I went over to dribbble in search of fresh webdesign ideas - how hard is it to build a non-standard layout, given the modern CSS tools we have today?

I know when I look at a design (heck, even if I know I'm not going to be building it), my front-end brain starts triggering all sorts of things I know will be related to the task… Accessibility! Performance! Semantics! Design systems!

If you’re making heavy use of background images and, for whatever reason, are not showing all of them for first render, beware that some browsers will go ahead and download them anyway: you might want to look into better strategies for hidden content (e.g. removal from the DOM rather than display: none;).

I’ve been playing around with CSS variables (or custom properties) quite a lot recently and thought I’d share a few tips as I develop a practical strategy for integrating them into my workflow. Including types of variables, scoping, defaults, and preprocessor variables.

This case study aims to chronicle the creation of our working design system at Linqia. I’ll share insight into the questions we asked, our process for getting started, the tools we used to create and implement the system, and also how we document, maintain, and share the system with our team.