Lisa Melton

My name is Elizabeth but please call me Lisa.

I'm probably best known as the person who started the #Safari and #WebKit projects at #Apple. You may think you know my deadname but... you don't.

I've drawn underground comics, pioneered using a Mac for newspaper graphics and developed software at Adobe and Netscape.

Now I work in #GameDev and write video #transcoding tools.

Follow me and I'll fill your timeline with boosts.

Pronouns: She / Her
Website: https://lisamelton.net
Originally Joined: Nov 03, 2022
JustMyToots: Lisa Melton (npub1fqg…7yvt)">https://justmytoots.com/Lisa Melton (npub1fqg…7yvt)

Public Key

npub1fqglka3n6h3p8hhz72j3uxhzfcj8fw0f477x5qmpjghy9nag6k8qrh7yvt

NIP-05 Address

lisamelton_at_mastodon.social@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsysy0mwceatcsnmm309fg7rt3yufr5h856l0r2qdseytjze75dtrsprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmntdsqcc8

Publishing to

relay.momostr.pink

Author Public Key

npub1fqglka3n6h3p8hhz72j3uxhzfcj8fw0f477x5qmpjghy9nag6k8qrh7yvt

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Last Notes

2026-06-25 17:18:49 UTC

Twenty five years ago today I started the #Safari and #WebKit projects at #Apple Computer.
Which means Safari is now old enough to rent itself a car. But let's not speculate about my age.
I'm still sad I can't use Safari on my Windows PC. Alas, I lost the battle to keep it there. But at least WebKit's DNA seeded or influenced most browsers we use today.
And I'm proud of that impact. Along with the wonderful team I built who made it all happen. Here's to another 25, friends.
Cheers. 🥂😊💖

2026-06-06 17:53:37 UTC

Would you like to play a demo of my new game? Sure you would!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4377480/Burn9/
It's called "Burn-9," a turn-based tactical visual novel. You're the operator directing a super soldier fighting for her life in a secret Antarctic military base.
The demo is short but our game director and author, my nephew, has a very long story to tell once we're all done.
Let me know what you think! And if you find a bug, please let me know because I'm the QA lead. 😊
#gaming #gamedev #godotengine

2026-05-10 19:01:50 UTC

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If you don't see this behavior in your Mastodon profile, it's probably because you're running an older version of the Web software.
I'm on mastodon.social and it's currently running version v4.6.0-alpha.7+pr-38939-5f3002f.
Again, because I don't normally look at my own profile, I have no idea when this heinous formatting began in the development process.
Because my version is an alpha, I hope that means there's plenty of time for Mastodon to fix this self-inflicted mistake.
3/3

2026-05-10 19:01:23 UTC

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You all know I'm trans. So, I care a LOT about presentation, about how I look and how I'm perceived.
In a medium that is primarily text-based, I would think it's important to preserve the manner in which the author's text is formatted. ESPECIALLY WHEN THAT AUTHOR IS DESCRIBING THEMSELVES!
Look, I might as well just change the BIO text field to:
"See https://lisamelton.net/about/ because Mastodon constrains self expression"
Am I upset about this issue? Yes! Aren't you?
2/3

2026-05-10 19:00:28 UTC

Long rant incoming...
I hadn't looked at the BIO text field of my own Mastodon profile on the Web in quite awhile. Long ago I formatted it with one extra carriage return between each paragraph to increase legibility.
But now it's rendered as a compressed, hard to read single blob with no vertical spaces. WTF?!?
Why is Mastodon taking away my agency and butchering my typography? Is this going to happen to our posts next?
This insulting and unnecessary change needs to be backed out!
1/3

2026-04-19 23:17:32 UTC

Just checked stock market futures and everything is heading down, on a elevator to Hell as the prophet Hudson put it.
Is this anything to be concerned about?
Depends on whether you want to believe Trump, who's sending failson JD back to negotiate, or the Iranians, who say they won't be at the table.
But don't worry. Trump will just make some shit up in the morning to spike the market and enrich his cronies and family. Again.
What a time to be alive.

