In this second article of a two-part series, Adrian shares insights about building WaterBear — his first project as a lead developer — discussing the challenges his team encountered while building it and various accessibility and performance improvements…

Geoff explores the often-overlooked divide between WordPress.org and WordPress.com, shedding light on the blurred lines between open-source ideals and commercial interests.

Re-create a fancy hover effect where an avatar pops out of a starburst pattern for the frame on hover. The idea is to apply the concepts in a new context and gain another view of how trigonometric functions can influence the way we mask elements in CSS.

Discover how to incorporate a variety of media formats, such as images, videos, GIFs, SVGs, and so on, in a Gatsby website. Juan Rodriguez shares what he’s learned about optimizing files for improved performance after working with different plugins and techniques.

Discuss the concept of large language models (LLMs) and how they are implemented with a set of data to develop an application. Joas compares a collection of no-code and low-code apps designed to help you get a feel for not only how the concept works but also…

Working in the area of UX sometimes feels like a crime drama. Can’t believe it? Then look at these fun parallels between modern UX practices and a classical TV detective.

Fintech products are systems that are overloaded by many types of data like numerals, texts, spreadsheets, and so on. Working with these products requires the designer to pay a high level of attention and responsibility, as he becomes a provider between user…

In the final part of this two-part series on solving headaches when working with media files in Gatsby projects, Juan Rodriguez demonstrates strategies and techniques for handling various types of documents, including Markdown files, PDFs, and 3D models.

In today’s Smashing Podcast episode, we’re talking about Tech Unions. What part can unions play in a modern tech workplace? Drew McLellan talks to Ethan Marcotte to find out.

CSS loaders and progress indicators are some of the most widely used examples in tutorials and documentation. In this article, Preethi demonstrates an approach using animated custom properties, a conic gradient, CSS `offset`, and emoji to create the illusion…

Finding the right typeface is tricky as a whole. Dividing the process into steps and having the right information at hand will make this journey a design adventure full of surprises. To avoid sinking into unnecessary details, use this guide as a map for your…

WCAG 2.2 officially became a “W3C Recommended” web standard on October 5, 2023, and with it, new success criteria and changes to existing guidelines for accessible user experiences. What are the changes, and how can you conform to them? This roundup provides…

Removing properties from an object in JavaScript might not be the most exciting job, but there are many ways to achieve it, each revealing a fundamental aspect of how JavaScript works. Juan Diego Rodríguez explores each technique in this article.

Having access to a free reporting tool like Lighthouse in DevTools is a great start for diagnosing performance issues by identifying bottlenecks on the main thread. Even better are paid tools like [SpeedCurve](https://www.speedcurve.com/?utm_source=smash…

Inuit (short for “**In**terface **U**sability **I**nstrumen**t**”) is a new questionnaire you can use to assess the usability of your user interface. It has been designed to be more diagnostic than existing usability instruments like, e.g., SUS and for use…

Victoria Johnson began a career in front-end development upon graduating from college. Now, roughly one year later, she reflects back on the decisions she made to crack into the field and find her first full-time job. This is her story, and she’s sharing…

Passkeys are beginning to make their way into popular apps, from password managers to multi-factor authenticators, but what exactly are they? As this new technology promises to make passwords a thing of the past, Neal Fennimore explains the concepts behind…

November is just around the corner, and with it, a new collection of desktop wallpapers to celebrate the beginning of the month. Designed by creatives from all across the globe, they come in versions with and without a calendar. Let’s make this November colorful!

Take a closer look at how various performance tools audit and report on performance metrics, such as core web vitals. Geoff Graham answers a set of common questions that pop up during performance audits.

Icons are capable of enhancing the content that surrounds them, but they have to be self-explanatory for that to happen. We have icons for things we like (a thumbs up), things we can share (a box topped with an up arrow), and even for protection against malicious…

The CSS `clamp()` function is often paired with viewport units for “fluid” font sizing that scales the text up and down at different viewport sizes. As common as this technique is, several voices warn that it opens up situations where text can fail WCAG Success…