WebDev Feed

Web browsers are experimenting with two HTML attributes — technically, they’re called “invoker commands” — that are designed to invoke popovers, dialogs, and further down the line, all kinds of actions without writing JavaScript. Although, if you do reach for JavaScript, the new attributes come with some new events that we can listen for. Invoke

A simple concept of animating one element across different waypoints on scroll using GSAP Flip and ScrollTrigger.

Do you subscribe to Piccalilli? You should. If you're reading that name for the first time, that would be none other than Andy Bell running the ship and he's reimagined the site from the ground-up after coming out of hibernation this year. You're likely familiar with Andy's great writing here on CSS-Tricks. Complete CSS Course originally published on CS

A look behind the ChainGPT Labs, ChainGPT's new venture capital and incubator for the next generation of web3 startups. Designed by Sigma Software Design team, and compiled into an insight-packed case study by Sigma's designer, Ilya Kostin.

Two different kinds of “focusable” UI elements * REM? PX? Why not both?

Discover how AI is reshaping web design, boosting productivity in design, coding, UX, and copywriting while amplifying human creativity in a new article by Paul Boag.

A ready-to-use search bar made with Framer Motion, featuring an interesting gooey effect.

A Friendly Introduction to Container Queries * Gentrified by design

In this article, we take you behind the scenes to explore the creative development process of the website for Moxey.no, a film production company based in Stavanger, Norway.

Learn how to bring the Mac Mini animation to life using Rive’s powerful no-code tools, with tips on nested artboards, state machines, and faux 3D effects.

Penpot helps designers and developers work better together by offering a free, open-source design tool based on open web standards. Today, let’s explore its newly released Penpot Plugin System. So now, if there’s a functionality missing, you don’t need to jump into the code base straight away; you can create a plugin to achieve what you need. And you can even serve it from localhost!

Explore the world of shaders with this easy-to-follow guide to creating a custom ASCII art animation using WebGL, Perlin noise, and GLSL.

It’s the end of the year, and as we look at our inventory, we thought, “Let’s help everyone in our community get ready for the year ahead!” Get friendly pricing on bundles of books and workshops to dive deep into the subjects you care about most. Let’s bundle up and save!

You've played Flexbox Froggy before, right? Or maybe Grid Garden? They're both absolute musts for learning the basics of modern CSS layout using Flexbox and CSS Grid. Thomas Park made those and he's back with another game: Anchoreum. Anchoreum: A New Game for Learning Anchor Positioning originally published on CSS

Cookie banners * The and elements are getting an upgrade

Penpot's new Plugin System invites designers and developers to customize, innovate, and expand their creative workflows—plus, join the Plugin Contest for a chance to showcase your skills and win big!

Another title from A Book Apart has been re-released for free. The latest? Tim Brown's Flexible Typesetting. I may not be the utmost expert on typography and its best practices but I do remember reading this book (it's still on the shelf next to me!) thinking maybe, just maybe, I might be able to hold a conversation about it with Robin when I finished it. Tim Bro

Let’s spend some time looking at disclosures, the Dialog API, the Popover API, and more. We’ll look at the right time to use each one depending on your needs. Modal or non-modal? JavaScript or pure HTML/CSS? Not sure? Don’t worry, we’ll go into all that. The Different (and Modern) Ways to Toggle Content originally published on

Thomas Bohm rethinks technical illustrations and data visualizations, sharing interesting and uncommon examples of how to present data and information. Bar graphs and pie charts are great, but there’s so much more to explore!

The State of CSS 2024 survey wrapped up and the results are interesting, as always. Even though each section is worth analyzing, we are usually most hyped about the section on the most used CSS features. And if you … Popp

We can apply the concept of fluid typography to almost anything. This way we can have a layout that fluidly changes with the size of its parent container. Few users will ever see the transition, but they will all appreciate the results. Honestly, they will. Fluid Everything Else originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the

Feeling good with your Lighthouse score of 100%? You should! But you should also know that you’re only looking at part of the performance picture. Learn how Lighthouse scores are measured differently than other tools, the impact that has on measuring performance metrics, and why you need real-user monitoring for a complete picture.

Can we recreate a JavaScript library for scrolling animations with a modern CSS approach using CSS Scroll-Driven Animations? Yes. Yes, we can. Web-Slinger.css: Like Wow.js But With CSS-y Scroll Animations originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the

November is just around the corner and that means: It’s time for some new desktop wallpapers! Created with love by the community for the community, they are available in versions with and without a calendar. Enjoy!

The results from this year's survey are fairly fresh off the presses. We took a little time to sit with them and jot down some things we noticed and found interesting. State of CSS 2024 Results originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the

There are many myths revolving around Gen Z and how they use tech. Time to take a look at actual behavior patterns that go beyond heavy use of social media. Part of [Smart Interface Design Patterns](https://smart-interface-design-patterns.com) by yours truly.

