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Node isConnected
13.11.2020
Every so often I discover a property in JavaScript objects that I didn’t know existed, oftentimes using another trick to accomplish the same functionality. One such property I just learned about was isConnected, a node property that attached to a context (i.e. document). Here’s how...
Libraries for SVG Drawing Animations
11.11.2020
In 2013, Jake Archibald introduced this cool trick of animating an SVG path to look like it’s drawing itself. It’s 2020 now, and the trick is still popular. I’ve seen it on a lot of websites I’ve visited recently. I, too, feature an animated SVG loader on my website using one of the libraries I’ll...
The Cleanest Trick for Autogrowing Textareas
11.11.2020
Earlier this year I wrote a bit about autogrowing textareas and inputs. The idea was to make a <textarea> more like a <div> so it expands in height as much as it needs to in order to contain the current value. It’s almost weird there isn’t a simple native solution...
This page is a truly naked, brutalist html quine.
4.11.2020
Here’s a fun page coming from secretGeek.net. You don’t normally think “fun” with brutalist minimalism but the CSS trickery that makes it work on this page is certainly that.
The HTML is literally displayed on the page as tags. So, in a sense, the HTML is both the page...
GIFS and prefers-reduced-motion
3.11.2020
The <picture> element has a trick it can do where it shows different image formats in different situations. If all you are interested in is formats for the sake of performance, maybe you’d do:
<picture<source srcset="img/waterfall.avif" type="image/avif"<source...
‘I got Bitcoin!’ — trick-or-treaters rewarded with crypto
1.11.2020
One crypto user gave away at least $400 in Bitcoin gift cards to Canadian children over Halloween
The CSS Custom Property Toggle Trick
29.10.2020
Back in July 2020, I got an email from James0x57 (I always try to refer to people by their name, but I think I get the sense they prefer to go by screen name) that says:
The entire world of branching conditional logic and bulk feature toggling for custom CSS properties is possible and only exists...
Yearn Finance doppelganger scam tries to trick visitors out of their keys
22.10.2020
Scam websites posing as famous crypto projects ask for private keys so they can steal users' funds
The :focus-visible Trick
16.10.2020
Always worth repeating: all interactive elements should have a focus style. That way, a keyboard user can tell when they have moved focus to that element.
But if you use :focus alone for this, it has a side effect that a lot of people don’t like. It means that when you click (with a mouse)...
How to Conditionally Add Attributes to Objects
16.10.2020
JavaScript is full of tricks that you don’t know you want until you … want … them. Or maybe just until you see them. One trick I recently realized was conditionally adding attributes to React elements. Of course this trick essentially boils down to conditionally adding properties...
Styling Complex Labels
5.10.2020
Danielle Romo covers the HTML pattern you need when you have a wordy <label> with fancy styling for an <input type="radio">.
The trick? The ol’ <span class="hidden-visually"> that contains the label that you want to be read, and a <span aria-hidden="true"> with...
How a Spoof Turned Into a Media Hype About Bitcoin Cash
19.9.2020
An anonymous Bitcoin Cash (BCH) supporter says he deliberately started a spoof which successfully baited local media to report on the coin. The trick, which involved the use of 100 Bitcoin Cash tip stickers, only cost a total of $1,100 yet it managed to get BCH featured by media outlets...
Winamp Skin Museum
15.9.2020
65,000 skins, they say. That’s extraordinary, especially considering how creative and well done many of them are. MySpace was an even bigger creative explosion of customization.
What’s the next product that will inspire this kind of user ownership through theming? Allowing...
Using max() for an inner-element max-width
7.9.2020
I go into all this in The “Inside” Problem. The gist: you want an edge-to-edge container, but the content inside to have a limited width. I think there is absolutely no problem using a nested element inside, but it’s also fun to look at the possibilities of making that work on...
Excluding Emojis From Transparent Text Clipping
2.9.2020
CSS-Tricks has this pretty cool way of styling hovered links. By default, the text is a fairly common blue. But hover of the links, and they’re filled with a linear gradient.
😍
Pretty neat, right? And the trick isn’t all that complicated. On hover…
give the link a linear...
More Control Over CSS Borders With background-image
7.8.2020
You can make a typical CSS border dashed or dotted. For example:
.box {
border: 1px dashed black;
border: 3px dotted red;
}
You don’t have all that much control over how big or long the dashes or gaps are. And you certainly can’t give the dashes slants, fading, or animation!...
The Cicada Principle, revisited with CSS variables
5.8.2020
Lea Verou digging up the CSS trickery classic and applying it to clip the backgrounds of some code blocks:
The main idea is simple: You write your main rule using CSS variables, and then use :nth-of-*() rules to set these variables to something different every N items. If you use enough...
The GitHub Profile Trick
28.7.2020
Monica Powell shared a really cool trick the other day:
The profile README is created by creating a new repository that’s the same name as your username. For example, my GitHub username is m0nica so I created a new repository with the name m0nica.
Now the README.md from that repo is essentially...
Position Vertical Scrollbars on Opposite Side with CSS
23.7.2020
Fair warning: I can’t say I recommend this in general because it breaks a very strong expectation of where scrollbars are, which are useful for a lots of folks, not to mention, a core accessibility feature for many.
But it is a fascinating CSS trick and the web is a big place with...
Memorize Scroll Position Across Page Loads
9.7.2020
Hakim El Hattab tweeted a really nice little UX enhancement for a static site that includes a scrollable sidebar of navigation.
???? If you've got a static site with a scrollable sidebar, it really helps to memorize the scroll position across page loads.
(left is default, right memorized)...