1,379 articles from Smashing Magazine.
We love little useful tools and techniques to help folks get their work done better and faster. Today, we’d love to shine the spotlights on a little helper that helps spot common performance bottlenecks easily: [ct.css](https://csswizardry.com/ct/).
Building a development environment with the shell as a keystone offers multiple benefits. You can use tools that fit nicely with each other, you can customize everything depending on your own needs, and the biggest of all, you can control your entire development environment with your keyboard. This can save a lot of cognitive energy as well as deliver a pleasant user experience.
The last 18 months have been a time of unprecedented turbulence. As the people of the world have flooded online, businesses have joined them, using web development tools to adapt in real-time. Several years ago there seemed to be a gulf between drag-and-drop tools and full-blown web development. Today, it’s heartening to see the likes of Wix adding more code-heavy options to their repertoire.
In the right circumstances, your web analytics or real user measurement data can offer visibility into the world of imposter domains, used by web scrapers to re-publish your site content on their servers. Content scraping is a fact of life on the Internet. When you think of web scraping, you probably do not think about the scrapers turning around and immediately serving your entire, whole page con
Gatsby Functions provide front-end developers a way to write and use server-side code without the hassle of maintaining a server. If making money from open-source is of interest to you and your site isn’t built using Gatsby, Paul Scanlon brings you an approach that may well be the answer you were looking for.
Twenty years ago, Elie Sloïm chose to dedicate his professional life to web quality assurance. He started asking, ”What does quality mean for a web user?” Well, this article explains everything he has learned along the way.
Neglecting to cater your business website to your customers is not only detrimental to your sales but can also hurt your team’s productivity and operations. Integrating a CRM with your business website has numerous benefits. You equip various departments within your company with tools to organize and automate work and improve efficiency. In this article, Zara Cooper explains what these benefits ar
Front-end development is exciting and fast-moving. With newer CSS properties, we can brush the dust off our old techniques and give them another look. For years, pseudo-elements have faithfully helped front-end developers implement creative designs. While they still have an important place, we can now leave pseudo-elements behind in some scenarios, thanks to newer CSS properties.
When designing for digital spaces, it’s natural to default to digital mockup tools, but doing so cuts out a world of possibilities. Analog drawing can unleash your imagination and allow you to focus on what’s most important at the start: the ideas.
There are way too many options in Web Animations API to pick them up that easily. There’s no middle ground between simple transitions and complex animations. You’re either fine with what CSS Transitions and Animations provide or you suddenly need all the power you can get. Learning how timing works and how to control the playback of several animations at once makes for a solid foundation on which
For better or worse, the web is absolutely awash with content. A lot of it is great, a lot of it is not. A lot of the talk around it has the cold, calculating cadence you’d sooner expect from industrialists talking about assembly lines. They say content is king, and they’re right. The web has unlocked untold possibilities for storytellers — provided the story is right, of course. Here are some of
When paired with ISR and Next.js’ API routes, SWR can be used to create a responsive user experience. In this article, Sam Poder explains what SWR is, where to use it (and where not), and how to build a website by using Incremental Static Regeneration. This approach ensures that users still have a good experience, that the site is fast and that the data is kept up to date.
Being able to look past the apparent simplicity, break down a component into its constituent parts, ask key questions, and even consider future uses, are all skills that will serve any developer well when building websites In this article, we’ll walk through the process of taking a seemingly simple design for a text-and-media component and deciding how best to translate it into code, keeping in mi
What’s the state of HTML Email, Vue.js and Next.js? What are new, smart interface design patterns we could use? Let’s figure it out. With our brand new online workshops on front-end & design. Now with **free workshops** for you to test the waters.
Learn what’s new with developer tools in Firefox, Edge, Chrome and Safari. Discover new and powerful features that will help you be more comfortable and productive when testing and debugging across browsers. With this article, Patrick Brosset tries to make you want to try them out, and maybe will help you get more comfortable next time you need to debug a browser-specific issue.
