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A responsive grid layout with no media queries
9.5.2019
Andy Bell made a really cool demo that shows us how to create a responsive grid layout without any media queries at all. It happens to look like this when you change the size of the browser window:
I think this is a wonderful layout technique that’s just 6 lines (!) of CSS.
.auto-grid...
Getting To Know The MutationObserver API
8.5.2019
MutationObserver watches the DOM, specifically the places you tell it to, like:
document.querySelector('#watch-this');
...and it can tell you (trigger a callback) when stuff happens — like when a child is added, removed, changed, or a number of other things.
I used it just the other day...
The Place of UX
7.5.2019
Every time "UX" comes out of my mouth or is typed by my fingers, I think, "did I just use that term correctly?" It feels like such a big and loaded term these days, that perhaps the way I use it only contributes to the confusion. Ryan Singer frames that problem well:
Debates continue to rage about...
Type Conversion with JavaScript Arrays
7.5.2019
JavaScript’s loose nature allows developers to employ amazing tricks to do just about anything you’d like. I’ve detailed how you can filter falsy values in arrays using a filter(Boolean) trick, but reader David Hibshman shared another trick for typecasting array values the same...
A CSS Golfing Exercise
6.5.2019
Code golfing is a type of programming where the goal is to accomplish a task using as few bytes as possible. CSSBattle is a code golfing battleground where players complete to recreate target images using CSS and HTML.
The rules are fairly simple:
No external resources (sorry, no <img...
Easily Turn Your Photos into Vectors with Photo Vectorizer
2.5.2019
(This is a sponsored post.)
Photo Vectorizer is a simple-to-use Photoshop action that can convert any photo into a vector. With just a few clicks of your mouse, you can save tons of time and frustration by turning your photos into vectors. With super sharp results, these vectors are great for...
Quick and Simple Search Filter Using Vanilla JavaScript
30.4.2019
When building Single Page Applications a feature I frequently find myself adding is a simple search filter. Nothing too in depth, I'll just want a text field to be able to quickly filter over items
Corvid by Wix: Accelerated Development of Web Applications
25.4.2019
(This is a sponsored post.)
It's been interesting to watch Wix evolve from a website builder into a full-fledged platform for developing web applications. It's still just as easy for anyone to spin up a website with the visual builder that's always been there, but Wix Code was introduced a little...
Using Parcel as a Bundler for React Applications
25.4.2019
You may already be familiar with webpack for asset management on projects. However, there’s another cool tool out there called Parcel, which is comparable to webpack in that it helps with hassle-free asset bundling. Where Parcel really shines is that it requires zero configuration to get up...
Moving from Gulp to Parcel
25.4.2019
Ben Frain just made some notes about the switch from Gulp to Parcel, a relatively new "web application bundler" which, from a quick look at things, is similar to webpack but without all the hassle of setting things up. One of the things I’ve always disliked about webpack is that you kinda have...
Who Are Design Systems For?
23.4.2019
Specific design systems, I mean. Design systems, as a concept, are something just about any site can benefit from.
A lot of hype goes into design systems these days. Just the other day, an organization's published their design system publicly and I got a slew of DMs, emails, and Slack messages...
Netlify Functions for Sending Emails
23.4.2019
Let's say you're rocking a JAMstack-style site (no server-side languages in use), but you want to do something rather dynamic like send an email. Not a problem! That's the whole point of JAMstack. It's not just static hosting. It's that plus doing anything else you wanna do through JavaScript...
Tabs: It’s Complicated™
19.4.2019
I've said before one quick and powerful thing you can learn as a front-end developer just getting starting with JavaScript is changing classes.
const button = document.querySelector(".my-button");
const element = document.querySelector(".content");
button.addEventListener("click", function()...
Faking env() to Use it Now
18.4.2019
There is already an env() function in CSS, but it kinda came out of nowhere as an Apple thing for dealing with "The Notch" but it has made it's way to be a draft spec. The point will be for UAs or authors to declare variables that cannot be changed. Global const for CSS, sorta.
That spec doesn't...
An Event Apart Boston is Coming. Save Now!
18.4.2019
(This is a sponsored post.)
An Event Apart Boston is almost here! We're talking, like, less than a month away. If you've been holding off from registering, this might be your last chance because time and seating are both limited. Besides, we're talking about three days of pure knowledge-dropping...
The Power of Named Transitions in Vue
16.4.2019
Vue offers several ways to control how an element or component visually appears when inserted into the DOM. Examples can be fading in, sliding in, or other visual effects. Almost all of this functionality is based around a single component: the transition component.
A simple example of this is with...
7 Useful JavaScript Tricks
16.4.2019
Just like every other programming language, JavaScript has dozens of tricks to accomplish both easy and difficult tasks. Some tricks are widely known while others are enough to blow your mind. Let’s have a look at {x} JavaScript tricks you can start using today! Get Unique Values of an Array...
A Website is a Car and Not a Book
15.4.2019
I’ve been wondering for a good long while why it feels like web design and development isn’t respected as much as native app development= and why the front-end role in many organizations is seen as a nice-to-have rather than a vital part of the business. Why is it so hard to see that this gig...
Under-Engineered Toggles
10.4.2019
Toggles. Switches. Whatever you want to call them, they've been with us for some time and have been a dominant a staple for many form interfaces. They're even baked right into many CSS frameworks, including Bootstrap and Foundation.
It's easy to think of them in binary terms: on and off. Off...
In Defense of the Ternary Statement
10.4.2019
Some months ago I was on Hacker News (as one does) and I ran across a (now deleted) article about not using if statements. If you’re new to this idea (like I was), you’re in a for a real treat. Just search for "if statements" on Hacker News. You'll get articles proposing that you might not need...