A List Apart “for people who make websites” 1997–?

Would be nice! Hello, @pfrazee.com. And thank you, David!

How Social Media Shortens Your Life And How to Expand it

Life in shuffle mode: “Soon, however, the feeds were made ‘curvilinear’ by the infinite scroll and autoplay function. We now know that these features impair awareness and memory by lulling people into passivity.”

www.gurwinder.blog/p/how-social...

(via @biancawylie.com)

JavaScript broke the web (and called it progress) We replaced simple websites with complex apps nobody asked for. Now it takes a complex build pipeline just to change a headline.

We used to build websites.

Now we build pipelines, frameworks, and hydration strategies - just to publish text.

This isn’t progress.
It’s complexity, by design.

We need to escape the JavaScript framework trap.

www.jonoalderson.com/conjecture/j...

Good people continue to promote a diversity of voices, albeit more quietly.

Human Curation in the Age of AI While AI can simulate technique with perfection, refined curation remains a distinctly human skill. This is an invitation to think about taste, discernment, and how to cultivate them with intention…

Five Practical Ways to Train Your Taste


* Less is more
* Avoid mistaking cost for quality.
* Study what you don’t like: The art that bothers you has something to teach. Dig into it and discover what that is.
* Go beyond the surface
* Always ask why

iamarino.com/human-curati...

@bsky.app has not yet verified @alistapart.com, we suppose because they’ve got bigger fish to fry first. We guess that at least some members of the Bluesky team learned their craft from us and trust that they’ll get around to verifying us sooner or later. Reshare if you care.

Content for fun vs. content for purpose: designing for two distinct modes of consumption From AI assistants to digital platforms, how can we design for rapid mode switching in real life? Reflections about utilitarian and experiential content and why understanding both matters.

♥ Content for fun vs. content for purpose: designing for two distinct modes of consumption ♥


automattic.design/2025/07/28/c... #design

An Holistic Framework for Shared Design Leadership “The relationship between a Design Manager and Lead Designer isn’t about dividing territories. It’s about multiplying impact. When both roles understand they’re tending to different aspects of the …

“The relationship between a Design Manager and Lead Designer isn’t about dividing territories. It’s about multiplying impact. When both roles understand they’re tending to different aspects of the same healthy organism, magic happens.”

alistapart.com/article/an-h...

To Ignite a Personalization Practice, Run this Prepersonalization Workshop Looking to tailor your product to individual users’ needs? In this article, Colin Eagan and Jeffrey MacIntyre walk you through their approach to aligning different stakeholders toward the common go…

Looking to tailor your product to individual users’ needs? Colin Eagan and Jeffrey MacIntyre walk you through their approach to aligning different stakeholders toward the common goal of personalized user experiences ... in @alistapart.com for people who make websites.™

Thanks for the memory, @classicweb.site. And, hey, we’re still at it. Check @alistapart.com.

Content for fun vs. content for purpose: designing for two distinct modes of consumption From AI assistants to digital platforms, how can we design for rapid mode switching in real life? Reflections about utilitarian and experiential content and why understanding both matters.

♥ Content for fun vs. content for purpose: designing for two distinct modes of consumption ♥


automattic.design/2025/07/28/c... #design

Human Curation in the Age of AI While AI can simulate technique with perfection, refined curation remains a distinctly human skill. This is an invitation to think about taste, discernment, and how to cultivate them with intention…

Five Practical Ways to Train Your Taste


* Less is more
* Avoid mistaking cost for quality.
* Study what you don’t like: The art that bothers you has something to teach. Dig into it and discover what that is.
* Go beyond the surface
* Always ask why

iamarino.com/human-curati...

“think of your design team as a living organism. The Design Manager tends to the mind (the psychological safety, the career growth, the team dynamics). The Lead Designer tends to the body (the craft skills, the design standards, the hands-on work that ships to users).”

I am a creative. A List Apart founder and web design OG Zeldman ponders the moments of inspiration, the hours of plodding, and the ultimate mystery at the heart of a creative career.

“Creatives knows that, at best, they are Salieri. Even the creatives who are Mozart believe that.”

alistapart.com/article/i-am... #design #creative #CreativeBlock #CreativeStrategy #ItsMagic

Sharing Our Work: Testing and Feedback in Design Showing your in-progress designs can be scary, but there’s no better way to keep your product in line with your users’ needs. Research and testing aren’t just boxes to be checked off; they’re metho…

“Don’t wait until design decisions are solidified to ask what your users think.”—Jessica Harllee

alistapart.com/article/shar... #ux #research #testing #iterating

The Story of CSS Grid, from Its Creators Designers have used grids for centuries. And after more than 20 years of waiting, they are finally here for the browser. This is the story of CSS Grid. It took a lot of people in the right place an…

The Story of CSS Grid, from Its Creators

alistapart.com/article/the-... #CSSgrid #css #WebDesign #code #frontend #WebHistory #WebDesignHistory #WebDevelopment

An Holistic Framework for Shared Design Leadership “The relationship between a Design Manager and Lead Designer isn’t about dividing territories. It’s about multiplying impact. When both roles understand they’re tending to different aspects of the …

“The relationship between a Design Manager and Lead Designer isn’t about dividing territories. It’s about multiplying impact. When both roles understand they’re tending to different aspects of the same healthy organism, magic happens.”

alistapart.com/article/an-h...

