Here's a break down how we build components with similar conventions across many different frameworks, written by my brother Ian (@frostyweather).All of these frameworks can have similar component structure, component user APIs, properties, state management, methods/functions, li … | Continue reading
You can version a design system's component library as a single package (e.g. Polaris v8.0), or you can version each component within the library as its own mini package (e.g. Atlaskit Badge v15.0.8) This post breaks down the pros and cons of versioning the whole library vs indiv … | Continue reading
If you get a chance to watch Get Back, do it. It's absolutely incredible. It's as close as anyone's going to get to being a fly on the wall and witnessing The Beatles' creative process. Here's a taste:The Beatles doc is incredible. Here’s a clip of Paul coming up with ‘Get Back’. … | Continue reading
Here's Jeremy Keith and the Clearleft crew with a new course for web.dev: Learn Responsive Design | Continue reading
This is a powerful and important read from Max Böck:He rightfully assesses the state of the landscape in its present form:This is the web as envisioned by late-stage capitalism: a giant freemium game where absolutely everyone and everything is a “digital asset” that can be packag … | Continue reading
I had the honor to be the first guest on Storybook's new Storytime show with the great Michael Chan (aka @chantastic). We talked about the history of atomic design and the rise of the modern JS landscape, how directly-consumable UI components are a game changer for front-end deve … | Continue reading
This is a great read about the web3 landscape as well as a super thoughtful critique from someone who really knows what they're talking about.I love this post because it's not some analysis from an outsider, but rather from a veteran developer who has actually created things usin … | Continue reading
We're getting closer and closer and closer to being able to actually use container queries. I for one and so freaking excited.Source: A New Container Query Polyfill That Just Works | CSS-Tricks - CSS-Tricks | Continue reading
:has() looks really cool, and I can see this being really helpful for a design system's more composable components.Source: The CSS :has() selector is way more than a “Parent Selector” – Bram.us | Continue reading
In brief, the six principal plays in the denialist playbook are: Doubt the Science Question Scientists’ Motives and Integrity Magnify Disagreements among Scientists and Cite Gadflies as Authorities Exaggerate Potential Harm Appeal to Personal Freedom Reject Whatever Would R … | Continue reading
This post is a fantastic breakdown of naming things in front-end code. Many of the specifics he outlines are things we adhere to in our own work, but ultimately any one of these conventions can be handled differently. With that in mind, these are probably the most important lines … | Continue reading
There's no doubt about it: 2021 was unquestionably better than the nightmare that was 2020. Of course, we're still in the midst of a global pandemic that continues to throw a wrench into any attempt at living a normal life, but I'll take that versus dealing with acute personal cr … | Continue reading
Defensive CSS by Ahmad Shadeed does a great job breaking down a lot of common (and not so common!) CSS issues when working with dynamic content. Super helpful for people building design systems. I'm happy to report we put most of these techniques to use, but also learned some new … | Continue reading
This article is a fantastic reminder to live our whole lives, not just our work lives.So ask yourself this: Who would you be if work was no longer the axis of your life? How would your relationship with your close friends and family change, and what role would you serve within yo … | Continue reading
We often talk about design systems as singular entities. "The design system saves time and increases quality." "Oh, the design system provides that." "Update to the latest version of the design system." The reality is that a design system is a multi-faceted layer cake, and also o … | Continue reading
I had the privilege to speak with Rachel Weissman on the Design To Be Conversation podcast about mental health. I shared my family's own recent experience with mental health issues and talked about mental health issues facing the design/tech industry today. There's a real urgency … | Continue reading
Using a design system made a simple form page 47% faster to develop versus coding it from scratch.It's super tricky to measure the value of a design system, so the folks at Sparkbox had a great idea. They raced to see how fast it would take to build a design from scratch vs using … | Continue reading
Using a design system made a simple form page 47% faster to develop versus coding it from scratch. It’s super tricky to measure the value of a design system, so the folks at Sparkbox had a great idea. They raced to see how fast it would take to build a design from scratch vs usin … | Continue reading
Back in March, I shared that I started volunteering with an organization called Project Healthy Minds. PHM's mission is three-fold:End the stigma around mental illnessGet people access to mental health careMake mental health care an integral part of how businesses and institution … | Continue reading
Back in March, I shared that I started volunteering with an organization called Project Healthy Minds. PHM’s mission is three-fold: End the stigma around mental illnessGet people access to mental health careMake mental health care an integral part of how businesses and instituti … | Continue reading
One thing we run into a fair amount in our design system work is the need to clarify the difference between “dark mode” and “components rendered on a dark background”. What is actual dark mode? prefers-color-scheme is a CSS media feature that listens to a user’s preference fo … | Continue reading
One thing we run into a fair amount in our design system work is the need to clarify the difference between "Dark mode" and "components rendered on a dark background". What is actual dark mode? prefers-color-scheme is a CSS media feature that listens to a user's preference for da … | Continue reading
