localghost
Sophie Koonin — Web developer and conference speaker
Sophie builds fun things out of HTML, CSS & JavaScript, and writes blog posts about tech and mental health.
localghost.devSo if we're not thinking and they're not thinking that means nobody is thinking. Nothing good can come from software nobody has thought about.
Sophie Koonin's personal corner of the web, hand-built and fiercely human. She writes about front-end development, mental health, and the joy of making things on the internet — with a sharp, witty voice that makes even her hottest takes feel like a conversation over coffee. The site itself is a love letter to the old web, complete with webrings and themed redesigns.
Written by Sophie Koonin.
Occasional
Publishes a few times per month
8
Independent Blog
English
How this blog's content is accessed through Blogs Are Back.
Full Content
RSS feed includes complete post content for reading in-app
Direct Access
Feed can be fetched directly from your browser
Direct Post Links
Post pages can be loaded directly in the reader
Recent posts from localghost's RSS feed.
Turning my sad gaming PC into a media server
In 2016, I built my very first gaming PC, armed with a PCPartPicker list and a ton of Reddit research. We had some good times together: Fallout 4, The Witcher 3, Divinity: Original Sin, various Batman games. Then we got a PS4, then a PS5, then a Steam Deck - the final nail in the coffin - and poor Calculon (for that was its name) sat neglected under my desk, a coffee-stained glorified (but not very ergonomic) footrest. Its giant tower was taking up a lot of room under my desk, and it was too sh...
Returning to owning things in a streaming world
There have been various blog posts and social media posts in the last couple of years about people rejecting streaming services and going back to buying music, listening on handheld devices that - gasp - aren't phones. Vinyl's bigger than it's been for years. Multiple colleagues have shown me their CD collections - even cassettes have made a comeback, which makes me wish I still had the incredible glow-in-the-dark Sony Beans walkman I had as a child. I like that some people catalogue their music...
Some things I’ve been enjoying: August 2026
When was the last time I did one of these? Last year? Here's a collection of things I've enjoyed from the last 8 months, I suppose. Video games Satisfactory I knew I shouldn’t buy this game after playing the demo, but I bought it anyway, and I’ve racked up over 100 hours on it so far. Please send help. I bounced off Factorio as I found it quite overwhelming, but Satisfactory has a bit more exploration and silliness - the in-game AI (in the actual, sci-fi sense of the word) narrator is very GLaDO...
Time-based background colour transitions with Temporal and CSS color-mix
I've given my website a bit of a refresh! There's a slightly updated layout if you're on desktop, plus I ditched the etc page and I've revamped my links page to be powered by raindrop.io. The minimalist theme is still minimalist, but a bit more fancy. The vaporwave theme has a newly jazzed-up nav bar with some adorable little icons. But the biggest change is to the city theme, which was previously a starry-sky dark mode theme. If you're reading this between the hours of 9pm - 5am, you might be w...
Making an original Jubilee line door button into a Hue light switch
There are many things that make me extremely uncool, but one of my particularly nerdy interests is the London Underground. The evolution of its iconic map, showing long-forgotten stations; old wooden-floor train stock I remember from my childhood; the Hidden London tours of old stations, closed-off platforms and soot-covered stairwells with beautiful original tiling. "Station closed" poster at Aldwych Disused Jubilee line platform at Charing Cross, now used for filming I wouldn’t say I’m...
Follow localghost
If you miss when the web felt personal and fun — and want sharp writing on front-end craft and the culture around it — this is your blog.