What are tooltips, exactly? There's two kinds and the one you use has implications on the user experience, as Zell illustrates in this explainer on best practices. Tooltip Best Practices originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the

Dark mode interfaces have matured a lot in the past few years. We all know the "traditional" approach using media queries but in this article, Sara Joy demonstrates modern CSS features that make respecting user color scheme preferences pretty darn easy. Come to the light-dark() Side originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the

Imagine a scenario where you need to split a layout in half. Basically two equal height columns are needed inside of a container. Each side takes up exactly half of the container. Like many things in CSS, there are a number of ways to go about this. Left Half and Right Half Layout – Many Different Ways originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is p

The CSS text-wrap property is (rightfully) widely assumed to be used strictly for text elements. But Terrence Eden posted an article on his blog that shows how it can also be used to balance the way other types of elements wrap, including icons. You can use text-wrap: balance; on icons originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is

Pop quiz! What's the difference between a Popover element and a Dialog element? The answer is not all that clear and is widely misunderstood, but Zell has a clear way to explain it so that you know which element to reach for in your work. Clarifying the Relationship Between Popovers and Dialogs originally published on

There’s a lot of math behind fluid typography. CSS does make the math a lot easier these days, but even if you’re comfortable with that, writing the full declaration can be verbose and tough to remember. I know I often … Clamp it! VS Code extension originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the

Victor Ayomipo experiments with the CSS `min()` function, exploring its flexibility with different units to determine if it is the be-all, end-all for responsiveness. Discover the cautions he highlights against dogmatic approaches to web design based on his findings.

Design decisions shouldn’t be a matter of personal preference. We can use reliable design KPIs and UX metrics to guide and shape our design work and measure its impact on business. Meet How To Measure UX and Design Impact, our new video course that helps with just that.

In this third part of the series, you are looking at two models that handle all three modalities — text, images or videos, and audio — without needing a second model for text-to-speech or speech recognition.

RSS is a classic technology that fetches content from websites and feeds it to anyone who subscribes to it with a URL. It’s based on XML, and we can use it to consume the feeds in our own apps. Karin Hendrikse demonstrates how to do exactly that with a static site you can use as your personal RSS reader.

You can’t overstate the importance of accessible website design. By the same token, bottom-up philosophies are crucial in modern site-building. A detail-oriented approach makes it easier to serve a more diverse audience along several fronts. Making the most of this opportunity will both extend your reach to new niches and make the web a more equitable place.

Go behind the scenes with Björn Ottosson, the Swedish engineer who created Oklab color space, and discover how he developed a simple yet effective model with good hue uniformity while also handling lightness and saturation well — and is “okay” to use.

Could there be a better way to celebrate the beginning of a new month than with a collection of desktop wallpapers? We’ve got some eye-catching designs to sweeten up your October. Enjoy!

One of the main laws that applies to almost everything in our lives, including building digital products, is Murphy’s Law: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” Our goal is to prevent things from going wrong and, if they do, mitigate the consequences. In this article, Victor Ponamarev explores different strategies for preventing users from making mistakes.

In this age of endless newfangled organizational tools, the spreadsheet holds firm. Frederick O’Brien explains how, from engineering to design, they can still provide a rock-solid foundation for your work.

This article aims to celebrate the power of introversion in UX research and design. Victor Yocco debunks common misconceptions, explores the unique strengths introverted researchers and designers bring to the table, and offers practical tips for thriving in a field that sometimes seems tailored for extroverts.

Myriam Frisano explores the basics of hand-coding SVGs with practical examples to demystify the inner workings of common SVG elements. In this guide, you’ll learn about asking the right questions to solve common positioning problems and how to leverage JavaScript so that, by the end, you can add “SVG coding” to your toolbox. You’ll also be able to declare proudly, “I know how to draw literal pictures with words!”

Creating ready-to-implement Lottie animations with a single tool is now possible thanks to SVGator’s latest feature updates. In this article, you will learn how to create and animate a Lottie using SVGator, an online animation tool that has zero learning curve if you’re familiar with at least one design tool.

Bringing data to life in your application can be done without the usual headaches. Paul Scanlon shows you how you can build beautiful data visualizations using the Google Analytics API, and you won’t have to spend any time “massaging” the data.

