Author Geoff Graham

November 5, 2024 — Feeling good with your Lighthouse score of 100%? You should! But you should also know that you’re only looking at part of the performance picture. Learn how Lighthouse scores are measured differently than other tools, the impact that has on measuring performance metrics, and why you need real-user monitoring for a complete picture. Read more…

May 30, 2024 — What does it mean to learn the “basics”, or fundamentals, of front-end web development? Is starting with HTML and CSS still the best entry point to learn how to make websites and apps when we have a seemingly endless supply of frameworks? Geoff Graham thinks so and discusses why you might consider going “back to basics” to start or move forward in your career. Read more…

February 27, 2024 — The Performance API is a set of standards for measuring and evaluating performance metrics with JavaScript. This article demonstrates how to use the Performance API to generate performance metrics directly in the DOM to create your own reporting. Read more…

February 8, 2024 — What could we learn from entry-level students in front-end web development? As seasoned professionals, you might think you’ve seen it all, but the truth is that the newcomers are asking the most intriguing questions and making connections that those of us who have spent years on the front end may have never considered. Read more…

December 7, 2023 — Starting in March 2024, Interaction to Next Paint will formally replace First Input Delay as a Core Web Vital metric. Learn how the two metrics differ, why we needed a new way to measure interaction responsiveness, and how you can start optimizing the performance of your site now for a seamless transition to the latest Core Web Vital metric. Read more…

November 24, 2023 — We’re living in somewhat of a CSS renaissance with new features, techniques, experiments, and ideas coming at us to an extent we haven’t seen since “CSS3”. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when your profession seems to be advancing at breakneck speed, but Geoff Graham considers the ways “modern” CSS in 2023 has actually made CSS “easier” to write. Read more…

October 31, 2023 — Take a closer look at how various performance tools audit and report on performance metrics, such as core web vitals. Geoff Graham answers a set of common questions that pop up during performance audits. Read more…

October 24, 2023 — Having access to a free reporting tool like Lighthouse in DevTools is a great start for diagnosing performance issues by identifying bottlenecks on the main thread. Even better are paid tools like SpeedCurve to dig deeper into the data for more targeted insights and to produce visual reports to help make a case for performance improvements for your team and other stakeholders. Read more…

October 20, 2023 — WCAG 2.2 officially became a “W3C Recommended” web standard on October 5, 2023, and with it, new success criteria and changes to existing guidelines for accessible user experiences. What are the changes, and how can you conform to them? This roundup provides links to WCAG 2.2 explainers that have been published or updated since the release. Read more…

October 3, 2023 — Geoff explores the often-overlooked divide between WordPress.org and WordPress.com, shedding light on the blurred lines between open-source ideals and commercial interests. Read more…

September 18, 2023 — This article is a peek behind the curtain of how content is managed here at Smashing Magazine. In it, you’ll get a tour of an article’s full lifecycle, from a basic outline to the sort of thing you’re reading right this second. Read more…

August 28, 2023 — The CSS Color Module Level 4 specification defined a slew of new color features when it became a candidate recommendation in 2022, including Oklab and Oklch, which have widened the field of color we have to work with. Explore the Oklch color space and how to start using it in CSS today. Read more…

August 10, 2023 — What does your performance “stack” look like? There are all kinds of tools available for measuring page speed, but what data and assumptions do they use to measure performance? And speaking of measuring performance, there’s quite a difference between that and monitoring performance. Let’s dig in! Read more…

July 14, 2023 — CSS is evolving faster than ever. With all of the new features that are now available — and forthcoming — since we got Flexbox and Grid years ago, the way we write CSS is evolving, too. In this article, Geoff Graham shares which features have had the most influence on his current approaches to CSS, as well as those that have not (at least yet). Read more…

June 26, 2023 — The Wikipedia team shipped a redesign of the ubiquitous and one of the most visited websites on the web. Alex Hollender and Jon Robson led the work and generously discussed the effort with us in a thorough, wide-ranging interview that covers the design, development, and processes that went into the project. Read more…

June 15, 2023 — Codux is a new visual IDE brought to you by the fine folks over at Wix. It’s got a lot of low-code features that level the playing field for app development but is really designed for React developers. How so, you ask? That’s what we’re going to explore in this article. Read more…

June 2, 2023 — Pricing a product or service is one of the more challenging aspects of product development. Pricing is an inexact science, and chances are you will not get it right the first time. But where do you even begin? Let’s explore the important considerations that go into product pricing. Read more…