Friday Issue Nr.142

2025-09-19

back

Hello

Storybook 10 features breaking changes, defaults vs named exports, and safe array methods in JS. React Bits offers extensive and highly customisable animated components. In the CSS world, there are posts about colour shifting, holo effects, corners, anchors, and even Pokémon Cards. Happy Reading!

JavaScript News

Why do browsers throttle JavaScript timers?

While the post doesn’t give a definite answer, research itself is fantastic. So, the reasons might be between Legacy Decisions, Background tabs, Battery Saving or Preventing Abuse. Probably a mix of all the above.

https://nolanlawson.com/2025/08/31/why-do-browsers-throttle-javascript-timers/

Defaults in JavaScript

Interesting observation from Nicholas C. Zakas on default imports vs named ones.

https://humanwhocodes.com/blog/2019/01/stop-using-default-exports-javascript-module/

Why is Bun so fast?

If you like long, detailed posts, then this link is for you.

https://bun.com/blog/behind-the-scenes-of-bun-install

An interactive guide to TanStack DB

https://frontendatscale.com/blog/tanstack-db

Liquid Glass

Super cool explanation of how to create a liquid glass effect in a browser. All physics included.

https://kube.io/blog/liquid-glass-css-svg/

React Bits

Library, when you need that special animated component, text, scroll effect or something else. Quite extensive and loads of possibilities.

https://www.reactbits.dev/

OW - Function argument validation

https://github.com/sindresorhus/ow

Safe array methods

Instead of using .sort() , reverese() or splice() which mutates original array you can use toSorterd() , toReversed() and toSpliced()

https://allthingssmitty.com/2025/09/08/finally-safe-array-methods-in-javascript/

StoryBook 10

SB 10 features a breaking maintenance release that focuses on ESM-only package distribution to reduce the install size.

https://storybook.js.org/docs/10/releases/migration-guide

HTML & CSS News

Webpage settings which look like something to do with a guitar or an amp

Really fancy settings, not sure about usability or need, but looks great. Check the top right corner settings.

https://matthiasott.com/

Summary of the latest CSS features

https://nerdy.dev/cascading-secret-sauce

Colour Shifting in CSS

As usual for Josh, very detailed and full of live examples. Interesting difference between hsl() hue property and filter: hue-rotate() . Apparently, those two act quite differently.

https://www.joshwcomeau.com/animation/color-shifting/

While on the same topic, there is another interesting post about long and short colour distances.

https://css-tricks.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-css-color-interpolation/

CSS Holo effect

Your eyes might hurt after scrolling through endless Pokémon cards, but the effects are pretty interesting. Also, the source of the project is added, which turns out to be based on Svelte.

https://poke-holo.simey.me/

StyleSpark

Online tool to create (or play) with Design System, Colour Palettes and more.

https://stylespark.dev/

Corner shape

This is a good article on corners in CSS. There are numerous options available with pure CSS before you consider using background images.

https://css-tricks.com/what-can-we-actually-do-with-corner-shape/

Anchor positioning

Real-world examples with anchor positioning. Also, it works in Chromium only.

https://una.im/follow-the-anchor/

Login accessibility

https://auth0.com/blog/an-accessible-guide-to-wcag-3-3-8-authentication-without-frustration/

Mixed News

All MCP servers

Connect all with all.

https://github.com/mcp

Another NPM supply chain attack

Malware specifically targets AWS and GCP Secrets Manager. Post also has steps for a security audit.

https://www.stepsecurity.io/blog/ctrl-tinycolor-and-40-npm-packages-compromised

History

Pleasant journey on interfaces and how the web exploded into what we know today, with info-commercial (or infomercial?) at the end.

https://bradfrost.com/blog/post/the-history-of-themeable-user-interfaces/

Comment on BlySky or Mastodon

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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