Michelle Barker is a front-end developer and writer behind CSS { In Real Life }, a blog dedicated to modern CSS and real-world web development. She shares honest, practical insights on evolving CSS features, front-end techniques, and the web community.
227 articles from this blog
Explores HTML list types and creative CSS styling techniques for web development.
Using CSS Cascade Layers to manage style order and specificity in live coding demos, particularly with container queries.
A CSS tip explaining how to use negative animation delays to create more natural, staggered animations for groups of elements.
A tech worker discusses the role of privileged individuals in the tech industry in pushing for climate action and systemic change.
Explains how CSS logical properties like padding-inline provide shorthands for setting spacing on a single axis, improving code maintainability.
Explores the current state and future of creating masonry layouts in CSS, discussing limitations, workarounds, and the need for native CSS support.
A CSS tutorial on techniques for creating full-width components within a centrally constrained layout, discussing markup and styling solutions.
A personal recap of the CSS Day 2022 conference in Amsterdam, highlighting key talks on CSS layout, animations, new features, and developer tools.
A guide on writing effective alt text for images, focusing on web accessibility, screen readers, and best practices for developers.
A CSS tip explaining that the calc() function is often unnecessary when using min(), max(), and clamp() for calculations.
A web developer's strategy for using modern CSS features while ensuring compatibility with older browsers through progressive enhancement and fallbacks.
Explores using CSS :has() selector with animated grid tracks to create interactive layouts, with current browser support limitations.
Overview of new CSS, HTML, and JavaScript features recently implemented in Safari and other browsers, including :has(), trigonometric functions, and viewport units.
A critique of the term 'web3', arguing it's not an official web version and cautioning developers against hype.
Discusses a font rendering bug caused by Google Fonts updates, arguing for self-hosting fonts for control and performance.
A tool for checking if third-party scripts on your website use green hosting and their environmental impact.
A summary of talks from a green-themed web performance meetup, focusing on how web developers can reduce their sites' environmental impact.
A web developer explains their decision to finally install an ad blocker after encountering intrusive ads and slow-loading pages during research.
Explains the CSS aspect-ratio property, its benefits over the old 'padding hack', and practical usage examples.
Explores techniques to reduce the environmental impact and improve performance of social media embeds and widgets on websites.
