#175 – Green by Default
Hey everyone,
Welcome to issue #175!
Not much from me this month, I’m afraid. I’m working on a two articles which are both taking time to research and write. I hope to publish at least one of those some time next month.
In the meantime, here’s my top picks of what’s been happening in design, code and typography over the month of April 2021.
Thought provoking #
“Does the default option or standard use the least amount of energy possible?”
In Green by Default Brian Louis Ramirez explains how defaults can be used to save energy and thereby reduce CO₂ emissions in technology.
Here’s another quote I liked, also taken from Brian’s article.
“The goal of living was never to create a divine beauty in the world, to find a meaning to life that is as profound as it is simple. The goal is to appreciate the beauty that already exists. And the Web is that — a beautiful, beautiful place, hidden in places that so few people get to explore.”
Design and Code #
“….with normal life edging closer and closer, it’s not a virtual escape we’re craving. It’s an escape from the virtual. We need a vacation.” Meet the New “Leisure-Enhancing” Sunscreen Brand Partying Like It’s 1986. Everything about this is genius.
How I Built My Perfect Score Portfolio Website. Jemima Abu covers how to implement multiple color themes, non-JS dependent content and get a perfect lighthouse score on a website.
Cookie Banners and Web Vitals. Is your cookie banner punching you in the Web Vitals? Then stop treating it like critical content.
Say Hello To CSS Container Queries. Ahmad Shadeed explains the problem Container Queries help solve, then shows how to use them with some real world use cases.
Jamstack SEO Guide. Whether you are running a Jamstack website or not, this is a comprehensive overview of everything you need to know to succeed at SEO.
Typography #
Uncut is an open source typeface catalogue, focusing on contemporary type.
Building split text animations. Adam Argyle shares ways to solve split text animations and interactions for the web that are minimal, accessible, and work across browsers
FA Sysfont by FontsArena. A revival of Susan Kare’s original Chicago, the default typeface in Apple’s System (80s operating system, MacOS’s precursor). Open source and free to use.
Something to watch #
This is what it takes to run the hosting infrastructure for Internet Archive. Thanks to Jim Nielsen for pointing me in the direction of this fascinating talk by Jonah Edwards.