Andy Bell is a UK-based designer and front-end developer specializing in CSS and design systems. He’s the founder of Piccalilli and Set Studio, helping teams and organizations build better, more resilient web interfaces.
168 articles from this blog
A critique of the Gatsby team's comparison of JavaScript and image sizes, arguing it's misleading for web performance.
A quick Git tip on removing committed files and a brief introduction to the author's web development work and courses.
Andy Bell discusses the importance of remembering web history and standards while acknowledging the modern, diverse web development landscape.
Andy Bell discusses the need for visual feedback in client-side routers and suggests a fallback mechanism to standard links for better UX.
Andy discusses the importance of personal blogging for career success in tech, emphasizing ownership of content over platforms like Medium.
Web Share API support in Safari and iOS is a win-win for user-friendly content sharing, prompting a deeper look.
A developer's personal endorsement of the Eleventy static site generator, with a call to support the project and a brief professional introduction.
A web developer explains why they prefer HTML and CSS over static design tools like Figma for core design work, while acknowledging the latter's benefits for stakeholder collaboration.
Andy announces moving his CSS courses to piccalil.li and introduces his work as a front-end developer and founder.
A CSS tip for selecting SVG elements to ensure they fill width correctly, with a link to a code gist.
Andy Bell announces major changes and the future direction of Piccalilli, a publication for front-end developers.
Andy shares how switching to Netlify's nameservers dramatically improved his site's time to first byte, with a Web Page Test report.
Andy shares a technical tip about improving DNS resolution by pushing domain nameservers to Netlify, along with an introduction to his work.
A web developer recommends a perfect guide to understanding CSS cascade and specificity, which are often cited as reasons why CSS is difficult.
A developer shares advice on learning programming languages and frameworks, emphasizing transferable skills and personal experience.
Andy discusses the powerful combination of Eleventy and Service Workers for building modern, performant websites.
Andy Bell introduces a simple mailto link generator tool and shares his background in front-end development and CSS education.
Andy Bell announces changes to the Piccalilli newsletter and front-end development publication, with a focus on future improvements.
A web developer discusses using Web Components with progressive enhancement for cross-browser support, including IE.
A static design tool tip: using an "Annotation" component as a sticky note to provide context for design elements.
