What Is wezfurlong.org and What Can Visitors Find There?

Updated

wezfurlong.org is the personal blog and project hub of software engineer and entrepreneur Wez Furlong. Visitors can find blog posts, project notes, publications, slides, and a long archive of older material, along with an About page, information about mentoring services, and social contact details. It is a personal site rather than a documentation portal or product homepage, so the content is organized around the author's writing and projects.

Who runs the site

The site identifies Wez Furlong as an experienced software engineer and entrepreneur who has built a substantial amount of open source software over the years. The homepage notes that his software has likely been involved if you have browsed the web or received an email. The site also links to an About page for more background and lists a Fediverse handle, @[email protected], as a contact point.

What content is available

The site is organized around several content types, visible in its navigation and archive:

Area What it contains
Blog Posts on personal and technical topics, including site updates and project announcements
Projects Notes and links related to software the author has built
Publications Written material and references
Slides Presentation material, including conference-related slides
Archive Older posts grouped by year, with entries spanning 2003 through 2024
Categories Topic groupings such as API, Blog, Books, Conferences, Docs, MySQL, PHP, JavaScript, Node.js, and Windows
About Background information about the author
Mentoring Information about mentoring services offered

The archive years listed on the site run from 2003 to 2024, so visitors looking for older technical writing have a long back catalog to browse. Category pages provide a second way to navigate by topic rather than by date.

Examples of what you will find

Two posts illustrate the range of content:

  • "Blowing out some cobwebs" (February 10, 2024) — a short site update explaining that the blog had been quiet for a long time and that the site was migrated from Jekyll to Material for MkDocs, partly to stop dependabot security nagging about the Ruby ecosystem. The post notes updated personal and project information, a more recent photo, and a new dark mode. It also says the author is unsure whether posting will become more regular and invites topic requests via fosstodon.
  • "Watchman" (June 1, 2013) — a project note about Watchman, announced on the Facebook Engineering blog. It describes a tool that watches files and records information as they change, can trigger build or test steps in response to matching file changes, and maintains a filesystem view kept in sync with kernel filesystem notification facilities so file status can be queried instantly.

These two posts show the site's dual character: personal updates about the site itself and technical notes about specific projects.

When the site is useful to you

This site is a good fit if you want to:

  • Read writing by a long-time open source engineer on topics such as PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, Node.js, and developer tooling.
  • Find background on projects like Watchman or browse older conference slides and publications.
  • Learn about mentoring services offered by the author.
  • Follow or contact the author through the Fediverse handle listed on the site.

It is less useful if you need structured product documentation, current pricing, or a formal support channel. The site does not present itself as offering those things, and the available material is personal writing and project notes rather than a maintained product manual.

How to start browsing

  1. Open the homepage to see the latest posts and the site navigation.
  2. Use the Archive links to jump to a specific year, from 2003 through 2024.
  3. Use Categories if you want a topic-first view, for example PHP, MySQL, or JavaScript.
  4. Check the About and Mentoring pages if you want background on the author or information about services.
  5. Use the listed fosstodon handle if you want to suggest a topic or get in touch.

The main practical takeaway: treat wezfurlong.org as a personal archive and project notebook. Start with the archive or categories to find a topic, and expect posts that mix site housekeeping with technical explanations rather than a uniform feed of tutorials.