August is here, so why not celebrate with a fresh wallpaper? In this post, Cosima Mielke features desktop wallpapers designed by artists and designers from across the globe. We give all artists the full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience throughout their works. With and without a calendar for August 2018 and available for free download. All images can be clicked on and lead to the preview of the wallpaper.
Read more…
The tips presented in this article aim to help HTML5 game developers in avoiding common mistakes when converting their Flash games to JS and making the process run as smooth as possible. Today, Tomasz Grajewski will focus mainly on Phaser v2. However, a newer version of Phaser is now available, and we encourage you to check it out, as it introduced a plethora of fresh, cool features, such as multiple cameras, scenes, tilemaps, or Matter.js physics engine.
Read more…
The Beacon API is a lightweight and efficient way to log information from a web page back to a server. It is used for sending small amounts of data to a server without waiting for a response. Think of it like a postcard sent home when on vacation. You put a small amount of data on it, put it in the mailbox, and you don’t expect a response. In this article, Drew McLellan will help you find out how that can be used and what makes it so different from traditional Ajax techniques.
Read more…
Have you been looking for a way to create a notification system when using WordPress? Meet the ‘Notification’ plugin, an all-in-one solution for any custom WordPress notification system. In this article, Jakub Mikita will show you how to create your own notification system within minutes with the free Notification plugin. By notification, he means any kind of notification. Most of the time, it will be email, but with the plugin you’ll be using, you can also send webhooks and other kinds of notifications.
Read more…
Frameworks such as Espresso and Mockito provide easy-to-use APIs that make writing tests for various scenarios easier. The important thing to consider while writing tests is the units of responsibility that emerge as you design the new feature. The unit test should cover all possible interactions with the unit, including standard interactions and exceptional scenarios. In this article, Vivek Maskara will cover the fundamentals of testing and frameworks which developers can use to write unit tests.
Read more…
Images are powerful. They can provide key information and context to articles, or merely add humorous asides. They do anything for us that plain text just can’t by itself. But when there’s too much imagery, it can be frustrating for users on slow connections, or run afoul of data plan allowances. In this eBook, you’ll learn all about WebP: what it’s capable of, how it performs, how to convert images to the format in a variety of ways, and most importantly, how to use it. Meet “The WebP Manual,” our latest edition to the Smashing eBook Library that covers everything you need to know about the latest image format to sweep the web!
Read more…
In this excerpt from his eBook “The WebP Manual,” developer and author Jeremy Wagner will show you the many ways you can convert your existing images to the WebP format.
Read more…
We asked the Smashing Community for their favorite tips and tricks when editing text and code. With so many great suggestions, Rachel Andrew decided to collect them all into one article so you can add it to your useful bookmarks. Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply and share their best-appreciated tools and techniques — we sincerely appreciate it!
Read more…
With so much going on in the web industry, it can be difficult catching up with everything — especially with font loading and webfonts that greatly affect web performance. Search no further — we’ve got your back.
Read more…
We’re pretty excited by tools such as SVGator, which really speed up the process when you’re making simple SVG animations. Animated SVG files have become very popular, because they are entirely scalable, small and 100% code-based, which allows for so many transformations and tweaks. This, however, comes at a price: the steep learning curve for complete beginners. In this article, Vitaly Friedman will show you how easy it is to use and how you can get a great-looking animation in no time.
Read more…