This issue of What’s !important brings you clip-path jigsaws, a view transitions toolkit, name-only containers, the usual roundup of new, notable web platform features, and more. What’s !important #9: clip-path Jigsaws, View Transitions Toolkit, Name-only Containers, and More originally handwritten...

Behind every technology, there should be a guide for its use. While JavaScript modules make it easier to write “big” programs, if there are no principles or systems for using them, things could easily become difficult to maintain. A Well-Designed JavaScript Module System is Your First Architecture D...

One of the best-known examples of CSS state management is the checkbox hack. What if we want a component to be in one of three, four, or seven modes? That is where the Radio State Machine comes in. The Radio State Machine originally handwritten and published with love on CSS-Tricks. You should reall...

Craving for a view transition? Sunkanmi has lots of common transitions you can drop into your website right now! 7 View Transitions Recipes to Try originally handwritten and published with love on CSS-Tricks. You should really get the newsletter as well.

A clever approach for selecting multiple dates on a calendar where the :nth-child()'s “n of selector” syntax does all the heavy lifting... even in the JavaScript. Selecting a Date Range in CSS originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter...

Cascade layers, specificity tricks, smarter ordering, and even some clever selector hacks can often replace !important with something cleaner, more predictable, and far less embarrassing to explain to your future self. Alternatives to the !important Keyword originally published on CSS-Tricks, which...

Chrome 145 introduces the column-height and column-wrap properties, enabling us to wrap the additional content into a new row below, creating a vertical scroll instead of a horizontal scroll. Looking at New CSS Multi-Column Layout Wrapping Features originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part o...

Creating rectangles, circles, and rounded rectangles is the basic of CSS. Creating more complex CSS shapes such as triangles, hexagons, stars, hearts, etc. is more challenging but still a simple task if we rely on modern features. Making Complex CSS Shapes Using shape() originally published on CSS-T...

A deep sniff of the new CSS Olfactive API, a set of proposed features for immersive user experiences using smell. Sniffing Out the CSS Olfactive API originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

These are the historical pranks I consider the top 10 most noteworthy, rather than the “best.” You’ll see that some of them crossed the line and/or backfired. Front-End Fools: Top 10 April Fools’ UI Pranks of All Time originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You...

Short n’ sweet but ever so neat, this issue covers light/dark favicons, @mixin, anchor-interpolated morphing, object-view-box, new web features, and more. What’s !important #8: Light/Dark Favicons, @mixin, object-view-box, and More originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcea...

That gap between "the form works" and "the business works" is something we don't really tend to discuss much as front-enders. We focus a great deal on user experience, validation methods, and accessibility, yet we overlook what the data does once it leaves our control Form Automation Tips for Happie...

Looking at research and experiments that are designed to automatically generate user interfaces based on user preferences. Generative UI Notes originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

The new CSS corner-shape() property is mathematical, so it’s easily animated. Author Daniel Schwarz pokes at animating the property for interesting UI effects. Experimenting With Scroll-Driven corner-shape Animations originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You s...

Mat Marquis and Andy Bell have released JavaScript for Everyone, an online course offered exclusively at Piccalilli. This post is an excerpt from the course taken specifically from a chapter all about JavaScript destructuring. JavaScript for Everyone: Destructuring originally published on CSS-Tricks...

For this issue of What’s !important, we have a healthy balance of old CSS that you might’ve missed and new CSS that you don’t want to miss. This includes random(), random-item(), folded corners using clip-path, backdrop-filter, font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums, the Popover API, anchored container...

Tailwind is really great for making layouts and there are many reasons why. Zell Liew looks at four specific examples of common use cases. 4 Reasons That Make Tailwind Great for Building Layouts originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newslett...

Let’s go over a few demos using the new customizable feature that may be wild, but also give us a great chance to learn new things in CSS. Abusing Customizable Selects originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

How we look at the stacking order of our projects, how we choose z-index values, and more importantly, the implications of those choices. The Value of z-index originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

Sure, we can select the element in CSS with, you know, a simple element selector, html. But what other (trivial and perhaps useless) ways can we do it? The Different Ways to Select in CSS originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

Choosing between Popover API and Dialog API is difficult because they seem to do the same job, but they don’t! After a bit lots of research, I discovered that the Popover API and Dialog API are wildly different in terms of accessibility and we'll go over that in this article. Popover API or Dialog A...

