TOP 5 Alien Articles of the Week Worth Reading 👽📖
Tags: beginners, webdev, productivity, css
Published: 2021-02-26 12:54:42

While working on one of my most recent projects, I came across this rather common issue, of Image Optimisation🎯

Determined to find an ultrapractical solution for rendering proper images on the platform - Without sacrificing performance or display quality; I spent the next few hours browsing through the internet 🥵, in hopes of finding techniques that could overcome this problem. 

And let me put it out there - the Internet did NOT disappoint!.
Not only did I find the answers to my question 🤗, in my search, I came across other useful articles that hold the potential to help me in my future endeavors.

So, today I am here to share that knowledge with y'all condensing it in the articles below 💟 - 

## 1. Maximally optimizing image loading for the web in 2021


This article talks about " 8 different methods " that developers can implement in their code to optimize image rendering. 
*Author Malte Ubl* goes into detail about how these methods can
**reduce the load times of webpages** making them both bandwidth and user friendly.

[![image](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/5tw7jt2b6lyx8ufv9lnj.png)](https://www.industrialempathy.com/posts/image-optimizations/)

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## 2. Optimizing Video For Size And Quality


Similar to the previous article, this one too, is focused on render optimization.

Adding videos to your webpage can provide visitors with a lot more information in a smaller time frame, compared to static images. But the task of optimizing the video so that it doesn’t lead to a worsened performance can be a bit more challenging than static images.

In this article, author *Doug Sillars* addresses the issue by taking into account - screen-sizes, bitrates and render resolution to find the optimal combination of video properties : best suited for the end-user.

[![image2](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/junsom6qu45mqy5mbqm3.png)](https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2021/02/optimizing-video-size-quality/)

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## 3. Performance Optimisation of a Frontend App


Continuing on with the theme of optimization techniques,
this next article by *Leandrotk* discusses the importance of ' Performance Metrics ' like **Perceived load speed, Load & Runtime responsiveness, Visual stability, Smoothness**. A must-read for anyone targeting a production-ready application.

[![image3](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/tswvpoa5te19tm18n2xg.png)](https://levelup.gitconnected.com/performance-optimization-of-a-frontend-app-473b4ead3cc7)

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## 4. CSS Switch-Case Conditions


Moving away from the theme of optimization, and *into CSS*,
this next article by *Yair Even Or* - discusses the issue of lack of a **switch** rule or a conditional **if**. 

The article also takes a deeper dive into why it would be useful if they existed, and describes a trick that is useful today, for implementing the said actions.

[![image4](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/829e9xjfoe5rvuuh3tw3.png)](https://css-tricks.com/css-switch-case-conditions/?ref=sidebar)

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## 5. Visual Studio Code Extensions to Enhance Productivity in 2021


A productive virtual environment that complements your work ethic is extremely important, when it comes to development of any sort. But what is a virtual environment, you might ask ? 
Well, it's your IDE ! *of-course* . 

This article - By the writers at **Vonage Dev** is dedicated to one of the most popular IDEs available out there, **VSCode**.

Filled to the brim with code extensions - this article will introduce you to modules capable of making your development experience a lot more worthwhile.

[![image5](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/fjgnicfkd8ydl4d20yt6.png)](https://codeburst.io/visual-studio-code-extensions-to-enhance-productivity-in-2021-5418c688c19f)

## Let me know what you think!

Feel free to ask any questions, and maybe add some other helpful articles you came across in comment section below ! I would love to know what you think, and maybe we can start a discussion ! Also, I am planning on turning this into a weekly series, and see where it goes ✨

Until next time, byeeeeeeeee !

![byeGif](https://media1.tenor.com/images/7a51cbda9076eb52eb7534aef92ebfca/tenor.gif?itemid=15739082)