HTTP/3 From A To Z: Core Concepts (Part 1)

What exactly is HTTP/3? Why was it needed so soon after HTTP/2 (which was only finalized in 2015)? How can or should you use it? And especially, how does this improve web performance? Let’s find out. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 3 years ago

How to Build Resilient JavaScript UIs

Resilience is intrinsic to the web and therefore us, web developers. This article explores how graceful degradation, defensive coding, observability, and a healthy attitude towards failures better equips us before, during, and after an error occurs. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 3 years ago

Gatsby Serverless Functions and the International Space Station

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/) an … | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 3 years ago

Your Image Is Probably Not Decorative

Image placement on the modern web is highly intentional, helping to communicate the overall purpose of a page or view. This means that nearly every image you declare needs to have an alternate description. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 3 years ago

The State of Web Workers in 2021

The web is single-threaded. This makes it increasingly hard to write smooth and responsive apps. Workers have a bad rep, but can be an important and useful tool in any web developer's toolbelt for these kinds of problems. Let’s get up to speed on Workers on the Web! | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 3 years ago

Meet `:has`, A Native CSS Parent Selector

What makes relational selector one of the most requested features and how are we, as developers, working around not having it? In this article, we’re going to check the early spec of the :has selector, and see how it should improve the CSS workflow once it’s released. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 3 years ago

Making a Strong Case for Accessibility

Accessibility is often overlooked or bolted on to the end of a project. Let’s figure out how to implement and advocate for accessibility from the inception of a project to the release or handoff and beyond. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 3 years ago

When CSS Isn’t Enough: JavaScript Requirements for Accessible Components

Spoiler alert: tooltips, modals, tabs, carousels, and dropdown menus are some of the user interface components that require more than CSS. To ensure accessibility of your interface, JavaScript is a necessary addition to accomplish focus management, respond to keyboard events, and … | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 3 years ago

An Alternative Voice UI to Voice Assistants

Voice assistants are currently the most popular use case for voice user interfaces. However, due to the bad feedback loop resulting from voice assistants can only solve simple user tasks such as setting an alarm or playing music. In order for voice user interfaces to really break … | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 3 years ago

Tree-Shaking: A Reference Guide

“Tree-shaking” is a must-have performance optimization when bundling JavaScript. In this article, we dive deeper on how exactly it works and how specs and practice intertwine to make bundles leaner and more performant. Plus, you’ll get a tree-shaking checklist to use for your pro … | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 3 years ago

A Guide to Undoing Mistakes with Git

No matter how experienced you are, mistakes are an inevitable part of software development. But we can learn to repair them! And this is what we'll be looking at in this two-part series: how to undo mistakes using Git. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 3 years ago

The Evolution of Jamstack

Web-oriented databases, frameworks like Nuxt and Next.js, and even frameworkless approaches are evolving the Jamstack, but the core principles are more powerful than ever. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 3 years ago

The Humble Element and Core Web Vitals

Images have also been a key part of the web. They communicate ideas instantly, but they are also a lot heavier than text to load. This means that it’s essential to get loading and displaying them right, if you want to give your users a fantastic first impression. An excerpt from … | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 3 years ago

Making GraphQL Work in WordPress

Let’s explore the plugins providing GraphQL servers to WordPress. When should we use WPGraphQL, and when the GraphQL API for WordPress? Is there some advantage of one over the other, or some particular task that is easier to accomplish with one of them? In this article, we will f … | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 3 years ago

Incremental Static Regeneration with Next.js

Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR) is a new evolution of the Jamstack, allowing you to update static content instantly without needing a full rebuild of your site. The hybrid approach of Next.js allows you to use ISR for e-commerce, marketing pages, blog posts, ad-backed media … | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 3 years ago

An In-Depth Guide to Measuring Core Web Vitals

How are Core Web Vitals measured? How do you know your fixes have had the desired effect and when will you see the results in Google Search Console? Let’s figure it out. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 3 years ago

Where the World Wide Web Shines

Reliable accessible front-end components: :focus styles, content sliders, dark mode, data charts, date pickers, form styles, navigation menu, modals, radio buttons, "skip" links, SVGs, tabs, tables, toggles and tooltips. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 3 years ago

Getting the Most Out of Git

In this article, Tobias explores some of the less known but very useful features in Git. You’ll learn how to recover deleted commits, clean up your commit history, use submodules to manage third-party code and compose commits with precision — along with a friendly Git cheat sheet … | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 3 years ago

Useful Things You Can Do with CSS Today

The present and future of CSS are very bright indeed and if you take a pragmatic, progressive approach to your CSS, then things will continue to get better and better on your projects, too. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

EventSource, a lightweight alternative to WebSocket (2018)

What is the best way to deliver real-time updates to your web application in an easy and structured way? Is WebSockets still relevant in the world of HTTP/2? Let’s compare the architectural impact of three different mechanisms. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

We Improved SmashingMag Performance

In this article, we’ll take a close look at some of the changes we made on this very site — running on JAMStack with React — to optimize the web performance and improve the Core Web Vitals metrics. With some of the mistakes we’ve made, and some of the unexpected chang … | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

Copy If You Can: Improving Your UI Design Skills with Copywork

There’s a technique for improving one’s user interface design skills that is the most efficient way I know of expanding one’s visual vocabulary but that I’ve rarely heard mentioned by digital designers. I’m talking about copywork. Copywork is a technique that writers and painters … | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

Front-End Performance Checklist 2021

Let’s make 2021… fast! An annual front-end performance checklist (available as PDF, Apple Pages, MS Word), with everything you need to know to create fast experiences on the web today, from metrics to tooling and CSS/JavaScript techniques. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

