March 25, 2014 in Learn
Building HTML5 Context Menus
A lesser known feature of the HTML5 specification is context menus. These allow you to add custom items to the menu that appears when a user right-clicks on the page. Using JavaScript, you can then control the actions these items…
March 21, 2014 in Learn
An Introduction to HTML Imports
HTML imports is an exciting technology that promises to change how we build websites. Imports allow you to include HTML documents within other HTML documents. This has a number of benefits, including the ability to create a bundle of HTML,…
March 19, 2014 in Learn
Exploring the JavaScript Device APIs
Photograph by Jeremy Keith (adactio) The mobile revolution has completely changed how people access the web. It’s only natural then that the web should evolve to better suit the plethora of devices on which it’s now accessed. When the web…
March 18, 2014 in Learn
Gamepad Controls for HTML5 Games
HTML5 games still have a lot of promises to fulfill, but the W3C gamepad specification is a great example of something that’s going well. The spec is still a working draft, but the prospect of reading game controller data in…
March 15, 2014 in Learn
Using localForage for Offline Data Storage
(Photo by Erich Ferdinand/Flickr) An important step on the path toward robust, offline web applications is the ability to store data in the user’s browser. Technologies like IndexedDB and localStorage have provided this functionality to web developers, but they are not…
March 11, 2014 in Learn
3 Lessons from the JavaScript Output of CoffeeScript
Even if you’ve been a front-end developer for years and have done a fair amount of JavaScript programming throughout your career, there may be a few things you’ve missed out on from those delivery pressures piled on you in your…
March 3, 2014 in Learn
How to Use The HTML List Elements
Some of the most commonly used elements for marking up web content are unordered, ordered, and definition lists. In this post you’re going to learn how to use these HTML list elements in your own web page markup. You’ll learn…
February 26, 2014 in Learn
Uploading Files with AJAX
The introduction of AJAX marked a huge leap forward in the history of the web. The ability to communicate with a web server without reloading the page has revolutionised how web applications are built. The primary technology that enables AJAX…
February 18, 2014 in Learn
How to Use The HTML5 Sectioning Elements
HTML5 has seen the introduction of a number of sectioning elements that can be used to mark up your web pages. Using these elements gives more semantic meaning to your pages, allowing computer programs to better understand your content. In…
February 17, 2014 in Learn
Hit the Reset Button on Gamification
Building apps is complicated. There’s planning, design, development, deployment, customer service, marketing, legal considerations… Yikes! There are also many additional layers of pervasive challenges: How do you keep people engaged? What’s the best way to onboard new users? To navigate…
February 10, 2014 in Learn
Getting Involved in Open Source Projects
The open source movement has been responsible for many great innovations over the past few decades. Linux, the Apache Web Server, and Rails are just a few examples of open source projects that have elevated the web industry to new…
February 5, 2014 in Learn
Tips for Creating a Blank Slate
The blank slate or “empty state” is when an application has no data. In other words, it’s what an app looks like the first time someone uses it. Not only is the blank slate a critical part of UX, but it…