This is the source code of my website. You can find the result at http://vincent.bernat.ch. I am using Hyde, an unmaintained static website generator written in Python.
Licensing is described in content/en/licenses.html.
This site is hosted on NixOS instances. You may find the remaining
nginx configuration on another Git repository (the other
part is in layout/nginx.j2).
nix develop
inv build
Check oudated dependencies:
uv tree --outdated
Update all dependencies:
uv lock --upgrade
Update only one dependency:
uv lock --upgrade-package lxml
Check oudated dependencies:
yarn outdated
Upgrade a dependency:
yarn upgrade-interactive --modules-folder ~/tmp/node_modules --ignore-scripts --latest
Update nixpkgs:
nix flake update nixpkgs
Easy rebase of a WIP progress + checkout:
git rebase latest article/something
I write article in English, then translate it to French. This seems easier for me than the other direction. As I am not a native English speaker, I am using LLMs to edit the English content or to translate to French. Since French is my mother tongue, I edit the French result myself.
Using Claude 4.1 Opus, I use the following prompts, then copy/paste Markdown content, with the exception of code blocks.
Translate to French the following text, keep markdown markup, and enclose the result in a code block. For links, keep the original references. In French, footnote marks should be placed before the punctuation. Avoid word-for-word translationa and feel free to choose more idiomatic concepts. I prefer to avoid "anglicismes".
It should be possible to have a more guided prompt, but for now, this is enough for me: being a French native speaker, I can proofread the result myself.
Edit the following text, keep markdown markup, and enclose the result in a code block. There is no need to add comments. The target is a technical audience who may not be English-native speakers (CEFR B2 level). You can include light stylistic edit but avoid using pronoun-verb contractions and keep a casual tone. You can also suppress a passive voice, remove superfluous words, and break a long sentence into smaller ones. I am not an English-native speaker myself, so you can also fix common mistakes done by people like me.
I am unsure this prompt is best. I don't like AI that are putting words in my mouth, hence the above prompt with minimal editing. However, I am not that good at technical writing either. There are a few interesting resources around it like The Craft of Writing Effectively (handouts) and Refactoring English.
The first video is about challenging the readers and changing their ideas to create tangible value for them to care about your own ideas. You should use language that convey instability, tension, or potential costs and benefits to engage them meaningfully. The introduction should expose a problem with three components: an instability, the consequences of this instability (and associated costs or benefits), and readers who will be interested in the costs or benefits. It should not try to leverage novelty or originality of a work as it fails to engage the readers who may not care about this. “Move forward from instability to stability.” There is another related video, Writing Beyond the Academy (handouts).
The second book is a work in progress. You need to value the readers' time and evaluate if each sentence is worth their time: get to the point quickly, be clear, use a dynamic language, cut down extra words and filler phrases, organize. Notably, you need to work on the hook of your article: the title and the first three sentences. Telling a story is also a way to engage the reader a bit more, as well as adding some pictures. The author is known to hire illustrators. As for writing tips, the author mentions the use of descriptive verbs to drive a sentence (e.g. use "authenticate" instead of "provide authentication"), staying positive, avoiding passive voice, and improving brevity.