General Musings with Kevin Powell

This week, I’m going to be talking a lot about CSS length units because one of the complaints I hear about CSS is the number of length units it has, with a total of 54 (not all of them are supported yet, though).That is a lot of units. But this is a feature and not a bug.Other awesome stuff around the web:z Sara Soueidan’s article on setting up screen readersWhat I’ve been up to this week: The flowchart The flowchart video Keeping up with CSS: The features released in 2023 Select all siblings of an element using :has()Find me elsewhere on the web: My Newsletter This podcast’s YouTube channel My Primary YouTube Channel Twitter Threads

This week is going to be a bit of a preview for a more in-depth video on my main channel that will be coming out in a few weeks because I’m in the middle of breaking down a few interviews that I’ve done to get some insight on helping people get their first jobs.In the video I’ll be talking about everything from positioning yourself to help you land interviews, how to have a successful interview, and how you can sometimes even skip a few steps along the way, but for this edpisode focus on how do you even know that you’re ready to start applying for jobs.Other awesome stuff around the web: Modular CSS and different ways to structure your stylesheets by Chris Ferdinandi The Three Cs: 🤝 Concatenate, 🗜️ Compress, 🗳️ Cache by Harry Roberts Why you suck at CSS by Zach JenszWhat I’ve been up to this week CSS position deep dive Use these instead of vh Combining transform with the individual rotate property makes things so much easierFind me elsewhere on the web My Newsletter This podcast’s YouTube channel My Primary YouTube Channel Twitter Threads

This week, I’m going to be talking about the results of the survey I ran last week asking about people’s primary pain point with CSS and exploring if we can find any correlation between years of experience and specific pain points—spoiler alert, we can!—as well as sharing a few of my favorite resources that I use to keep up with CSS.Other awesome stuff around the web: Stephanie’s newsletter CSS weekly newsletter Ryan Mulligan’s Layou Breakouts with CSS Grid Breakout of the container snippet by Stephanie EcklesWhat I’ve been up to this week: A new approach to container and wrapper classes A better image reset CSS animation keyframe tipsFind me elsewhere on the web: My Newsletter This podcast’s YouTube channel My Primary YouTube Channel Twitter Threads

The survey: https://kevinpowell.co/painpointsA lot of people get frustrated by CSS, but there are so many different aspects of it that seem to drive people crazy, and I’d love to know what they are for you!Other awesome stuff around the web: Chris Coyier on light-dark() (and other cool CSS functions) Bramus’ article on @scope Una taking a look at horizontal rules in select elementsWhat I’ve been up to this week: One of the most common CSS issues people run into True parallax with CSS-only is now possible 7 simple ways to center with CSSFind me elsewhere on the web: My Newsletter This podcast’s YouTube channel My Primary YouTube Channel Twitter Threads

If you’re learning something new and you’re putting in a lot of work, one of the best ways to supercharge your learning is to take notes. I know a lot of people might scoff at that idea because they see note taking as a waste of time, but in this episode I talk about how there are ways of doing it that can not only be effective, but which can supercharge your learning.What I’ve been up to this week: The problem with mobile-first CSS Subgrid & Container Queries change how we can create layouts How flexbox and grid are like owning different types of shoesOther awesome stuff around the web: Reality Check #1: Building out a furniture site from DribbbleFind me elsewhere on the web: My Newsletter This podcast’s YouTube channel My Primary YouTube Channel Twitter Threads

Online courses are awesome, but it’s really easy to get started with one only to let it drop by the way side after completing 20% of it, or actually finish one, but not feel like you learned as much as you were hoping to.In this episode, I explore some tips on how to get the most from online courses, and how to help make sure you actually get all the way to through them as well!What I’ve been up to this week: I asked people to make this simple layout and was surprised by the results A simple approach to layouts when going from design to code :nth-child has a super power most people don’t know aboutOther awesome stuff around the web: Sara Soueidan’s Practical AccessibilityFind me elsewhere on the web: My Newsletter This podcast’s YouTube channel My Primary YouTube Channel Twitter Threads

You follow a few tutorials and feel pretty good with the small projects you’ve been able to build. Then you have a cool idea for your own project, you open up VS Code, and you have no idea where to start.This is a common problem, and it happens because understanding something is not the same thing as being able to do something.Other awesome stuff around the web: Naming Variables in CSS by Jonathan DallasWhat I’ve been up to this week: How to create and style lists with HTML & CSS Simplify your code with this underused pseudo-class Using CSS custom properties like this is a wasteFind me elsewhere on the web: My Newsletter My YouTube Channel Twitter Threads

This week, I talked about whether or not I can break the curse of every conference that I get invited to being cancelled 😅. So far, I’m four for four, but I have a chance to break it to start off 2024, when I’ll be speaking at THAT Conference in Rolling Rock, Texas! Also, I'm still a little sick, sorry if I'm talking a bit funny 🤧What I’ve been up to this week: The State of HTML 5 tips to getting better at CSS Taking on a CSS Battle The easy way to make sense of complex selectorsOther awesome stuff around the web: Maxi Ferreira’s Astro + View Transitions demo with a 3D model of a person walking that persists across pages Codrops article by Igor Penaque exploring the basics of View Transitions with AstroFind me elsewhere on the web: My Newsletter My YouTube Channel Twitter Threads

Intrinsic Web Design, or Intrinsic Layouts, is a way we can approach writing our CS where we’re handing off a lot of the control the browser. That doesn’t mean we’re letting go of all the control though, but instead that we’re giving the browser hints on what we’d like to happen and letting it do the hard work for us.What I’ve been up to this week: How to make your own frontend roadmap Create a progressively-enhanced infinite horizontal scroll animation The border-radius feature most people don’t know about CSS Mastery with Kevin Powell: Unveiling Uncommon Knowledge (The Code Ryan Podcast)Other awesome stuff around the web: Contextual Spacing For Intrinsic Web Design by Stephanie Eckles Styling the Intrisic Web with Cascade Layers & Container Queries by Miriam SuzanneFind me elsewhere on the web: My Newsletter My YouTube Channel Twitter Threads

CSS is different from other languages, and while that can seem frustrating and leads to a lot of people complaining about it, there’s a good reason that it is the way it is. In this episode, I explore how and why it’s different, and how we can overcome the frustrations we run into with CSS by adopting the right mindset when authoring our stylesheets.What I’ve been up to this week: A quick guide to CSS focus states I just wasted a day on this code, was it worth it? Is this the strangest CSS solution out there? Choosing between flexbox and grid (not from this week, but mentioned during the podcast)Other awesome stuff around the web: The State of HTML survey Jen Simmon’s talk Everything You Know About Web Design Just Changed Jen Simmon’s talk Designing Intrinsic LayoutsFind me elsewhere on the web: My Newsletter My YouTube Channel Twitter Threads