Building Digital Trust: An Empathy-Centred UX Framework For Mental Health Apps
hello@smashingmagazine.com (Kat Homan) |
Designing for mental health means designing for vulnerability. Empathy-Centred UX becomes not a “nice to have” but a fundamental design requirement. Here’s a practical framework for building trust-first mental health products.... read more
Designing For Agentic AI: Practical UX Patterns For Control, Consent, And Accountability
hello@smashingmagazine.com (Victor Yocco) |
Autonomy is an output of a technical system. Trustworthiness is an output of a design process. Here are concrete design patterns, operational frameworks, and organizational practices for building agentic systems that are not only powerful but also transparent, controllable, and trustworthy.... read more
CSS <code>@scope</code>: An Alternative To Naming Conventions And Heavy Abstractions
hello@smashingmagazine.com (Blake Lundquist) |
Prescriptive class name conventions are no longer enough to keep CSS maintainable in a world of increasingly complex interfaces. Can the new `@scope` rule finally give developers the confidence to write CSS that can keep up with modern front ends?... read more
Combobox vs. Multiselect vs. Listbox: How To Choose The Right One
hello@smashingmagazine.com (Vitaly Friedman) |
Combobox vs. Multi-Select vs. Listbox vs. Dual Listbox? How they are different, what purpose they serve, and how to choose the right one. Brought to you by Design Patterns For AI Interfaces, **friendly video courses on UX** and design patterns by Vitaly.... read more
Short Month, Big Ideas (February 2026 Wallpapers Edition)
hello@smashingmagazine.com (Cosima Mielke) |
Let’s make the most of the shortest month of the year with a new collection of desktop wallpapers that are sure to bring a smile to your face — and maybe spark your creativity, too. All of them were designed with love by the community for the community and can be downloaded for free. Happy February!... read more
Practical Use Of AI Coding Tools For The Responsible Developer
hello@smashingmagazine.com (Stefan Kaltenegger) |
AI coding tools like agents can be valuable allies in everyday development work. They help handle time-consuming grunt work, guide you through large legacy codebases, and offer low-risk ways to implement features in previously unfamiliar programming languages. Here are practical, easy-to-apply techn... read more
Unstacking CSS Stacking Contexts
hello@smashingmagazine.com (Gabriel Shoyombo) |
In CSS, we can create “stacking contexts” where elements are visually placed one on top of the next in a three-dimensional sense that creates the perception of depth. Stacking contexts are incredibly useful, but they’re also widely misunderstood and often mistakenly created, leading to a slew of lay... read more
Beyond Generative: The Rise Of Agentic AI And User-Centric Design
hello@smashingmagazine.com (Victor Yocco) |
Developing effective agentic AI requires a new research playbook. When systems plan, decide, and act on our behalf, UX moves beyond usability testing into the realm of trust, consent, and accountability. Victor Yocco outlines the research methods needed to design agentic AI systems responsibly.... read more
Rethinking “Pixel Perfect” Web Design
hello@smashingmagazine.com (Amit Sheen) |
Amit Sheen takes a hard look at the “Pixel Perfect” legacy concept, explaining why it’s failing us and redefining what “perfection” actually looks like in a multi-device, fluid world.... read more
Smashing Animations Part 8: Theming Animations Using CSS Relative Colour
hello@smashingmagazine.com (Andy Clarke) |
CSS relative colour values are now widely supported. In this article, pioneering author and web designer [Andy Clarke](https://stuffandnonsense.co.uk/) shares practical techniques for using them to theme and animate SVG graphics.... read more