forms for VueJS with FormspreeSetup a VPS on Hetzner CloudQuick Tip: Breaking Vue's ReactivitySimplify Dark Mode w/ Radix Colors & TailwindUse More System FontsResize Image on Save in Django Before Sending to Amazon S3 - No Lambda Function RequiredEasy Headless Wordpress with Nuxt & Netlify IIIEasy Headless Wordpress with Nuxt & Netlify IIEasy Headless Wordpress with Nuxt & NetlifyMake a flickering Neon SVG animation from scratch w/ Illustrator, React & EmotionMake a custom night mode toggle w/React & CSS VariablesDesigning a UI for Designers but also Non-DesignersBuilding an Ecommerce Website for a Farm to Table BusinessDesigning the Comic Creator Mobile App