🧢 Stefan's Web Weekly #5
Tags: webdev
Published: 2021-02-07 22:19:19

---
title: 🧢 Stefan's Web Weekly #5
published: true
description: Chrome web platform statistics, macOS accessibility features, a 90ies TV site and weird emoji stickers.
tags: webdev
canonical_url: https://www.stefanjudis.com/blog/web-weekly-5/
series: Web Weekly
---

## Welcome to Web Weekly #5!

Oh well... Winter hit Berlin. We're having -6° Celcius (21° Fahrenheit) right now, and it is freaking cold! 🥶 

But this weather is perfect for sending Web Weekly your way. This week's edition includes macOS accessibility features, a time travel to the 90ies, web platform statistics and, as always, GitHub repositories, Tiny Helpers and some music.

Have fun!

## You have to keep going to get better!

![Cover of "Ira Glass on Storytelling 3"](//images.ctfassets.net/f20lfrunubsq/5TngjdaMfUf5Kmyl5R4KZj/ed794c3ed17f5e82778c6745ebcbe423/Screenshot_2021-02-07_at_21.21.33.png)

Creative work is hard. Let it be video creation, blogging or public speaking; all these formats seem easy but are so incredibly difficult to master! Ira Glass shares his story and what it takes to be successful. It's all about pushing through challenges and getting consistently better. That's what makes the difference. 

👉 <a class="btn btn__small" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2wLP0izeJE">Listen to Ira's story</a>

## How to build for the web in 2021

![Toc of the post "How I Build JavaScript Apps In 2021"](//images.ctfassets.net/f20lfrunubsq/utGDXpJITHyt8DbogVGeG/ffd35e0d6c64e8c4fb0bb4756a423aee/Screenshot_2021-02-07_at_21.41.23.png)

Tim Daubenschütz shared his take on how to combat the neverending complexity we're dealing with today. It's a hot take for sure, but a good read. Plus, I learned that `<script type="text/babel" data-type="module">` is a thing)! 🙈 


👉 <a class="btn btn__small" href="https://timdaub.github.io/2021/01/16/web-principles/">Read Tim's web principles</a>

## Chrome web platform usage statistics

![chromestatus.com usage metrics](//images.ctfassets.net/f20lfrunubsq/2PZxARJnpPas9LOrcswhit/f8c8c0f4e101c1410fc374ba900ef933/Screenshot_2021-02-07_at_21.51.18.png)

Did you know that chromestatus.com includes usage statistics for web platform features? I didn't. 🙈 Do you want to know how many sites use `box-shadow`? I got you! 80%. How many sites use the `picture` element? 4%! 

I'm not sure how useful this data for daily web development is, but it's interesting for sure!

👉 <a class="btn btn__small" href="https://www.chromestatus.com/metrics/css/timeline/popularity/68">Dive into Chrome usage statistics</a>

## macOS' accessibility features

![Stefan controlling a website with his face](//images.ctfassets.net/f20lfrunubsq/4MBNnNIlJB2byX5ib2ax0H/083d9cdd6d183d6b86585e89aeb2e906/a11y-small.gif)

macOS has always been solid in terms of accessibility features. This month I learned that the operating system comes with face controls built-in. 😲

👉 <a class="btn btn__small" href="https://support.apple.com/en-om/guide/mac-help/mchlb2d4782b/11.0/mac/11.0">Learn more about head pointers</a>

## Thoughts from the internet

![cmdn cmds – A collection of interesting thoughts we found on the internet](//images.ctfassets.net/f20lfrunubsq/5StRV9zzTV0iI9zk1wjR7N/7b372375c80187ecbc800ebaa644e220/Screenshot_2021-02-07_at_21.31.53.png)

Edgar Lechaudel shared with me that he started blogging, too. cmdncmds.com includes many thoughts and quotes from the internet. I love it!

👉 <a class="btn btn__small" href="https://www.cmdncmds.com/">Visit cmdncmds.com</a>

## Weird Emoji stickers on Android

![Weird emoji stickers](//images.ctfassets.net/f20lfrunubsq/4GbcRIcmauVl1hI4SkCOoY/c1e3346bb9eafe9781b59e322b713045/Screenshot_2021-02-07_at_21.07.50.png)

I use many emojis in my written communication and noticed that my Android phone started to propose new stickers. While stickers in messengers are not new, I learned that there are stickers that combine multiple emojis. It's so good but also super weird!

👉 <a class="btn btn__small" href="https://www.androidpolice.com/2021/01/16/gboard-emoji-kitchen-how-to-examples/">Level up your emoji game</a>

## Why I still use RSS 

![Why I still use RSS](//images.ctfassets.net/f20lfrunubsq/lvoYli3FTRpLMM9jxfrKk/f67230dad44bcefb4c12b38eb8080dea/Screenshot_2021-02-07_at_20.53.43.png)

The people around me know that I use RSS to consume my news. RSS allows me to follow small blogs and I can consume their content without the fear of missing out. There's no algorithm "curating" the articles, and I can catch up in my own time. It's beautiful!

If you're looking for useful blogs, [my site lists all my Feedly subscriptions](https://www.stefanjudis.com/blogroll/), and if you're not convinced, this article is for you!

