CSS has evolved from a purely presentational language into one with growing logical powers — thanks to features like container queries, relational pseudo-classes, and the if() function. Is it still just for styling, or is it becoming something more? Gabriel Shoyombo explores how smart CSS has become over the years, where it is heading, the challenges it addresses, whether it is becoming too complex, and how developers are reacting to this shift.
https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/07/css-intelli
Bridging the gap between user research insights and actual organizational action — with a clear roadmap for impact. https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/07/turning-user-research-into-organizational-change/
July is just around the corner, and that means it’s time for a new collection of desktop wallpapers. Created with love by artists and designers from across the globe, they are bound to bring some good vibes to your screen. Enjoy! https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/06/desktop-wallpaper-calendars-july-2025/
As online scams become more sophisticated, Carrie Webster explores whether good UX can serve as a frontline defense, particularly for non-tech-savvy older users navigating today’s digital world. https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/06/can-good-ux-protect-older-users-digital-scams/
On her quest to teach you how to code vectors by hand, Myriam Frisano’s second installment of a path deep dive explores the most complex aspects of SVG’s most powerful element. She’ll help you understand the underlying rules and function of how curves and arcs are constructed. By the end of it, your toolkit is ready to tackle all types of tasks required to draw with code — even if some of the lines twist and turn.
https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/06/decoding-svg-path-element-curve-arc-command
CSS can be unpredictable — and specificity is often the culprit. Victor Ayomipo breaks down how and why your styles might not behave as expected, and why understanding specificity is better than relying on !important.
https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/06/css-cascade-layers-bem-utility-classes-specificity-control/
Meet “Accessible UX Research,” our upcoming book to make your UX research inclusive. Learn how to recruit, plan, and design with disabled participants in mind. Print shipping in August 2025. eBook available for download later this summer. Pre-order the book. htt
Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) is an inevitability when working on web accessibility. That said, it’s everyone’s first time learning about ARIA at some point. https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/06/what-i-wish-someone-told-me-aria/
In this tutorial, Blake Lundquist walks us through two methods of creating the “moving-highlight” navigation pattern using only plain JavaScript and CSS. The first technique uses the getBoundingClientRect method to explicitly animate the border between navigation bar items when they are clicked. The second approach achieves the same functionality using the new View Transition API.
https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/06/creating-moving-highlight-navigation-bar-javascript-css/
SVG is easy — until you meet path. However, it’s not as confusing as it initially looks. In this first installment of a pair of articles, Myriam Frisano aims to teach you the basics of <path> and its sometimes mystifying commands. With simple examples and visualizations, she’ll help you understand the easy syntax and underlying rules of SVG’s most powerful element so that by the end, you’re fully able to translate SVG semantic tags into a language path understands.
https://smashingmagazine