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Keen makes it a breeze to build and ship customer-facing metrics
28.2.2019
(This is a sponsored post.)
Keen is an analytics tool that makes it wonderfully easy to collect data. But Keen is unique in that it is designed not just to help you look at that data, but to share that data with your own customers! Customer-facing metrics, as it were.
Keen works just the way...
A Bit of Performance
28.2.2019
Here’s a great post by Roman Komarov on what he learned by improving the performance of his personal website. There’s a couple of neat things he does to tackle font loading in particular, such as adding the <link rel="preload"> tags for fonts. This will encourage those font files...
Using CSS Grid the right way
22.2.2019
Violet Peña has shared her recommendations for using CSS Grid. They basically boil down to these high-level points:
Use names instead of numbers for setting up our grid columns.
fr should be our flexible unit of choice.
We don’t really need a grid system anymore.
Although this is all great advice...
Blobs!
21.2.2019
I was recently a guest editor for an issue of Bizarro Devs. It's a great newsletter! Go sign up! I put in a bunch of links around blobs. Like those weird squishy random shapes that are so "in" right now. Here are those links as well. I'm always a fan of publishing stuff I write ;)
Blobs! Blobs...
The Magic of React-Based Multi-Step Forms
15.2.2019
One way to deal with long, complex forms is to break them up into multiple steps. You know, answer one set of questions, move on to another, then maybe another, and so on and so forth. We often refer to these as multi-step forms (for obvious reasons), but others also take to calling it a “wizard”...
The #StateOfCSS 2019 Survey
15.2.2019
You know about the State of JavaScript survey, where thousands upon thousands of developers were surveyed about all-things-JS, from frameworks to testing and many other things in between? Well, Sacha Greif has launched one focused entirely on CSS.
This is super timely given a lot of the content...
Code Challenge #16: Infinite Scroll Unsplash Gallery
14.2.2019
Photos and media in general play a great part of websites and inefficient handling may lead to loss of site performance and ultimately, users. In this week's challenge, we will build a photo galler
The ineffectiveness of lonely icons
11.2.2019
Icons are great and all, but as we've been shown time and time again, they often don't do the job all by themselves. Even if you do a good job with the accessibility part and make sure there is accompanying text there for assistive technology, in an ironic twist, you might be confusing people...
Using the Little-Known CSS element() Function to Create a Minimap Navigator
5.2.2019
W3C’s CSS Working Group often gives us brilliant CSS features to experiment with. Sometimes we come across something so cool that sticks a grin on our face, but it vanishes right away because we think, “that’s great, but what do I do with it?” The element() function was like that for me. It’s a...
The Many Ways to Change an SVG Fill on Hover (and When to Use Them)
31.1.2019
SVG is a great format for icons. Vector formats look crisp and razor sharp, no matter the size or device — and we get tons of design control when using them inline.
SVG also gives us another powerful feature: the ability to manipulate their properties with CSS. As a result, we can make quick...
The Importance of One-on-Ones
30.1.2019
What do we mean by 1:1 (pronounced one-on-one)? This is typically a private conversation between an Engineering Manager/Lead and their Employee. I personally have been a Lead, a Manager, and also an Independent Contributor/Software Engineer, so I’ve sat at each side of the table. I’ve both...
Successful WordPress Freelancing
23.1.2019
Andy Adams released a book for aspiring WordPress freelancers. It's meant to take a lot of the guesswork and the roadblocks that many folks often hit when making the decision to fly solo and rely on WordPress development for a stable source of work and income.
Aside from being included in it (and...
The Great Divide
21.1.2019
Let’s say there is a divide happening in front-end development. I feel it, but it's not just in my bones. Based on an awful lot of written developer sentiment, interviews Dave Rupert and I have done on ShopTalk, and in-person discussion, it’s, as they say... a thing.
The divide is between people...
New CodePen Feature: Prefill Embeds
21.1.2019
I've very excited to have this feature released for CodePen. It's very progressive enhancement friendly in the sense that you can take any <pre> block of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (or any combination of them) and enhance it into an embed, meaning you can see the rendered output. It also...
Does it mutate?
18.1.2019
This little site by Remy Sharp's makes it clear whether or not a JavaScript method changes the original array (aka mutates) or not.
I was actually bitten by this the other day. I needed the last element from an array, so I remembered .pop() and used it.
const arr = ["doe", "ray", "mee"];
const...
Algorithmic Layouts
10.1.2019
Don't miss this video by Heydon that digs into CSS layouts. It's great how he combines fundamental knowledge, like the way elements flow, wrap, and can have margin with new layout methods like flexbox and grid (with specific examples). Of particular note is the clear demonstration of how flexbox...
Reader Mode: The Button to Beat
7.1.2019
As a young nerd, I loved to immerse myself in digital worlds, learning the ins and outs of the rules someone else had created for me (intentionally or not). But the older and crankier I get, the more I find myself losing patience when navigating these "delightful" experiences.
This fascination...
The Most Hearted of 2018
4.1.2019
We've released the Most Hearted Pens, Posts, and Collections on CodePen for 2018! Just absolutely incredible work on here — it's well worth exploring.
Remember CodePen has a three-tiered hearting system, so while the number next to the heart reflects the number of users who hearted the item...
WordCamp US 2018
4.1.2019
I recently attended and had the chance to speak at WordCamp US 2018 in Nashville. I had a great time. I love conferences that bring people together around a tight theme because it's very likely you'll have something to talk about with every person there. Plus, I rather like WordPress and...
Animating Between Views in React
21.12.2018
You know how some sites and web apps have that neat native feel when transitioning between two pages or views? Sarah Drasner has shown some good examples and even a Vue library to boot.
These animations are the type of features that can turn a good user experience into a great one. But to achieve...