👉 <a class="btn btn__small" href="https://atthis.link/blog/2021/rss.html">Read "Why I still use RSS"</a>

__Do you write on your blog? Tell me about it, I'd love to subscribe!__

## Mini Apps and Super Apps

![Cover slides: Learning from Mini Apps by Thomas Steiner](//images.ctfassets.net/f20lfrunubsq/tXv4MXGmnNjQ3JJ7WdisB/a1c68db39714601942778b234cac333e/Screenshot_2021-02-07_at_18.34.16.png)

This week I learned that there is an evolving trend in China. Major players such as Baidu and WeChat offer ways to hook into their apps (Mini Apps are embedded in Super Apps). And there's even [a w3c working group discussing mini apps now](https://www.w3.org/blog/news/archives/8853).

If you want to learn more, Thomas Steiner's slides include many details about it.

👉 <a class="btn btn__small" href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vREwN7H71zfjPP8lwYgyc-iXam7_PMFCxiZy2dQNZ-XpbiKk1aRSj67vxfcegkHogcO0q3BFHxPf6S5/pub#slide=id.p">Learn more about Mini Apps</a>

## Beam yourself back into the 90ies

![My 90ies Tv showing Lenny Kravitz](//images.ctfassets.net/f20lfrunubsq/YYoPloP2RQ5fG9PLnuMEp/904347e7b56c7914863f32d646394c4f/Screenshot_2021-02-07_at_20.46.20.png)

This week, I spent way too much time watching TV from 1999. How? I found this site that is exemplary for the internet I love so much. Visit the site, turn on the TV and relive shows, music and even commercials from the 90ies! 

👉 <a class="btn btn__small" href="https://my90stv.com/">Live the 90ies</a>

## Aspect ratio is coming to your browser

![New aspect-ratio CSS property supported in Chromium, Safari Technology Preview, and Firefox Nightly](//images.ctfassets.net/f20lfrunubsq/6qoqgr0jBBwL2yPTQ370L2/1614c0f8e2e878684d7107a0948706c2/Screenshot_2021-02-07_at_21.56.18.png)

Last week was all about the new `aspect-ratio` CSS property. If you want to learn what it's about Una Kravets explains it in this blog post.

👉 <a class="btn btn__small" href="https://web.dev/aspect-ratio/">Learn all about aspect-ratio</a>

## Visualised layout shifts in Chrome DevTools

![Visualised layout shifts in Chrome DevTools](//images.ctfassets.net/f20lfrunubsq/6l3fn4nH1COJwyxpQIEa2N/16ca98cd010df51f40fa29f6c0bd0cb5/Screenshot_2021-02-07_at_22.05.13.png)

Today I learned that the Chrome developer tools offer a way to visualise layout shifts. If you're debugging your site and wonder what's moving your elements around, this feature comes in handy!

## New tiny helpers

![Three new Tiny Helpers: htaccess tester, a11yengineer and visiwig](//images.ctfassets.net/f20lfrunubsq/uLlFSDEAMUZxdniTSigl8/121ddc0dda5b1dea119cad261528395d/Screenshot_2021-02-07_at_20.35.18.png)

- [htaccess tester](https://htaccess.madewithlove.be/) – Test your htaccess rewrite rules.
- [VISIWIG](https://www.visiwig.com/) – Create, edit and copy icons and patterns.
- [a11yengineer](https://a11yengineer.com/) – Generate accessibility checklists when building a product.

👉 <a class="btn btn__small" href="https://tiny-helpers.dev/">Find more Tiny Helpers</a>

## Three useful projects to have a look at

- [jotaen/klog](https://github.com/jotaen/klog) – A plain-text file format and command line tool for time tracking.
- [schollz/croc](https://github.com/schollz/croc) – Easily and securely send things from one computer to another.
- [upptime/upptime](https://github.com/upptime/upptime) – An uptime monitor and status page powered by GitHub Actions, Issues, and Pages.

## A quote to think about

Chris Mytton's article shares a story about two school groups that were rated on their work. One group was rated considering their work's quality, the other one purely on quantity. Surprisingly the group that produced more delivered better results at the end. Chris' article included this week's quote.

> Quantity leads to quality.

👉 <a class="btn btn__small" href="https://www.chrismytton.com/be-prolific/">Read "Be prolific"</a>

## A song that makes you stop coding

![Cover: Booka Shade, Polly Scattergood - Perpetual Light (Original Mix)](//images.ctfassets.net/f20lfrunubsq/7sesC1MVzqZcBXpGMaQJNG/fa6891ccccf4911bca71dceccdbe023d/Screenshot_2021-02-07_at_20.22.26.png)

On Friday I was listening to Booka Shade's new record "Perpetual Light" while driving. Booka Shade's music is usually too "deep" for me, but this track matched my Friday night ride perfectly.

👉 <a class="btn btn__small" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xF2deq1RXw">Listen to Booka Shade</a>

---

And that's a wrap for the fifth Web Weekly! 🎉

If you enjoyed this edition, [a quick share means the world to me](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=I%20like%20@stefanjudis%20weekly%20newsletter&url=https://www.stefanjudis.com/blog/web-weekly-5/). :)

**Stay safe and warm, and I'll talk to you next week!** 🎉 👋

PS. I heard the cool kids use RSS. You can find [multiple feeds on my site](https://www.stefanjudis.com/feeds/).