Smashing Magazine

Meet Accessible UX Research, A Brand-New Smashing Book

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Vitaly Friedman) |
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. ... read more

CSS Cascade Layers Vs. BEM Vs. Utility Classes: Specificity Control

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Victor Ayomipo) |
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`.... read more

What I Wish Someone Told Me When I Was Getting Into ARIA

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Eric Bailey) |
[Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA)](https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/aria/) is an inevitability when working on web accessibility. That said, it’s everyone’s first time learning about ARIA at some point.... read more

Creating The “Moving Highlight” Navigation Bar With JavaScript And CSS

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Blake Lundquist) |
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. T... read more

Decoding The SVG <code>path</code> Element: Line Commands

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Myriam Frisano) |
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 `` and its sometimes mystifying commands. With simple examples and visualizations, she’ll help you understand the... read more

Collaboration: The Most Underrated UX Skill No One Talks About

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Carrie Webster) |
We often spotlight wireframes, research, or tools like Figma, but none of that moves the needle if we can’t collaborate well. Great UX doesn’t happen in isolation. It takes conversations with engineers, alignment with product, sales, and other stakeholders, and the ability to listen, adapt, and co-c... read more

Smashing Animations Part 4: Optimising SVGs

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Andy Clarke) |
What’s the best way to make your SVGs faster, simpler, and more manageable? In this article, pioneering author and web designer Andy Clarke explains the process he relies on *to* prepare, optimise, and structure SVGs for animation and beyond.... read more

Why Designers Get Stuck In The Details And How To Stop

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Nikita Samutin) |
Designers love to craft, but polishing pixels before the problem is solved is a time-sink. This article pinpoints the five traps that lure us into premature detail — being afraid to show rough work, fixing symptoms instead of causes, solving the wrong problem, drowning in unactionable feedback, and ... read more

Designing For Neurodiversity

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Vitaly Friedman) |
Designing for neurodiversity means recognizing that people aren’t edge cases but individuals with varied ways of thinking and navigating the web. So, how can we create more inclusive experiences that work better for everyone?... read more

Prelude To Summer (June 2025 Wallpapers Edition)

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Cosima Mielke) |
Let’s kick off June — and the beginning of summer — with some fresh inspiration! Artists and designers from across the globe once again tickled their creativity to welcome the new month with a new collection of desktop wallpapers. Enjoy!... read more