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The best problem-solving writing in software engineering — databases, performance, security, frontend and distributed systems, in one feed.

11,773 articles
Frontend — Browser Version Release Spectrum

Browser Version Release Spectrum

Whenever a browser upgrades versions, it's a little marketing event, and rightly so. Looks like for Firefox it's about once a month, Chrome is ~6 weeks, and

CCChris Coyier·February 5, 2020Frontend
Security — HTTPS is Easy!

HTTPS is Easy!

I've been guilty of publicly bemoaning the complexity of HTTPS. In the past, I've purchased SSL certificates from third-party vendors and had trouble

CCChris Coyier·February 5, 2020Security
Frontend — A Day in the Life of a Frontend Product Engineer at Slack

A Day in the Life of a Frontend Product Engineer at Slack

6:45am The sound of coffee grinding wakes me up 15 minutes before my alarm. I’m not a morning person, but I always stumble bleary-eyed into the kitchen for some toast and coffee with my partner, which is my favorite daily ritual. I sit down, listen to my morning news podcasts — The Daily and AM…

SESlack Engineering·February 5, 2020Frontend
Frontend — Magic Flip Cards: Solving A Common Sizing Problem — Smashing Magazine

Magic Flip Cards: Solving A Common Sizing Problem — Smashing Magazine

In this article, Dan Halliday reviews the standard approach to creating animated flip cards, and introduces an improved method which solves its sizing problem. You’re going to build a flip card grid with some CSS basics — transforms, flex, and grid. Dan will cover: how flip cards are usually implemented using absolute positioning, the sizing problem that absolute positioning introduces, and a gene

DHDan HallidayDan Halliday·February 5, 2020Frontend
Frontend — CSS4

CSS4

What is CSS4? Is it a real thing? I hate to break it to you, but not really. But maybe we could make it a thing? CSS3 was successful, so why not keep that train rolling like they do in JavaScript?

CCChris Coyier·February 4, 2020Frontend
Engineering — PHP is A-OK for Templating

PHP is A-OK for Templating

PHP templating often gets a bad rap for facilitating subpar code — but that doesn't have to be the case. Let’s look at how PHP projects can enforce a basic

CGChris GeelhoedChris Geelhoed·February 4, 2020Engineering
Design & UX — Meet “The Ethical Design Handbook”: How To Leave Dark Patterns Behind — Smashing Magazine

Meet “The Ethical Design Handbook”: How To Leave Dark Patterns Behind — Smashing Magazine

We need to craft better digital products that respect customer’s choices without hurting business KPIs. And we need to do so by taming data collection and abandoning dark patterns, from hidden checkboxes to ambiguous copywriting. Today, Vitaly Friedman brings you our new practical guide on how to influence a positive change in your company and help your business grow sustainably. Without dark patt

VFVitaly FriedmanVitaly Friedman·February 4, 2020Design & UX
Security — How To Create A Headless WordPress Site On The JAMstack — Smashing Magazine

How To Create A Headless WordPress Site On The JAMstack — Smashing Magazine

In this post, we’ll set up a demo site and tutorial for headless WordPress, including a starter template! We’ll use the WordPress dashboard for rich content editing, while migrating the front-end architecture to the JAMstack to benefit from better security, performance, and reliability. We’ll do this by setting up a Vue application with Nuxt, pulling in the posts from our application via the WordP

SGSarahdrasner Geoffgraham·February 4, 2020Security
Engineering — The Three Types of Code

The Three Types of Code

Every time I start a new project, I organize the code I’m looking at into three types, or categories if you like. And I think these types can be applied to

RRRobin RendleRobin Rendle·February 3, 2020Engineering
Engineering — Freezing User-Agent Strings

Freezing User-Agent Strings

There's been news about Chrome freezing their User-Agent string (and all other major browsers are on board). That means they'll still have a User-Agent (UA)

CCChris Coyier·February 3, 2020Engineering
Performance — An Interview With Zach Leatherman: A SmashingConf Austin Speaker — Smashing Magazine

An Interview With Zach Leatherman: A SmashingConf Austin Speaker — Smashing Magazine

SmashingConf is coming to Austin, and in this post, Rachel Andrew brings you an interview with one of our speakers, Zach Leatherman, who will be talking about type and font performance. Zach is no stranger to the Smashing stage, and if you want to find out more about web fonts and loading strategies, you can watch his talk from SmashingConf London 2018.

RARachel AndrewRachel Andrew·February 3, 2020Performance