Opposable Thumbs is a small web design and development business, run by James in Central Scotland.
Every site is designed and built end to end by James, working directly with the client, from the first idea right through to publishing, with a focus on privacy and as little tracking as possible.
Messages sent through the forms are stored by Netlify, who host this site. Your notes, to-dos and links are kept only on your own device, in plain text, and never leave it.
Every version of the garden, newest first. It gets
looked after the way a garden does.
Version 3.112
Halloween night is a little grander: bigger fireworks at midnight on the 31st, a stooped, shuffling zombie, and a few fewer ghosts drifting about. On 1 and 2 November a faint hint of Halloween lingers, then the garden settles.
Small fixes: the music panel stays its own size when you move it, the radio comes back when you return to the tab, and moving between fields in a form keeps you in the form.
Version 3.108
The evening sky keeps a little more blue and violet as the light goes, instead of turning grey-brown. Ghosts and the cauldron are easier to press on a touch screen.
Version 3.107
Fixed: pressing a ghost now makes it say boo (it was starting the rain), and nothing spooky gets in the way of dragging the sun or moon.
Version 3.106
Halloween looks calmer and warmer: the gardener catches a soft cool light on one side and the fire’s glow on the other, the cat peeks out from behind the radio, the pumpkins are bigger, the mist is thinner, the ghosts keep to the open sky, and on Halloween night each act has the stage to itself. At midnight there is a quiet “Happy Halloween”.
Version 3.104
A Halloween switch in the menu (in October) for anyone who would rather keep the garden calm, and the spooky bits can now be pressed with the keyboard as well. The lightning is gentler, and Halloween night’s show now follows your own evening.
Version 3.103
Halloween night has a show, run by the clock on 31 October: the cauldron boils over at seven, a conga line of skeletons crosses the clifftop at eight, a blood-red moon rises and seven witches fly across it in a V at nine, the ghosts gather into a smiling face at ten, the zombies sway round the fire at eleven, and just before midnight there are green and purple fireworks, then it all fades away.
Version 3.102
Halloween now lasts the whole of October and builds slowly from the first day, so there is more of it to see, earlier in the month.
He carves pumpkins: at dusk he sits at the block with a knife, and when he is done a new carved pumpkin glows beside him (up to three, each with its own face).
Versions 3.100 and 3.101
Halloween gets properly spooky as the month builds: a purple sky with a sickly green glow at the horizon, a bubbling cauldron, ghosts over the valley, zombies on the clifftop, sixteen bats, three witches and, on the last nights, lightning and a blood-red moon.
Little extras to find: a black cat by the radio, an owl up the pine, spiders on threads and a bat that lands on his hat. Press a ghost and it says boo; press the cauldron and it changes its potion.
Version 3.99
Small tidy-ups: clearer wording on the time and the note box, and shared links now carry the picture on more apps.
Version 3.98
The moon keeps its real hours: it rises later each day, so a first quarter hangs in the evening sky, a full moon rides all night, and a last quarter fades out at dawn. In the afternoon you can sometimes see it pale in the blue. A new moon is simply not there, and the moonlight on the water follows it.
Version 3.97
Easier on a phone: the small buttons are quicker to tap, the menu fits the screen when the browser bar shows, the caption and notes clear the bar at the bottom of the screen, and the view eases back to him after you have looked around.
Version 3.96
A smoother sunset: the sky no longer jumps a little as the light fades, the warm glow eases away, and the sun itself turns amber as it sinks.
Version 3.95
Smoother motion: his sway eases between jobs instead of switching on and off, the tripod and pot fade in and out, and a short beat in a job no longer repeats the same wobble.
Version 3.94
Halloween now builds up over twelve days, from 20 October: a pumpkin first, then more, the neep lantern, bats at dusk, and the witch in the last few nights, with the sky turning darker and warmer as it goes.
Version 3.92
He fetches the cooking tripod from the shed, sets it up by the fire, hangs the pot from it, and carries it back when he is done.
Version 3.88
The front door is there from the first moment, not a second after the garden.
Small wording fixes: the menu says "Get in touch", the send-failed line gives the address, and a few lines read more plainly.
Version 3.87
The moon is drawn as its real shape, a crescent or half or full moon, in a warmer yellow.
Version 3.86
The northern lights are now a rare treat on clear autumn and winter nights, not a regular one.
Version 3.85
Warm light on the river at sunset, with a few glints drifting along it.
A fainter scatter of extra stars on clear nights.
Now and then, on clear dark nights from September to March, a faint green aurora low in the north.
The focus timer keeps true time even on a slow computer, and About says where your messages and notes are kept.
Version 3.84
Fixes to the notes, to-do and links on phones: they no longer overlap, the buttons are bigger to tap, and a note is saved even if you close the page straight after typing. The menu now says “Write a note” to tell it apart from the on-screen note pad.
