www.getstark.co
Building accessible digital products using focus and interaction states
A great article about correctly using focus states to improve website accessability. Read more
27 October 2021 accessibility
Journal
I switched my domain from .com.au to .design
I recently switched my website from using a .com.au domain to a .design instead. Here’s why.
My office setup
I’ve been working for myself for over 20 years now, and this is the first time that I have truly had the opportunity to set up my own office space at home. In the past I’ve rented office space which has always had its limitations - small room, sharing the floor with staff, open-plan office, not enough space for my stuff, etc.
7 October 2021 work space office
Liquid tip: Drop cap the first letter of an article
Drop caps have been used in printed media for a long time to add styling to the first letter of the first paragraph of piece of content.
css-tricks.com
iOS browser choice
I wasn’t aware that all browsers on iOS are restricted to Webkit, so effectively there is no browser choice on iPhones or iPads. This raises the question of whether there is any point testing websites with different browsers on these devices if their engines are unsupported? Read more
28 September 2021 web development browsers ios
New Shopify website for Hearing Dogs UK
This month, I’ve been working on designing and building the new shop for Hearing Dogs, a UK charity that trains dogs to alert deaf people to important and life-saving sounds they would otherwise miss.
24 September 2021 front-end development web design shopify ecommerce
What’s your development workflow for Shopify 2.0?
With the arrival of Shopify 2.0, it’s now thrown my development workflow out of the window. The `config.yml` made development much more manageable when working on different store features because it linked directly to a particular theme and excluded any changes made to the `settings_data.json` file. But, the new CLI seems to add extra complications to the workflow by requiring frequent pulls and pushes.
13 September 2021 shopify 2.0 development
css-tricks.com
Scrollbar Reflowing
I’m not sure why anybody, developer or not, would want to turn off/hide scrollbars on a desktop. This macOS setting has always puzzled me. Read more
Book Recommendation: Show your work! by Austin Kleon
If you work for yourself, this book is a must-read! It’s insightful, down-to-earth, and Austin Kleon explains everything in a simple, enjoyable format. I could relate everything within it to my own personal experiences. Definitely worth reading.
24 August 2021 inspiration creativity book
Embracing Vanilla CSS: Why you should stop using Sass
I’ve been using Sass for a few years now, and I’ve gotten so used to using it on new projects, I never gave it a second thought. I thought it was making my life easier, but it’s caused me more hassle than it’s worth in recent weeks.
16 July 2021 sass web design css
A couple of new books for my reading list
A couple of new books to add to my reading list: “New Frontiers in Web Design” by Smashing Magazine and “Art Direction for the Web” by Andy Clarke.
10 July 2021 web design books
youtu.be
Shopify 2.0 looks amazing! And metafields...finally!
A few days ago Shopify announced some of its upcoming features at their annual Unite event. Some of the exciting announcements for me were themes 2.0, improved performance, metafields (finally, and it looks flippin’ awesome!), more focus on store content, GitHub integration for devs, and more checkout customisation possibilities. Read more
Improving page speed and core web vitals
This week, I deployed some page speed/core web vitals updates to my clients Shopify website. I’ve been working on it for a few weeks now, tweaking code and assets here and there wherever I can - it’s been an interesting task.
28 May 2021 web design core web vitals page speed
spotify.design
Better in black: Rethinking our most important buttons
An insightful article by Spotify about tweaking elements for better accessibility. Read more
22 May 2021 accessibility ui design
www.smashingmagazine.com
Frustrating Design Patterns: Mega-Dropdown Hover Menus
Great article about the problems with mega-dropdown menus. I’ve never been a fan of them, and implementing them is always a tricky task. I recently redesigned the menu on AbilitySuperstore.com from being a mega menu to a traditional “slide-out” structure, akin to how OS (macOS, Windows, etc.) menus work. Read more
20 May 2021 ux usability design patterns
css-tricks.com
A love letter to HTML & CSS
A brilliant post about how important HTML and CSS truly are today more than ever. I’ve been watching the JS and React craziness going on over the last few years and have refused to take part. The fundamentals of the web are, and always will be, HTML and CSS. Without these at the core, JS, React, or even PHP (or any other web-based language for that matter) would not even exist. Read more
A quick note about styling the first element, but only if there's more than one of them
The paragraph you are reading right now is styled differently from the rest of the paragraphs down below. This only applies if there are more sibling paragraphs below.
9 May 2021 css
A note about lazy loading images in a multi-column layout
In my previous post, I mentioned that I’d added an archive page containing images of old work to my website. To build this, I decided to use CSS columns to create a masonry-style layout without using complex JavaScript or frameworks - just plain old CSS and HTML.
6 May 2021 page speed css
Three Lions get a makeover for new England Football brand
The logo for the English Football Association (The FA) has had a makeover. I like the idea behind it, but the implementation just doesn’t work for me. Personally, I think it lacks any strength and looks too scruffy, with jagged edges, as if it was designed in a 1998 copy of Microsoft Paint! And why are the lions laughing?
5 May 2021 branding logo design