That HTML Blog Weekly Digest #8: Accessible Web Components, Reactivity, and Questionable AI
Friday, September 22
Hello friends! I don't know about you, but I've had a bananas month (starting out with getting very sick around U.S. Labor Day 🤕), so apologies for the lapse in updates. I will endeavor to stay on track going forward—especially as I have a real backlog of links I'm trying to get sent out, so by this time next week there will be a whole lot more. ☺️
Until then, I hope you're doing well and rocking that #WebDev lifestyle! And remember, if you have links of your own you'd like to share on That HTML Blog, please send 'em my way!
Accessible Web Components ➦
Manuel Matuzović once again hits it out of the park with a comprehensive yet concise guide to creating and using accessible web components (and some of the possible pitfalls, particularly when talking about “cross-root” ARIA / shadow DOM). As Manuel explains:
How to Bring Reactivity to Your JavaScript Code ➦
I meant to post a link to this article the first moment I read it, because it’s just so good. ⭐️
There are so many great examples here, from how to work with custom events in and even outside of the DOM, how to use observables and proxies, a basic implementation of signals and effects (they’re so rad), MutationObserver, and a whole lot more.
AI-generated UIs Just Not That Innovative ➦
I think we’re fast coming up to the peek and inevitable bust of the “generative AI” hype cycle, but in the meantime, we still must suffer from the hyperbole and the very real harm these tools (and often their champions) can cause. I really appreciated this read, and the main TL;DR takeaway is: if your “production-grade” generated code isn’t fully accessible…well, it ain’t production-grade. Full stop.
Also ICYMI, I was on a Jamstack panel along with such industry stalwarts as Zach Leatherman, Phil Hawksworth, Brian Rinaldi, and Brittney Postman. It was quite an enjoyable conversation (and less contentious than I anticipated!), and I look forward to continuing the collab going forward.
See ya next week!
Jared