https://openbikecomputer.com/blog/2026-07-21T00:00:00Z Timo Hüser https://openbikecomputer.com/blog/the-site-has-a-log-now/2026-07-21T00:00:00Z

A place for build notes and field reports — plus the toys that come with it, from a before/after slider to an interactive 3D viewer for CAD parts.

<p>The docs explain how OpenBikeComputer <em>works</em>. What they can't hold is the story of building it — the milestones, the detours, the parts that arrived bent. That's what this log is for: short entries from the workbench, written as things happen.</p> <p><img src="https://openbikecomputer.com/blog/the-site-has-a-log-now/hero-map.png" alt="A route over contour lines — the demo art for this first entry" loading="lazy"></p> <h2 id="what-an-entry-can-do">What an entry can do</h2> <p>Entries are plain markdown files in the repo, one folder per post with its images sitting right next to the text. The renderer is the same tiny stdlib-only Python that builds the docs, so nothing about publishing changed — push to <code>main</code> and CI ships it.</p> <p>Every image opens in a lightbox (click the map above — scroll zooms, drag pans). And for the kind of change that's hard to describe in words, there's a slider:</p> <figure class="fig cmp" data-label-before="Rev A" data-label-after="Rev B"><div class="cmp-stage"><img src="https://openbikecomputer.com/blog/the-site-has-a-log-now/render-before.png" alt="Rev A" loading="lazy"><img src="https://openbikecomputer.com/blog/the-site-has-a-log-now/render-after.png" alt="Rev B" loading="lazy"></div><figcaption>Drag the handle — placeholder art standing in for a real before/after.</figcaption></figure> <h2 id="cad-parts-you-can-grab">CAD parts you can grab</h2> <p>The bit I'm most pleased with: entries can embed models straight from the CAD export. A small host-side tool converts a STEP file to GLB once, and the page gets an orbit viewer — hand-rolled WebGL, a few KB, no engine dependency.</p> <figure class="fig model" data-glb="demo-case.glb"><div class="model-stage" tabindex="0" role="img" aria-label="A placeholder case, standing in until the real enclosure is ready to show."></div><div class="model-bar"><span class="model-hint">drag to orbit &#183; click + scroll to zoom &#183; double-click to reset</span></div><figcaption>A placeholder case, standing in until the real enclosure is ready to show.</figcaption></figure> <p>When there's a real enclosure to show, the same block will carry a <strong>Download STEP</strong> button next to it, so you can pull the part into your own CAD.</p> <h2 id="following-along">Following along</h2> <p>There's an <a href="https://openbikecomputer.com/blog/feed.xml">Atom feed</a> if you want entries delivered, and the <a href="https://openbikecomputer.com/docs/">docs</a> remain the place where the concepts live. See you out there.</p>