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Free Programming Courses from Harvard, MIT, Microsoft and more (Sponsored)
26.3.2019
Did you know that you can learn programming online from institutions like Harvard, MIT and Microsoft on edX.org? The nonprofit site offers 2000 online courses from 140 institutions worldwide. Courses are free to try. EdX has over 200 courses from Microsoft alone, including an 11 course program...
Buddy: 15 Minutes to Automation Nirvana
26.3.2019
(This is a sponsored post.)
Deploying a website to the server in 2019 requires much more effort than 10 years ago. For example, here's what needs to be done nowadays to deliver a typical JS app:
split the app into chunks
configure webpack bundle
minify .js files
set up staging environment
upload...
Simple & Boring
25.3.2019
Simplicity is a funny adjective in web design and development. I'm sure it's a quoted goal for just about every project ever done. Nobody walks into a kickoff meeting like, "Hey team, design something complicated for me. Oh, and make sure the implementation is convoluted as well. Over-engineer that...
All About mailto: Links
22.3.2019
You can make a garden variety anchor link (<a>) open up a new email. Let's take a little journey into this feature. It's pretty easy to use, but as with anything web, there are lots of things to consider.
The basic functionality
<a href="mailto:someone@yoursite.com">Email...
How blockchain will disrupt the communication industry
22.3.2019
From the CMC editorial desk: One of the things we’ve always wanted to explore is what mass adoption of blockchain technology looks like. Here we have some examples of how it will change the face of the communication industry in […]
The post How blockchain will disrupt the communication...
Technical Debt is Like Tetris
21.3.2019
Here’s a wonderful post by Eric Higgins all about refactoring and technical debt. He compares giant refactoring projects to being similar to Tetris:
Similar to running a business, Tetris gets harder the longer you play. Pieces move faster and it becomes harder to keep up.
Similar to running...
Some Notes About Accessibility
20.3.2019
Earlier this month Eric Bailey wrote about the current state of accessibility on the web and why it felt like fighting an uphill battle:
As someone with a good deal of interest in the digital accessibility space, I follow WebAIM’s work closely. Their survey results are priceless insights into...
Adding Search to Your Site with JavaScript
20.3.2019
Static website generators like Gatsby and Jekyll are popular because they allow the creation of complex, templated pages that can be hosted anywhere. But the awesome simplicity of website generators is also limiting. Search is particularly hard. How do you allow users to search when you have...
Stacked “Borders”
19.3.2019
A little while back, I was in the process of adding focus styles to An Event Apart’s web site. Part of that was applying different focus effects in different areas of the design, like white rings in the header and footer and orange rings in the main text. But in one place, I wanted rings that were...
Productivity Tips I've Learned Building Scotch.io
19.3.2019
Productivity is a marathon. The more days and years I put into this coding thing (or anything like fitness for that matter), the more I realize that consistency is far more critical than bursts
The Whole Spreadsheets as Databases Thing is Pretty Cool
18.3.2019
A spreadsheet has always been a strong (if fairly literal) analogy for a database. A database has tables, which is like a single spreadsheet. Imagine a spreadsheet for tracking RSVPs for a wedding. Across the top, column titles like First Name, Last Name, Address, and Attending?. Those titles...
React Starter: React Popularity and When Not to Use React
18.3.2019
There are many big reasons for why React has become so popular. Let's examine how popular React is, what people like about it, and when we should/shouldn't use React.
Main Benefits of React
React Starter: Getting Started with React (2019 Edition)
18.3.2019
React is the uber popular JavaScript library that is almost everywhere you look these days. Learning React opens up a whole new way to build front-end experiences like websites, mobile apps, and mo
People Digging into Grid Sizing and Layout Possibilities
15.3.2019
Jen Simmons has been coining the term intrinsic design, referring to a new era in web layout where the sizing of content has gone beyond fluid columns and media query breakpoints and into, I dunno, something a bit more exotic. For example, columns that are sized more by content and guidelines than...
See No Evil: Hidden Content and Accessibility
15.3.2019
There is no one true way to hide something on the web. Nor should there be, because hiding is too vague. Are you hiding visually or temporarily (like a user menu), but the content should still be accessible? Are you hiding it from assistive tech on purpose? Are you showing it to assistive tech...
The Benefits of Structuring CSS Around Appearance and Layout
13.3.2019
I like this point that Jonathan Snook made on Twitter and I’ve been thinking about it non-stop because it describes something that’s really hard about writing CSS:
I feel like that tweet sounds either very shallow or very deep depending on how you look at it but in reality, I don't think...
The Process of Implementing A UI Design From Scratch
13.3.2019
This is a fantastic post by Ahmad Shadeed. It digs into the practical construction of a header on a website — the kind of work that many of us regularly do. It looks like it's going to be fairly easy to create the header at first, but it starts to get complicated as considerations for screen...
Planning for Responsive Images
13.3.2019
The first time I made an image responsive, it was as simple as coding these four lines:
img {
max-width: 100%;
height auto; /* default */
}
Though that worked for me as a developer, it wasn’t the best for the audience. What happens if the the image in the src attribute is heavy? On high-end...
A DEX Like No Other
13.3.2019
Liquidity, Speed, and Privacy at the Click of a Button The first generation of decentralized exchanges (DEXs) promised to revolutionize cryptocurrency trading. Finally, users would be able to buy and sell peer-to-peer, without a middleman or any centralized entity threatening […]
The post...
Downsides of Smooth Scrolling
11.3.2019
Smooth scrolling has gotten a lot easier. If you want it all the time on your page, and you are happy letting the browser deal with the duration for you, it's a single line of CSS:
html {
scroll-behavior: smooth;
}
I tried this on version 17 of this site, and it was the second most-hated thing...