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The Power of Lampshading
16.12.2020
I enjoyed this blog post from Shawn. Lampshading is apparently the idea of a TV show calling attention to some weakness (like an implausible plot point) so that the show can move on. By calling it out, it avoids criticism by demonstrating the self-awareness. For developers, Shawn notes, it’s...
These Are the Most Ridiculous RGB Gadgets You Can Buy
16.12.2020
Much to the dismay of my fellow coworkers, I admit I’ve got a soft spot for gadgets with RGB lighting. I prefer keyboards that light up like a disco ball (after all, you can always turn the lights off), and I pay extra to make sure that all the smart lights in my house can go full RGB instead...
It’s Always Year Zero
16.12.2020
In the short term, opinions about technology often follow a compressed form of Laver’s Law:
Everything just before me was completely broken.
Everything that comes after me is completely unnecessary.
Everything I use right now is perfectly fine; stop changing things.
We tend to judge things based...
Old is Solid; New Gets Talked About
15.12.2020
When Chris asked me to write about “one thing I learned about building websites this year” I admit my brain immediately went through a list of techniques and CSS properties I started using this year. But then I paused. Other people can write about that much better than I can....
What’s New in WCAG 2.1: Label in Name
15.12.2020
WCAG 2.1 Recommendations rolled out in 2018. It’s been a couple years now and there are some new Success Criterion. In this article, I will discuss Label in Name, which is how we visually label components. We’ll take a look at what some failure states look like, how to fix them, and examples of...
Hell Yes! CSS!
15.12.2020
Speaking of cool CSS stuff you can buy, Julia Evans’ zine Hell Yes! CSS! is hot off the presses. A “zine” being 28 pages of “short, informative, and fun comics which will quickly teach you something useful.” Some parts of it are like cheat sheets. Some parts of it...
VaultSwap Announces Its Token Sales and Exchange Listings
15.12.2020
PRESS RELEASE. Swapping cryptos on an exchange can be incredibly inefficient, as no exchange has all the coins in one fold. VaultSwap – a project by Jason Wright, which is also the CEO zenomatrix.net – intends to offer a solution to this problem. It has several high-paying investment...
Four Generations Of Xbox Console Can Play The Same Game Together
15.12.2020
When we think of backwards compatibility we tend to only think of a game from an older system running on its replacement. But as this video shows, in the right circumstances, a console released in 2001 can play the same game at the same time as one released in 2020, as well as the two consoles...
Representation Matters
15.12.2020
This year I had the pleasure of re-launching The Accessibility Project. I spend a lot of time researching and writing about accessibility and inclusive design, so this felt like the cumulation of a lot of that effort. The site now uses all sorts of cool web features like CSS Grid, @supports,...
Netlify & Next.js
14.12.2020
Cassidy Williams has been doing a Blogvent (blogging every day for a month) over on the Netlify Blog. A lot of the blog posts are about Next.js. There is a lot to like about Next.js. I just pulled one of Cassidy’s starters for fun. It’s very nice that it has React Fast-Refresh built-in....
Not Much
14.12.2020
What’s one thing I learned about building websites this year? Not all that much.
This year, unlike most previous years, I didn’t explore a lot of new technologies. For obvious reasons, it’s been a difficult year to be as engaged in the hot new topics and to spend time playing around with...
Debugging CSS
14.12.2020
High five to Ahmad Shadeed for releasing his new book, Debugging CSS. I think that’s a neat angle for a book on CSS. There are a ton of books on the general subject of CSS already, so not that they can’t be fresh takes on that, but this feels equally important and less trodden...
ECB: Private Sector Can Help with ‘Intensifying’ Digital Euro Project
14.12.2020
The European Central Bank (ECB) has once again opened the door to some form of private-sector collaboration as it “intensifies” its work on the digital euro – a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for Eurozone nations.
Per an official release, the ECB, the bank’s Governing Council has declared...
MDN on GitHub
14.12.2020
Looks like all the content of MDN is on GitHub now. That’s pretty rad. That’s been the public plan for a while. Chris Mills:
We will be using GitHub’s contribution tools and features, essentially moving MDN from a Wiki model to a pull request (PR) model. This is so much better...
Give Users Control: The Media Session API
14.12.2020
Here’s a scenario. You start a banging Kendrick Lamar track in one of your many open browser tabs. You’re loving it, but someone walks into your space and you need to pause it. Which tab is it? Browsers try to help with that a little bit. You can probably mute the entire system audio. But wouldn’t...
HTTP Archive’s Annual State of the Web Report
14.12.2020
The HTTP Archive looked at more than 7 million websites and compiled their annual report detailing how the sites were built. And there’s an enormous wealth of information about how the web changed in 2020. In fact, this report is more like an enormous book and it’s entirely fabulous. The data comes...
How the Incoming Administration Can Fix Crypto Regulation
14.12.2020
From securities law to DeFi, there's a lot for U.S. regulatory agencies to clarify about crypto in the year ahead
React.isValidElement
14.12.2020
Knowing what input type you’ve received is hugely important in JavaScript, which is a big reason for Flow and TypeScript’s rise. One such case where it’s useful to know what an object represents is if the input is a string or a React element. To detect if an object is a React...
How Much Debt Can a Country Handle?
13.12.2020
As conventional wisdom grows that central banks can go more deeply into debt than previously thought, one economist asks, how much is too much?
Coinsbee Lets You Buy Gift Cards for More Than 500 Brands With Crypto
13.12.2020
Coinsbee is a platform for buying gift cards with more than 50 cryptos from all your favorite brands and shops, as well as get payment cards and phone top-ups. You can use it to purchase vouchers for video game stores such as Steam and PlayStation, and even the video streaming giant Netflix. With...