Boostrap 5 is out, measure Web Core Vitals with Lighthouse Metrics, Safari 14.1, and Vivaldi 3.8 | Front End News #028
Tags: frontendnews, news
Published: 2021-05-12 15:19:51

> **NOTE:** This is issue #028 of my newsletter, which went live on Monday, May 10th. If you find this information useful and interesting and you want to receive future issues as they are published, ahead of everyone else, I invite you to join the subscriber list at [frontendnexus.com](https://frontendnexus.com/).

***

Bootstrap 5, the most popular front-end open-source toolkit, is officially out of beta. You can now measure your Web Core Vitals everywhere with Lighthouse Metrics. Safari 14.1 is out with improvements long-awaited by developers. And Vivaldi 3.8 lets you avoid annoying cookie dialogs.

***

## Bootstrap 5 is out

Bootstrap 5 is officially out of beta and production-ready. Here is a quick peek at the most important changes this version brings us:

- No more jQuery
- Removed support for older browsers (IE10-11, MS Edge Legacy, and more)
- RTL support
- new `xxl` breakpoint at 1400px and up

The list is a lot longer, and many of these changes are breaking compatibility. It makes the migration guide a "must-read".

- [Bootstrap 5](https://blog.getbootstrap.com/2021/05/05/bootstrap-5/)
- [Migrating to v5](https://getbootstrap.com/docs/5.0/migration/)

***

## Lighthouse Metrics

Web Core Vitals will start playing an important role in Google search rankings, and Lighthouse is a powerful tool in the measurement of these metrics. So today I'm presenting you an online interface for Lighthouse, that can be used on every browser, not just on Chrome.

- [Global performance insights, powered by Lighthouse](https://lighthouse-metrics.com/)

***

## Browser news

### Vivaldi

Vivaldi rolled out version 3.8 for both desktop and mobile platforms.  The main feature of the update is the Cookie Crumbler, a tool that allows people to block all those annoying cookie dialogs, banners, and requests. This will simply block the service that asks for consent, or hide the consent dialog, in the same way as it might remove a tracker or an ad. And let's not forget the complete removal of the FLoC component. 

- [Vivaldi crumbles cookie dialogs, raises the bar on privacy and design](https://vivaldi.com/blog/vivaldi-crumbles-cookie-dialogs-raises-privacy/)
- [New Vivaldi on Android breaks language barriers and crumbles cookies](https://vivaldi.com/blog/new-vivaldi-on-android-language-switcher-blocks-cookies-dialogs/)

### WebKit

Safari updates are a lot more spaced out compared to the other browsers.  And we just got version 14.1 that brings over some features long-awaited by developers. I'm talking about support for the `gap` property for Flexbox, and the CSS Individual Transform Properties. The complete list of changes is a lot longer  - it includes the changes released in the latest 13 iterations of Safari Technology Preview (from 110 to 122).

- [New WebKit Features in Safari 14.1](https://webkit.org/blog/11648/new-webkit-features-in-safari-14-1/)

Speaking of Safari Technology Preview, we got update 124. The list of changes is fairly long, with many fixes and quality of life improvements.

- [Release Notes for Safari Technology Preview 124](https://webkit.org/blog/11672/release-notes-for-safari-technology-preview-124/)

***

## Software updates and Releases

- **[Babel 7.14.0](https://babeljs.io/blog/2021/04/29/7.14.0)** - a compiler for writing next generation JavaScript.
- **[Gatsby v3.4](https://www.gatsbyjs.com/docs/reference/release-notes/v3.4/)** - build blazing fast, modern apps and websites with React
- **[Mocha v8.4.0](https://github.com/mochajs/mocha/releases/tag/v8.4.0)** - a JavaScript test framework
- **[Next.js 10.2](https://nextjs.org/blog/next-10-2)** - The React Framework
- **[Node v16.1.0](https://nodejs.org/en/blog/release/v16.1.0/)** - an open-source, cross-platform, JavaScript runtime environment
- **[Node-dev v7.0.0](https://github.com/fgnass/node-dev/releases/tag/v7.0.0)** - Zero-conf Node.js reloading
- **[pdf-to-printer v2.0.0](https://github.com/artiebits/pdf-to-printer/releases/tag/v2.0.0)** - Print PDF files from Node.js and Electron
- **[Redux v4.1.0](https://github.com/reduxjs/redux/releases/tag/v4.1.0)** - Predictable state container for JavaScript apps
- **[Replay v3.0.0](https://github.com/vimond/replay/releases/tag/v3.0.0)** - a React video player
- **[RxJS 7](https://rxjs.dev/deprecations/breaking-changes)** - a reactive programming library for JavaScript
- **[Strapi v3.6](https://strapi.io/blog/announcing-content-internationalization-v3-6)** - Open source Node.js Headless CMS
- **[V8 release v9.1](https://v8.dev/blog/v8-release-91)** - Google’s open source high-performance JavaScript and WebAssembly engine
- **[Visual Studio Code version 1.56]()** - open source code editor.

***

## Wrapping things up

Have a great and productive week, keep yourselves safe, and I will see you next time!