We’ve got 5 very good links this Friday for you in The Index #126. It's a fun one to close out…a week, huh?| Piccalilli
A workaround for using custom properties in media queries One of the most frustrating aspects of media queries is that we can’t use custom properties with them. This often results in hard-coded values in otherwise, highly configurable codebases. Manuel has a novel approach to get around this. Weird Web October 2025 A really cool idea: a challenge to build a little website every day in October based on a daily theme. An absolute masterpiece The artwork, the motion and the physics are unbelie...| Piccalilli - Everything
I’m a big fan of custom properties and I use them almost everywhere. One of the places where I’d love to use them, but can’t, is with media queries. The following code won’t work in any browser. :root { --breakpoint-s: 480px; } @media (min-width: var(--breakpoint-s)) { /* do something */ } The Custom Properties specification explains: The var() function can be used in place of any part of a value in any property on an element. The var() function can not be used as property names, sel...| Piccalilli - Everything
The best CSS unit might be a combination A really interesting approach to spacing, wrapping up an excellent series. A tiny bit-o-CSS for stable scrollbar gutters A great usage of the new(ish) scrollbar-gutter property. Transitioning from being a developer to a manager We've been wanting this type of content on Piccalilli for a while as management is such a common progression path for senior developers. What you need to know about modern CSS (2025 Edition) A great run-down of what's new this y...| Piccalilli - Everything
I started my career as a front-end developer and transitioned from developer to leader about 7 years ago. It wasn’t an easy path. I wasn’t prepared for how difficult it would be to let go of work, to trust other people with work that I “knew” I could do better and do faster. I also wasn’t prepared for how difficult it was to listen to people, to open up and not assume I knew all the correct answers right away. I had a lot of help along the way and a leadership team that understood t...| Piccalilli - Everything
Function-based JavaScript is really common in frameworks like React and Vue, but what about Web Components? Ginger is here to show you how to build a reusable function to do just that.| Piccalilli
Andy Bell had heard companies were forcing employees to use AI tools so spoke to developers to determine if that was the case and learned some horrors in the process.| Piccalilli
This one is different, I promise. It's my advice on approaching the options we have to center an element with CSS now and what pragmatic choices we should make.| Piccalilli
After a truck-load of work, we’ve given our upcoming courses branded landed pages so that our authors have their own little home to express themselves on Piccalilli.| Piccalilli
Cloudflare have come up with an interesting method of preventing publishers being ripped off by AI crawlers. We look at what it could do for us and everyone else.| Piccalilli
We've taken a cut of the respondents from our 2025 survey, so it's time to break down what the data is telling us and how that relates to our longer term plans to go all-in on Piccalilli.| Piccalilli
Declan Chidlow takes us on a really interesting tour of the often, under-reported world of print stylesheets, how to use them and also how to debug them.| Piccalilli
A CSS methodology oriented towards simplicity and consistency with a heavy dosage of pragmatism.| Piccalilli
In Every Layout, we wrote about The Stack. It’s a marriage of Heydon’s Lobotomised Owl selector and my method of managing Flow and Rhythm with CSS Custom Properties.| Piccalilli
Posted on Piccalilli: How to make hyper-resilient components that respond to not only the container, but other languages too.…| Eric Bailey
Progressive enhancement hasn’t caught on nearly as much as it should. It’s likely related to folks not being able to envision it working in their real world contexts. This post attempts to alleviate that and reignite the conversation.| Piccalilli
Inheritance truly is a superpower and it’s what makes developing on the web a joy if you embrace it. In this quick post, I’m going to convert you into a super fan.| Piccalilli
Often feared by developers, the cascade and specificity is actually really simple if you utilise the right mental model when authoring CSS.| Piccalilli
I’ve created some low fidelity demos of :has() snippets that I’ve been using in real-world client projects.| Piccalilli
I wrote “A Modern CSS Reset” almost 4 years ago and, yeh, it’s not aged overly well. I spotted it being linked up again a few days ago and thought it’s probably a good idea to publish an updated version.| Piccalilli