After almost five years in development, the new HTTP/3 protocol is nearing its final form. In this part 3, Robin Marx will look at how to practically use and deploy QUIC and HTTP/3, by looking at most best practices and lessons learned from HTTP/2. You’ll discuss that it might take a while before off-the-shelf web server packages provide full HTTP/3 support, and how most major browsers have HTTP/3
Websites, unfortunately, aren’t as environmentally friendly as we might like them to be. In this article, Berwyn Powell takes a look at his experience in trying to make websites better for the environment. Hopefully, this will give you some ideas for things to try on your own websites. It can be quite disheartening to run a page through the Website Carbon Calculator and be told that it could be em
There are plenty of interactive ways to learn new web development skills. We learn better by playing games. So we’ve collected interactive coding tools and games to help you learn CSS, JavaScript, SQL, React, Vim, regular expressions, Jamstack and pretty much everything in-between. Louis shares a comprehensive, categorized list of such tools covering a variety of different development technologies
What exactly is a displacement filter? In this article, Dirk Weber will be diving into one of the most spectacular filter effects: the SVG feDisplacementMap filter primitive. In order to make it all easier to digest, Dirk has divided the article into three parts in which you’ll be exploring how the feDisplacementMap works, methods to create fancy displacement maps in SVG, and methods to animate th
By combining some React APIs, we can accurately manage “simple” states. With Next.js though, we can quickly find situations where we need to accommodate many other requirements. This article is intended to be used as a primer for managing complex states in a Next.js app. These strategies should fit the vast majority of apps around with little to no adjustments. Let’s have a look at some patterns t
New month, new wallpapers! In this post, you’ll find inspiring wallpaper designs for September 2021. They were created with love by artists and designers from across the globe and are available with and without a calendar. Enjoy!
Refactored codebase should result in similar or improved performance and improved codebase health. After all, if deploying the refactored codebase causes loading or performance issues, it will result in less traffic and revenue. Luckily, there are many optimization techniques we can apply to tackle potential file size and performance issues.
A compound component is one of the advanced patterns of React which makes use of an interesting way to communicate the relationship between UI components and share implicit state by leveraging an explicit parent-child relationship. In this article, Ichoku Chinoso will show you one of the advanced patterns of React which is the compound component pattern. It’s an awesome method to build reusable co
As a community, we can each work to improve our own little corners of the Web. But, collectively, we can do better. We can improve the Web and make it a better platform for privacy. The Web is still wrestling with issues we take for granted offline, privacy chief among them. These are steps The New York Times took to protect users’ data, and how you can too.
There is no “best” solution, only solutions that might work better depending on the context. The multi-monorepo approach is not suitable to every kind of project or team. In this article, Leonardo explains how to use a "multi-monorepo" approach for making the development experience faster, yet keeping your PHP packages private. This solution can be especially beneficial for PRO plugin creators.
In a world that is increasingly going remote, prioritizing good documentation and good documentation workflow is important. In this article, you’ll learn how to save hours of tedious work of writing, updating, and correcting technical documentation. In this article, you will learn how to automate your documentation workflow with Vale and GitHub Actions.
After almost five years in development, the new HTTP/3 protocol is nearing its final form. In this second part, Robin Marx will zoom in on the performance improvements that QUIC and HTTP/3 bring to the table for web-page loading. We will, however, also be somewhat skeptical of the impact we can expect from these new features in practice.
The story of Jamstack CMSs goes all the way back to the 90s. Over the years, there have been many different approaches and evolutions of static and Jamstack CMSs. In this article, Mike Neumegen will take a trip down memory lane to see how we got to the modern Jamstack CMSs we have today, and where they’re heading in the next decade.
Ethical user research isn’t only the right thing to do but it makes good business sense. Principles of ethical conduct guide our decision-making, keeping us out of trouble and holding us accountable to our users and society. Through a simple step-by-step approach, you can build an ethical practice within your organization that will ensure you’re respecting the dignity and welfare of your research
In this article, we will code a Gantt chart as a reusable Web component. We will focus on the architecture of the component, rendering the calendar with CSS Grid and managing the state of the draggable tasks with JavaScript Proxy Objects.