Version 3.82
Smoother on Apple devices (Safari): text no longer gets selected while dragging, the blur behind panels shows on older versions, and the menu fits under the address bar on iPhones.
If a message can’t be sent, the form now says so after 20 seconds and offers the email address, instead of waiting for ever.
Version 3.81
Widgets: a clock, a to-do list and quick links. Switch each on or off in the menu (or from the corner in the wallpaper view), drag them by their titles, and they remember where you left them. All kept on your device, nothing sent anywhere.
Version 3.80
Notes: a small private notepad (in the menu, and as a corner button in the wallpaper view). It stays in your browser and is never sent anywhere; Save as text downloads it.
In the wallpaper view, Focus and Notes sit quietly in the corner; the focus timer gives a soft two-note chime when a stretch ends, if sound is on.
Version 3.79
A wallpaper view: add ?wallpaper=1 to the address for the garden on its own, with no menu or hints, drawn a little more gently for all-day use.
Version 3.78
The near cliff, the ground and the pine are lighter by day, warmed by the light off the horizon, so they read as lit rock instead of black cut-outs. At night they stay dark.
Version 3.77
On phones the garden is shown close up, following him as he goes about, instead of a strip under a tall sky. Swipe sideways to look around.
Version 3.76
The pot, his journal and the guitar live in the shed with the axe: he fetches each for its job and takes it back after.
Version 3.75
His jacket hangs like cloth: rounded shoulders and a softer hem.
Version 3.74
For Christmas the pine gets fairy lights that twinkle from dusk, a star on the very top that glows at night, and presents underneath on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
In winter he wears a proper woolly hat, a coat and a scarf.
Version 3.73
In winter, snow comes and goes in spells instead of falling all season, and a Snow switch appears in the menu so you can have it or not.
Version 3.72
The trees along the clifftop have branches, not just points.
The river runs back into the hill above the waterfall, so you can see where the water comes from.
Version 3.71
The pine has needles: a fine fringe along the underside of every branch.
Version 3.70
The chopping block is a proper round of trunk, with its bark, roots, rings and old axe cuts.
A ring of stones round the fire, warm on their inner faces after dark.
The lantern’s glass catches the sky by day.
Version 3.69
The breathing guide runs smoothly: the dandelion no longer jumps back to empty in the middle of the Sigh, and he no longer jolts as a breathing session starts or ends.
Version 3.68
What he brings home, he eats: a rabbit from the hunt roasts on the spit over the fire, and in autumn he comes back with a basket of apples.
A quiet moment on his knees at the edge as the sun comes up or goes down, and on clear dark nights he lies back on the rock to watch the stars.
Version 3.67
The woodpile keeps the day: nearly bare in the early morning, built up by the day’s work, fullest by evening, and burned down through the night, a log at a time as the fire needs it.
The logs have their end grain, and fresh-split wood shows pale.
Version 3.66
He keeps his axe off in the shed: he fetches it when there’s chopping or sharpening to do, and takes it back after.
The axe’s shadow only shows when the axe is there.
Version 3.65
Halloween comes for the last week of October: carved pumpkins and a neep (turnip) lantern that glow after dark, bats round the pine at dusk, and a witch now and then at night.
Version 3.64
The mist at the foot of the waterfall is gone.
The birds fly properly, flapping and gliding, and far-off flocks keep to the open sky instead of crossing in front of the hills.
The hills and the trees carry on past the right-hand edge of wide screens.
Version 3.63
The sounds are mixed to sit together: the fire nearest, then the wind and the rain, the waterfall softest. The wind no longer surges in every gust.
Rain only comes when you switch it on; it isn’t brought back from your last visit.
A switch in the menu for the gardener’s own sounds.
The radio in the menu is a plain on and off, with the stations to choose from underneath.
Version 3.62
What’s new is the version history now, going back to the beginning.
Version 3.61
The front page is just the name and four buttons.
About says it in two lines.
Feedback has a place of its own: in the menu, and at the top of this page.
The “← Opposable Thumbs” button in the garden is gone.
Version 3.60
Press him and he tips his hat (in the woolly hat, he waves).
The hints along the bottom can be read by day.
A line under “Where the day follows” says what it changes.
The typefaces arrive sooner.
Version 3.59
A new front page: what’s on offer, how it works, and the work.
Version 3.58
In the small hours he keeps you company with the quietest jobs, done slowly, and the odd doze by the fire.
Version 3.57
The sun rises and sets at the real times: in summer time it had been running about an hour early.
Far hills go blue-black at night instead of staying rosy.
Version 3.56
The moon stays in frame on wide, short screens, and the pictures of the work load only when they’re needed.
