"Nerding out about CSS": Watch or Listen

General Musings with Kevin Powell

Saw this on a skateboard, had to make it in CSS.

background: repeating-linear-gradient(
  to bottom, 
  #000 0px var(--_stripe-size), 
  #fff var(--_stripe-size) var(--_stripe-gap)
);

Ended up not just being gradient text, but a repeating gradient text effect 🤓

Fun: CSS can repeat a repeating gradient

Animated gradient text is like the poster child of AI right now. Gotta have that animated gradient text sparkle button thingy to be cool.

So here! Steal the recipe.

Earlier this year, I wrote 5 CSS snippets every front-end developer should know in 2024 on web.dev. I think it holds up!

Checkout the 6 snippet 2023 edition

Today marks 28 years of CSS!

"CSS1" created in 1996.

It's cookie party day with our friends, but both kids are sick (and my spouse isn't 100% either), and we call in sick…

So, I bundled everyone on the couch, and we giggled (wrong family, too many hands, etc) our way through making cookies with AI.

Test your eye, trust yer guts; be compared.

kerntype, a letter spacing game - by Mark MacKay

Can you kern?

7 years at Google 🙂

Small update for gradient.style, the provided CSS for your creation is now custom properties and not classes.

Check it out‽

UI Workshop

Sprinkle scroll driven animations, view transitions, popovers and container queries onto an ecommerce home page with me!

Video · Code

I've got an author page over on developer.chrome.com!

New Feature just dropped!

• The big flat list of posts is now grouped
• On desktop there's a new timeline nav component on the left so you can quick jump around
• Tag style update
• Alignment fixes in cards
• Scroll animations added to new list group dividers
• View Transitions added to the timeline nav

.card {
  aspect-ratio: 4/3;
  
  @media (orientation: portrait) {
    aspect-ratio: 3/4;
  }
}

Just as @scope brought selector donut scoping to CSS (thanks Nicole!), so does interactivity: inert; bring donut inertness.

Try it on Codepen 🤘🏻💀
use Canary with web experiments enabled

David and I join Robbie and Chuck on Whiskey.fm!

🎙️ Front-end Adventures with Bad at CSS

Muahahahahahaha!

Today is a great day.

🎃💀🦇

Species in Pieces
30 endangered animals, 30 pieces

2015 CSS throw back to the super rad clip-path project from Bryan James, which includes a making of post on Smashing Magazine!

Play a 🫰(snap) when CSS snaps!

const snap = new Audio('snap.mp3')

scroller.onscrollsnapchange = () =>
  snap.play()

Demo · JS Snap API

Note: you may need to click/tap before scrolling, for the browser to deem playing the audio as user activated.

See ya in Nantes, France for DevFest! Watch out for my talk on Amazing CSS in 2024.

🩸🩸🩸 Slides 🩸🩸🩸

Ep #91
Season 5 Wrap

Una and I recap our favorite moments from the season: popovers, dialogs, top layers, trig functions, color functions, :has() tricks, balanced text wrapping, linear() easing, nesting, anchoring, state queries, view transitions, and scroll driven animation.

What a year for CSS!

Watch · Listen

Bramus investigates and reports on CSS custom property performances. What are the performance inpacts of registered and unregistered custom properties?

web.dev/blog/at-property-performance

That time of year to watch Over The Garden Wall (trailer)

Ep #90
Scroll-Driven Animation

Una, rad special guest Bramus, and I break down scroll-driven animation!

For more learning and information, checkout Bramus' YouTube Series and his awesome tool scroll-driven-animations.style.

Watch · Listen

Bring some color and intrigue to a <dialog> or [popover] with an animated radial gradient box shadow.

Def jump in and try customizing the colors 🤘🏻💀

A memorable video from 2019:
Video: "Why Is CSS So Weird?".

Miriam Suzanne explains how CSS is solving a weird problem, yet is guided by meaningful principles; shaping it into the powerful and complex tool it has become.

There's also a blog post.

Brad Frost shows on YouTube and a blog how LLMs (Cursor and Claude in this case) are helping him create, iterate and ideate over web design. He poses a question at the end; maybe you don't need static comps.

He asks for a funky design; it got funky.
He asks for a form; got a form.

My favorite moment was when he had Cursor rewrite the styles to use Open Props; really nice that it can unite values into tokens with reasonable logic.

Ep #89
View Transitions

Una, rad special guest Bramus, and I explain view transitions!

Watch · Listen

Bring a rad clip-path transition to your light/dark toggle switch with a progressively enhanced view transition.

Try it · View Source

Artem Pendiurin, aka ErSketch, took SmashingConf visual notes in Freiburg.

They turned out rad, here's the one from my talk!

