Last Month on Glitch, the January 2021 edition

January was as long a month as 2020 was a year, but we've finally reached the end. Before we fully dive into this perfectly rectangular February, why not take a look at some of the apps our community created last month?

For a bunch of us, the new year means coming back after a break and having to re-learn how to code, type, speak, etc. Here are some neat utilities that helped me get back in the working groove.

• Adrienne made ~betternotes so we all can create…better notes!

• Clive shared this really neat take on the pomodoro timer he built. It's become a regular part of my own productivity workflow.

• ~color-gd is a tool by Alex that not only lets you create color schemes, but share them easily as well. For my fellow devs out there, check out some of the resources and demos our peers have been building on Glitch!

• Our pals at Postlight Labs built ~divsarentbtns to let us all of us to know that divs aren’t buttons. I’m sure no one is more devastated to be on their Hall of Shame, frankly, than…Nathan’s Hot Dogs. All kidding aside, the page includes resources for “a more accessible web” which everyone should be striving for – not just our favorite fast food eateries.

• While we're talking about accessibility, I really love this ~toy-screen-reader. The creator, Cameron, tweeted that he initially wrote it all on Glitch using an iPad!

• John wrote about his work in visualizing Covid cases in Congress and shared this demo on Glitch of the final results. *Oh boy, Potch has got me dithering again, and so can you with a webcam and ~dither-cam! Here are a couple *of other really rad projects that turn your presence into art.

• Kalidoface turns you into a virtual character, alone or with friends! We talked to its creator, Rich, about how he made it, so check that out!

• Google AI's Magenta team hosted an experimental series merging music and machine learning, and one of the coolest projects out of it is ~dance-project. The creator, Aparna, explores turning motion into sound, taking inspiration from Bharatanatyam -"one of the oldest forms of classical Indian dance."

As I stare out my window at over a foot (and counting!) of snow accumulating, I wish I was seeing the above scene, by Niko the Neko, instead. Here are some other works of art and expression our immensely talented community created.

• Emma's, ~blackoutpoetry, a really nifty tool for creating blackout poetry in the browser, has been around for awhile but has been picking up a lot of traction with teachers and students coming back to school after the holiday break.
• Literally every app on John's Sunday Sites page is incredible. Sunday Sites is a cool sort of web ring and hackathon group who primarily have been using Glitch! One of their other members, Seán, made this joyful app that displays the four seasons in splendid ASCII.
• Artist Christina Sadovnikov hosts her art portfolio on Glitch and it's really beautiful. I especially love Divisional Tide and* holy crow *do I miss going to art galleries!

You can count Rowan, creator of ~overly-particular above, among my fantasy roster of Glitch superstars. The following are other miscellaneous superstar apps that inspired me, thrilled me, or made me not hungry anymore.

• Shouts out to one of my former home towns, East Brunswick, New Jersey, where a teen started a New Jersey chapter of Balance Boxes – a youth-led non-profit that distributes all kinds of items to children in low-income communities.
• An r/incremental_games redditor was inspired by the community to create ~incresite, an incremental game where you’re in charge of a social media site. If only this were all a game!
• ~aimless is a Spotify recommendation app that got some heavy traction in the r/csMajors subreddit!
• Aaron's specialty foods generator, ~uk-food [content warning, some fresh language] both delighted and broke many, particularly those who did not know that London Broil is an American dish. This was a fun journey of apps for me to revisit, and I hope you had fun too. You can even be a part of it in future months – just remix and create the app of your dreams, and then let us know about it! If you have Glitch projects you built or love and want us to feature, tweet them to us @glitch or email [email protected]! ✨

*The project featured in this post's header image is ~bananaland by @potatowizardtwo 🍌