Version 3.55
On the nights of the big meteor showers, shooting stars cross the sky, and he stays up to watch. Now and then, a stray one on any clear night.
Version 3.54
A page that isn’t there shows the clifftop with the gardener away.
Version 3.53
Messages leave by lantern: send one and watch a small light drift off across the valley.
Version 3.52
Drag the sun (or the moon) across the sky to run the day forwards or back; let go and it drifts home to now.
Version 3.50
The waterfall throws up a bank of mist where it drops into the gorge.
Version 3.49
The radio plays on iPhones, and never skips track after track if something won’t load.
A brighter midday sky on phones.
Version 3.48
His evening jobs read in the dark: you can see the guitar and the notebook, and he looks up at the stars.
Autumn leaves look like leaves, and they rest after dark.
Version 3.47
Your notes, and the sounds you had on, are kept in your own browser for next time.
“About” is on the front page too.
Version 3.46
The timer and the breathing guide work with reduced motion switched on, screen readers hear each panel by name, and the buttons are easier to tap on phones.
Version 3.45
The breathing guide is a dandelion: it fills as you breathe in, and lets a seed or two go as you breathe out.
Version 3.44
The waterfall is rebuilt: the river runs to the edge and curls over, and it’s moonlit at night.
Version 3.42
Rain comes only when you ask for it, and stops when you ask.
His evenings are for the fire, the pot, the book, the guitar and the stars, not chopping wood.
He leaves his axe in the chopping block when he sits down.
Version 3.41
A calmer, clearer menu: words instead of puzzle icons, proper switches, and on phones it rises from the bottom with big buttons.
Version 3.40
The little picture in your browser tab is the live sky: dawn, noon, sunset or the moon, as it is now.
Version 3.39
The signpost has gone from the scene; the work is in the menu and behind “See the work”.
Version 3.37
The focus timer keeps real time while you’re in another tab.
Sound keeps playing in other tabs (switch it off in the menu), and the radio shows up in your media controls.
Version 3.36
The owl has eleven different calls, and sometimes another owl answers.
Version 3.35
“Get in touch” opens a proper contact form, with the email address to copy.
Version 3.34
Smoke from the fire, leaning with the wind.
Clouds catch the last of the sun at dusk.
Version 3.33
Easier to use with a keyboard or a screen reader.
Version 3.32
The sounds load only when you switch them on, so the page arrives at less than half its old size.
Version 3.31
Wide laptop screens show more of the valley and less empty ground.
Shared links show a picture of the scene.
Version 3.30
Lighter fonts: the page loads about 200 KB less.
At night the fire lights the gardener when he’s close to it.
Version 3.29
Logs land on the woodpile when he sets them down, not when he bends.
The axe head sits across the handle, the way axe heads do.
His jacket moves with him, and drapes when he sits.
Shorter, truer shadows.
This page begins, with a way to say something.
Version 3.27–3.28
The scene does much less work: by day it costs your computer less than half what it did.
Version 3.26
The planets are in the sky, where they really are.
Version 3.24
The work is shown properly, with a picture of each site.
Version 3.23
A new recording of the wind in the pine.
Version 3.22
The gardener, redrawn: a hat, a proper jacket, hands and boots.
Version 3.21
Moonlight on the waterfall.
Version 3.20
The stars are the real ones, where they are tonight from Scotland.
Version 3.19
Shadows follow the sun, and one wind moves the tree, the fire, the leaves and the rain.
Version 3.18
A front page for the business, over the live scene.
Version 3.17
Light and depth: more hills in the distance, mist in the valley at dawn, firelight, and a fine grain.
Version 3.16
About twice as light on your computer, and no more stutter.
Version 3.14
Real recordings for the owl and the rain.
Version 3.13
The radio no longer keeps him from his work.
Version 3.12
He goes about his own business, instead of watching your pointer.
Version 3.11
A tidier menu.
Version 3.8
A notes pad.
Version 3.7
A breathing guide to follow along with.
Version 3.6
A smoother walk, and the timer shows real names.
Version 3.4
A timer on screen.
Version 3.2–3.3
Quick fixes after the first week online.
Version 2
The garden goes online: the gardener at his jobs through the real day and the seasons, the waterfall and the fire, a radio of 172 public-domain tracks on eight channels (one follows the season), a focus timer, and a music panel.
The Bay JoinersBuilding, joinery and
cabinetmaking, Stirling.thebayjoiners.co.uk
Hounds of LoveMobile dog grooming, at your
door.houndsoflovemobilegrooming.co.uk
A Boy Named CalmA multidisciplinary artist, and a site that
gets out of the way of the work.aboynamedcalm.com
PROMPTMOBOwn project. Crowd-steered conversation: a room full of people
steering one thread.promptmob.live