Ep #88
State Queries

Una and I explain State Queries, specifically the scroll queries using @container scroll-state().

Share any state queries you'd like to see with the CSSWG here or here!

Watch · Listen · Show Notes

Ep #13
🎙️ Bad At CSS Podcast

Matthias Ott is the guest this week! Their keynote talk Web Design Engineering With the New CSS was so rad at CSS Day 2024, we had to chat.

⤷ badatcss.com · youtube · spotify

My "Tik Talk" at Smashing Conf went great! Will share the video when it's available.

Until then, here's everyone's favorite picture from the event. They're calling it The CSS Renaissance 🤣

Arrived in the beautiful, green, city of Freiburg for Smashing Conf.

It's a mystery why I'm here 🕵️

Combo light-dark() with Temani's great border-image techniques.

.card > figcaption {
  color: light-dark(#000, #fff);
  border-image: fill 0 conic-gradient(light-dark(#fff8, #0008) 0 0);
}

Try it on Codepen

Ep #5
The Over-Easy Machine

• UI layering with anchor()
• no more complex position: absolute
• keyword alignment
• intrinsically sized based on content
• pairs radically with popover elements

Try the machine:
Basic · Author Cards · Animated Popover

The latest Mini Web Machine on Chrome Developers
Tiny bits of code that power great UX.

Ep #12
🎙️ Bad At CSS Podcast

Estelle Weyl and Eric Meyer join to discuss their book CSS The Definitive Guide 5th Edition, and of course chat about what CSS they're bad at.

⤷ badatcss.com · youtube · spotify

This line of code is about to be in every single stylesheet.

h1, p, button {
  text-box: trim-both cap alphabetic;
}

Centering in CSS is about to get even finer grained.

Try it demo 1 • demo 2 • demo 3

Una and I chat with Wes Bos and Scott Tolinkski of SyntaxFM about the CSS4 and CSS5 RFC plus we dig in to some experiments in Chrome Canary (text-box-trim and scroll-state() queries).

Subscribe, listen or watch
Youtube · Spotify

Ep #87
Anchor Positioning

Una and I explain anchor() and all it's glory!

Watch · Listen

Excellent post on the CloseWatcher API by Abdelrahman Awad.

Get yours.

Frostapalooza rocked! So many musicians, all coming together JIT, and… takin. down. the. house!!

Get yer own "Kiss My CSS" shirt here 🤘🏻💀🤘🏻

Take the survey!

Scroll Snap + Scroll Driven Animation carousel

💡 in the mobile size it looks a lot like the iOS app switcher eh?

try it!?

Scroll to 3D space travel through CSS4 and CSS5.

try it!?

Learn all about the new scrollSnapChange and scrollSnapChanging JS events.

Or try this nifty Snap Event Visualizer 🤘🏻

Ep #11
14 CSS talks in 1 hour

• Overview of CSS Day 2024
• CSS Day 2024 YouTube Playlist

⤷ badatcss.com · youtube · spotify

Lane Wagner and I chat CSS

• CSS is the hardest programming language
• Backend CSS (back-of-the-front)
• Front-end has multiple bosses that… may make people cry

⤷ Backend Banter · youtube · spotify

Join me in Beijing‽

I'm giving a workshop that'll use CSS to add some rad upgrades to a store page.

Ep #85
linear() easing

Una and I cover the linear() easing function, breaking down the API, tools for generating them, and libraries that can make adoption nice and easy.

Watch · Listen

Ep #4
Pop n' Lock

• <dialog> basics
• top-layer, transition-behavior and overlay explained
• how to transition a <dialog>

The latest Mini Web Machine on Chrome Developers · Tiny bits of code that power great UX.

being on top of everything has never been so easy

<dialog>

Ep #84
Text Wrap

Una and I cover the text-wrap shorthand.

Watch · Listen

Jason and I "install it" 🤣

Watch on YouTube

Lakitu is an OG cloud nerd.

Ep #83
:has() tips and tricks

Una and I expand on episode 61 about :has() by focusing specifically on use cases, tips and tricks. Get inspired and discover new ways to make reactive UI from CSS.

Watch · Listen

Videos from CSS Day 2024 are releasing weekly! Rachel Andrew's on Layout and Reading Order just dropped today!

& don't miss this one by Matthias Ott called Web Design Engineering With The New CSS.

:whispers: CSS motion blur

Ep #82
What's new in color functions

Una and I catch you up with the latest changes to color functions.

Watch · Listen

Preview two new JS events:
scrollSnapChange & scrollSnapChanging

Watch me as I explain what's happening in this scroll snap event visualizer.

