Archive

  1. Leveraging extends to infer return types

    In many statically typed languages, once we accept a generalised interface as a parameter we lose the ability to retrieve concrete values from our return type. Not so in TypeScript.

  2. Defining ‘integration’ tests

    What is an integration test? Everyone uses the term, but few seem to agree on the definition. Does the awkward filling of the testing pyramid still have value today, or is it too murky to be of real value?

  3. Frontend Predictions for 2022

    Thoughts on what we might see in the coming year, including the return of micro-frontends, functional JavaScript & the demise of the Jamstack as we know it.

  4. Follow the Grain

    Spend less time trying to fix things, and more time trying to understand them.

  5. React Portals with Hooks

    Since Hooks have just been introduced into the latest stable build of React, it’s a great time to play around with them and think about how previous component structures and paradigms (including classes and HOC’s) can fit within them.

  6. Text Wrapping & Inline Pseudo Elements

    A really common pattern on the web is adding an icon or indicator using a pseudo element so it appears before or after an element, such as an external link indicator.

  7. ES6 Proxies

    I recently discovered ES6 proxies, essentially a means to intercept properties accessors and methods and either override or extend them.

  8. Entanglement

    Starting the design process nowadays is overwhelming. There are dozens of methodologies and hundreds of ‘best-practices’.

  9. Perils of Atomic Design

    Modular design methodologies, such as Brad Frost’s Atomic Design, offer consistency and maintainability. But do they also foster fragmentation?

  10. Masking Bitmaps with SVG

    Peter’s trick involves leveraging SVG’s support for masking to provide JPEGs with a means to transparency, and therefore the best of both worlds.

  11. Extremes

    Print often encourages us to design around everyman data, while the web forces us to do the opposite.

  12. Design Differently

    MengTo’s article on how designers approach code made me wonder about how my coding affects the way I design.

  13. Tree Felling

    At Responsive Day Out Oliver Reichenstein introduced the Container Model, a new means of information architecture that recalls the origins of the web.

  14. Access

    Good design, UX and otherwise, has always been about improving the content’s accessibility. The difference is that in designing a box to fit any object we have failed to design anything at all.