Interface copy plays a crucial role in the overall user experience, helping guide users smoothly, allowing them to navigate easily through the app, discover and start using product features, and more. In this article, you’ll find simple, practical tips and a checklist to help you … | Continue reading
Gaining buy-in for accessibility can be challenging due to common myths and misunderstandings. For many, accessibility remains a big mystery. Here are some practical techniques for winning stakeholder support and making accessibility relatable by bringing accessibility testing to … | Continue reading
The biggest mistake you can make in UX design is to launch a website or app and then walk away. Monitoring and improving after launch will benefit users and your metrics. Nothing will bring bigger gains. | Continue reading
Balancing the age-old simplicity of words on paper with the myriad creative possibilities of the web is a tension as old as the web itself. Leaning into that overlap can bring new dimensions not just to the things we write but also to how we write them. | Continue reading
Have you heard of the Screen Orientation API? What about the Device Orientation API, Vibration API, or the Contact Picker API? Juan Diego Rodriguez is interested in these under-the-radar web features and discusses how they can be used to create more usable and robust progressive … | Continue reading
Job openings typically cast a very restrictive frame for candidates, with long lists of expectations and requirements. But what if this narrow focus can overlook the value of “V”-shaped designers who excel by crossing boundaries, connecting dots, and innovating beyond rigid boxes … | Continue reading
Whether you want to take your user research skills to the next level, get better at UX writing, or stay up-to-date on the latest design trends, a newsletter is the perfect opportunity to get the best of the best resources delivered straight to your inbox on a regular basis. In th … | Continue reading
What are these CSS Container Style Queries, and why should you use them? Juan Diego Rodríguez delves deeply into style queries, and not at the syntax level, but at what exactly they are solving and what sort of use cases you would find yourselves reaching for them in your work if … | Continue reading
The 2-page login pattern is becoming pervasive. Here are the reasons behind this design choice and alternative solutions to create a more efficient and user-friendly authentication experience. | Continue reading
Kristian Mikhel covers various practical applications of scents in product experience, from immersive entertainment to healing spaces and medical appliances, and how designers can drive innovation across spheres and disciplines. | Continue reading
Do perfect Lighthouse scores mean the performance of your website is perfect? As it turns out, Lighthouse is influenced by a number of things that can be manipulated and bent to make sites seem more performant than they really are, as Salma Alam-Naylor demonstrates in several exp … | Continue reading
The times for CSS have probably never been more exciting than today. In this quick read, we’ve got some useful CSS tips and techniques for you that you can apply to your work right away. Let’s dive deeper into self-modifying CSS variables, hanging punctuation, and more. | Continue reading
There’s more to achieving good UX than research and design. We need to effectively communicate our ideas to gain buy-in from key stakeholders. Victor covers how UX practitioners can harness the power of persuasion and other tactics from the field of communication when presenting … | Continue reading
The web is still a young platform, and we’re only now beginning to recognize what “success” looks like for large projects. In his recent Smashing book, [Success at Scale](https://www.smashingmagazine.com/printed-books/success-at-scale/), Addy Osmani presents practical case studie … | Continue reading
Let’s kick off June with some fresh inspiration! Artists and designers from across the globe once again tickled their creativity to celebrate the beginning of the new month with a collection of beautiful and unique wallpaper calendars. | Continue reading
What does it mean to learn the “basics”, or fundamentals, of front-end web development? Is starting with HTML and CSS still the best entry point to learn how to make websites and apps when we have a seemingly endless supply of frameworks? Geoff Graham thinks so and discusses why … | Continue reading
Imagine finally resolving never-ending discussions about UI decisions for good. Here are some practical examples of decision trees for UI components and how to use them effectively. An upcoming part of [Smart Interface Design Patterns](https://smart-interface-design-patterns.com) … | Continue reading
Application frameworks have built whole ecosystems on top of them. Let’s take a closer look at serverless platforms such as Netlify’s [Platform Primitives](https://www.netlify.com/platform/primitives) and explore how they can increase our productivity with a serverless fullstack … | Continue reading
After years of relying on checkbox hacks to create a “switch” control for forms that toggle between two states, HTML may be gaining a native way to go about it by adding a `switch` attribute to checkbox inputs. Daniel Yuschick walks us through a first impression of switch control … | Continue reading
How can we get better at naming? This post is dedicated to naming conventions, tips, and real-world examples that help you name things in a robust and flexible way. | Continue reading
It’s easy to get lost in a sea of CSS frameworks and libraries, each promising easier styling and smoother layouts. Brecht De Ruyte demonstrates four CSS utility classes (plus a bonus) using techniques that allow them to be used practically anywhere you need a particular layout — … | Continue reading
Should you hide or disable a feature? You’ve probably been there before. Here are some considerations for hiding versus disabling, along with possible alternatives to improve UX. An upcoming part of [Smart Interface Design Patterns](https://smart-interface-design-patterns.com). | Continue reading
Is there such a thing as harmony between designers and developers in the workplace, and if so, how can it be achieved? In this article, Chris Day explores the challenges of effective collaboration, outlines the key factors at play, and (hopefully!) empowers you to find the right … | Continue reading