Try it in Canary by turning on #enable-experimental-web-platform-features

Ep #81
Trigonometric Functions

Una and I make math practical for the UI Engineer by avoiding the complex side of the mathematics and instead, focus on use cases.

This is the episode about math in CSS we've always wanted. Follow along as we surprise ourselves over and over with how inspiring the applications of these concepts are.

Watch · Listen

Ep #10
🎙️ Bad At CSS Podcast

David East and I dive into a list of things we think are time wasters disguised as time savers.

⤷ badatcss.com · youtube · spotify

Calendar prototype with sticky headers:

• scroll snap
• sticky
• grid
• z-index: 1

⤷ try it on Codepen

or checkout an SSR fork from tbeseda on Mastodon that can render many years 🤘🏻💀

At the rad CascadiaJS conf today in Seattle.

It's beautiful outside, cool cats inside; stoked for 2 days of learnin and chin waggin.

Ep #80
Animating to and from top-layer

Una and I went over popover and dialog last week, and this week we're helping you animate and transition them! Learn about @starting-style, overlay, :top-layer, ::backdrop, transition-behavior, :popover-open and much more.

Watch · Listen

Ep #79
Popover and Dialog

Una and I are back in Season 5 of the CSS Podcast! We discuss popover and dialog, how they're different, and how to animate them.

Popover and dialog are both Baseline now 👀

Watch · Listen

So excited to be back in Amsterdam for CSS Day! Find me at a booth, ask me about CSS carousel, typography, devtools, or whatever! See you there!

Find the videos here if you can't make it, they're super worth it.

Ep #9
🎙️ Bad At CSS Podcast

David East and I discuss (and show on YouTube) how rad single keyframes can be.

⤷ badatcss.com · youtube · spotify

Physics in CSS!

I transferred a JS physics function into CSS thanks to sqrt(), exp(), sin(), cos() and @property.

:root {
  --mass: 1;
  --stiffness: 100;
  --damping: 5;
  --start-velocity: 0; 
}

Check it out on Codepen. Change the properties and see a different animation.

There's a whole next level of CSS centering that's about to land on y'all and blow yer mind.

I warned you.

Ep #3
The Looper Pile - Mini Web Machine Fusion
⤷ layout a "Looper" with the "Pile"

This episode represents the overarching theme of the series! Combining small bits of code together can be a great way to build larger experiences.

Watch episode 3 on YouTube

Prefer the light or the dark mode? Try it on Codepen.

Ep #8
🎙️ Bad At CSS Podcast

David East and I discuss container queries and try to tell you everything you'll need to know.

⤷ badatcss.com · youtube · spotify

Microsoft Build, that was fun!

Chuck and the Whiskey Web and Whatnot show, that was SUPER fun.

August 17th - @Mr. Smalls Theater

Frostapalooza!

I'll be playin guitar 🎸 in 2 ✌️ songs at a benefit concert extravaganza called Frostapalooza; for Brad Frost's birthday!

You should come! Snag a ticket

Normally @keyframes would be used for this technique, but with @starting-style we can transition.

* {
  transition: opacity .5s ease-in;
  @starting-style { opacity: 0 }
}

Triggers via:

• page load
• inserted into the DOM
• going from display none to a visible display value

I feel like there's more use cases to explore. Let me know what you find‽

Try it on Codepen

CSS4 RFC is live and ready for community feedback!

The CSS4 Community Group has been meeting weekly to categorize every CSS feature into CSS3, CSS4, and CSS5.

Yep, you read that right, CSS5.

• Curious what features are in each bucket?
  The RFC has it all laid out.
• Disagree with a categorization?
  Make a comment!

We want to hear from you. Help us ensure we've mapped the features into buckets you agree with, can teach, can learn, and can grow with.

Check it out

Ep #2
The Pile

• element layering layout machine
• replaces many use cases for position: absolute
• offers group or individual keyword alignment
• can be intrinsically sized based on content

Watch episode 2: The Pile

The latest Mini Web Machine on Chrome Developers · Tiny bits of code that power great UX.

The rad Kevin Powell and I share our favorite CSS features that aren't new but are seldom used.

How many of the 23 did you know‽

Watch on YouTube · Checkout Demos

Here's a fun use case for CSS paint-order

Codepen · MDN · CanIuse?

Introducing the GUI Challenges series successor:

Mini Web Machines!
Tiny bits of code that power great UX.

• shorter episodes
• copy and paste free code
• narrower focus
• meaningful use cases

Watch episode 1: The Looper

I had the pleasure of speaking at Epic Web Conf in Park City, Utah!

My talk was titled:
Lightning in a Bottle with CSS Custom Properties

Took a workshop on Remix and Shopify, watched to great talks about the web, OneWheeled, and hungout with Kent, Una, Chan, Annie, Ryan, Theo and many more 🤓

Lovely event, people, & location.