Here's a great talk about web components from Dave. We've been building a lot of web component-based design systems with our clients, and I'm bullish about their future.I think if you were using Web Components before 2020 you were an early adopter and you probably have some scars … | Continue reading
This is phenomenal. | Continue reading
Subtitle: How a Wisconsin-based wastewater management magazine forever changed the trajectory of my life.In early 2010, I was hired as a "mobile web developer" at R/GA at a time when the iPhone 3GS was brand new, Android was still getting its sea legs, Nokia dominated the mobile … | Continue reading
Your docs belong in the code repository It needs to be next to the code so that authors and contributors can update/read the docs while working on the code or docs. Providing it in a separate repository or otherwise separated will undoubtedly lead to discrepancies sooner or later … | Continue reading
Fantastic read from Rachel that you can take time off — even extended time off — from the fast-moving frontend landscape and still come back and be alright.Source: I completely ignored the front end development scene for 6 months. It was fine | Continue reading
Holy shit this is absolutely fantastic.One of the most frequent, confusing conversations w/ designers is "No, the pink lines that overlay design comps aren't all that helpful for how things actually work in the browser."Grid and layout might be the facets of web design that best … | Continue reading
in our society, there seems a general rule that, the more obviously one's work benefits other people, the less one is likely to be paid for itSource: STRIKE! Magazine – On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs | Continue reading
I love making stuff. I’m always going to want to make stuff. Long after anyone wants to see my stuff, I’ll want to make stuff.Source: Conan O’Brien on His Late-Night Legacy and Future | Continue reading
What an amazing demo. Source: Container Queries in Web Components | Max Böck | Continue reading
Container queries are going to change how we build design systems. Super pumped that they're finally on the horizon. Source: Say Hello To CSS Container Queries | Continue reading
A design system's reference website (such as lightningdesignsystem.com, polaris.shopify.com, and a slew of others) serves as the center of gravity for the design system. It rounds up all the design system's ingredients and serves a watering hole for different disciplines, teams, … | Continue reading
However, as the roles of the front-end developer have stretched into the realms of ‘engineering’, it has created a split: Front-of-the-front-end: UI focused Back-of-the-front-end (referred to as ‘Engineering’ from now): Integration focused(Terms coined by Brad Frost)Again, this i … | Continue reading
I'm thrilled to announce that I'm joining Project Healthy Minds, a non-profit focused on destigmitizing mental illness and getting people access to mental health care and resources.There is a growing global mental health crisis that has been exacerbated by COVID-19 and so many ot … | Continue reading
I wrote about how much I love Notion and I've been keeping track of my healthy habits using the tool.Keeping up with new years resolutions and forming new habits requires consistency above all else. When things start slipping, it's very easy to just say "screw it" and abandon the … | Continue reading
saving space at the cost of clarity, ease of use and accessibility is a bad tradeoff to make.Source: Material Design Text Fields Are Badly Designed — Smashing Magazine | Continue reading
The Great Divide is real, and I'm pleased that the terms "front-of-the-front-end" and "back-of-the-front-end" have gained traction ever since I quipped about them on the Shop Talk Show. A few of my clients have actually moved away from a culture of "we only hire full-stack develo … | Continue reading
This image is fantastic:This is a great read from Ben: The Never-Ending Job of Selling Design Systems – A List Apart | Continue reading
This is a good deep dive into setting up design token architecture.It largely maps to how we tend to structure things, with some slight language and architectural differences: They use "Option design tokens"; we call them "Tier 1" or "Definition" design tokens. This is where a b … | Continue reading
I recently wrote about how much I love Notion and have been using it to stay on top of my personal and professional life. One of the things I've been using Notion for is to track my progress on healthy habits.The idea is to be able to look at the calendar or table at the end of t … | Continue reading
"When should we make something a component?" is a question I've been fielding for years. My strong answer: right from the start. Creating things with a component-based mindset right out the gate saves countless hours and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Everything is a component.Bu … | Continue reading
The PSP’s web browser is – charitably – pathetic. It is slow, frequently runs out of memory, and can only open 3 tabs at a time.But the GOV.UK pages are written in simple HTML. They are designed to be lightweight and will work even on rubbish browsers. They have to. This is for e … | Continue reading
Source: The context dilemma: design tokens and components | Frontside | Continue reading
This is a super impressive productivity workflow from Susan Fowler, and it's amazing to see how being thorough and disciplined can yield big results.I have a far less thorough version of this that I'd like to write up. Some of it is present in my recent post about Notion, but the … | Continue reading
Source: The 'Shared Psychosis' of Donald Trump and His Loyalists - Scientific American | Continue reading
Source: The Only Strategy Left for DemocratsDemocrats have been presented a mandate to govern aggressively on behalf of the people and the nation, and in the face of a violently unspooling and destructive right-wing party. Democrats have won the White House, and the Senate. They … | Continue reading
This is the first post I've ever written with the mindset of "I'm going to revisit this post 1, 5, 10, 20, 40 years down the road and either laugh or cry at how accurate or off the mark I was." I want to capture my thoughts — scattershot as they are — for the sake of capturing an … | Continue reading