Best of Brad Frost — 2024

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   Brad Frost·2y

   Raw-dogging websites

   Building websites using just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript without frameworks, CMS, or build steps is liberating despite ergonomic inefficiencies. Personal experience shows it can save time compared to dealing with debugging or dependencies.

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   Brad Frost·2y

   Hire HTML and CSS people

   Many problems in companies, such as poor UX, outdated UI, accessibility issues, performance problems, and delayed product designs, can be solved by hiring competent HTML and CSS specialists.

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   Brad Frost·2y

   40 Thoughts At 40

   Reaching 40 years old has prompted a reflection on the significant lessons and observations learned throughout life. Key takeaways include the importance of cherishing family, understanding the temporary nature of life’s experiences, seeking personal fulfillment, balancing responsibility to oneself and others, and maintaining health and happiness. Developing gratitude, experiencing the natural world, and the power of travel, music, and meaningful relationships are emphasized. The journey involves living authentically, appreciating creativity, and balancing routine with novelty.

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   Brad Frost·2y

   AI and Design Systems

   AI tools can supercharge design system work by generating component code, translating components across frameworks, writing unit tests, reviewing accessibility, and creating documentation. These tools have the potential to significantly speed up the process of creating and maintaining design systems.

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   Brad Frost·2y

   2024 Design System Vibes

   Design system trends in 2024 focusing on empathy, cross-disciplinary systems, pace layers, governance process, and collaboration.

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   Brad Frost·2y

   A rare use case for em units

   A rare use case for em units in typography design, specifically for text-decoration-offset.

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   Brad Frost·2y

   Front-end development’s identity crisis – Elly Loel

   Elly Loel's post discusses the identity crisis faced by front-end web developers, specifically the challenges caused by the JavaScript-industrial complex and the emergence of specialized roles like front-of-the-front-end developers.

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   Brad Frost·2y

   Web Components for Framework Developers – Tony Ward

   Web Components are excellent for developing Design Systems that function across various frameworks. Tony Ward offers a helpful breakdown for developers accustomed to using frameworks like React and Angular.

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   Brad Frost·2y

   What’s Next for a Global Design System

   A Global Design System aims to improve the quality and accessibility of web experiences, save time for designers and developers, and make better use of collective human potential. It addresses challenges of existing open-source design systems and introduces a new layer that can feed into these systems. It is not intended to replace HTML, but rather provide prefabricated UI components. The goal is to handle common use cases and leave room for customization. The system should be generally unstyled and extremely themeable. Web Components are likely to be used in a Global Design System, but their current limitations and challenges need to be addressed.

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    Brad Frost·2y

    Transparent borders

    The post emphasizes the importance of not removing borders from components for accessibility reasons and highlights the use of 'border-color: transparent' for various purposes, including addressing box model issues and preserving button size in themeable design systems.

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    Brad Frost·2y

    Goodbye, Twitter.

    The author reflects on their extensive use of Twitter and the impact it had on their personal and professional life. With Twitter's decline, they announce their departure and share various ways to continue following their work and life across multiple platforms such as Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Despite leaving Twitter, the author remains hopeful and aims to maintain their connection with followers through their blog, newsletter, and other social media channels.

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