Anticipatory design, powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine learning (ML), and Big Data (BD), promises to transform user experiences by predicting and fulfilling needs before users even express them. While this proactive approach seems revolutionary, many businesses struggle to meet the high expectations it sets. Joana Cerejo delves into the challenges of anticipatory design, highlights key failures, and offers a framework to help designers and businesses succeed in this complex landsc

Google Analytics is often on a “need to know” basis, but why not flip the script? Paul Scanlon shares how he wrote a GitHub Action that queries Google Analytics to automatically generate and post a top ten page views report to Slack, making it incredibly easy to track page performance and share insights with your team.

Sticky positioning is one of those CSS features that’s pretty delicate and can be negated by a lot of things, so here’s another one to add to your mental catalog: Sticky elements don’t play nicely if they have to coordinate with other elements to make up a combined height, like `100vh`. Philip Braunen explores why this happens and presents a solution to fix it.

Designing for digital products requires a different mindset than traditional websites. It’s all about continuous adaptation, refining, and iterating as user behavior and needs evolve. Paul Boag reflects on the key differences, including how the frequency of usage impacts your design approach and what you can do about it.

Let’s get ready for September with a fresh collection of desktop wallpapers! Created with love by the community for the community, they come in versions with and without a calendar. Enjoy!

In the second part of this series, Joas Pambou aims to build a more advanced version of the previous application that performs conversational analyses on images or videos, much like a chatbot assistant. This means you can ask and learn more about your input content.

Want to create more randomized effects in your JavaScript code? The `Math.random()` method alone, with its limitations, won’t cut it for generating unique random numbers. Amejimaobari Ollornwi explains how to generate a series of unique random numbers using the `Set` object, how to use these random numbers as indexes for arrays, and explores some practical applications of randomization.

Finding the right typeface for a logo is a challenge and can be a very time-consuming process that requires both creativity and a practical approach. Levi Honing provides the essential background and tools to enhance your typography journey and apply this knowledge to your logo design. Let’s dive deep to learn how to create a logo that is not only expressive but also purposeful and well-thought-out.

Although JavaScript regexes used to be underpowered compared to other modern flavors, numerous improvements in recent years mean that’s no longer true. Steven Levithan evaluates the history and present state of regular expressions in JavaScript with tips to make your regexes more readable, maintainable, and resilient.

Discover effective pricing strategies for digital projects. Learn how to balance fixed pricing, time and materials, and value-based approaches while managing client expectations and scope creep.

Ever felt pressure to speed up your design process? Here’s how to address unrealistic expectations and foster a shared understanding with stakeholders, ensuring everyone is aligned on the path to a successful delivery. Part of [Smart Interface Design Patterns](https://smart-interface-design-patterns.com) by yours truly.

In this two-part series, Andrii Zhdan outlines common challenges faced at the start of a design career and offers advice to smooth your journey based on insights from his experience hiring designers. In Part 2, Andrii speaks about how you can grow faster in your brand-new junior UX job.

For teams working remotely across the globe or together in an office, as well as for any group of collaborating users, a scheduler can be a valuable tool indeed. In this post, you’ll find some of the best commercial web scheduler libraries (JavaScript based) with amazing UX and high efficiency that are currently available.

Have you ever wondered what happened after CSS3? It’s common knowledge that we never saw CSS4 come after it, yet we have a plethora of new features that have no similar way of defining when they were introduced. The W3C CSS-Next community group is actively searching for better approaches for how we describe the evolution of CSS over time and identify feature sets as effectively as we did with CSS3 way back in 2009 — and you can help.

In this two-part series, Andrii Zhdan outlines common challenges faced at the start of a design career and offers advice to smooth your journey based on insights from his experience hiring designers. Learn why mastering design tools is crucial, how to build a strong portfolio, and tips for acing your first interviews.

Handling translations for multilingual websites is famously difficult and, yet, crucial for many companies and organizations that serve a global audience. Thankfully, modern tooling abstracts away a great deal of the work, allowing for seamless translations that dynamically update the rendered content on a page, as demonstrated in this step-by-step tutorial.

Do you need a little inspiration boost? Well, then our new batch of desktop wallpapers might be for you. Designed by the community for the community, they come in versions with and without a calendar for August 2024. Enjoy!

Many UX professionals often find themselves working alone, and usually face more projects impacting user experience than they can handle. In this article, Paul Boag explains how UX teams can be transformed into a significant driver of customer-centric innovation within organizations.

Joas Pambou built an app that integrates vision language models (VLMs) and text-to-speech (TTS) AI technologies to describe images audibly with speech. This audio description tool can be a big help for people with sight challenges to understand what’s in an image. But how this does it even work? Joas explains how these AI systems work and their potential uses, including how he built the app and ways to further improve it.

WCAG provides guidance for making interactive elements more accessible by specifying minimum size requirements. In this article, Eric Bailey discusses the nuances of interactive element sizes and clarifies what it looks like to provide accessible interactive experiences using WCAG-compliant target sizes.