Front End Astronaut

The field of web development can be complex, filled with various technologies, standards, and practices. Amidst this complexity, we often look for simplicity: tools that can streamline our work, enhance website performance, and ensure user satisfaction. In this context, let's explore a really nice tool: the Web Vitals Chrome Extension . I've found myself many times working in teams where non-experts needed to understand the measure of the quality of the user experience on a website, and this tool has proven to be very helpful. So, this post is not intended for experienced developers. For them, there is an advanced set of options that include real-time console logging, user timings and more. We'll speak about that in the future :) Web Vitals Chrome Extension in Action Understanding Web Vitals To grasp the significance of this tool, we first need to understand Web Vitals. This is an initiative by Google to provide guidelines for quality signals crucial for ensuring an excelle...

Greetings, readers. The ever-evolving field of web development consistently introduces features that significantly improve efficiency and usability. One such recent advancement pertains to Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), specifically the introduction of individual CSS transform properties. Traditionally, developers had to manipulate multiple transformations using the transform property. This property required the use of various transform functions in a single line, as shown below: .element {     transform: rotate(45deg) scale(1.2) translateX(10px); } This approach, while functional, had its shortcomings. For instance, modifying one transformation without affecting the others was a challenging task. Similarly, overriding a single transformation in responsive design required precise handling to avoid unintended consequences. To address these issues, the CSS Working Group introduced individual transform properties, essentially assigning each transformation its own property: ...

The web development world has been buzzing with anticipation for a certain CSS feature that we’ve all been waiting for - container queries ! Now the wait is finally over. The prototype of container queries was available behind a flag in Chrome Canary for you to play around and experiment with, but now it is widely supported by major browsers. So, what's the big deal with CSS Container Queries? Before we get into the  gritty details of container queries, let's explore why they're so important. In the past, web design has been limited by the constraints of screen size. For instance, if a container is 600px wide, perhaps it has a row-like design, but any narrower than that, it transitions into a column-like design. The limitations have been around transitioning between layouts based on the screen size, rather than the size of an element or its container. Developers often used a system of breakpoints in CSS media queries to adjust styles based on the size of the viewport, not t...

Hello, fellow coders! Today, we are embarking on a journey to uncover the secrets of two fundamental concepts in JavaScript: assignment and mutation. We'll shed light on the differences, the quirks, and the best practices while using var , let , const , objects, arrays, arrow functions, spread operators, and rest operators. Buckle up and get ready for a code-filled adventure! Variables: The DNA of Your Code First things first, let's talk about variables. They're the DNA of your code, the building blocks that hold the data your code processes. In JavaScript, we have three keywords to declare a variable: var , let , and const . While all of them are used for variable declaration, they have different scopes and limitations. The Basics: Primitive Values and Objects Before we delve deeper into variable assignment and mutation, it's crucial to understand the two types of values we deal with in JavaScript: primitive values and objects. Primitive values include numbers, strings...

Greetings, fellow code enthusiasts! If you've been around the block (or the codebase), you've probably spent a good chunk of your time wrestling with modal pop-ups. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about - those pesky little windows that need to pop up for user confirmations, login prompts, or just when you want to show some extra content without navigating away from the page. In the past, we've had to lean on external libraries like micromodal.js or focus-trap , or even concoct our own concoctions to get the job done. And let's not even get started on making them accessible and user-friendly! Well, guess what? It's 2023 and there's a new kid in town - the native HTML <dialog> element. The <dialog> element is the web's standardized way to create a dialog box or an interactive component, such as a dismissible alert or a subwindow, that needs to be displayed on top of all other content in a web page. And it's here to make our lives a whol...

The term "debugging" has a bit of a legendary origin story. It dates back to 1947 when Grace Hopper, a pioneer in computer programming, was working on the Harvard Mark II computer. The team encountered an error that stumped them, until they opened up the machine and found an actual moth causing the issue. They removed the moth and logged the first ever "debugging" process. The moth itself was taped into the logbook, which is now in the Smithsonian Museum . While we may not deal with literal bugs in our machines these days, the term "debugging" has stuck around, symbolizing the process of identifying and removing errors or "bugs" in our code. So, the next time you're debugging, remember you're part of a tradition that traces back to the very early days of computing! In this post, we're about to introduce ourselves to the art of debugging frontend issues. We'll use the most powerful tool at our disposal - the browser devel...

This time, we're diving into the world of Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) and discovering how ARIA attributes can improve the accessibility of our websites. In this guide, we'll discuss the basics of ARIA, the importance of ARIA attributes, and practical tips for implementing them to create more accessible websites for users with  disabilities. Additionally, we'll touch on screen readers and assistive technology across various operating systems and devices. So, let's get started! The Basics of ARIA ARIA, or Accessible Rich Internet Applications, is a set of attributes and techniques designed to enhance the accessibility of web content and applications. ARIA attributes provide additional information about elements on a web page,  making it easier for assistive technologies like screen readers to understand and interact with the content. The Importance of ARIA Attributes ARIA attributes play a crucial role in making modern web applications more accessible to ...