Despite what’s been a sleepy couple of weeks for new Web Platform Features, we have an issue of What’s !important that’s prrrretty jam-packed. The web community had a lot to say, it seems, so fasten your seatbelts! What’s !important #6: :heading, border-shape, Truncating Text From the Middle, and Mo...

TL;DR: We can center absolute-positioned elements in three lines of CSS. And it works on all browsers! Yet Another Way to Center an (Absolute) Element originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

Read an explanation of the recent CVE-2026-2441 vulnerability that was labeled a "CSS exploit" that "allowed a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code inside a sandbox via a crafted HTML page." An Exploit … in CSS?! originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You...

Browsers don't just let you bookmark web pages. You can also bookmark JavaScript, allowing you to do so much more than merely save pages. A Complete Guide to Bookmarklets originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

Let’s get nuanced in this article and discuss the capabilities of both SVG and raster imaged so that you can make informed decisions in your own work. Loading Smarter: SVG vs. Raster Loaders in Modern Web Design originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should...

Danny has several ideas for how we could use :near(), a proposed pseudo-class that detects when the pointer is near an element. Potentially Coming to a Browser :near() You originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

The distinction between "components" and "utilities" seems clear at first glance, but gets a little blurred when working with them in Tailwind. Distinguishing “Components” and “Utilities” in Tailwind originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the new...

Lee accepts a challenge: arranging text in a spiral that animates as a vortex on scroll... all in CSS. Spiral Scrollytelling in CSS With sibling-index() originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

Interop 2026 is officially a thing and there's plenty of new (and even old) CSS features that we can look forward to being cross-browser compatible and consistent! Interop 2026 originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

This issue of What’s !important is dedicated to our friends in the UK, who are currently experiencing a very miserable 43-day rain streak. Presenting: the five most interesting things to read about CSS from the last couple of weeks. Plus, the latest features from Chrome 145, and anything else you mi...

This is the second part of a small two-part series. In this article, we will explore another type of grid: a pyramidal one. We are still working with hexagon shapes, but a different organization of the elements., while exploring other different shapes. Making a Responsive Pyramidal Grid With Modern...

The new contrast-color() function is not fully supported yet. But can we still implement it in a cross-browser friendly way using other new CSS features? Approximating contrast-color() With Other CSS Features originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should ge...

Can we make pie chart that's semantic, with flexible markup, and avoids using a JavaScript library? Here's how I tackled it. Trying to Make the Perfect Pie Chart in CSS originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

CSS-only bar charts are one of those things we've tackled a bunch of times in different ways. But how can modern CSS features finally make it not only trivial, but fun? CSS Bar Charts Using Modern Functions originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get...

You’d think that publishing a VS Code extension is an easy process, but it’s not. You have to publish your theme in at least two places. No Hassle Visual Code Theming: Publishing an Extension originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

I've always thought that creating a VS Code theme was a lot of work. But lo and behold, it took less than six hours to get it working, then a day or two to polish up my final tweaks. No-Hassle Visual Studio Code Theming: Building an Extension originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the...

Neither Chrome, Safari, nor Firefox have shipped new features in the last couple of weeks, but fear not because leading this issue of What’s !important is some of the web development industry’s best educators with, frankly, some killer content. What’s !important #4: Videos & View Transitions, Named...

Chrome 144 recently shipped ::search-text, which is now one of several highlight-related pseudo-elements. This one selects find-in-page text, which is the text that gets highlighted when you do a Ctrl/Command + F-type search for something on a page and matches are found. How to Style the New ::searc...

Stu Robson's ReliCSS (clever name!) tool can excavate outdated CSS in your codebase that have modern CSS solutions. ReliCSS originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

Accessibility advice around modals have commonly taught us to trap focus within the modal. Upon further research, it seems like we no longer need to trap focus within the (even in modal mode). There is No Need to Trap Focus on a Dialog Element originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the...

A while back, Temani tacked a repeating grid of hexagon shapes. Well, he's updated it with modern CSS features that result in fewer magic numbers. And it's impressive! Responsive Hexagon Grid Using Modern CSS originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should ge...

The @custom-media at-rule has landed in Firefox Nightly! I couldn’t find it in the release notes but Adam Argyle’s on the beat noting that it’s behind a flag for now. Look for layout.css.custom-media.enabled I often forget the exact name of … Open Props @custom-media Recipes originally published on...