Watch · Slides · Demo

Screen shakes are so cool in video games…

Web buttons can do that!

A gradient border image, transparent at the edges, looks like it thins out as it fades out.

.effect {
  border-image: 
    linear-gradient(
      transparent, 
      var(--indigo-6), 
      transparent
    ) 
    1 / 4px /* slice n' size */
  ;
}

Gallery layout rotation and interaction animation with View Transitions.

Try it on Codepen

Ep #7
Dave Rupert is bad at CSS

• Macho Man Randy Standards cameo
• Styling inputs and makin knobs
• field-sizing
• :user-invalid
• content-visibility
• Relative color syntax (RCS)

⤷ badatcss.com · youtube · spotify

Bluesky mentions are now collected and shown on notes and blog posts on this site, just like Mastodon.

Ep #6
New Year, New Resolutions:
A look at me and David's CSS goals for 2024

• Finish Open Props v2
• Build with CSS Anchor
• New uses for Container Queries
• Multiple backgrounds on gradient.style
• Get weirder with Scroll-Driven Animations
• Help DevTools evolve with modern CSS

⤷ badatcss.com

Beautifully shot 8m interview with Jason Lengstorf about:

• how people love shredding nice things
• is there a "dream job"?
• how to know when you're successful?
• a secret for faster career growth?

Watch on YouTube

Hung out with the super fun Kelvin Omereshone and chatted about, you guessed it, CSS!

document.startViewTransition
// too much to write

// makes alias: short for transition
const txn = document.startViewTransition

txn(async () => {
  // much better
})

One alias could save a lot of characters.

sounds like a Geico commercial…

A practical introduction to Scroll Driven Animations with CSS scroll() and view()

My first Codrops article 🤓

Radio groups are so powerful! Combine them with :has(), animated grid-template-columns and linear() easing and you've got yourself a neat little single picker UX.

Try it on Codepen

A CSS bento-like grid that's aware of the number of children and aspect ratio available thanks to :has() and @container.

Try the demo

Shout out to view-transition's for making the interactive demo so much more compelling.

is it time to forget about physical properties like margin-top and left?

Can't throw out the x/y transforms tho 😭

Happy New Year!

Thinking on ways to make a Comparison component

In this GUI Challenge, I use grid, masks and an <input type="range"> to stack and compare 2 elements and their contents.

watch · demo · source

✅ 2 lines of CSS
✅ a courtesy media query
✅ a keyframe

Check it out on Codepen

Una, Bramus and I put together a 2023 Wrapped for CSS 🤓

Thought this focus / interaction effect turned out nice; maybe you'll like it and make use of it too.

https://codepen.io/argyleink/pen/XWOOydB

--atom: 0.15957s;

via Open Props

I learned you can use % for chroma!

.percentage-chroma {
  color: lch(50% 50% 200);
  color: oklch(50% 50% 200);
}

Added 2 examples to my CSS Color Syntax Mega List.

Thinking on ways to solve Picklists

In this GUI Challenge, I show how to use leverage the power of checkbox and radio groups for beautiful and accessible picking UX.

demo · source

Ep #5 🎙️ Bad At CSS Podcast

Jason Lengstorf, David East and I chaotically discuss CSS, container queries, and that pesky clamp() function 🖕.

Subscribe, listen or watch
Spotify · Apple · YouTube

Steal this minimal code setup for a nice comparison component.

View source

I wrote about CSS prefers-reduced-transparency on developer.chrome.com 🤓

Checkbox and radio groups have special powers with keyboard and screen reader interactions; leaning into them can lead to some rad UI:

Picklists · Taglists

Go ahead, open them up and give it a try!

How do I center this div?

Una and I discuss CSS centering, and all the different ways CSS has your back.

Turns out, there's A LOT of ways to center.

Watch · Listen

NEW

5 bounce easings added to Open Props!

.box {
  animation: drop 1s var(--ease-bounce-2);
}

try it out!

Thinking on ways to make spoopy Halloween Projections

In this GUI Challenge, I emulate a Halloween projector effect I saw on a wall.

demo · source

Original Codepen set up a vibrant radial gradient in each corner and adjusts their size so their color crossover created a swirly effect.

The animated version uses @property to interpolate each radial gradients position and adds a radial gradient size slider, so you can find other swirly moments of your own.

I've got a new post over on developer.chrome.com!

Everything you need to know about
CSS Relative Color Syntax 🤓

@Container pattern

✅ nice inline flex layout when there's room in it's Column container

if not?

