I really dig this approach to image optimizations for browsers that support the WebP image format. It shows how ServiceWorker can handle site-wide enhancements easily.
The Best Of The Internets
Service Workers: Dynamic Responsive Images Using WebP Images
Tips for Creating Accessible SVG
An excellent overview of how to make SVGs more accessible, from the incredible Léonie Watson.
Not so micro optimizations
There’s some really interesting performance-related lessons to be learned from Google’s AMP project. This chronicles a few.
I’m gonna give the preconnect & prefetch stuff a whirl on this site to see if it helps speed things up at all. I gave the preconnect & prefetch stuff a whirl on this site, and it sped things up substantially.
The Cost of Frameworks
This is a fantastic investigation of framework performance on mobile by Google’s Paul Lewis. In short: frameworks make things more convenient for developers, but pass the inconvenience on to end users. For more, see Who Should Pay? and Who Should Pay 2: The Hosting.
Introducing EdgeHTML 13, our first platform update for Microsoft Edge
Tons of great stuff in this release. Notably: the picture element, the srcset (with w descriptors) & sizes attributes, CSS initial and unset keywords, a[download], :read-write & :read-only, :in-range & :out-of-range, more ES2015 goodies, and a ton more. Hooray for evergreen!
Hints for successfully managing an open-source project
A nice post from my colleague David Catuhe on what it takes to build a successful open source project.
Aural UI of HTML elements
This is an indispensible resource for understanding how screen readers treat your markup. Many thanks to the Paciello Group for putting it together.
50 Female Tech Influencers You Need To Follow on Twitter
Just what it says on the tin. It’s a great compliment to the recommended speaker list I published.
Analytics confirm the need for adaptive web design
I cite this post a ton in my talks and workshops (and in the forthcoming second edition of Adaptive Web Design), but I realized I had not explicitly linked it up here.
This post is a look at browser stats for an industry/research site over a size year period of 6 years. Jason’s findings are astonishing, making this post a must-read for coming to terms with the need for designing with progressive enhancement in mind.
The changing form of the web browser
This is an interesting thought piece from Peter Gasston, examining where browsers are heading and what their role in the future of delivering content and interaction will be.