Overview
Simon Willison enhanced his blog's "beats" feature by adding the ability to annotate external content links with explanatory notes. The beats feature pulls in content from external sources and displays it alongside regular blog posts, but previously lacked context beyond just links. Now readers get meaningful explanations for why each external piece of content was shared.
Key Points
- Added annotation capability to beats feature - external content now includes context and explanations instead of bare links
- Beats frequently outnumber regular posts on any given day - annotations help readers understand why each link matters
- Updated the Atom feed to include annotated beats - external content discovery is now integrated into the site's syndication
- Enhanced homepage and archive pages with contextual notes - improves content discoverability and user experience