✅ switch to a nice block layout and center the text

I like the ch unit for this since I'm wanting to switch based on available reading length for the text 🤓

Thinking on ways to solve relative color

In this GUI Challenge, I show you how to use CSS RCS (relative color syntax) for lightening, desaturating, opacity, grayscale and more.

oklch(from hotpink calc(l - 20) c h)
hsl(from hotpink h calc(s / 2) l)
hsl(from hotpink h s l / 50%)
hsl(from hotpink h none l)

demo · source

There might be one or two RCS features you didn't know 🤓

Bramus explains @scope on developer.chrome.com and his personal blog with this quick introduction.

@scope (.Card) {
  > header,
  > footer {
    background: hsl(none none none / 20%);
  }
}

@scope is new in Chrome 118

Ep #4
🎙️ Bad At CSS Podcast

David East and I discuss TypeScript; David defends it, and I attack it. I'll probably get mega roasted for this.

tldr;
I love TypeScript, for you.

Subscribe, listen or watch
Spotify · Apple · YouTube

View Source

CSS relative color syntax

NEW
🎙️ Bad At CSS Podcast

David East and I have a special guest:
Chris Coyier 🎉

Subscribe and listen
Spotify · Apple · YouTube

Next up on The CSS Podcast…

Ep #71
Why do I have layout shift?

Watch · Listen

Was on The CSS Survey's Live Stream Party!

✅ give Sacha and Hui a follow!
✅ sink your teeth into that juicy data
✅ hear predictions and suprises!

Just take me to the results

Next up on The CSS Podcast…

Ep #70
Why do I have a distorted image?

Watch · Listen

Had a great vacation!
✅ kids at grandma's
✅ chilled hard w/ my partner
✅ bought a banjo! (always been intimidated)
✅ played a lot of banjo and banjolele
✅ built a CSS demo or two…
❌ play video games

Bad At CSS Podcast
⤷ logo made in the browser

✅ intentionally no font
✅ lack of any styles 😉
✅ looks like you're in devtools
✅ bad layout
✅ bad colors
✅ box around bad is bad

Codepen · Spotify

Next up on The CSS Podcast…

Ep #68
Why is it overflowing?

Watch · Listen

🎙️ The Bad At CSS Podcast

David East and I host, and sometimes bring on an occasional guest 🤓

Subscribe and listen on:
Spotify · Apple · YouTube

Thinking on ways to solve Adaptive Typography

In this GUI Challenge, I show how to use the prefers-contrast media query to adapt both system and adaptive fonts to match user's contrast preferences.

Contrast is more than just color

demo · source

Experimental #CSS carousel featuring:
subgrid scroll driven animations (SDA) oklch() @property @layer

Lots of code comments
to help break down the effects 🤓

✅ SDA changes hue/theme
✅ SDA toggles next/prev
✅ SDA syncs dots

Try it in Canary with #experiments enabled

New season of The CSS Podcast has begun!

Ep #67
Why isn't z-index working?

Watch · Listen

Was on JS Party!

🎙️ Watch it (or listen)

Thinking on ways to solve a Morphing Button

In this GUI Challenge, I show how view transitions can upgrade the experience of changing the innerHTML of a button by animating the change.

demo · source

Was on the @coderyan show!

Watch it‽

• Designing for more than the viewport
• Overview of the talk from Config 2023
• CSS stuff 🤓

Do not take the State of CSS Survey

"Nice Adam" wants you to take it;
naturally I want the opposite

Spoke at Figma Config with Una!

The Future of Responsive Design

All about how the width of the viewport was never that relevant, it's more about the space a component has, the children type and count, and so much more.

• Watch it
• Config page

Was on the Cloudinary DevJams Podcast!

🎙️ Watch it (or listen)

We chat about making the nerdy.dev site with Deno and Fresh, and of course we chat all about how I'm serving images 🙂

Vertical rhythm thanks to the rlh unit.

Bonus:
scales with the user's font size pref 😎

I've joined a CSS webring!

Long live the indie web 🤘🏻💀

I've been unleashed.
What evil will I do first?

Perhaps, I'll change one char somewhere..
and break the build.

muahahahaHAHAHAAAAA

Co-MC'ed CSS Day 2023 with Michelle Barker 🤘🏻💀

catch up on all the talks here

What a blast, totally was with my people. I'm especially proud of a few dad jokes:

1. "Why don't you <popover> and have a <dialog> with me"
2. "It's not the PacMan rule, it's the conic gradient rule: leave room for another color stop in your chat circle."

Spoke at Smashing Conf!

• Watch it
• Check out the slides
• DIY

How to create personalized web experiences

I spoke at Google IO again!
Here's a link to my talk.

Upcoming talks!

