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Model-Based Testing in React with State Machines
4.9.2019
Testing applications is crucially important to ensuring that the code is error-free and the logic requirements are met. However, writing tests manually is tedious and prone to human bias and error. Furthermore, maintenance can be a nightmare, especially when features are added or business logic...
Firefox blocks third-party tracking cookies and cryptominers
4.9.2019
This is super interesting stuff from Mozilla: the most recent update of Firefox will now block cryptominers and third-party tracking scripts by default. In the press release they write:
For today’s release, Enhanced Tracking Protection will automatically be turned on by default for all users...
Fast Software
3.9.2019
There have been some wonderfully interconnected things about fast software lately.
We talk a lot of performance on the web. We can make things a little faster here and there. We see rises in success metrics with rises in performance. I find those type of charts very satisfying. But perhaps even...
Recreating Netlify’s Neat-o Sliding Button Effect
3.9.2019
Have you seen Netlify's press page? It's one of those places where you can snag a download of the company's logo. I was looking for it this morning because I needed the logo to use as a featured image for a post here on CSS-Tricks.
Well, I noticed they have these pretty looking buttons to download...
Need to scroll to the top of the page?
2.9.2019
Perhaps the easiest way to offer that to the user is a link that targets an ID on the <html> element. So like...
<html id="top">
<body>
<!-- the entire document -->
<a href="#top">Jump to top of page</a>
...
Should a website work without JavaScript?
2.9.2019
The JS Party podcast just had a fun episode where they debated this classic question by splitting into two groups of two. Each group was assigned a "side" of this debate, and then let loose to debate it. I don't think anybody can listen to a show like this and not be totally flooded with thoughts!...
Styling Links with Real Underlines
30.8.2019
Before we come to how to style underlines, we should answer the question: should we underline?
In graphic design, underlines are generally seen as unsophisticated. There are nicer ways to draw emphasis, to establish hierarchy, and to demarcate titles.
That’s clear in this advice from Butterick’s...
Working with Attributes on DOM Elements
30.8.2019
The DOM is just a little weird about some things, and the way you deal with attributes is no exception. There are a number of ways to deal with the attributes on elements. By attributes, I mean things like the id in <div id="cool"></div>. Sometimes you need to set them. Sometimes...
The Best (GraphQL) API is One You Write
30.8.2019
Listen, I am no GraphQL expert but I do enjoy working with it. The way it exposes data to me as a front-end developer is pretty cool. It's like a menu of available data and I can ask for whatever I want. That's a massive improvement over REST and highly empowering for me as a front-end developer...
A Glassy (and Classy) Text Effect
29.8.2019
The landing page for Apple Arcade has a cool effect where some "white" text has a sort of translucent effect. You can see some of the color of the background behind it through the text. It's not like knockout text where you see the exact background. In this case, live video is playing underneath....
Nested Gradients with background-clip
28.8.2019
I can't say I use background-clip all that often. I'd wager it's hardly ever used in day-to-day CSS work. But I was reminded of it in a post by Stefan Judis, which consistently was itself a learning-response post to a post over here by Ana Tudor.
Here's a quick explanation.
You've probably seen...
Creating a Maintainable Icon System with Sass
28.8.2019
One of my favorite ways of adding icons to a site is by including them as data URL background images to pseudo-elements (e.g. ::after) in my CSS. This technique offers several advantages:
They don't require any additional HTTP requests other than the CSS file.
Using the background-size property...
Can you rotate the cursor in CSS?
28.8.2019
Kinda! There is no simple or standard way to do it, but it's possible. You can change the cursor to different built-in native versions with CSS with the cursor property, but that doesn't help much here. You can also use that property to set a static image as the cursor. But again that doesn't help...
Going Buildless
27.8.2019
I'm in a long distance relationship. That means I’m on a plane to England every few weeks, and every time I'm on that plane, I think about how nice it would be to read some Reddit posts. What I could do is find a Reddit app that lets me cache posts for offline (I’m sure there is one out there),...
More Flexible Online Stores WooCommerce and Gutenberg Blocks
27.8.2019
Blocks have become an indispensable component for managing content in WordPress since the Gutenberg editor was officially released earlier this year. Not only does WordPress include some nifty blocks right out of the box, but we're starting to see plugin developers take advantage of them...
Reusable Popovers to Add a Little Pop
26.8.2019
A popover is a transient view that shows up on top of a content on the screen when a user clicks on a control button or within a defined area. For example, clicking on an info icon on a specific list item to get the item details. Typically, a popover includes an arrow pointing to the location from...
Jeremy Keith – Building the Web
23.8.2019
I really enjoyed this interview with Jeremy Keith on the state of the web, how things have changed in recent years and why he’s a mix of optimistic and nervous for the future.
One thing that caught my attention during the interview more than anything was where Jeremy started discussing how folks...
Multiplayer Tic Tac Toe with GraphQL
23.8.2019
GraphQL is a query language for APIs that is very empowering for front-end developers. As the GraphQL site explains it, you describe your data, ask for what you want, and get predictable results.
If you haven’t worked with it before, GraphQL might be a little confusing to grok at first glance....
Weekly Platform News: Improving UX on Slow Connections, a Tip for Writing Alt Text and a Polyfill for the HTML loading attribute
23.8.2019
In this week's roundup, how to determine a slow connection, what we should put into alt text for images, and a new polyfill for the HTML loading attribute, plus more.
Detecting users on slow connections
Algolia is using the Network Information API (see the API’s Chrome status page) to detect users...
Advice for Technical Writing
22.8.2019
In advance of a recent podcast with the incredible technical writer and Smashing Magazine editor-in-chief Rachel Andrew, I gathered up a bunch of thoughts and references on the subject of technical writing. So many smart people have said a lot of smart things over the years that I thought I'd round...