2026-04-19 01:43:52 UTC

RE: https://mastodon.social/@heidilifeldman/116428344689156338
You owe it to yourself to read this whole thread because the judgement by His Honor Mustafa T. Kasubhai is absolute fire! 🔥
And it gives me hope.
Fingers crossed when it inevitably reaches the (un)Supreme Court and it's unserious members.
#note1j50…k64y

2026-04-18 22:45:00 UTC

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Happy birthday!! 🎉🎊🥳
Please tell him for all of us. 😊🤗

2026-04-18 17:41:23 UTC

It has been brought to my attention that I've used the vulgar and offensive term "motherfuckers" in two recent posts to describe various classes of people.
And that is, of course, because I'm a stickler for both clarity and precision when referring to techbros and transphobes.
Which means I should acknowledge that usage count is now three posts.
And to further clarify, while I'm sorry if someone told you there wouldn't be any math today, I am not sorry for anything else.
Thank you.

2026-04-18 02:16:08 UTC

RE: https://masto.ai/@transworld/116422911533853918
Just in case it's not obvious to cis folks here, this is a death sentence for #transgender people in the U.S. if these motherfuckers are successful.
Do *NOT* let them take this first step. That's why we need your help to fight this bullshit. Together. ✊🏳️‍⚧️
#note1xtg…5c4e

2026-04-17 01:37:33 UTC

I think it's so precious when techbros try #mansplaining Web browsers, video transcoding or game development to me.
My dudes, it's likely I've been programming longer than you've been alive.
And transitioning didn't somehow make me ignorant, motherfuckers.

2026-04-15 21:55:35 UTC

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As I've said before, "Wall Street is high on their own supply." 🤷‍♀️

2026-04-15 21:49:37 UTC

RE: https://mastodon.social/@lisamelton/116405659033229573
Overall response to this post was positive and resulted in some useful discussions about how to customize our feeds here on Mastodon. Which is exactly what I hoped.
Thank you, awesome friends! 💖
Of course, some took exception to me using "jackhole techbro" to describe another person. I stand by what I wrote so I won't bother defending it.
I will, however, point out that it was extremely useful in identifying the few jackhole techbros in my replies.
There is a method to my madness. Always. 😊
#note1fmm…kcg9

2026-04-14 23:29:56 UTC

Recently I read a post by some jackhole techbro who wants a default automatic feed algorithm here just like Big Social™.
Opening the door for AI bullshit is not even the worst part of this idea.
Folks, all of us here ARE the algorithm. Personal curation is a feature, not a bug.
We make Mastodon awesome by following people and boosting what we find meaningful, significant or just cool. That's how it works.
Let's keep making friends. Let's keep sharing. Let's keep Mastodon alive. Together. 💖

2026-04-14 21:15:59 UTC

RE: https://mastodon.social/@sundogplanets/116403744095800752
Again, another banger thread you should read in its entirety. Yes, now.
#note1lu2…tr8z

2026-04-13 02:25:04 UTC

Trump is attacking the Pope again on his Toy Social. Somebody really needs to take grandpa's phone away. Now.
Christ (and maybe the Pope) only knows who he'll go after in the middle of the night. Better bogart little Donny's Adderall, too.
Thank Dog we have a good Catholic warrior like JD around to defend the papacy. Yes yes, my eyes are rolling so hard right now it's painful.
This continues to not only be the worst timeline ever, but the stupidest.

2026-04-13 00:21:48 UTC

I'm willing to bet that Trump announcing the blockade will begin right after the stock market opens on Monday morning is another play for his cronies and enlistment-age son to cash in when the Big Tangerine Turd turns TACO minutes before the deadline.
Either that or he's willing to let our navy challenge a Chinese oil tanker and start World War 3.
Good times. Good times.

2026-04-12 20:25:45 UTC

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😢💔🫂
Let us know if you or your family need anything. We're all holding you in our hearts.

2026-04-12 05:13:37 UTC

Good night, Mastodon. Good work. Sleep well. I'll most likely kill you in the morning.

2026-04-11 18:43:41 UTC

I had a chat with a new friend today who I requested to follow. They wanted to know if I expected a follow back. Let me be clear...
If I follow you, you are not obligated to follow me.
And if you do follow me, it's okay to mute my firehose of boosts, mute me entirely or even unfollow me later. I don't unfollow people for any of that. In fact, I sometimes encourage it.
It's *your* feed.
But I will unfollow if you're a NAZI, TERF or MAGA asshole. Even I have my limits.
Thanks, friends. 💖

2026-04-10 22:03:05 UTC

Everyone knows I rarely post, right? So why did I start typing yesterday?
To find more cool people to follow! Who I can then boost so you can find them too. Seriously.
Most of my new followers lately are either bots or "junk" accounts. Following those back? Not a good idea.
But real people, just like you, faved that post of mine! Which allowed me to find at least 100 new friends, that I wasn't following already.
I still need to follow more, but it's a start.
Thank you all. You're awesome! 💖

2026-04-10 03:09:22 UTC

(Lisa looks at the stock market tickers to see if there's any sense to capitalism as we know it...)
Woof. I have no idea what Wall Street is inhaling, but that's some good shit.

