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Pseudo-elements in the Web Animations API
14.5.2020
To use the Web Animations API (e.g. el.animate()) you need a reference to a DOM element to target. So, how do you use it on pseudo-elements, which don’t really offer a direct reference? Dan Wilson covers a (newish?) part of the API itself:
const logo...
Pseudo-Randomly Adding Illustrations with CSS
17.4.2020
Between each post of Eric Meyer’s blog there’s this rather lovely illustration that can randomly be one of these five options:
Eric made each illustration into a separate background image then switches out that image with the nth-of-type CSS property, like this:
.entry:nth-of-type(2n+1)::before...
Learn Eleventy From Scratch
7.4.2020
The latest edition of Andy Bell’s Piccalilli landed in my inbox this morning with a sweet offer: preorder Andy’s course on learning Eleventy from scratch at a third of the price.
Why the plug? No, not sponsorships or anything like that. I just happen to hear a heckuva lot about Eleventy...
Custom Styling Form Inputs With Modern CSS Features
7.2.2020
It’s entirely possible to build custom checkboxes, radio buttons, and toggle switches these days, while staying semantic and accessible. We don’t even need a single line of JavaScript or extra HTML elements! It’s actually gotten easier lately than it has been in the past. Let’s take a look.
Here’s...
Re-creating the ‘His Dark Materials’ Logo in CSS
11.1.2020
The text logo has a slash cut through the text. You set two copies on top of one another, cropping both of them with the clip-path property.
What's interesting to me is how many cool design effects require multiple copies of an element to do something cool. To get the extra copy, at least with...
Is “is” Useful?
3.1.2020
God I'm funny.
Anytime we have fairly repetitive selectors that have a common parent, it's probably a place we can use the :is() pseudo-selector.
Holger Bartel demonstrates like this:
section section h1, section article h1, section aside h1, section nav h1,
article section h1, article article...
European Central Bank’s CBDC Borrows Bitcoin’s Pseudo-Anonymity
20.12.2019
On December 17, the European Central Bank (ECB) published a report that showcased its blockchain technology proof-of-concept. One particular feature the central bank digital chain holds is the ability to issue “anonymity vouchers.” Also read: Lagarde Sees Demand for Stablecoins, Plans...
css.gg
18.12.2019
I'm not sure what to call these icons from Astrit Malsija. The title is "500+ CSS Icons, Customizable, Retina Ready & API" and the URL is "css.gg" but they aren't really named anything.
Anyway, their shtick is:
The 🌎's first icon library designed by code.
The idea is that they don't...
Breakout Buttons
4.10.2019
Andy covers a technique where a semantic <button> is used within a card component, but really, the whole card is clickable. The trick is to put a pseudo-element that goes beyond the button, covering the entire card. The tradeoff is that the pseudo-element sits on top of the text, so text...
Various Methods for Expanding a Box While Preserving the Border Radius
6.9.2019
I've recently noticed an interesting change on CodePen: on hovering the pens on the homepage, there's a rectangle with rounded corners expanding in the back.
Expanding box effect on the CodePen homepage.
Being the curious creature that I am, I had to check how this works! Turns out, the rectangle...
Nested Gradients with background-clip
28.8.2019
I can't say I use background-clip all that often. I'd wager it's hardly ever used in day-to-day CSS work. But I was reminded of it in a post by Stefan Judis, which consistently was itself a learning-response post to a post over here by Ana Tudor.
Here's a quick explanation.
You've probably seen...
Creating a Maintainable Icon System with Sass
28.8.2019
One of my favorite ways of adding icons to a site is by including them as data URL background images to pseudo-elements (e.g. ::after) in my CSS. This technique offers several advantages:
They don't require any additional HTTP requests other than the CSS file.
Using the background-size property...
Zdog
24.7.2019
David DeSandro has loads of super cool JavaScript libraries he's created over the years. His latest is Zdog, a "round, flat, designer-friendly pseudo-3D engine for canvas & SVG." It's only been about a month since he dropped it (although, like any good library, it's been simmering) and it...
Pseudo Code
23.7.2019
Yonatan Doron wrote a post on Medium not long ago called "Art of Code — Why you should write more Pseudo Code." Love that title, as a fan of pseudo code myself. That is, writing "code" that describes something you want to do or communicate, but that isn't of any particular language and doesn't...
Weekly Platform News: CSS ::marker pseudo-element, pre-rendering web components, adding Webmention to your site
18.7.2019
In this week's roundup: datepickers are giving keyboard users headaches, a new web component compiler that helps fight FOUC, we finally get our hands on styling list item markers, and four steps to getting webmentions on your site.
The post Weekly Platform News: CSS ::marker pseudo-element...
A Little Reminder That Pseudo Elements are Children, Kinda.
8.7.2019
Here's a container with some child elements:
<div class="container">
<div>item</div>
<div>item</div>
<div>item</div>
</div>
If I do:
.container::before {
content: "x"
}
I'm essentially doing:
<div class="container">
...
Restricting a (pseudo) element to its parent’s border-box
2.7.2019
Have you ever wanted to ensure that nothing of a (pseudo) element gets displayed outside its parent's border-box? In case you're having trouble picturing what that looks like, let's say we wanted to get the following result with minimal markup and avoiding brittle CSS.
The desired result.
This...
CSS :focus-within
25.6.2019
Using :hover to display additional information or elements is a very useful technique but a big drawback to using the hover pseudo-class is that they are usually not accessibility-friendly. Not everyone uses a mouse and some users have visual impairments, so they rely on screen readers or...
Text Wrapping & Inline Pseudo Elements
27.2.2019
I love posts like this. It's just about adding a little icon to the end of certain links, but it ends up touching on a million things along the way. I think this is an example of why some people find front-end fun and some people rather dislike it.
Things involved:
Cool [attribute] selectors that...
2019 CSS Wishlist
17.1.2019
What do you wish CSS could do natively that it can't do now? First, let's review the last time we did this in 2013.
❌ "I'd like to be able to select an element based on if it contains another particular selector"
❌ "I'd like to be able to select an element based on the content...