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The Typed Object Model
20.11.2019
I help write technical documentation and one feature I've been writing about this year that has really stood out is the Typed Object Model (or Typed OM). If you haven't come across it yet you would be forgiven as it's pretty new. It falls under the CSS Houdini suite of API's and on the surface...
Techniques for a Newspaper Layout with CSS Grid and Border Lines Between Elements
20.11.2019
I recently had to craft a newspaper-like design that featured multiple row and column spans with divider lines in between them. Take a look at the mockup graphic here and see if it makes you sweat at all. If you’re like me, you have been around a while and know just how difficult this would have...
Variations on Theme: Reinventing Type on the Web
20.11.2019
If anyone knows anything about me, it’s usually one of two things: that I have two outrageously fluffy dogs, or that I like fonts and typography. Like, really really like them. So while I am super excited about how well Tristan is doing with his hydrotherapy —we’re walking 50% further than he...
Build your own React
20.11.2019
Wowza! Rodrigo Pombo’s article about how to build React from scratch is fantastic, not only because it’s well written, but because of the outstanding interaction design: each line in the code examples ge highlighted and explored in further detail as you scroll down the page.
This makes it super...
No, Absolutely Not
19.11.2019
I think the difference between a junior and senior front-end developer isn't in their understanding or familiarity with a particular tech stack, toolchain, or whether they can write flawless code. Instead, it all comes down to this: how they push back against bad ideas.
What I've learned this year...
JAMstack, Fugu, and Houdini
19.11.2019
What has me really excited about building websites recently is the fact that we, as front-end developers, have the power to do so much more. Only a few years ago, I would need a whole team of developers to accomplish what can now be done with just a few amazing tools.
Although...
Oh, the Places JavaScript Will Go
19.11.2019
I tend to be pretty vocal about the problems client-side JavaScript cause from a performance perspective. We're shipping more JavaScript than ever to our user's devices and the result is increasingly brittle and resource-intensive experiences. It's... not great.
But that doesn't mean I don't like...
How Do You Remove Unused CSS From a Site?
19.11.2019
Here's what I'd like you to know upfront: this is a hard problem. If you've landed here because you're hoping to be pointed at a tool you can run that tells you exactly what CSS you can delete from your project, well... there are tools out there, but I'm warning you to be very careful with them...
Six Months Using Firebase Web Performance Monitoring
19.11.2019
I don't really think of Firebase as a performance monitoring tool (all I ever think about is auth and real-time data storage), but nevertheless, it totally has that feature.
Justin Ribeiro...
[A] tool to track what real users in the wild are experiencing with an easy setup? Yes, please. [...]...
serpstack
19.11.2019
(This is a sponsored post.)
Is it your job to keep an eye on your company's search engine placement? Or your clients? Or are you building a tool to do just that? Manually Googling stuff isn't going to scale particularly well there. Wouldn't it be nice if you could hit an API and it would return...
The Tools are Here
19.11.2019
Heading into 2020, it occurs to me that I've now been making websites for 20 years. Looking back on that time, it seems as though our practices have been in near-constant churn, and that our progress did not always seem linear. But ultimately, even the missteps and tangents along the way have...
Teaching CSS
19.11.2019
I've been using CSS as a web developer since CSS became something we could actually use. My first websites were built using <font> tags and <table>s for layout. I remember arguments about whether this whole CSS thing was a good idea at all. I was quickly convinced, mostly due to...
The Communal Cycle of Sharing
18.11.2019
What I'm interested in this year is how we're continuing to expand on tools, services, and shared side projects to collectively guide where we take the web next, and the way we're sharing that.
So many other mediums—mostly analog ones—have been around for ages and have a deeper history. In...
The Best Cocktail in Town
18.11.2019
I admit I've held in a lot of pent-up frustration about the direction web development has taken the past few years. There is the complexity. It requires a steep learning curve. It focuses more on more configuration than it does development.
That's not exactly great news for folks like me...
The Kind of Development I Like
18.11.2019
I'm turning 40 next year (yikes!) and even though I've been making websites for over 25 years, I feel like I'm finally beginning to understand the kind of development I like. Expectedly, these are not new revelations and my views can be summed up by two older Computer Science adages that pre-date...
We asked web developers we admire: “What about building websites has you interested this year?”
18.11.2019
For the first time ever here on CSS-Tricks, we're going to do an end-of-year series of posts. Like an Advent calendar riff, only look at us, we're beating the Advent calendar rush! We'll be publishing several articles a day from a variety of web developers we look up to, where gave them all...
Ways to Organize and Prepare Images for a Blur-Up Effect Using Gatsby
18.11.2019
Gatsby does a great job processing and handling images. For example, it helps you save time with image optimization because you don’t have to manually optimize each image on your own.
With plugins and some configuration, you can even setup image preloading and a technique called blur-up for your...
The Department of Useless Images
18.11.2019
Gerry McGovern:
The Web is smothering in useless images. These clichéd, stock images communicate absolutely nothing of value, interest or use. They are one of the worst forms of digital pollution because they take up space on the page, forcing more useful content out of sight. They also slow down...
JAMstack CMSs Have Finally Grown Up!
15.11.2019
This article is based on Brian's presentation at Connect.Tech 2019. Slides with speaker notes from that presentation are available to download.
In my experience, developers generally find the benefits of the JAMstack easy to comprehend. Sites are faster because the resources are static and served...
The Amazingly Useful Tools from Yoksel
15.11.2019
I find myself web searching for some tool by Yoksel at least every month. I figured I'd list out some of my favorites here in case you aren't aware of them.
Need to duo-tone an image? SVG filters can do that. Lentie Ward wrote about it for us, and Yoksel has a tool to create the filters...