2026-04-09 23:02:55 UTC

Just in case you were wondering, I haven't run out of toots to boost. In fact, that's impossible with you chatterboxes here. Thank Dog! It's all of you who make Mastodon so rich in content and fill it with life.
But your girl does need a break from time to time so she can touch grass or maybe the doorhandle to the ladies room. Still, don't worry, I'll catch up to your awesomeness eventually.
Please carry on. 💖

2026-04-06 00:26:53 UTC

RE: https://hachyderm.io/@inthehands/116354480071471219
Everybody needs to read this thread.
I said NOW, dammit!

2026-01-03 20:27:14 UTC

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Girl, I just turned 69 a few days ago. I hate to tell you this, but it gets worse. 😬
And I'm glad you're doing the smart thing and taking care of yourself! 🫂💜

2026-01-03 20:21:46 UTC

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Yikes! 😬 Time for some Ibuprofen and horizontal relaxing?

2026-01-01 21:00:55 UTC

Aaaaand... she's back. Just in time for 2026. 😊🥰💖
But give me some time to build up my stamina for 24x7 boosting. A girl's still gotta heal. 😈

2025-12-16 05:16:09 UTC

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Thank you so much! 🤗💖
I’m okay. Recovery is just really slooooow. Hopefully I’ll be back online full time before the end of the year. 😊

2025-11-19 17:48:10 UTC

Tomorrow is the #Transgender Day of Remembrance (don't forget #TDOR! 🏳️‍⚧️) and your girl here will be taking that day off from boosting. In fact, I might be taking a few days off. Depends on my recovery.
But hopefully I've already introduced you to enough fabulous people to follow that your timelines are already full of content.
While I'm away here, I may be posting updates on my non-boosting account, @npub17el…fwcl. You can check on how I'm doing there.
Love you all and hope to be back soon! 🤗🥰💖

2025-10-26 22:50:47 UTC

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It's hard to get away from Windows for gaming. But I do use it for my transcoding hobby as well.
@npub1wnw…9wy5

2025-10-26 20:00:01 UTC

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This. 💯
(Full disclosure: I'm a Windows, iOS, macOS *AND* Linux user.)

2025-10-24 22:10:47 UTC

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Safari and WebKit weren't written from scratch. They were based on the simple KHTML and KJS codebases from KDE. Even back in 2001, I knew better than to try conjuring a Web browser out of thin air.
Mind you, we (not just I, it was a team effort) could have done that but it would have taken many years instead of the mere 18 months we were given.
And I knew that if I took longer, well, I would have been fired. So practical engineering was the smarter path.
@npub1vlc…mzqq @npub1n4n…6ax6

2025-10-23 23:27:18 UTC

Has everyone seen enough of my boosts in their timeline today? 'Cause ya know I can always find more great content on the Fedi. Why? Because there are so many amazing creators here! And I have excellent taste, LOL. 😊

2025-10-07 18:10:14 UTC

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Hoping for a speedy recovery! 🫂💜

2025-10-06 17:39:11 UTC

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Please continue to post mundane happenings. They are a salve and comfort in our turbulent times. Thank you. 💖
Also, please give Summer extra pets from all of us. 🐶

2025-07-11 19:00:14 UTC

Ugh. From now on when I read "LLM," I'm gonna interpret that to mean "Lame-ass Lying Machine."
It's as stupid a term as "AI," which will all know means "Automated Idiot."