Semantic HTML does a lot more accessibility work than we usually give it credit for already — and ARIA is simple to abuse when we use it both as a shortcut and as a supplement. I Learned The First Rule of ARIA the Hard Way originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family....

I love me some good web research reports. I’m a sucker for them. HTTP Archive’s Web Almanac is one report I look forward to every year, and I know I’m not alone there. It’s one of those highly-anticipated publications on … HTTP Archive 2025 Web Almanac originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is pa...

If you’re reading this, chances are you already have some sort of way that you’re following when we publish new content, whether that’s RSS, Bluesky, Mastodon, or what have you. But I know a lot of folks … “I Heart CSS” DailyDev Squad originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalO...

The developer community hasn’t wasted any time kicking off 2026 with some really great articles, demos, and insights. Firefox 147 and Chrome 144 also shipped, and while they’re not jam-packed with features, the releases are still pretty exciting for what’s normally a slow time of year, so without fu...

Super cool new CodePen feature alert! You've probably seen a bunch of "interactive" demos that let you changed values on the fly from a UI panel embedded directly in the demo. Playing With CodePen slideVars originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get...

Lee Meyer recently spoke at Web Directions Summit 2025. This is his experience, not only speaking at the event, but experiencing the event through the lens of anxiety and imposter syndrome. Postcard From Web Directions Dev Summit, 2025 originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the Digital...

Have you ever struggled to style an element while it's being dragged? Sunkanmi explains some ways it could become easier in the future. Future CSS: :drag (and Maybe ::dragged-image?) originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

2026 is almost upon us. I know we’re all itching to see the clock strike midnight (cue The Final Countdown by Europe), but not without recapping the best CSS-related things that happened over the last two weeks! What’s !important #2: Conditional View Transitions, CSS/SVG Text Effects, the Best of CS...

This is the best job I've had in my life and it's only possible because you keep showing up each day to read, learn, share, and discuss all-things-front-end (and a little CSS, of course) with us. Thank You (2025 Edition) originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. Y...

The text-decoration-inset property solves a problem that we’ve had since the beginning of the web, which is that text decorations such as underlines extend beyond the first and last characters, resulting in vertical misalignment. text-decoration-inset is Like Padding for Text Decorations originally...

It's settled! A new CSS display property keyword called grid-lanes will trigger a masonry layout mode. Masonry Layout is Now grid-lanes originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

Jelte Lagendijk built a Raycast extension for searching CSS-Tricks articles where you simply type and a get a solid set of real-time results. Search CSS-Tricks Raycast Extension originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

In this article, we follow up the work we did to create responsive rows of circular images in a previous article by arranging the images around a circle with a clean hover effect. Responsive List of Avatars Using Modern CSS (Part 2) originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOce...

The best CSS news from around the web from the last two weeks. In this edition: advent calendars, CSS Wrapped 2025, and the latest Web Platform Updates. What’s !important #1: Advent Calendars, CSS Wrapped, Web Platform Updates, and More originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the Digita...

Andy Clarke with a brand-new resource. It generates the sort of fun typography that Andy commonly uses in his own work that's geared towards cartoon headings. Toon Title Text Generator originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

A list of rounded images that slightly overlap each other is a classic web design pattern. The main idea is not complex, but the new thing is the responsive part. that dynamically adjusts the overlap between the images so they fit inside the container. Responsive List of Avatars Using Modern CSS (Pa...

How far can we really go with container queries? There are dozens of media queries now, so what if there were dozens of container queries as well? What could we use them for? What Else Could Container Queries… Query? originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You s...

It’s not that hard to do! Preethi shows you how it's really the same old animation you’re used to writing in CSS, only applied on a view timeline instead of a normal timeline. Creating Scroll-Based Animations in Full view() originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family...

The Chrome Dev Team recaps the new CSS features that shipped in Google Chrome this past year in one amazingly designed webpage. They cover new functionality for creating more customizable components, next-gen interactions, and optimizing ergonomics. We’ve … CSS Wrapped 2025 originally published on C...

The Chrome team recently prototyped a working solution for fitting text to the width of a container in CSS using a text-grow property. Fit width text in 1 line of CSS originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

I would like to tell you what I learned from a five-year old child about HTML and CSS. It’s funny how explaining something you do almost naturally teaches you about yourself and what you take for granted. That Time I Tried Explaining HTML and CSS to My 5-Year Old Niece originally published on CSS-Tr...