• Smashing Conf San Francisco
• CSS Day (🎤 MC)
• Figma's Config with @Una

Thinking on ways to do 3D SciFi Text

In this GUI Challenge, I use CSS Scroll Linked Animations to 3D tilt a few paragraphs of text, and on scroll, make them appear to vanish into the far edges of the galaxy.

watch · demo · source

Google IO talk done!

Success selfie at the 🆕 Seattle office's Neon Staircase 🤘🏻💀

Multiple hard stops in a radial gradient sized as farthest-corner, this is me changing the x position first from 0 to -100, then the y in the same manor.

Viewport widths n' color gamuts;
As each widen, adapt the UI.

.classic-gradient {
  background-image: 
    linear-gradient(45deg, 
      white, 
      black 0% 20%, 
      white 0% 40%, 
      black 0% 60%, 
      white 0% 80%, 
      black 0% 100%
    )
  ;
}

🆕 post on developer.chrome.com

wrap your head around…
#CSS text-wrap: balance

✨ balanced headlines ✨
with one magical line of CSS

only Chrome Canary atm, details in article

Was on the @PodRocketPod!

Me, Stephanie Eckles, and Stacy Kvernmo team up and answer questions about UI and UX.

🎶 Listen on Spotify

#VisBug won an award 🤯

Chrome Web Store
Favorite of 2022

This award is legit! Heavy, clever and minimal. Truly a trophy I'll keep around for a long time!

Thanks everyone for the support!

🆕 post on web.dev

6 CSS snippets every front-end developer should know in 2023

Toolbelt worthy, powerful, and stable CSS you can use today.

Thinking on ways to solve Switch Groups

In this GUI Challenge, I show how to take a fieldset packed with a radio group, and turn it into a switch group that controls text alignment.

demo · source

New post on DCC about CSS Nesting

hehe

Deno & Fresh have been rad.
Same goes for Deploy.

but…

95% of the issues have been deps.

I have deps on NPM, deno.land, esm.sh, and unpkg… if any of these services hiccup, and I try and build; builds fail.

No single service can serve all the modules I need, and I don't need that many

💩🌈

I'm fallin behind getting my hands on some #CSS stuff!… Src of my FOMO:

• anchor() - Post by Jhey
• text-wrap: balance
• linear() - Spec by Jake
• view-transitions
• view-timeline

Hella powerful stuff there that I really don't want to let get away from me.

afk.

37 today. Maybe I'll upgrade this 2011 Mac Air.

This felt like a future of library customization, using @layer:

/* <tool-tip> styles */
@import "tool-tip.css" layer(components.tooltip);

/* later, in some-new-context.css */
@layer components.tooltip {
  .some-new-context tool-tip {
    --_bg: var(--surface-1);
    --_shadow-alpha: 15%;
  }
}

Scope the import, then append tweaks into that scope from anywhere. Safe and sound.

Rad stuff.

Gettin the wiggles out before bedtime;
kids night club style.

Math color palettes = letter spacing
Optical color palettes = kerning

CSS HD Color Guide

Meet the new web color spaces!

1. What is a color gamut or color space
2. Review of the classic color spaces
3. Meet the new web color spaces
4. Migrating to HD CSS color
5. Debugging color

It's the article I wish I had when learning about CSS color updates.

Check it out!!

CSS color tip!

Need a rainbow gradient? Let <hue-interpolation> do the work.

.vibrant-rainbow {
  background: linear-gradient(
    to right 
    in hsl      /* vibrant gradient HSL colorspace */
    longer hue, /* hue-interpolation set to longer */
    red, red    /* now red to red goes all the way around */
  );
}

CSS color-mix()

I've got a new post on Chrome Developers with everything you need to know.

📝 Check it out!

TcsS - Typed Cascade Style Sheets

Why hasn't this been made yet? CSS has all the type information needed to create a comparable experience to TypeScript.

Delete your timeout functions and shake off their bugs, here's the event you really need: scrollend.

Read all about it on Chrome Developers and checkout the polyfill I wrote on NPM.

Proud to share I'll be MCing CSS Day 2023 with Michelle Barker.

Service worker update:

• Workbox added
• Offline pages (as you visit them)
• Caches images (as you download them)

Let me know if anything has broken!

2023 prediction:
libraries move to or build upon Deno instead of Node.

Art with the kids 🤘💀

Media Query Ranges

I find this so much more readable.

