Fuji Above The Lightning

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Hi *|FNAME|*,

This month's big announcement is Layer Templates. I'm quite excited about this feature, and there's lots of room for user contributions. More below.

Also, I'd like to share some great music with you: FujiAboveTheLightning, by none other than Les Moffat, one of our developers. My favorite track is Marching Now. You can listen to it on Spotify or Bandcamp. If only I was this multi-talented.

In other news, we've refreshed the look of the newsletter a bit. Does it look okay on your device? Email me with feedback, ez@zsa.io.

As always, thank you for reading, and thank you for taking the time to write us lovely emails. ❤️

All the best,
Erez

Layer Templates are here

Want to submit yours?

A Layer Template is just that: A single layer, carefully considered and optimized for one specific app or use case. You can adopt a template into your existing layout, and then customize it. There aren't many yet, which means we'd love to feature yours!

Featured User Interview

Di Turner

Designer and Front-End Developer

Di's interview has it all: Keyboard hacks made of Lego, Star Trek props, custom keycaps, and multiple cat pictures. So great!

"The view from my webcam shows off my Star Trek obsession. It includes some artwork I bought from a convention along with a full-sized Klingon Bat’leth."

Colemak Mod-DHm

Colemak mod-dh layout with a preference for thumbs and minimizing pinky travel. Beyond the basic change from QWERTY, numbers, symbols, and function keys are all kept as similar as possible to help with adoption.

Things we liked

Modest Chess Variants →

What a difference one change makes

This is a list of “modest proposals” for chess variants (ways to tweak the game), which don’t require any special pieces, additional sets, or board modifications. Quite fun.

SomaFM →

Listener-supported, commercial-free, underground/alternative radio

An oldie-but-goodie. I was surprised to learn SomaFM was still around when Mike (our new support rep) shared it on our company chat. Lots to listen to, curated by humans, not algorithms.

Flowchart.fun →

Generate flowcharts from text

Transforms a simple text document into an interlinked flowchart/mind map which you can then download as an SVG. A mix of visual thinking and text.

Socratic →

Get unstuck. Learn better.

An AI-powered app by Google that tries to help you (or your kids) learn. Take a photo of an equation with your phone, see the steps and reasoning behind how to solve it. Works for other subjects, too.

Blurred →

Blur inactive windows on macOS

I recently switched to a large monitor, and I like it, but it can be distracting. This simple tool makes inactive windows darker, so I can focus on the currently-active window. It doesn’t actually blur them, though. Free and open-source, available as a download or via homebrew.

Tip: We have a subscriber-only link archive with all of the links we shared over the years. Just for you. ❤️

Wallpaper of the month

Another beautiful cyberpunk creation from Steve. It features an alternative tenting leg printable, but the my favorite detail is the lovely CRT monitor.

Thank you for reading!