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Why I Write CSS in JavaScript
5.3.2019
I'm never going to tell you that writing your CSS in CSS (or some syntactic preprocessor) is a bad idea. I think you can be perfectly productive and performant without any tooling at all. But, I also think writing CSS in JavaScript is a good idea for component-based styles in codebases that build...
Learning to Learn
4.3.2019
There’s been a lot of talk recently about whether or not you need a degree to be in tech (spoiler: you don’t). But please don’t take this to mean you don’t need any kind of education to be in tech, because by not getting a degree, you’re opting to replace the imposed learning structure of...
Mask Compositing: The Crash Course
2.3.2019
At the start of 2018, as I was starting to go a bit deeper into CSS gradient masking in order to create interesting visuals one would think are impossible otherwise with just a single element and a tiny bit of CSS, I learned about a property that had previously been completely unknown to...
Writing Tests for React Applications Using Jest and Enzyme
1.3.2019
While it is important to have a well-tested API, solid test coverage is a must for any React application. Tests increase confidence in the code and helps prevent shipping bugs to users.
That’s why we’re going to focus on testing in this post, specifically for React applications. By the end, you’ll...
Dealing with overflow and position: sticky;
25.2.2019
Any overflow value other than visible and no height is the enemy of child elements with position: sticky;. It's like that element is ready to stick when the parent scrolls, but it never does because the height is unconstrained. Adding a fixed height can solve the issue, but that's not always...
Chris Coyier’s Favorite CodePen Demos IV
25.2.2019
Did you know you can triple-heart things on CodePen? We’ve had that little not-so-hidden feature forever. You can click that little heart button on any Pen (or Project, Collection, or Post) on CodePen to show the creator a little love, but you can click it again and again to heart it just that...
Building a Landing Page Fast Using the Visual Composer Website Builder (Sponsored)
20.2.2019
What if it were possible to build a landing page from top to bottom, including a header and a footer, and do so without any need for writing code? And even if it was possible, could you reasonably expect to do so as easily and quickly as putting together a puzzle designed for children...
Getting to Grips with the Airtable API
14.2.2019
The Airtable web app is pretty neat. You can use it like a spreadsheet but it’s useful for all sorts of other things too. The neatest thing about it for me is that it has an API so that you can treat it like a database.
I’ve been thinking about making weekly notes for the different teams I work...
Quick! What’s the Difference Between Flexbox and Grid?
12.2.2019
Let's go rapid fire and try to answer this question with quick points rather than long explanations. There are a lot of similarities between flexbox and grid, starting with the fact that they are used for layout and much more powerful than any layout technique that came before them. They...
JavaScript Glossary: Array.some()
8.2.2019
Basics
This method checks if any of the elements contained in an array passes a set test. If at least one of the elements passes this test, true is returned. This method only
Well, Typetura seems fun
1.2.2019
I came across this update from Scott Kellum's and Sal Hernandez's project Typetura via my Medium feed this morning, and what a delight?!
(Also, wow, I really have been out of the game for a minute.)
Typetura.js is a fluid design solution, for any property, based on any input. It’s not for just...
Forms that Move With You with Wufoo
31.1.2019
I've been into the idea of JAMstack lately. In fact, it was at the inaugural JAMstack_conf that I gave a talked called The All-Powerful Font-End Developer. My overall point there was that there are all these services that we can leverage as front-end developers to build complete websites without...
How to Change Animated GIF Speed
29.1.2019
Comedians would tell you that timing is the most important part of any joke. The same could be said about animated GIFs; whether they’re used as a meme or to illustrate a process, the speed of an animated GIF can effect its effectiveness. With that idea in mind, I set about trying to figure...
New CodePen Feature: Prefill Embeds
21.1.2019
I've very excited to have this feature released for CodePen. It's very progressive enhancement friendly in the sense that you can take any <pre> block of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (or any combination of them) and enhance it into an embed, meaning you can see the rendered output. It also...
Why isn’t it <style src=””>?
10.12.2018
The way JavaScript works is we can do scripts as an inline block:
<script>
let foo = "bar";
</script>
Or, if the script should be fetched from the network...
<script src="/js/global.js"></script>
With CSS, we can do an inline block of styles:
<style>
.foo...
What do you name color variables?
7.12.2018
What naming scheme do you use for color variables? Have you succeeded at writing CSS that uses color variables in a manner agnostic to the colors they represent?I've tried all of the following, and I have yet to succeed at writing CSS that works well with any color scheme....
Embed a Blog Onto Any Website With DropInBlog
30.11.2018
With DropInBlog, you can embed a blog into your site in only three minutes. A quick JavaScript/HTML widget, or a full-featured JSON API, is all it takes.
A headless blog you can take anywhere
Ever been working on your existing static site or anything that wasn’t built with WordPress, wanted...
Find and Change Default App for File Type from Command Line
23.10.2018
There are few things more frustrating to any computer user than files opening in an unwanted application. Sure you can use the Open menu item in the desired application but we all just want to double-click a file and see it open in the application we expect. I recently got to thinking about this...
There is no longer any such thing as Computer Security
21.9.2018
Remember "cybersecurity"?
Mysterious hooded computer guys doing mysterious hooded computer guy .. things! Who knows what kind of naughty digital mischief they might be up to?
Unfortunately, we now live in a world where this kind of digital mischief is literally rewriting the world's...
Unused
11.7.2018
I recently wrote Here’s the thing about "unused CSS" tools, where I tried to enumerate all the challenges any tool would have in finding truly "unused" CSS. The overarching idea is that CSS selectors match elements in the DOM, and those elements in the DOM come from all sorts of places: your static...