In part 2 of the series, Hannah Milan reviews various accessible text over images techniques for designing your content, including framing the image, soft-colored gradients technique, text styles and text position, solid color shapes, and use of colored backgrounds.

Most of the projects have at least a few unused files, exports, and dependencies lying around, often because it’s difficult knowing when one thing relies on another and scary removing something you’re not sure is in use. Lars Kappert shares a tool he’s been…

The background image used in the hero component, which is slow to load, is a very common problem with any component that uses a large image file as a background image. In this article, Mike Herchel walks you through how to tackle this common performance issue…

Discover how to improve the user experience of nested menus and tackle a minor yet common issue with them when the user’s pointer leaves the menu item for a moment, and the nested menu goes away, requiring the user to re-hover and try again. A well-known…

We often think of shadows in CSS as something to reach for when we want to add depth to a design. But shadows can be used for more than depth. Let’s experiment with different shadows — two CSS properties and a filter — to make interesting hover effects, different…

The so-called “Double Diamond” is a great way of visualizing an ideal design process — but it’s just not the way most companies deliver new projects or services. Andy Budd proposes a new “Double Diamond” idea that better aligns with the way work actually…

The CSS Color Module Level 4 specification defined a slew of new color features when it became a candidate recommendation in 2022, including Oklab and Oklch, which have widened the field of color we have to work with. Explore the Oklch color space and how…

Let’s get ready for September with some fresh wallpaper designs! Created with love by artists and designers from across the globe, the wallpapers in this collection come in versions with and without a calendar. Enjoy!

In this article, Joas Pambou builds the tool to provide a sentiment score in **real-time** with enhanced user experience by providing multilingual support. You will use an OpenAI library called Whisper that transcribes audio files into text and detects the…

Is the Test Pyramid really dead? Discover the more contemporary testing strategies and evaluate the Test Pyramid’s relevance in today’s software development practices.

Pratik Joglekar takes a philosophical approach to remind designers about the lost joy within themselves by effectively placing massive importance on mindfulness, introspection, and forward-looking. Without joy, the work we do would feel meaningless. To prevent…

Gradients are a powerful CSS feature. We use them for texture, depth, and even to hide parts of elements with CSS masking. This article covers another interesting way to use gradients — as a hover effect that affects the appearance of other elements around…

Running a workshop can be an effective alternative to traditional, long-standing meetings. To help ensure its success, Ben Shih introduces the concept of an inclusive workshop. In Part 1 of the series, you discover the fundamentals of inclusivity and get…

Let’s play with images and experiment with CSS masks. The idea is fairly simple: take a single `` tag and harness the power of CSS to accomplish complex hover transitions. Through different demos, you will see how CSS masks combined with gradients allow us…

This article is a peek behind the curtain of how content is managed here at Smashing Magazine. In it, you’ll get a tour of an article’s full lifecycle, from a basic outline to the sort of thing you’re reading right this second.

To help ensure the success of a workshop, Ben Shih introduces the concept of an inclusive workshop. In Part 2 of the series, you will continue to delve deeper into several key principles and guidelines that you can follow during and after the workshop to…

With the new CSS `linear()` easing function on the horizon, the possibilities of what we can do to create natural-feeling animations and transitions in the future are greatly expanded. Jhey Tompkins looks at the current state of CSS easing in this article…

Adrian’s kicking off a two-part series, sharing his journey as a lead developer. In the process, you will learn about the lessons and insights Adrian gained at work, including the strategies that went into the technical stack of the project and what it looks…

We’re talking about running grassroots conferences and meet-ups. What does it take to organize a small industry event for your community? Drew McLellan talks to WDC’s Alex Older to find out.

Branches are a really nice (and safe) way to configure or reconfigure your database without fear of screwing up the production database. Let’s take a closer look at how branching works with [Neon](https://bit.ly/46cEgX1), and the good news is, you probably…

In this article, Ganesh Dahal explains how the features have evolved since reusable blocks were officially released in WordPress 5.0 — and how the two have converged in WordPress 6.3 to form a powerful feature capable of allowing content creators to sync…