Friday Issue Nr.96

2024-01-19

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This week came with loads of posts. Fantastic collection of CodePens, typesafe route handler for the NextJS, htmx, Astro 4.2 is out, Vue 3 component library Element Plus, CSS has() property with excellent examples and fun story about IE content rating system.

JavaScript News

Top 100 Most Popular CodePens in 2023

Some of them are real art.

https://codepen.io/2023/popular/pens/10

Typed route handler for the NextJS

This library gives a type safety for API.

https://github.com/venables/typed-route-handler

Is htmx Just Another JavaScript Framework?

htmx is getting quite popular in trends. Here is a post on how htmx sees themselves.

https://htmx.org/essays/is-htmx-another-javascript-framework/

Also, here is a 10-minute video on how to build a simple application with pagination and search.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0XBULqzsT0

Astro 4.2 is now available

This release includes accessibility rules, the ability to remark plugins to customise image optimisation in Markdown, reworked routing priority for injected routes and more.

https://astro.build/blog/astro-420/

Annoyed at React

It looks like there is a trend of complaining about React lately. Definitely, I agree with some of the points.

https://blog.cassidoo.co/post/annoyed-at-react/

React is a bit weird nowadays. It is a standalone library, but using it with frameworks like Nextjs is recommended. It is actively developed but has had no releases since 2022. More on that in this 8-minute video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQiEZ8adag0

However, at the same time, React is still the market's most popular choice (2023); it is used in many projects and works well. Also, I’m grateful that React moved JS into a functional paradigm by introducing hooks.

Element Plus

A Vue 3-based component library for designers and developers

https://element-plus.org/en-US/

Power of PWA

What PWA can do today is impressive. Before jumping into building a Native App, you might want to consider what you can achieve with a simple Web App.

https://whatpwacando.today/

document.designMode

This might be a handy tool for adjusting a website copy to test how some of the edge cases would look. All you have to do is open the dev tools in Chrome and type this command: document.designMode = 'on'

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document/designMode

CSS News

Another set of “most important” 5 CSS snippets

Excellent overview of :has() selector with good examples, followed by Subgrid, Nest CSS, Container query units and really good one - balanced | pretty headlines.

https://web.dev/articles/5-css-snippets-every-front-end-developer-should-know-in-2024

Mixed News

A dedicated scratchpad for developers

It is like built-in Webstorm Scratches but on steroids.

https://heynote.com/

This is a fun article about IE’s crazy content rating system

You might want to scroll down to see an example of how you can create your rating schema.

https://www.devever.net/~hl/pics

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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