Your project is on a tight budget? We’ve collected some wonderful, free icons and goodies that we’ve discovered lately and that are bound to give your design the finishing touch. We’ve also just recently covered [Figma plugins](https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2021/08/figma-tools-plugins-resources/), [SVG generators](https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2021/03/svg-generators/), [accessible front-end
Software development without a roadmap is akin to driving off a cliff — an undertaking that seriously jeopardizes your product’s life. What is a business technology roadmap, and how can one be developed to support software development? That’s what we’re here to talk about. Here’s how to develop a business technology roadmap that ensures your project safely reaches its final destination.
Useful Figma plugins that will help you fix all the little slowdowns and boost your productivity. From color management and image assets to SVG shapes and animation. Whether you’re just starting out with Figma or have been using it for a good while now, this post will give you just enough pointers to make your design process faster and smoother.
How do we build and establish a successful, bulletproof design system? What’s the state of HTML Email? And what are new, smart interface design patterns we could use? Let’s find out. With our [brand new online workshops](https://smashingconf.com/online-workshops/) on front-end & design — to help us all boost skills online.
Often you need two different sets of navigation stacks for pre and post user authentication. Usually, to see more content, you have to be authenticated in some way. In many Apps, authentication is one of the most important parts because it confirms that the person trying to gain access to protected content has the right to access the information. Learning how to do it right is an important step in
In this episode, we’re talking about designing for safety. What does it mean to consider vulnerable users in our designs? Drew McLellan talks to expert Eva PenzeyMoog to find out.
After almost five years in development, the new HTTP/3 protocol is nearing its final form. Earlier iterations were already available as an experimental feature, but you can expect the availability and use of HTTP/3 proper to ramp up over in 2021. So what exactly is HTTP/3? Why was it needed so soon after HTTP/2? How can or should you use it? And especially, how does it improve web performance? Let
VS Code can be supercharged wuth hundreds of [VS Code extensions](https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2021/05/useful-vs-code-extensions-web-developers/). In this article, Leonardo shares four useful extensions that help him in his daily work.
How can we make disabled buttons more inclusive? When do they work well, and when do they fail on us? And finally, when do we actually need them, and how can we avoid them? In this article, Vitaly Friedman will take a look to common usability issues with disabled buttons, how to fix these issues and when disabling buttons actually makes sense. We’ll start from the beginning, looking into when disa
In this article, we’ll discuss and learn about the use case of iterating over React `children` and the ways to do it. In particular, we will deep dive into one of the utility methods, `React.Children.toArray`, that React gives us, which helps to iterate over the children in a way which ensures performance and determinism.
Embracing the fragility of the web empowers us to build UIs capable of adapting to the functionality they can offer, whilst still providing value to users. The User Experience (UX) doesn’t need to be all or nothing — just what is usable. This premise, known as graceful degradation allows a system to continue working when parts of it are dysfunctional — much like an electric bike becomes a regular
After analyzing CSS and its weaknesses, and management giving a green light to the refactoring project, it’s time to get to work. A team needs to agree on the internal code standards and best practices, plan out the refactoring strategy, and outline individual tasks. We need to set up a visual regression testing suite, and a maintenance plan to enforce the new standards and best practices in the f
New month, new wallpapers! In this post, you’ll find unique and inspiring wallpapers for August 2021. Created with love by the community for the community, they come in versions with and without a calendar for the month.
Having an e-commerce store is crucial for any store owner as more and more customers are turning to online shopping. In this article, Zara Cooper will cover how to build an e-commerce store using Angular 11. You shall use Commerce Layer as our headless e-commerce API. Although there may be tonnes of ways to process payments, she’ll demonstrate how to use just one, Paypal.
What are absolute units? What are the differences between relative and absolute units, and how do we create accurate sizes on the web? It’s important to note that there are still significant differences between relative and absolute units. CSS relative units are sized according to other style definitions defined by parent elements or are affected by the size of a parent container. As for absolute
Dialogs are everywhere in modern interface design (for good or for bad), and yet many of them are not accessible to assistive technologies. In this post, Kitty Giraudel is going to write a small JavaScript library for authoring accessible dialogs from the very beginning. The goal is to understand what goes into it. She’s not going to deal with styling too much, just the JavaScript part.
