Journal
Origami Design System
The FT’s design system Origami not only has a cool name but also some interesting metrics.
An interactive guide to CSS Container Queries, by Ahmad Shadeed
This is a wonderful guide that’s choc-full of practical examples.
CSS container queries help us to write a truly fluid components that change based on their container size. In the next few years, we’ll see less media queries and more container queries.
Building a Good Download… Button? by Eric Bailey
Question: when presenting users with a means of downloading a file, should you use the anchor
element or the button
element?
Answer: you should use the anchor
element.
The reliability of HTML number and date inputs
When asking users for numbers and dates, which HTML form elements should we use?
How would you build Wordle with just HTML & CSS? by Scott Jehl
Scott proposes an interview question relating to web standards and intelligent use of JavaScript.
How would you attempt to build Wordle (...or some other complex app) if you could only use HTML and CSS? Which features of that app would make more sense to build with JavaScript than with other technologies? And, can you imagine a change or addition to the HTML or CSS standard that could make any of those features more straight-forward to build?
Sakamoto’s Opus at the GFT
Just had a memorable midweek night at the cinema with Craig and Jason.
Opus presents Ryuichi Sakamato at the piano in the final year of his life. It consists of him playing twenty pieces one after the other and is beautifully shot in black and white by his son, Neo Sora.
I found the film’s style and starkness to be quite unusual at first, but once I got into its rhythm it was very immersive. The music and playing were at times just mesmerising and given the circumstances it was quite moving.
It was great to unexpectedly bump into Liam, too. I might have known this film would be up his strasse!
Data Visualization Design Guidelines (by Smashing Mag)
Here are a bunch of great tips and resources for creating charts and graphs, condensed into a 6-minute read.
It’d be interesting to look at the key recommendations in this article and compare our web-based charts at work against them.
The Rescue
This retelling of an incredible story featuring unbelievable examples of human skill, endurance and hope is the best TV programme I’ve watched in years.
Small changes
Growing up, I recall my Dad often used the old Scots phrase mony a mickle maks a muckle and I’ve always loved it. It’s about the value of taking care of the little things because if you keep it up you get something bigger.
It’s true, and here’s a good example. Over the last six months I’ve made lots of small changes to my life and I’m feeling an overall benefit.
Recently read: Lost Connections by Johann Hari
When chatting with a consellor in January about some bouts of low mood and mental fatigue, I described one symptom as a strange sense of disconnection. And while the recent lockdowns during the pandemic were obvious contributors to that, they didn’t feel like the full story.