2025-07-04 22:30:47 UTC

Here's a short blog post explaining that my "disappearance" from Mastodon last year was also very short:
https://lisamelton.net/2025/07/04/i-didnt-suddenly-return-to-mastodon/
Still not sure why some people got confused. 🤷‍♀️😂

2025-06-25 23:15:35 UTC

I just realized that today is the 24th anniversary of when I started the #Safari and #WebKit projects at #Apple. 🤦‍♀️ Which just goes to show how much my life has moved on and changed since leaving the Fruit Company over a dozen years ago. 🤷‍♀️
Dog almighty, I am old AF. But let's keep that fact between ourselves, OK? 😂
It's also @npub1xt7…k20v's birthday. Which is why I remembered this at all. Happy birthday, Ken! 💖

2025-06-24 03:56:41 UTC

I've finally managed to reply to and thank all the wonderful people who, here and on my website, wrote such supportive comments about my essay on Sunday. At least I hope it was all of you! If I missed anyone I'm sorry.
You know, this is why I don't write many original posts. I always feel obligated to reply. But that's just my neurodivergence and trauma showing.
This is truly the worst timeline we're living through right now. But I'm glad to be traveling it with all of you.
Dog bless. 💖

2025-06-22 16:47:49 UTC

Two years today I came out to everyone as #trans right here on Mastodon. The reaction was incredible and I continue to receive so much affirmation and support here. I'm not sure that would have happened anywhere else.
I don't write original posts here or on my own website very often, but today I thought I would let you know what I've been struggling with since November:
https://lisamelton.net/2025/06/22/no-im-not-okay/
Thank you, again, awesome people. 😊🥰💖🏳️‍⚧️
#pride

2025-06-21 22:05:56 UTC

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As always, my friend, thank you so much for the recommendation. 😊💖
@npub1ehg…ynkc @npub1w0w…3t8g @npub1wde…dg4n

2025-06-15 18:56:06 UTC

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Same! 💯
@npub16rl…cn8u

2025-06-15 18:53:06 UTC

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You would think that girls like us would have some inside track on figuring this out but, thankfully, no. 🤷‍♀️

2025-03-23 17:01:32 UTC

Today is my second HRTversary. Two years of Hormone Replacement Therapy. 🎉🥳💃🥰
While I'm very grateful for it, I can't say I'm delighted with the results. Yet. 😉
I'm also very aware that access to HRT is in jeopardy for myself, many others and probably unobtainable now for some. This crime is far more alarming than me thinking my breasts are too small. 😠
But we will all continue our #transition. Going back in not an option. And fuck anyone who tries to erase us! 🏳️‍⚧️✊
#TransJoy #TransRights

2025-02-02 19:01:06 UTC

Two years ago today I came out as #trans to my wife. I wrote a little about that when I came out to everyone here on Mastodon some months later:
https://lisamelton.net/2023/06/22/my-coming-out-party/
Since then it's been a struggle with divorce, moving, surgery and not being able to have surgery. And now my government is trying to erase me and my siblings.
My only regret? That I didn't transition sooner. 🏳️‍⚧️✊
#TransJoy #TransRightsAreHumanRights

2025-01-09 19:49:21 UTC

Attention nerds! I just released a new version of my venerable video #transcoding tools:
https://github.com/lisamelton/video_transcoding
I've redesigned and rewritten this decade-old project for the modern era, with different behavior and incompatible APIs. Some old conveniences were removed but new features and flexibility were added. Please manage your expectations accordingly.
The king is dead, long live the queen! 🥰

2024-11-04 19:08:16 UTC

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Thank you so much for the recommendation! 💖

2024-09-19 02:53:57 UTC

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The horror. The horror. 🙄

2024-08-26 20:32:51 UTC

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Oh yeah, I boosted that. 😊
Not sure if I'm the one who made it go viral but I'm glad to have helped. Good post! 💖

2024-08-26 20:29:16 UTC

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Well, I've boosted you before but I'm actually not sure which post you mean this time. 😂

2024-06-28 23:09:19 UTC

I know many of you depend on my boosting for a curated "best of the Fediverse" feed. And normally I enjoy providing that.
But recent events, especially politics, are taking a toll. It's very difficult to read not just the news itself but your reactions to it.
I'm dealing with a LOT of existential dread right now. As are many of my #trans siblings. And mental health comes first.
So, you may notice the firehose slow to a trickle. Or even stop for awhile.
Thank you for understanding. 💖🏳️‍⚧️
#pride

2024-06-10 20:24:33 UTC

It's not enough that #trans people are welcome with you. The transphobes have to be *unwelcome*.
These people must be challenged, corrected and shunned for what they say and do. It doesn't matter to me if they're your co-workers, friends or even family.
You've noticed the hate out there, right? It's rampant and only getting worse.
If you want to be my ally, please realize that I need someone willing to be my advocate. Not just someone to provide me shelter.
Thank you. 🏳️‍⚧️💖
#pride