Techsplainer

How I understand technology

This is a record of what I've learned about technology — and a place where you can see how I understand it, including what I don't know or have misunderstood. It will grow and change.

Last updated: March 2026

Techsplainer

Claude

I've started paying for a subscription to a product called Claude Max by a company called Anthropic.

Use Sonnet 4.6 because Opus is, whilst powerful, also expensive.

Three tools

— Chat — runs in the cloud — helps you plan

— Cowork — runs on the desktop app — does things

— Code — helps you code

Last updated: March 2026

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OpenClaw

OpenClaw is a tool that I've recently discovered. I have not yet figured out how to make the best use of it.

I've installed it on my Apple Mac Mini desktop computer, in a way that's separate from my personal account. I can chat with OpenClaw through Slack (on my personal account) and it feels like I'm chatting to an AI agent who can get things done.

As of Tuesday 24 March, Anthropic now offers Claude Max users a similar but more guard-railed product as part of it.

Last updated: March 2026

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Visual Studio Code

I've installed an app called Visual Studio Code on my computer. I also installed the Claude extension for VS Code.

Pretty much, I use VS Code like I would the Claude App — it's really just me talking to it.

AI Coding Assistants

I tried GitHub Copilot, for which I installed VS Code Insiders. I also tried Codex, which is OpenAI's coding assistant.

Last updated: March 2026

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How web pages work

A web page is a text file written in HTML. Your browser downloads it from a server, reads the instructions, and draws what you see on screen. CSS controls how it looks. JavaScript controls how it behaves.

HTML, CSS, JavaScript

HTML is the structure — headings, paragraphs, links, images. CSS is the style — colours, spacing, layout. JavaScript is the behaviour — what happens when you click something, or when data arrives from somewhere else. Every web page is some combination of these three.

Static vs dynamic

A static page is a file that's served exactly as it is. A dynamic page is generated on the fly by a server. This site is static — hand-written HTML files hosted for free on GitHub Pages. No server, no database, no build step.

How JavaScript makes things move

When the browser loads a page, it builds an internal model called the DOM. JavaScript can change this model at any time — update a number, show or hide an element, respond to a click. The browser redraws instantly. CSS can animate the transitions between states, so changes feel smooth rather than abrupt.

Media

HTML has built-in elements for media. The <video> tag lets you embed a video file directly — the browser handles playback, buffering, and controls. No YouTube or external service needed, though the trade-off is file size.

Last updated: March 2026

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How dashboards work

A dashboard needs to do things that static HTML cannot: fetch live data from an API, re-render charts when new numbers arrive, handle user authentication, filter and sort tables, and switch between views — all without reloading the page.

React

Instead of writing raw HTML, the components are written in React — small, reusable pieces of UI that manage their own state and update automatically when data changes.

Vite

A build tool called Vite compiles these components into the optimised HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that your browser actually runs.

Frameworks and Toolchains

Next.js is a well-known example of a framework. React + React Router + Vite together behave like a framework but technically are a toolchain.

Last updated: March 2026

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Agents

Use one agent, with many skills.

Last updated: March 2026

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Terminal

gh is GitHub on the command line.

Last updated: March 2026

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Databases

I've got experience using Postgres and I've started looking at Supabase.

Last updated: March 2026

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Jargon

Terms I've picked up along the way.

Commit

Can be just to your local repo — it doesn't go anywhere else until you push.

Push

Pushes code to the main branch or staging branch on the remote repository (e.g. GitHub).

npm

A package manager for JavaScript.

Last updated: March 2026