May 15, 2020 — A month is a long time to stay on top of things. In today’s monthly post, Iris Lješnjanin brings you an overview of everything we’ve been working on and have also enjoyed reading over the past month. Here at Smashing, we believe that is is now more important than ever to stay in touch and support each other. Behind the scenes, the team is working tirelessly on ways to keep the community connected, and oh boy do we have a lot of things in store for you! You didn’t really think we’d give up that easily, did you? Read more…

May 15, 2020 — Creating accessible images seems like a simple topic at first glance — you just need to add alt text to an image, right? But the topic is much more nuanced than some people think. In this article, Carie Fisher will review the different types of images, dive into some real-world examples of inaccessible public service announcements (PSAs), and discuss which elements matter most when critical messages need to reach everyone. Read more…

May 14, 2020 — Smashing Meets is a friendly, inclusive, online meetup for people who work on the web. We focus on front-end and UX, but cover all sorts of topics from performance to accessibility. We organize Smashing Meets together with some amazing communities from around the world. Join us for Smashing Meets — two free online meetups with speakers, activities, and plenty of chances to make new friends. Just like a real meetup, though you’ll need to bring your own pizza. Read more…

May 14, 2020 — React is a fantastic JavaScript library for building rich user interfaces. It provides a great component abstraction for organizing your interfaces into well-functioning code, but what about the look and feel of the app? There are various ways of styling React components from using stylesheets to using external styling libraries.  In this article, Shedrack Akintayo will explain the cons and pros of these styling strategies, and by the end of this tutorial, you’ll know all about styling React components and how they work along with the various methods that can be used for styling these components. Read more…

May 13, 2020 — Arguing that dark patterns are unethical is not enough on its own. We will also need to make the case to clients and colleagues that they are damaging to business. That’s what Paul Boag has also written in his new Smashing book, “Click”. In this post, he will put together a compelling argument you can present to stakeholders to help them understand why dark patterns are a bad idea. However, before we do that, let’s agree on a definition of dark patterns. Read more…

May 12, 2020 — How, then, do we encourage users to act? By establishing trust with small commitments, at the right time, and in the right order. Click! explains how to do just that. Meet our new practical guide on how to build trust, increase conversion and boost business KPIs effectively — without alienating people along the way. Written by Paul Boag. Coming up in June. Jump to table of contents and get the book right away. Read more…

May 12, 2020 — For hundreds of years, we have been using white space in typography. Today, in 2020, how do we add spacing to punctuation marks and other symbols, and how do we adjust the space on the left and right side in an easy and consistent way? It is actually not as easy and quick as it should be. Read more…

May 11, 2020 — In this article, Blessing Krofegha introduces Typescript, a superscript of JavaScript that presents the static type feature for spotting common errors as developers codes, which enhances performance, hence results in robust enterprise applications. You’ll also learn how to efficiently set up TypeScript in a React Project as we build a Money Heist Episode Picker App, exploring TypeScript, React hooks such as useReducer, useContext and Reach Router. Read more…

May 8, 2020 — This tutorial would take you on a step by step guide to build a functional survey app using Vue.js and Firebase. From validating the user’s data through Vuelidate, to authentication, storing the user’s data, route protection and sending data to Firebase servers. All the steps used in the tutorial are practical, and can be reproduced in any real-life project, even with a custom backend. Read more…

May 7, 2020 — The pressure to rush market and usability research carries risk. In this article, Eric Olive will offer four practical techniques to mitigate this risk and create designs that better serve customers and the company: context over convenience, compromise, better design decisions, design reduction. Read more…