Understanding the Critical Rendering Path

When a browser receives the HTML response for a page from the server, there are a lot of steps to be taken before pixels are drawn on the screen. This sequence the browsers needs to run through for the initial paint of the page is called the “Critical Rendering Path”. Good and short writeup on …

Typora – a minimal markdown reading & writing app

Typora will give you a seamless experience as both a reader and a writer. It removes the preview window, mode switcher, syntax symbols of markdown source code, and all other unnecessary distractions. Replace them with a real live preview feature to help you concentrate the content itself. Looks great! Not sure if it’s still actively …

Dode Hoek (Blind Spot)

Over the weekend I went to the movie theatre to see “Dode Hoek” by Nabil Ben Yadir featuring Peter Van den Begin, Soufiane Chilah, and Jan Decleir. Dode Hoek (Blind Spot) is the story of Jan Verbeeck, the uncompromising commissioner of the Antwerp drug squad. Known as Mr. Zero Tolerance, he is hugely popular with …

JavaScript Start-up Performance

As web developers, we know how easy it is to end up with web page bloat. But loading a webpage is much more than shipping bytes down the wire. Once the browser has downloaded our page’s scripts it then has to parse, interpret & run them. In this post, we’ll dive into this phase for …

Reverse clip path with blend modes

Nice example on applying an SVG-defined clipPath using CSS. Note that’s it no simple triangle in the example, but a triangle with an inner triangle cut out, created using the reverse clip path approach by Ana Tudor. The gif and the extra background-blend-mode: screen; also give it a nice touch 🙂 Reverse clip path with …

Disable all Keyboard and Trackpad Input with Little Fingers

If you have a toddler running around, Little Fingers by Shaun Inman – who created it for his own need – will come in handy. Little fingers want to explore. Press Shift + Control + Option + Command + L to lock down your Keyboard, Trackpad, Touch Bar, and/or Mouse. Press it again to unlock. …

Form Design for Complex Applications

From complex ERP systems to Facebook, applications make meaning out of input. The form — in its many manifestations — provides a gateway for user submission. This article illustrates 13 different ways to present forms, and explores the future of data input. Good overview and good naming conventions used: Modal, Multi-modal, Slideout, Popover, Inline, … Form Design for Complex …

Easily manipulate images in PHP with spatie/image

Great new package by the folks at Spatie to working with images in PHP, powered by Glide. Glide itself is great, but uses an URL based approach (which has its benefits); yet in most cases I find myself using a code based approach. This is where spatie/image comes into play: spatie/image wraps up Glide so …