Notes

⇾ Theme Studio for VS Code

If you are – like me – using VS Code and you like to create your own look and feel for the environment you use, then here is something to waste your time with (I can easily spend days with this stuff to create everything like I want it). 😁

⇾ Visit: Theme Studio for VS Code

⇾ Practical Use Cases For CSS Variables by Ahmad Shadeed

Ahmad Shadeed has collected and written about some practical use cases for CSS variables that are more than “only” storing your color values for the use in your CSS.

⇾ Visit: Practical Use Cases For CSS Variables by Ahmad Shadeed

⇾ CSS Tips by Marko Denic

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This is a collection of useful and nice CSS tips by Marko Denic, that you don’t find typically in other CSS tutorial, like smooth scrolling or a typing effect, both without JS.

⇾ Visit: CSS Tips by Marko Denic

⇾ A Quick Look at Privacy-Focused Analytics for Small Sites

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I myself removed all analytics tools about two or three years ago from any of my websites. Florens Verschelde has now taken a look onto a few different, small and privacy-focused tools for us.

⇾ Visit: A Quick Look at Privacy-Focused Analytics for Small Sites

⇾ A Guide To Newly Supported, Modern CSS Pseudo-Class Selectors (Smashing Magazine

The CSS Working Group Editor’s Draft for Selectors Level 4 includes several pseudo-class selectors that already have proposal candidates in most modern browsers. This guide on Smashing Magazine, written by Stephanie Eckles, covers those that currently have the best support.

⇾ Visit: A Guide To Newly Supported, Modern CSS Pseudo-Class Selectors (Smashing Magazine

A New Kirby Website

My favourite CMS – Kirby – got a new website. I like how it turned out and think Basti and the Kirby team did a good job in summarising and visualising how flexible the CMS is.

Screenshot of the new Kirby website showing the different use cases
A nice way of showing the flexibility of Kirby CMS

Next to the teaser/header image, showing the Kirby panel, you can click on different use cases or “user groups” (eg. “Your company”, “Your products”, “Your magazine” etc.). If you click on a different scenario, the header with the panel image for the different scenario changes, but also the file structure below the image adapts and the text file screenshot. I like this.

Screenshot of the footer navigation on the new Kirby website showing the different target groups
A continuous way of showing the many different target groups for Kirby

I also like the visualisation of the continuous story/journey you are on, done though a thin grey line leading from the use case navigation down to the footer with the target groups.

All in all I think that this is well done and fitting for Kirby. The overall appearance feels light and still has its own handwriting (or Basti’s? 🤔 … 😁). The new site leaves enough neutrality to find your own role amongst the mentioned roles – or even create a new one – but takes you by the hand, so that you are able to find your way and be guided.

Congrats to the whole Kirby team for the relaunch and now on to fix all the little bugs 😆

For the next week – until April 23rd – you can safe 20% on Kirby licenses … buy a full basket of licenses to safe $$$ for future projects 😊 )

⇾ How to Design a Landing Page (Paul Boag)

This is a quick guide by Paul Boag to help you creating a landing page that works for you. He covers:

  1. Define Your Calls to Action
  2. Understand Your Audience
  3. Outline Your Messaging
  4. Draft Your Content
  5. Design Your Content Flow
  6. Elicit the Right Reaction
  7. Launch, Monitor and Iterate

⇾ Visit: How to Design a Landing Page (Paul Boag)

⇾ Modern CSS Upgrades To Improve Accessibility (Stephanie Eckles)

Accessibility is a critical skill for developers doing work at any point in the stack. For front-end tasks, modern CSS provides capabilities we can leverage to make layouts more accessibly inclusive for users of all abilities across any device.

A post by Stephanie Eckles, which covers:

  • Focus Visibility
  • Focus vs. Source Order
  • Desktop Zoom and Reflow
  • Sizing Interactive Targets
  • Respecting Color and Contrast Settings
  • Accessibility Learning Resources

Worth reading!

⇾ Visit: Modern CSS Upgrades To Improve Accessibility (Stephanie Eckles)

Your Memorable In-Person Conference Experience

April 10th, 2021, Zach Leatherman asked:

Share a memorable in-person conference experience!

(I’ll go first)

At @jqcon (~2010) I remember @kswedberg checked me in, gave me my name badge, recognized my name (!), and told me that I was doing some cool things on the web and I still think about it 😊

My reply:

”Simply too many wonderful, funny, exciting, inspiring, interesting, motivating, positive, lovely, heart-warming, funny, memorable, open, intense, enjoyable, important, eye-opening, surprising, mind-changing … experiences that I will never forget and forever be thankful for. ❤️”

I miss all this too much …

Happy Easter Days

Photo of a path in our forest on a sunny spring day

A little sunshine and time with your beloved ones is what I wish for you. Take care!