@media (width <= 720px) {}

Caniuse says we're waitin on Safari to bring it from TechP to Stable; aka plugin still required 😭

Thinking on ways to do UI Physics

In this GUI Challenge, I use requestAnimationFrame and custom properties to make bouncy and jelloey springy UI effects.

demo · source

Individual transforms are rad.
when you don't need to manage the order

Things CSS Could Still Use Heading Into 2023

Just a couple of ideas!
Chris Coyier

Missing text-wrap tho!

h1, h2, h3 {
  text-wrap: balance;
}

html:has(.CertainItem:focus-visible) {
  scroll-snap-type: y mandatory;
  scroll-padding-block-start: 100px;
}

.CertainItem:focus-visible {
  scroll-snap-align: start;
}

On demand with :has(),
when a certain item is focused..

snap dat item into a nice position.

Logical Properties
Learn once, works everywhere.

MDN · Learn CSS · web.dev · The CSS Podcast

Domain's moved 👍

Soft launch of nerdy.dev successful 🤘💀

Still more work. Expect change!

Need a dropcap?
Try the lh unit 🤓

::first-of-type::first-letter {
  line-height: 1;
  font-size: 3lh;
  float: start;
}

Bramus is blogging awesome ways to use :has() 🤓

1. CSS Islands with :has()
2. Target parents with a certain number of children

It's a good idea to follow Bramus's RSS or Twitter

In ~1 minute you can have FLIP-like animation on your page with View Transitions.

document.startViewTransition(() => {
  // modify the dom
  // - hide stuff
  // - move stuff
  // - whatever!
})

Game changer.

layouts are loops.

5 years at Google 🎉

a design tool is like a workspace with pre-squeezed paints ready. bummer is.. many artists have a preference in their paint and ink brands.

soon web browsers will offer the choice, will graphic design tools?

Grid and Subgrid layout slots
with named areas are rad 🤘💀

Placing things by name like search, tab bar, and home bar can be sweet.

Try it
(experiment in Canary, Safari Tech Preview or Firefox)

use :has() for when an element doesn't have some other element as a child, like a card without a heading 🤓

.card {
  ...
  &:not(:has(h3)) {
    /* .card's without h3's */
  }
}

Codepen

DevTools You Didn't Know Existed

The daily.dev show.

Watch on YouTube

End of Season 3 of the CSS Podcast:
YouTube | Podcast!

Had a blast, CSS is so rad ❤️

a rad #CSS one-liner for your hot topics

@layer demo {
  h1 {
    text-emphasis-style: "🔥";
  }
}

Thinking on ways to solve card stacks

In this GUI Challenge, I animate a stack of cards using transform origin, grid and :has().

demo · source

Subgrid

Una and I discuss subgrid, a special value for grid-template-rows or grid-template-columns. Learn the basic, use cases, tips, tricks and gotchas.

Watch · Listen

Oh Snap!

Spoke at CSS Cafe. Watch on YouTube, Peep the slides.

Announcing Chrometober!

Just like Designcember but hauntd! Checkout the blog post Building Chrometober by Jhey for lots of great details about the process.

Made my first commit to the HTML Spec for the scrollend event.

Thinking on ways to solve transitions 🧟‍♂️

In this haunted GUI Challenge, I live code CSS clip-path transitions, demo some rad effects, and cover gotchas. If you don't know clip-path, you will by the end.

demo · source

State of CSS Frameworks

Was on an awesome panel.

Oh snap!

Spoke at An Event Apart in Denver on all the magical things you can do with CSS scroll-snap!

Thinking on ways to solve tooltips

In this GUI Challenge, I build a <tool-tip> custom element with :has(), transforms, and logical properties. Besides a small backup script for :has(), it's all CSS powered.

demo · source

Thinking on ways to solve the cafe wall illusion

In this GUI Challenge, I recreate a classic illusion with CSS.

demo · post · source

On the Learn with Jason show!

Jason and I bring a NextJS app to life with Open Props. Even get to do a little animation 🙂

Thinking on ways to solve carousels

In this GUI Challenge, I try and make an accessible, responsive, adaptive and decently full featured carousel.

demo · source

Spoke at the super rad CSS Day in Amsterdam on CSS Scroll Snap.

Watch the video, peep the slides

State of CSS 2022

Spoke for a Google IO video and wrote an accompanying mega blog post.

Was on @KendoUI's React Wednesdays, chattin about Open Props.

Watch on YouTube

Announcing Designcember!

We on the Chrome Team use the site as a place to both test new web features all combined together, but also to showcase content from our team and others around the web.

Checkout the blog post Building Designcember for lots of juicy details.

Swyx and I chat DX vs UX, complexity cliffs in UI, and a little about design.

Watch on YouTube

Announcing open-props.style

350 ✨free✨ CSS variables

UX/UI Designers are forced to design in px, in a world where accessibility is a legal requirement Christine Vallaure

Why designers should move from px to rem (and how to do that in Figma)

CSS Nesting for the W3C!

Watch on YouTube

Billion Laughs Attack
aka: XML bomb 💣

A type of DoS attack aimed at XML parsers that with a few liens of code, aims to consume a ton of memory.

