The Desk

The Desk — Edition 87

Welcome to the 87th issue of the Desk. The Desk is my weekly newsletter covering newly published content and project updates.

Brandon Himpfen

09 Feb 2026 — 7 min read

Photo by Linus Mimietz / Unsplash

Welcome to the 87th issue of The Desk — my weekly roundup of newly published content and project updates. Whether you’re following along for tutorials, blog posts, GitHub projects, or curated reads, there’s something for everyone building or exploring in tech, content, and open source spaces.

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📝 New Blog Posts

In case you missed last week's The Desk edition:

Here is last week's posts from my blog:

What Makes a Travel Source Trustworthy in 2026? A grounded look at what makes travel information credible in 2026, including incentives, maintenance, uncertainty, platform pressure, and why the most trustworthy sources emphasize constraints and tradeoffs instead of hype.
Designing a Stable Entry Point for a Growing Project Network: As projects evolve into networks, the point of entry becomes infrastructure. This article examines what makes an entry point stable, why neutrality matters, and how separating routing from explanation improves long-term system durability.

Digital Marketing

Recent analysis and reporting from Bold Outlook, covering search, platforms, and AI in digital systems:

The Next Web Shift Isn’t a Gadget — It’s Governance: An analysis of why the next major shift in the web is being driven by governance rather than gadgets, focusing on rules, standards, platform policies, and digital infrastructure constraints.

Travel Intelligence

New work from Brandon Travel, focused on how travel systems, constraints, and incentives actually function:

A Practical Checklist for Vetting Hotels, Tours, and “Top 10” Lists: A practical, systems-focused checklist for vetting hotels, tours, and “Top 10” travel lists.
The “Trip Planning Stack”: An analytical look at the trip planning stack, a layered workflow that explains how structural constraints, access, pricing, and risk shape travel decisions and why most planning failures are predictable.

Travel Blogging

Recent articles from Travel Bloggers Network, exploring sustainable growth, structure, and long-term publishing strategy:

Why Consistency Beats “Going Viral” in Travel Blogging: Learn why sustainable publishing systems outperform viral moments, and how reliable output supports credibility, burnout prevention, and long-term growth.
When a Travel Blog Becomes a Business (and When It Shouldn’t): This guide explores sustainable monetization, credibility, burnout risk, platform volatility, and long-term decision-making for serious travel bloggers.

Solo Travel

New posts from Solo Traveler, centered on solo-first travel realities, safety, and independent decision-making:

Cultural Etiquette Tips for Solo Travelers: Learn how awareness, observation and adaptability can help you navigate unfamiliar cultures with confidence.
How to Use AI Responsibly as a Solo Traveler (Beginner + Power User Prompts): This guide includes beginner and power user prompt templates designed to reduce hallucinations, improve decision-making, and help you verify critical travel information safely.
The Pros and Cons of Solo Travel: A realistic look at the pros and cons of solo travel, including safety, logistics, cost considerations, cultural respect, and emotional comfort.

Solo Travel Society

Community-driven reflections and analysis from Solo Travel Society, grounded in lived experience and shared insight:

Why Confidence Comes After the Trip, Not Before: A reflective look at why solo travel confidence usually isn’t there at the beginning and why it shows up later.

LinkedIn Newsletters

Last week’s issues from my LinkedIn-hosted newsletters, covering crypto, AI, and digital marketing:

Substack Newsletters

New Substack posts published across my personal, travel, and technology newsletters:

Golang Weekly Issue 168: Your weekly roundup of the most useful news, tools, tutorials, and discussions from the Go ecosystem.
Python Weekly Issue 151: Your weekly roundup of the most useful news, tools, tutorials, and discussions from the Python ecosystem.
What Solo Travelers Should Tell Someone Before They Leave: A calm, practical guide to sharing just enough information before traveling alone.
The Travel Blogger “Content Pillar” Method That Doesn’t Feel Corporate: How to create structure for your travel blog without forcing your writing into rigid marketing frameworks.

🚀 New Projects and Initiatives

This week I also pushed forward on a few new projects and initiatives. These are early-stage launches, new reference hubs, or first public versions that expand the broader content and open source systems I’m building across tech, travel, and publishing.

Solo Traveler Tools Library: Simple, fast, and mobile-friendly. Each tool is designed to solve one travel problem well.
Solo Traveler Pages Library: Bookmarkable travel reference tables designed for solo travelers.
Solo Traveler Knowledge Base: Calm, practical explanations of how travel systems work for people traveling alone.

🌱 Project Updates

This section tracks ongoing work across my projects. Some updates are small and structural, others are visible improvements, but all of them reflect where time and attention went this week as the broader system continues to take shape over time.

LNKTR has been updated to include a directory of all profiles.
Awesome Lists website is now powered using Jekyll and includes a blog.
Better WP Search v1.1 modernizes a lightweight WordPress plugin that improves default search UX.

🤝 Community Updates

A few updates from the communities I’m building and supporting, including new spaces to connect, contribute, and collaborate.

New LinkedIn Groups

Visa, Residency & Global Mobility: a professional community for people navigating international relocation, immigration pathways and cross-border life planning.

New Code Snippets

As mentioned last week, I'm aiming to publish, on average, two code snippets per week. Here are this past weeks code snippets:

Minimal accessible HTML modal markup (ARIA + focus target) with a tiny JS controller (open/close + Escape + backdrop click).
Responsive image patterns using srcset + sizes (with WebP/AVIF via), plus practical examples for width- and density-based images.