So You Want to Write an Article? Ready to write a professional article? Make sure your submission is the best it can be! ALA editor Brandon Gregory gives some advice on common pitfalls the editorial team sees in article submission…

Most article submissions suck. Yours doesn’t have to be one of them.

Now accepting submissions for @alistapart.com.

alistapart.com/article/so-y...

An Holistic Framework for Shared Design Leadership “The relationship between a Design Manager and Lead Designer isn’t about dividing territories. It’s about multiplying impact. When both roles understand they’re tending to different aspects of the …

Having both a Design Manager and a Lead Designer on the same team is beautiful, but can be messy. To make it work without creating confusion, overlap, or “too many cooks,” see new @alistapart.com author @michelferrari.bsky.social’s “Holistic Framework for Shared Design Leadership.”

#ProductDesign

Wakamai Fondue The tool that answers the question “what can my font do?”

What can your font do? Find out with this delightful free web app by pixelambacht.nl. 😲

wakamaifondue.com

The State of UX in 2025 From design tools, to our design process, to the user behaviors that will change the way we design — a list of what to expect for User Experience (UX) Design in the next year.

The GREAT DESIGN HANDOFF: “We’re handing our designs to Figma while it trains its AI. We're optimizing our flows for clicks, not clarity. We stopped building tools and started building engagement traps. We're trading empathy for algorithms.”

trends.uxdesign.cc #ux

Write for Us Yes, you. We’re always looking for new authors. If you’ve got an idea that will challenge our readers and move our industry forward, we want to hear about it. But you don’t need to wait for a…

Exciting, @alistapart.com is looking for submissions!

alistapart.com/about/contri...

Screenshot of the weather graphics for Dallas, Tx

Why I 🧡 the web,.

Someone made a 'old style "Weather Channel Simulator". If you are old enough you'll know what this is. Sadly i'm old enough.

weatherstar.netbymatt.com

Best of all it's #opensource:
github.com/netbymatt/ws...

#JavaScript

Write for Us Yes, you. We’re always looking for new authors. If you’ve got an idea that will challenge our readers and move our industry forward, we want to hear about it. But you don’t need to wait for a…

You bet we are. Please follow the instructions at alistapart.com/about/contri... .

Writing for the Web When Brian and I launched the original LIST APART in January ’98, we had two goals: to create a noise-free, high-level discussion list for the web; and to cover all the bases of webmaking—fro…

Web designers, know your history. “Writing for the Web,” January 22, 1999.

alistapart.com/article/writ... #UIwriting #UXwriting #copywriting #GuideCopy #webdesign @alistapart.com

Reading Design With so many specialists working so hard at their craft, why are so many pages so hard to read? Unabashed text enthusiast Dean Allen thinks designers would benefit from approaching their work as be…

“Above all, read what you are designing, and imagine reading it for the first time, like someone who just found it.”

The late Dean Allen on designing pages to be read. From @alistapart.com back in November, 2001.

#ReadingDesign #typesetting #readability #webdesign #WebDesignHistory

Designing Safer Web Animation For Motion Sensitivity For millions of people with vertigo and inner ear problems, large-scale web animations can trigger nausea, migraines, and dizziness. To make websites accessible for everyone, we don’t need to elimi…

★ Designing Safer Web Animation For Motion Sensitivity
by Val Head September 08, 2015

alistapart.com/article/desi... #a11y #OldGold @vlh.bsky.social #vestibular #VestibularDisorder #vertigo #migraines #nausea #health #ux #ixd #ui #animation #design

From Beta to Bedrock: Build Products that Stick. “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

@liamnugent.bsky.social explains how to avoid the pitfalls of feature-first development ... and start building products that stick.




alistapart.com/article/from...

We don’t think so—the text hasn’t changed since the date it was first published, and the writer’s an expert—but we’ll look into it. Thanks, Bobby Jack!

Responsible JavaScript: Part I The web is drowning in a sea of JavaScript, awash with unnecessary bloat, inaccessible cruft, and unsustainable patterns. Jeremy Wagner plots a course to navigate the JavaScript Sea responsibly by …

The web is drowning in a sea of JavaScript, awash with unnecessary bloat, inaccessible cruft, and unsustainable patterns. Jeremy Wagner plots a course to navigate JS responsibly.

alistapart.com/article/resp... #JavaScript #webdevelopment #webdesign #AListApart #OldGold