:root {
  --ha1: lol;
  --ha2: var(--ha1) var(--ha1) var(--ha1);
  --ha3: var(--ha2) var(--ha2) var(--ha2);
  --ha4: var(--ha3) var(--ha3) var(--ha3);
  --ha5: var(--ha4) var(--ha4) var(--ha4);
  ...
}

#CSS was a victim of this when custom properties were introduced.

Learn more on Wikipedia or the CSS Variables Spec.

I join Kevin Powell on Twitch to talk about my favorite up-and-coming CSS features.

Watch on YouTube

CSS scroll-linked animations with Kevin Powell!

Watch on YouTube

HD CSS Color

Spoke again at CSS Camp! This time on HD color, explore what we can use today and how to prepare for the future. Checkout the slides.

Color Gamuts of 2021

Spoke at CSS Cafe. Watch on YouTube, Peep the slides.

Google IO 2021

Gave a workshop on building a user-adaptive interface. CSS grid, flexbox, media queries, and much more.

Jecelyn and I show some of the ways Chrome DevTools supports designers.

Watch on YouTube

What's New In CSS

Spoke at Hover Conf 2021.
Checkout the slides.

Great Developer Tools

Spoke to the Stripe DX team in Seattle at their summit where I shared learnings from working with Chrome DevTools teams and creating VisBug. View the slides.

Announcing conic.style

Grab n' go beautiful and unique conic-gradients.

What's New in 2020

Spoke online for London CSS, rapid fire CSS goodies like proposals, drafts, specs, tools & more. Check out the slides.

Watch on YouTube

Announcing transition.style

Grab n' go (dont even need the lib) clip-path animations

Made my first commit to a CSS Spec.

I join David Khourshid and Stephen Shaw on The Keyframers!

Watch on YouTube

Kayce and I answer some DevTools questions 🙂

Watch on YouTube

Corner at View Source Conf in Amsterdam

Chatted VisBug with Stefan Judis 🤘💀

Watch on YouTube

Released Slyd!

<slyds>
  <slyd>
    <h1>Slide 1</h1>
    <h2>subtitle</h2>
  </slyd>
  ...
</slyds>

Scroll snap powered, parallax featured, bi-directional slide framework.

Deceiving For Good

Spoke at Seattle Interactive Conf about using UX knowledge for good. See the slides.

Spoke at CSS Camp on how to slow the pace down in an app for anxiety free, frictionless UX.

Spoke at JS Camp on how to leverage PWA features to build realistic prototypes.

Both talks were in the beautiful city of Barcelona ❤️

MPJ(funfunfunction) and I chat CSS Grid.

Watch on YouTube

Rick Viscomi and I chat about the role of design systems in modern web development and how they can change the dynamics between designer and developer.

Watch on YouTube

Became a member of the W3C and CSSWG!

VisBug was made open source! Plus an interactive tutorial website that looks like a bunch of artboards that need fixed.

Watch the announcement at Chrome Dev Summit 2018.

Released Kung Fury! A syntax highlight theme.

Released blingbling.js!

import $ from "blingblingjs";

Micro-library of shorthands for DOM selection, events, and attribute manipulation in a super minimal ES module.

Released roving-ux.js!

import { rovingIndex } from "roving-ux";

rovingIndex({
  element: document.querySelector("#carousel"),
});

User's shouldn't need to tab through each item in a list to see the next list

1. Providing keyboard list UX should be easy
2. Maintaining the last focused element should be easy
3. RTL Support

I made a cameo in the keynote at Chrome Dev Summit 2018! Had a blast.. moment of a life time 🔥

I wore this shirt from TeeJungle, it was a thing.

Released ragrid.css!

<section grid="columns" vertically-aligned="bottom">…</section>

Works like auto-layout:

1. Capable of 12-column layouts, packery, & masonry
2. Uses recognizable attributes instead of classes
3. Perfect for components
4. 528 bytes gzipped

An intrinsic first, minimal set of layout attributes.

Spoke at TEDx, Tacoma: Embrace UI.
✅ Slides built with Node and sockets for palm held slide swipeys.

tldr; Embrace UI because it's all around you, and when it's working right it's helping you be more human.

Spoke at HTML5 DevConf in San Francisco about the cross platform (Android, iOS, Windows Phone) hybrid web app Lively.

🎓 Taught at Art Institute of Seattle:

1. Intermediate Web Scripting
2. Advanced Web Scripting

Recorded my first set of tutorial videos. They were on #HTML5 for Intel's Developer Zone.

Gave my first front-end talk at an Adobe CreateNOW event in Seattle on HTML5 in Dreamweaver.