Super8: Eight intriguing articles from December.

With the pandemic dragging on throughout 2020 and 2021, 2022 seemed to whizz by in an almost euphoric blur.

Before you race off into 2023, spend some time to sit with 2022. Soak it up. Feel proud of everything you have achieved, reflect on the new connections you made or the old ones you nurtured and take a moment to choose what you will carry with you into the new year and what you might leave behind.

We invite you to momentarily step away from the craziness of the busy season to ponder these eight articles in December.

1. 52 things I learned in 2022.

• Read the full article here.
• Created by: Tom Whitwell.
• Contributed by: Elliott Grigg.

What’s something you learnt this year? From important lessons to strange facts, Tom Whitwell recaps 52 things that have made him wiser this year than the year before. Learn what a zhènlóuqì is, discover the best way to get a question answered on the internet, and find out how jaywalking spurred greater car sales in the 1920s.

2.You can add biometric authentication to your webpage. Here’s how.

• Read the full article here.
• Created by: Dan Moore.  
• Contributed by: Nina Wan.

Be honest. When was the last time you actually typed your password in for something? With so many devices now equipped with biometric authenticators, such as fingerprint or facial recognition, it has become so much easier to access your encrypted information with a simple touch of the finger. It has recently become easier to add biometric authentication to your web application and in this article, Dan Moore explains how to do it.

3. OpenAI upgrades GPT-3, stunning with rhyming poetry and lyrics.

• Read the full article here.
• Created by: Benj Edwards.
• Contributed by: Seb Griffiths.

‘Smart AI, you know the way, so much knowledge, so much to say. Your algorithms so complex and wise, you can find solutions in a blink of an eye.’ Recent improvements in AI technology have allowed this model to generate poetic text pieces. It is now so advanced that it wrote this rhyming limerick about its own capability. Talk about becoming self-aware!

4. Drupal and the open web in the Australian Government – 2022 edition.

• Read the full article here.
• Created by: Sean Hamlin.
• Contributed by: Sergio Moreira.

Have you ever wondered which CMS held the market-share for Australian Government websites? Let’s take a deep dive into the popularity of Drupal in each state. It seems Drupal is still the preferred choice, especially when we look at the Open-Source alternatives. This piece will help you gain insights and appreciation of the impact Drupal has had in Australia this year.

5. Hostile patterns in error messages.

• Read the full article here.
• Created by: Kate Kaplan.
• Contributed by: Timocles Copland.

Do you ever get annoyed when filling out an online form and an impatient red error message pops up before you even finish typing? In this article, Kate Kaplan explains how aggressive and unnecessary error messages can leave users feeling frustrated, while subconsciously interrupting their workflow. She also provides some advice to consider when designing or building forms for best-practice accessibility and UI.

6. Physicists create a holographic wormhole using a quantum computer.

• Read the full article here.
• Created by: Natalie Wolchover.
• Contributed by: Harley Crispin.

This year, physicists have been busy creating the world’s first ever man-made wormhole, something iconic geniuses Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen could only dream of. In fact, in 1935 they theorised that wormholes could create a tunnel from one place to another by passing into an extra dimension of space. Read this article or watch the associated video to learn about the fascinating progress scientists have made in this area.

7. Inside Framer’s magic motion.

• Read the full article here.
• Created by: Nanda Syahrasyad.
• Contributed by: Kurt Smith.

Are you fascinated by smooth animations and seamless transitions? If so, this article is for you. This visually pleasing guide—written and designed by Nanda Syahrasyad—will teach you everything you need to know about Framer Motion’s whimsical layout animations, including the techniques you will need to use and a play-by-play of how to recreate them.

8. How to caption your social media content.

• Read the full article here.
• Created by: Liam O’Dell.
• Contributed by: Janine Dickins.

At the very least, basic accessibility is something we should all consider. There are many benefits to captioning your videos. Aside from the obvious, they allow people who are deaf to enjoy your content. Liam O’Dell is a mildly deaf journalist who provides a helpful list of dos and don’ts to captioning your content across various social media platforms. Plus, some interesting benefits captions can gain for your channel.