Technology

Off on a Tangent is powered by WordPress, an open-source publishing platform. The Tangent WordPress theme is based on Underscores (_s). The custom Tangent WordPress theme and plugin were designed and written by Scott Bradford. Off on a Tangent is designed for a minimum viewport width of 360 display pixels (dp) and should work properly in most modern browsers on most modern operating systems.

Designed with Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. Built with JetBrains PhpStorm. Source control with Git SCM. Bugs tracked with Mantis. Hosting and domain registration services by DreamHost and Infomaniak. Accurate timekeeping courtesy of Time and Date AS and the NTP Pool Project.

When possible, Off on a Tangent complies with the most recent HTML, CSS, ECMAScript (JavaScript), JSON, and XML standards. Validation tools include Nu (X)HTML5 Checker, StyleLint, ESLint, JSONLint, and XML Validation. Off on a Tangent intends to comply with the most recent Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Accessibility is checked periodically with AInspector. Please report any accessibility problems.

Refer to the Credits and Attribution page for a complete list of libraries, fonts, plugins, artwork, optimization tools, and other components in use on this website.


Web Browser Support

Off on a Tangent should work properly in any browser that uses a recent version of the Blink, Gecko, Goanna, or WebKit display engines.

I currently recommend browsing with Firefox by the Mozilla Corporation. It strikes the best (but still imperfect) balance between wide availability, compatibility and standards support, and insulation from control by governments and advertising businesses.

Fully Supported and Tested Browsers

The website is fully supported and regularly tested in the browsers listed below. Please report any problems. Bugs affecting these browsers will be investigated and fixed as quickly as possible.

  • Blink-based:
    • Chrome by Google LLC
    • Edge by the Microsoft Corporation
    • Falkon by the KDE Community
  • Gecko-based:
  • Goanna-based:
  • WebKit-based:

Note: On iOS and iPadOS operating systems, Apple prohibits browser developers from using their own display engines. On these platforms, browsers like Chrome, Edge, and Firefox will use the Apple-provided WebKit engine instead of the engines they use on other platforms.

Secondary Supported Browsers

Browsers in this section use display engines that are the same or closely related to those used by supported browsers. They should work properly but are not actively tested. Please report any problems. Bugs affecting these browsers will be investigated and fixed at a lower priority.

Note: On iOS and iPadOS operating systems, Apple prohibits browser developers from using their own display engines. On these platforms, browsers like Brave, Opera, and Vivaldi will use the Apple-provided WebKit engine instead of the engines they use on other platforms.

Text and Lo-Fi Browsers

The site should be functionally usable in numerous text-only and lo-fi browsers that have unique, independent display engines. You should be able to navigate around and view content in these browsers, but the site might look really bad. I test in these browsers during major release development, but only rarely between releases. Functional bugs affecting these browsers will be investigated and fixed.

Prerelease Browsers

I support the development of new and independent browsers (and operating systems). Competition is good. I particularly want viable browser options from organizations that are not beholden—even indirectly—to governments and advertising businesses.

I am monitoring several prerelease browsers. Functional bugs affecting these browsers will be investigated and fixed. I hope to more fully support these browsers when they begin making public production releases.


Operating System Support

Off on a Tangent should work properly on any modern desktop, tablet, or smartphone operating system for which browsers based on recent versions of the supported display engines are available.

Fully Supported and Tested Systems

The website is fully supported and regularly tested in the supported browsers on any of the following operating systems for which they are available. Please report any problems. Bugs affecting these systems will be investigated and fixed as quickly as possible.

Secondary Supported Systems

Systems in this section are closely related to the supported systems or are only capable of running text and lo-fi browsers. Supported browsers should work properly on any of the following operating systems where they are available. Please report any problems. Bugs affecting these systems will be investigated and fixed at a lower priority.

Notes on Other Systems

There are a lot of other operating systems. Ideally, I want the site to be accessible and usable with anything that is able to access the Internet . . . but there’s no way I could proactively test the thousands of current and legacy systems that exist out there.

Bugs affecting supported browsers on other systems will be investigated and fixed if I am able to reproduce the issue. Functional bugs on other systems, including legacy and prerelease systems, will be investigated and fixed if I am able to run the system with the hardware, virtualizers, and emulators I have available.

I am aware of, and am open to fixing bugs affecting, operating systems in these categories:


Matrix

BrowserEngineChr.Lin.MacWin.And.iOS
ChromeBlink🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢🟡2
EdgeBlink🟡1🟢🟢🟢🟢🟡2
FalkonBlink🟡1🟢🟡3🟡3🔴🔴
FirefoxGecko🟡1🟢🟢🟢🟢🟡2
Pale MoonGoanna🟡1🟢🟢🟢🔴🔴
SafariWebKit🔴 🔴🟢🔴🔴🟢
Tor BrowserGecko🟡1🟢🟢🟢🟢🔴

🟢 = available & supported; 🟡 = see notes; 🔴 = not available

1 On Chrome OS, alternate browsers are available through Android and Linux compatibility layers.

2 On iOS and iPadOS, these browsers use the Apple-provided WebKit display engine.

3 Outdated Falkon builds are available for MacOS and Windows, but are not currently supported.


Screenshot Gallery


Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.