Next.js has strong opinions about how to organize JavaScript but not CSS. How can we develop patterns that encourage best CSS practices while also following the framework’s logic? The answer is surprisingly simple — to write well-structured CSS that balances global and local styling concerns. In this article, Alexander Dubovoy will build a website (a tea shop!) to demonstrate these patterns.
Gatsby recently announced the launch of “functions”. In this article, Paul Scanlon explains how to get the current location of the International Space Station (ISS) as it orbits the Earth in real-time using [Gatsby Functions](https://www.gatsbyjs.com/docs/reference/functions/) and then display it on a 3D interactive globe using [React Three Fibre](https://github.com/pmndrs/react-three-fiber).
Word-of-mouth recommendation is an incredibly desirable way to win work. It requires zero marketing efforts and typically converts at a higher rate as your agency has been recommended. However, you should never rely on word of mouth alone. Many web design agencies consider it a badge of honor that they win work exclusively through word-of-mouth recommendations. In this article, Paul Boag explains
Are you running a business and have too many things going on at once? Meetings, bugs, customer feedback, new clients in addition to your already tight deadlines? Let’s face it, time management is hard, and it becomes even more difficult in the trying times we are in. Here’s how tools like [Trafft](https://trafft.com) that have meeting scheduling software capabilities can be used to easily set up o
Do you need a little inspiration boost? We’ve collected some useful color tools and resources that we’ve discovered lately — to help you get the most out of your creativity. We’ve also just recently covered [CSS auditing tools](https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2021/03/css-auditing-tools/), [CSS generators](https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2021/03/css-generators/), [accessible front-end components]
In this article, Alba Silvente will take a look at when it makes sense to migrate from a monolithic project to a headless setup and the benefits that come with it. In addition to a step-by-step guide on how to migrate WordPress to Storyblok Headless CMS, the problems that will arise during the process and how to deal with them.
A critical part of any developer’s workflow is definitely testing. It helps us to ensure that our project is going to maintain a high level of quality, as well as prevent any pesky bugs from getting out into the wild. By adding visual elements to your tests, you can gain more options to add meaningful ways in maintaining a high level of quality for your app. In this article, Colby Fayock explains
Web app accessibility appears difficult because it seems that there is little information on the subject available online. Let’s take a closer look at the accessible use of framework features, concrete Vue.js traits, as well as community initiatives and vetted patterns.
There are two strategies for incrementally building websites that are growing in popularity: Incremental Static Regeneration and Distributed Persistent Rendering. What’s the difference? In this article, Cassidy Williams will tell you everything about it.
Data grids need to be easy to understand, engaging, responsive, and accessible. They need to perform well and load data fast. However, building a data grid that meets these standards from scratch can take a long time and be a huge undertaking. In this article, you’ll get to see some pretty groundbreaking things you can achieve with modern JavaScript grids. You’ll learn how these data tables solve
Too often the filtering experience on the web is broken and frustrating, making it just unnecessarily difficult for customers to get to that shiny comfortable range of relevant results. When designing the next filter, take a look at some of the common issues that you might want to avoid, and hopefully avoid all the frustration that comes from broken and inaccessible implementations.
Have you ever needed to build a UI where some component on the page needs to respond to elements as they’re scrolled to a certain threshold within the viewport — or perhaps in and out of the viewport itself? In JavaScript, attaching an event listener to constantly fire a callback on scroll can be performance-intensive, and if used unwisely, can make for a sluggish user experience. But there is a b
There are many scenarios where we don’t need to follow the architecture that frameworks like React or Next.js impose on us, and that is OK. However, jQuery is a library that contains a lot of code and features that are not needed anymore. In this article, Facundo Giuliani will take a closer look at different approaches and strategies on how you can migrate a web application that uses jQuery framew
In this three-part series, Adrian Bece is going to go through the CSS refactor process from the beginning to the end, starting with knowledge on how to approach it and some general pros and cons of refactoring, then moving onto the refactoring strategies themselves and ending with some general best practices on CSS file size and performance. CSS refactoring is not an easy task — it needs to be don
