November 26, 2018 — Overusing inline CSS or JS code, as opposed to serving code through static resources, can harm the site’s performance. In this article, Leonardo Losoviz will learn how to load dynamic code through static files instead, avoiding the drawbacks of too much inline code. You will see, as an example, how WordPress loads 43kb of scripts to print the Media Manager, which are pure JavaScript templates and could perfectly be loaded as static resources. Read more…

November 23, 2018 — It’s getting clearer that design makes all the difference and that unifying designs to a standard model like the Google Material Design Kit doesn’t work well. By using it, you’ll get a decent design that works from a technical perspective, of course. But you won’t create a unique experience with it, an experience that lasts or that reaches people on a personal level. Major updates, new tools, valuable lessons learned. In his monthly reading list, Anselm summarizes everything that’s new and important to know for web developers this November. Read more…

November 21, 2018 — Today is a very important day for us. We celebrate the first year of Smashing Membership. Those who have been with us from the start will receive an email with details of a present from us to say thank you, and we’ll give you a taste of what’s to come in year two. Now that the team is larger, we’ll be bringing you more content — going up to three webinars a month. The price stays the same. And, of course, we’d love your input on subjects or speakers! Read more…

November 20, 2018 — What does Gutenberg bring to the future of WordPress? In this article, Leonardo Losoviz will analyze several implications of building sites through a component-based architecture and through Gutenberg (as the implementation), including what new functionalities it can deliver, how much better it can integrate with current website development trends, and what it means to the future of WordPress. Read more…

November 19, 2018 — Have you ever had a requirement in which you had to design and build an interactive web experience but the grid system fell short? Furthermore, the design elements turned into unusual shapes that just wouldn’t fit into the regular web layouts? In this article, Krutie Patel is going to build an interactive infographic using Vue.js, SVG and GreenSock by using dynamic data and unusual layout. Read more…

November 15, 2018 — When you prepare for your next presentation, use these tips on how to tweak your slides and your talk so that everyone gets the most out of it. In this article, Allison Ravenhall brings you tips that will make a big difference to your whole audience. Your slide content, design, and how you present can all affect how well the crowd gets your message, if at all. This is particularly true for those with physical and cognitive conditions. Making subtle changes to what you show and your script will help all attendees to get the most out of your hard work. Read more…

November 14, 2018 — Ever since Pokémon Go brought augmented reality into consumers’ line of sight, marketers and developers have been looking for a way to hone AR’s power for their own purposes. If there ever was a time to jump on this game-changing bandwagon, it’s now. AR provides spatial and facial mapping technologies that will not only delight your users, but will improve the overall experience of interacting with your app’s brand. In this post Suzanne Scacca will provide you with examples of what’s being done in the AR space now and hopefully inspire your own efforts to bring this game-changing tech to your mobile app in the near future. Read more…

November 13, 2018 — Sending many transactional emails at once, if not architected properly, could become a bottleneck for the application and degrade the user experience. Part of the problem is connecting to the SMTP server from within the application, synchronously. In this article, Leonardo Losoviz will explore how to send emails from outside the application, asynchronously, using a combination of AWS S3, Lambda, and SES. Read more…

November 12, 2018 — WordPress has a few significant limitations — it requires time and coding skills to create a website. Building a website used to be a complex exercise only professionals could do, but the situation changed. Today, Nick Babich will review a tool that will allow us to work smarter. Imagine WordPress without design and technical limits. In this article, Nick reviews the Visual Composer Website Builder tool that helps simplify the process of page building in WordPress. Read more…

November 9, 2018 — Have you ever considered whether CSS Grid can actually replace the need for CSS frameworks or third-party component libraries? In doing so, Rachel Andrew discovered a range of reasons people use a third-party framework and the positive and negative things about doing so.  In this article, you will discover that the reasons for using frameworks are varied, and not simply centered around use of the grid system contained in that framework. We hope that by unpacking these reasons, Rachel can help you to make your own decision, in terms of what is best for the sites and applications that you are working on, and also for the team you work with. Read more…