Friday Issue Nr.131

2025-03-07

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Firstly, that Doom project with types is incredible, but reading about typescript itself from Axel is also good. There are also updates from Astro v5.4, Svelvet, and Lynx. Josh created whimsical animations and interesting posts about CSS functions, fluid typography, accessibility considerations, and completely random check inconvenient objects. Happy Reading!

JavaScript News

Doom in Typescript types.

I noticed this last week, but if you somehow missed that, then definitely check it out. Dimitri Mitropoulos decided to run a doom engine entirely written in TypeScript types. This project only needs 177TB of TypeScript types to be rendered over a 12-day period and will render the first frame of the game. Probably, the word "only" is an understatement.

https://socket.dev/blog/typescript-types-running-doom

This is insane, amazing and crazy at the same time. In any case, when somebody complains about complicated types in a project, show them this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mCsluv5FXA

The reality of long-term software maintenance

This post explains the maintainers' dilemma when they decide what will be merged and what is important. It's a really good read.

https://www.construct.net/en/blogs/ashleys-blog-2/reality-long-term-software-1892

What is TypeScript

This is not a post on How to use TS but rather What TypeScript is. Really solid, as usual, by Axel Rauschmayer

https://2ality.com/2025/02/what-is-typescript.html

Astro v5.4

It adds remote image optimisation, experimental responsiveness, and more.

https://astro.build/blog/astro-540/

React libraries 2025

https://www.robinwieruch.de/react-libraries/

Svelvet

Quite a niche but solid-quality library for building interactive node-based UIs, shapes and diagrams.

https://svelvet.mintlify.app/introduction

Lynx

Lynx was originally developed by ByteDance, which lets you develop native apps using web skills.

https://lynxjs.org/

More about it in the blog post: https://lynxjs.org/blog/lynx-unlock-native-for-more.html

Scary story with a good ending

from 2024 with security audits from Feb 2025

https://kibty.town/blog/todesktop/

HTML & CSS News

Whimsical Animations

Josh Comeau is in the process of creating a new course, this time covering animations. Josh, being Josh, had to make it with wow effects, and I think he managed that with flying colours (pun intended). Check that page and play with the settings (Chaos toolbar) in the top right corner. It's probably not useful, but there are definitely a lot of things on one page.

https://whimsy.joshwcomeau.com/

Here is an explanation of some of the secrets: https://www.joshwcomeau.com/blog/whimsical-animations/

CSS Functions

Once this is supported, I believe it will completely change how we write CSS. Imagine Functions that have types, returns, lists, and all of that in CSS. Also, the post has a few good examples to give you a quick overview.

https://css-tricks.com/functions-in-css/

Reimagining Fluid Typography

It’s a very interesting idea to put a clamp() on HTML tag. Also, the hardest bit is to stop that 16px == 1rem conversion, because, well, it is not.

https://www.oddbird.net/2025/02/12/fluid-type/

Pure (almost) HTML for accordion

You can build accordion-type content simply using

content
, however, there is an issue if there is loads of content the browser will lose last scroll position. With a bit of JavaScript that is sorted too.

There is one more issue. The native accordion has accessibility issues that do not seem easy to describe for assistive technologies; therefore, it may be better to stick with custom-built Div tags and roles.

https://osvaldas.info/only-one-details-open-at-a-time/

Points on Accessibility claims

https://adrianroselli.com/2022/11/your-accessibility-claims-are-wrong-unless.html

Progress bar

When the progress bar is lying to you and how to live with that?

https://cloudfour.com/thinks/truth-lies-and-progress-bars/

Random News

The Uncomfortable

The Uncomfortable is a collection of deliberately inconvenient, everyday objects by Athens-based architect Katerina Kamprani

https://www.theuncomfortable.com/

Comparing local large language models for alt-text generation

https://dri.es/comparing-local-llms-for-alt-text-generation

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Andris Švarcs

Somehow, I've survived over 15 years as a web developer without losing my interest in the craft. Quite the opposite, with so many great improvements in the Web standards, what was nearly impossible now is easy to make.

My career has been a wild ride through small agencies and big corporations, building everything from finance apps to health dashboards.

I'm that annoying person who needs to understand products beyond just slinging code. I ask questions like 'Why is this feature important?' and 'How will this improve the customer journey?' – you know, the kind of questions that make project managers reach for the pint aspirin. This curiosity has led me down the rabbit holes of design, accessibility, and SEO. Because apparently, making websites pretty, usable, and findable wasn't challenging enough on its own.

P.S. If this bio sounds too polished, blame my evil AI twin. I'm still working on teaching it sarcasm.

Copyright © since 2021, Andris Švarcs. All rights reserved.

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