During the workshop I picked up a few sign painting terms that were new to me, and relevant to web designers as browser support for CSS text-shadows becomes more widespread. Check out these various shading techniques on the demo page I made to accompany this post. Each of my examples uses multiple text-shadow values, which is pretty well supported, but I encourage you to design with progressive enhancement in mind.
Animation on the web is often a contentious topic. I think, in part, it’s because bad animation is blindingly obvious, whereas well-executed animation fades seamlessly into the background. When handled well, animation can really elevate a website, whether it’s just adding a bit of personality or providing visual hints and lessening cognitive load. Unfortunately, it often feels like there are two camps, accessibility vs. animation. This is such a shame because we can have it all! All it requires is a little consideration.
One of the coolest things I’ve been messing with in the last couple years is the CSS Paint API. I love it. I did a talk on it, and made a little gallery of my own paint worklets. The other cool thing is the prefers-color-scheme media query and how you can use it to adapt to a user’s preference for light or dark modes.
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