DEV Community: Alex Carter

How to List Things in Markdown (Properly)

Alex Carter — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 06:13:17 +0000

Most Markdown tutorials show the basics, - for bullets, 1. for steps - but miss the nuances that make your lists clean, readable, and platform-safe.

Here’s a quick look at two things most people get wrong:

Using `1.` for Every Step (Yes, Really)

You can write:

1. Wake up
1. Make coffee
1. Write code

And it renders as:

Wake up
Make coffee
Write code

This trick makes your Markdown easier to maintain - especially when you reorder or copy steps.

Nested Lists That Don’t Break

To nest properly, indent using 2 or 4 spaces, not tabs:

- Groceries
  - Fruit
    - Apples
  - Vegetables

Many Markdown renderers (especially in static sites) will choke on tabs or inconsistent spacing.

Want to see every type of list Markdown supports (including checkboxes, edge cases, and weird platform behavior)?

Full guide here: https://opengridlab.org/guides/how-to-list-things-in-markdown.html

Covers all 7 list types with examples - including task lists, description lists, and nested code.

Faster Shell, Calmer Brain: Three Terminal Tweaks I Can’t Live Without

Alex Carter — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 06:49:27 +0000

Every time I start fresh on a new machine, I make the same three changes to the terminal. Not because I’m obsessive (I am), but because these tweaks keep me sane. They make the shell fast, quiet, and actually useful.

This isn’t about themes or plugins or trying to make your terminal look like a dashboard. It’s about clarity, calm, and getting out of your own way.

1. A Fast, Informative Prompt

The default PS1 is fine, but I want a prompt that tells me where I am without trying to be clever. I don’t need the time, username, or hostname on every line. Just the working directory and maybe a subtle color cue.

Here’s my go-to:

export PS1="\[\e[32m\]\w\[\e[m\] \$ "

It gives me the current path in green and ends with a clean $. That’s it. No lag, no clutter.

2. Smarter Shell History

Shell history is one of the most underused tools in the terminal. By default, it’s noisy, redundant, and easily lost. These lines fix that:

export HISTCONTROL=ignoredups:erasedups 
export HISTSIZE=10000
export HISTFILESIZE=20000 
shopt -s histappend

Removes duplicate entries
Keeps a deep backlog
Appends history across sessions

Now when I hit Ctrl+R, I actually get what I’m looking for.

3. Silence on Startup

No banners. No motd. No last login message. No fortune telling me to seize the day.

I just want a prompt, not a performance.

Here’s the quickest fix:

touch ~/.hushlogin

If I’m using zsh, I also comment out anything noisy in .zshrc — especially plugin managers or echo spam.

That’s It

These aren’t flashy changes, but they buy me headspace every day. A fast prompt, a better memory, and a clean slate every time I open the terminal.

You don’t need a spaceship prompt or 40 plugins. Sometimes less noise is the real upgrade.

Back to theming my terminal for the third time this week.

Hello, I’m Alex — I Write About the Open Web (and Weird Tools That Still Work)

Alex Carter — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 06:20:06 +0000

I figured I'd kick things off with something simple.

I'm Alex Carter — an independent tech writer, open web advocate, and occasional builder of things that run mostly in the terminal. I write about how we interact with the web when it’s not trying to monetize our attention, and the tools that make it easier to own your workflow instead of renting it from five different SaaS platforms.

Most of what I publish leans somewhere between:

Markdown obsession
Ethical scraping and automation
Browser quirks and privacy tools
Writing in public without shouting for attention

I’m not here to go viral. I’m here because some of the most thoughtful, curious people I know are quietly posting brilliant things on Dev.to. I’d rather join that slow stream than yell into another algorithmic void.

Nice to meet you.