Juan Diego Rodriguez explains why media queries still occupy a vital role in responsive layouts; only they are now one tool in a larger toolbox with modern techniques that are best when used together. | Continue reading
Is there such a thing as harmony between designers and developers in the workplace, and if so, how can it be achieved? In this article, Chris Day explores the challenges of effective collaboration, outlines the key factors at play, and (hopefully!) empowers you to find the right … | Continue reading
How do we conduct UX research when there is no or only limited access to users? Here are some workarounds to run UX research or make a strong case for it. An upcoming part of [Smart Interface Design Patterns](https://smart-interface-design-patterns.com). | Continue reading
Preethi Sam walks through an example that demonstrates where custom properties are more suitable than variables while showcasing the greater freedom and flexibility that custom properties provide for designing complex, refined animations. | Continue reading
In this comprehensive guide, Temani Afif explores different techniques for creating common shapes with the smallest and most flexible code possible. | Continue reading
React Server Components (RSCs) combine the best of client-side rendering, and author Lazar Nikolov thoroughly examines how we got here with a deep look at the impact that RSCs have on the page load timeline. | Continue reading
How do we conduct UX research when there is no or only limited access to users? Here are some workarounds to run UX research or make a strong case for it. An upcoming part of Smart Interface Design Patterns. | Continue reading
In this article, Eduard Kuric discusses mouse interaction data, what kind of magic can be done with it, and some of the hidden pitfalls to watch out for so you get a head start incorporating them in your solutions. | Continue reading
Amit Sheen demonstrates using `:has()` to apply styles conditionally when a certain `` in a `` element is chosen by the user and how we gain even more conditional styling capabilities when chaining `:has()` with other pseudo-classes, such as `:not()` — no JavaScript necessary. | Continue reading
May is almost here, so what better occasion could there be for some fresh and inspiring desktop wallpapers? Created with love by artists and designers from across the globe, the wallpapers in this post come in versions with and without a calendar. Enjoy! | Continue reading
Business acquisitions are common but often shrouded in mystery because they happen behind closed doors. In this article, Yaakov details the story of his company and the journey it took him on, shedding light on the process of selling a business and what he learned from the experi … | Continue reading
Free-tier pricing is a common marketing strategy. “Free” gets people in the door and allows them to settle in and see how things work. But, as Juan Diego Rodriguez explains, the practice of free *tiers* is often conflated with free *trials*. And while the distinction may be nuanc … | Continue reading
Conducting UX research that includes participants with a variety of disabilities is vital to building inclusive technology, but most prototypes used for testing are inaccessible. Rather than continuing to leave out feedback from disabled consumers, which ultimately leads to exclu … | Continue reading
This article illustrates how AI can be leveraged to build tools that can be inclusive with a little bit of an additional effort. | Continue reading
Scrolling, scanning, skipping: How do users consume content online? Here’s what you need to know about reading behavior and design strategies to prevent harmful scanning patterns. An upcoming part of Smart Interface Design Patterns. | Continue reading
What options do we have for integrating GraphQL with WordPress in 2024? Leonardo Losoviz describes the developments that have taken place in this space over the last three years. | Continue reading
What do you do when you need to convert plain text into formatted HTML? Perhaps you reach for Markdown or manually write in the element tags yourself. Or maybe you have one or two of the dozens of online tools that will do it for you. In this tutorial, Alexis Kypridemos picks tho … | Continue reading
The three Core Web Vitals metrics don’t only tell you how visitors experience your website but also impact your Google search result rankings. In this article, we’ll look at what Core Web Vitals are, how they are measured, and how you can use DebugBear to monitor them continuousl … | Continue reading
Creating 3D effects in CSS isn’t an entirely new concept, but typical approaches use additional elements in the markup and pseudo-elements in the styles to pull it off. Temani Afif applies 3D effects and sliding transitions to a single `` using clever CSS techniques that demonstr … | Continue reading
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 Penpot’s latest feature, CSS Grid Layout. Penpot’s latest release is about efficiency and so much more. It gives designers supe … | Continue reading
Victor Yocco reviews the components of the Transactional Model of communication, explaining how we might apply this framework to preparing, conducting, and analysing our UX research. You will understand how many UX research best practices align with the model and get an example o … | Continue reading
What can we do to make a mobile app better? What subsidiary features are worth providing for our users? I have some ideas. You might, too. So, let’s compare our notes. Without any prescriptions attached, here are seven features I believe can palpably improve a user’s experience w … | Continue reading
Tatsiana Tarkan digs deep into iconography as part of a design system and shares some doable tips that will turn icon creation and maintenance into an enjoyable process. | Continue reading
Remember the HTML ` ` element? It’s deprecated, so it’s not like you’re going to use it when you need some sort of horizontal auto-scrolling feature. That’s where CSS comes in because it has all the tools we need to pull it off. Silvestar Bistrović demonstrates a technique that m … | Continue reading
Could there be a better way to welcome the new month than with a little inspiration boost? We might have one for you: desktop wallpapers created by the community for the community. Enjoy! | Continue reading