Many product teams still lean on usability improvements and isolated behavioral tweaks to address weak activation, drop-offs, and low retention – only to see results plateau or slip into shallow gamification. Anders Toxboe updates persuasive design for today’s reality, clarifying what has actually held up over the last decade and how modern frameworks can guide…
Some forms stay UI, while others quietly become rule engines. Here’s why these two different approaches exist and how to choose between them. There’s a mental model most React developers share without ever discussing it out loud. That forms are always supposed to be components. This means a stack like: React Hook Form for local…
The way JavaScript handles time has evolved significantly, from the built-in Date API to Moment.js and now Temporal. The new standard fills gaps in the original Date API while addressing limitations found in Moment and other libraries. Joe Attardi shares practical “recipes” for migrating Moment-based code to the new Temporal API. Almost any kind of…
For years, developers have been hacking around the limitations of border-radius, using clip-path, SVG masks, and fragile workarounds just to get anything other than round corners. The new corner-shape property finally changes that, opening the door to beveled, scooped, and squircle corners. When I first started building websites, rounded corners required five background images, one…
Do you need a little inspiration boost? Well, then our new batch of desktop wallpapers is for you. Designed by the community for the community, the wallpapers in this collection are the perfect opportunity to get your desktop ready for spring — and, who knows, maybe they’ll spark some new ideas, too. Enjoy! Blooming flowers,…
Meet our brand new conference for designers and UI engineers who love the web. That’s SmashingConf Amsterdam, taking place in the legendary Pathé Tuschinski, on April 13–16, 2026. We’ve been passionate about design & UX for years. We’ve published articles on design systems and usability, inclusive design and product design, UX research and enterprise UX….
Every high-resolution hero image, autoplay video, and complex JavaScript animation carries a cost. Sustainable UX challenges the era of “unlimited pixels” and reframes performance as responsibility. In 2026, truly sophisticated design is defined not by how much it adds, but by how thoughtfully it reduces its footprint. I’ve spent over two decades in the trenches…
What makes streaks so powerful and addictive? To design them well, you need to understand how they align with human psychology. Victor Ayomipo breaks down the UX and design principles behind effective streak systems. I’m sure you’ve heard of streaks or used an app with one. But ever wondered why streaks are so popular and…
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. Imagine a user opening a mental health app while feeling overwhelmed with anxiety. The very first thing they encounter is a screen with a…
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. In the first part of this series, we established the fundamental shift from generative…