A Practical Introduction to Dependency Injection

This article will provide a practical introduction to Dependency Injection in a manner that immediately permits you to realize its many benefits without being hampered down by theory. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

Reducing Cognitive Overload for a Better User Experience – Everyone Should Read

The best user experience is the one the user doesn’t notice. It appears smooth and simple on the surface, but hundreds of crucial design decisions have been made to guide, entertain and prevent trouble. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

Show HN: TypeScript in 50 Lessons (Book)

In TypeScript in 50 Lessons, Stefan Baumgartner breaks down the quirks of TypeScript into short, manageable lessons. You’ll make sense of TypeScript concepts, tooling for TypeScript and how to get most out of it without learning a new language. Everything TypeScript explained, fr … | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

Developing for the Semantic Web

The dream of a machine-readable Internet is as old as the Internet itself, but only in recent years has it really seemed possible. As major websites take strides towards data-fying their content, now’s the perfect time to jump on the bandwagon. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

How to Use Face Motion to Interact with Typography

In this article, we will cover how to combine Machine Learning, variable fonts, and CSS grids to create layouts that respond to the proximity, the inclination, and the number of the users’ faces. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

Google Analytics Helps Web Developers in UI/UX Design

In this article, we’ll look at 5 features in Google Analytics that can help web developers and designers in making a better user experience on their website. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

Will PWAs Replace Native Mobile Apps?

When it comes to the mobile user experience, are mobile websites all that bad? You hear so much about the benefits of building a dedicated native app, but that can become an incredibly costly gamble if users don’t take to it. That said, is the progressive web app the best choice? … | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

Autonomy Online: A Case for the IndieWeb

There is an alternative to corporate bubbles online — it’s called the IndieWeb. Build your own personal websites, control your online presence, and learn on your own terms. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

A Smashing Guide to the World of Search Engine Optimization

SEO is an ever-changing world. Blink and you’ll miss the latest best practices, thought leaders, and tools. Feeling out of touch is natural. This guide is your way back into the groove, baby. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

Crowdfunding Web Platform Features with Open Prioritization

Rachel Andrew takes a look at a new effort to crowdfund the costs of implementing browser features. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

Setting Up Redux for Use in a Real-World Application

Redux is a robust state-management library for single-page Javascript apps. It is described on the official documentation as a predictable state container for Javascript applications and it’s fairly simple to learn the concepts and implement Redux in a simple app. Going from a si … | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

Can You Design a Website for the Five Senses?

In this article, we’ll take a look at five ways you can use the senses to put your visitors in a better headspace when they enter your site and interact with your brand. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

Understanding RPC vs REST for HTTP APIs

For the last few years, whenever somebody wants to start building an HTTP API, they pretty much exclusively use REST as the go-to architectural style, over alternative approaches such as XML-RPC, SOAP and JSON-RPC. REST is made out by many to be ultimately superior to the other “ … | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

Creating Tiny Desktop Apps with Tauri and Vue.js

Tauri is a toolchain for creating small, fast, and secure desktop apps from your existing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. In this article, Kelvin explains how Tauri plays well with the progressive framework Vue.js by integrating both technologies in bundling an example web app called … | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

HTML APIs: What They Are and How to Design a Good One

As JavaScript developers, we often forget that not everyone has the same knowledge as us. It’s called the curse of knowledge: When we’re an expert on something, we cannot remember how confused we felt as newbies. We overestimate what people will find easy.Therefore, we think that … | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

Balancing Line Length and Font Size in Responsive Web Design

As we refine our methods of responsive web design, we’ve increasingly focused on measure (another word for “line length”) and its relationship to how people read. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

Generic First CSS: New Thinking on Mobile First (2018)

With the advent of responsive web design and the mobile-first approach, it’s been seven wonderful years since any new concepts have compelled us to adapt the way in which we write CSS at the base level. Well, I don’t have anything too groundbreaking to offer you, but I do have a … | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

Getting Started with Axios in Nuxt

In this tutorial, we will learn how to make a request in our Nuxt.js applications using the Axios module. We will also learn how to use the ayncData and fetch methods to fetch data on the server-side and the differences between the two methods. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

A Complete Guide to Mechanical Keyboards

In this article, we dive into the possibilities of mechanical keyboards. The different layouts, switch types and even keycap material. Strap yourself in — this will be a deep dive! | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

A Practical Overview of CSS Houdini

In this article, we take a look at each part of Houdini, its current browser support, and see how they can be used today using progressive enhancement. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

Setting height and width on HTML tags is important again

Thanks to some recent changes in browsers, it’s now well worth setting `width` and `height` attributes on your images to prevent layout shifts and improve the experience of your site visitors. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

Why Are We Talking About CSS4?

Around the web and within the CSS Working Group, there has been some discussion about whether we should specify a version of CSS — perhaps naming it CSS4. In this article, Rachel Andrew rounds up some of the pros and cons of doing so, and asks for your feedback on the sugge … | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

What Does a Foldable Web Mean?

Foldable devices have brought with them talk of a ‘foldable web,’ and the idea that long-standing web conventions may be on the verge of a serious shakeup. Is it all hype, or is it time to get flexible? | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

How to Design Mobile Apps for One-Hand Usage

90% of the smartphones sold today have 5-inch displays. Bigger screen real estate presents newer challenges and opportunities for app makers and designers. Let’s look at how designing apps for one-handed usage can solve those challenges. | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 4 years ago

What to Do If People Hate Your Brand Mascot

Does your website have a mascot that the audience isn’t responding well to or that outright hates it? Or maybe your new client has brought along a mascot that you’re unsure about? If a mascot’s design or messaging isn’t on point with an audience, there’s no sense in keeping it as … | Continue reading


@smashingmagazine.com | 5 years ago