Issue 109
News
Issue 109
I am writing this from a hotel room in Chicago. Yesterday I presented at An Event Apart, the last outing for a talk I wrote when I was hopeful but didn't really know if Grid would ship into browsers in 2017. I'll be writing a new talk for An Event Apart San Francisco. It seems fitting that this week I'm including the previous talk I gave at An Event Apart, introducing this exciting new idea of CSS Grid! My slide decks really could be seen as a history of the spec at this point.
Conference season continues. This evening I fly back to London, to then head to Croatia, to do the closing keynote at Web Summer Camp. Come and say hello if you happen to be at any of the events I'll be turning up at over the next few weeks.
Rachel Andrew, CSS Layout News
Learn
Designing for the Arab User — Basic Arabic UX for Business
"Arab script-using countries (so not only the Middle East, but also, for instance, Iran and Pakistan), are more likely to perceive progression and forward movement if shown from right to left."
In this useful article is more information than details on Arabic script. Well worth a read.
An Event Apart News: CSS Grid Layout by Rachel Andrew—An Event Apart video
This was my 2015/2016 CSS Grid talk. A talk which changed over the course of the year or so I gave it, as the Grid spec evolved. I remember sitting and revising the talk after gutters were added to the spec and the Chrome implementation, and being excited about how much they simplified the code required.
This recording was made towards the end of this time and so the information contained in the talk is still a good intro to grid, although the browser information can be classed as historical.
An Event Apart News: Revolutionize Your Page: Real Art Direction on the Web by Jen Simmons—An Event Apart video
I can't post my An Event Apart talk without also posting the talk that Jen Simmons was giving at the same time. The two talks worked as a pair through 2016 - my technical take on new layout and Jen's inspirational ideas about how we might start to use this stuff. We've continued our one-two punch throughout 2017 at An Event Apart, like some kind of CSS double act.
If you want to experience these as An Event Apart audiences did - watch this one first, then mine.
Interesting
A framework for creating a predictable & harmonious spacing system for faster design-dev handoff
An amazingly in-depth look at spacing and creating a spacing system within a design system.
The League of Moveable Type’s Top 10 Most Magical and Magnificent Microsites
These typography microsites are one place where designers are able to really be creative with web technologies as they are designed as a digital type specimen, and so don't have all the constraints of the typical web project. The examples in this list are great fun to look through.
Inside a super fast CSS engine: Quantum CSS (aka Stylo) ★ Mozilla Hacks – the Web developer blog
Lin explains how the browser CSS engine works, in the context of Quantum - the major rewrite of Firefox's internals.
Making the web smoother with independent rendering - Microsoft Edge Dev BlogMicrosoft Edge Dev Blog
In more news of fast browser rendering, this article details independent rendering and improvements in EdgeHTML for the next version of Edge. The next version of Edge also includes the updated CSS Grid Layout implementation, so it is one to look forward to.
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