Front End News #6: Firefox zero-day patches, Google Search service workers, CSS Day 2019 playlist and the launch of Every Layout
Tags: news, frontendnews, cssday2019, serviceworker
Published: 2019-06-22 15:53:49

---
title: Front End News #6: Firefox zero-day patches, Google Search service workers, CSS Day 2019 playlist and the launch of Every Layout
published: true
tags: news, frontendnews, cssday2019, serviceworker
canonical_url: https://medium.com/frontendnexus/front-end-news-6-firefox-zero-day-patches-google-search-service-workers-css-day-2019-playlist-f747db951f8b
series: Front End News
---

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*Q6Kbs44nOoZz5inJ3ACF4Q.png)<figcaption>View the episode on YouTube at <a href="https://youtu.be/sFR4E8uIRLs">https://youtu.be/sFR4E8uIRLs</a></figcaption>

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Front-End News, the only show on YouTube that brings you information on the latest events in the industry.

Here are the highlights of what I have prepared for you today:

- Mozilla Issues two Emergency Zero-Day Patches for Firefox
- Find out how Google Search is using service workers
- CSS Day 2019 sessions are live
- Presenting the Every Layout project

As always, I have also prepared a video version for those that prefer listening instead of reading. If you enjoy this format, I would appreciate it if you would subscribe to the YouTube channel as well.

{% youtube sFR4E8uIRLs %}

### Mozilla Issues Emergency Zero-Day Firefox Patches

Mozilla is back again in the limelight this week, this time with a pair of consecutive updates to their flagship product, Firefox. These fixes address a “zero-day exploit” and users are strongly encouraged to update their browser immediately to version 67.0.4 or newer.

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/680/1*b-Zk1MHAAqimdf1EtYdJzA.png)

The credit for finding the first vulnerability is given to security researcher Samuel Groß, who is a member of both Google Project Zero and the Coinbase Security teams. The second issue, of lower severity, is credited to Coinbase Security. Now, in case you didn’t know, “zero day” means there are already attacks happening that target these vulnerabilities. The news portal ZDNet confirmed that the two exploits were used in a spear-phishing attack against Coinbase employees, as well as other, undisclosed, cryptocurrency organizations.

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*19ywGS0GFgImYo5kIJXjSg.png)<figcaption><a href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2019-18/">https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2019-18/</a></figcaption>

So what are you waiting for? While Firefox automatically checks for updates and installs them, you can force the process yourself by opening the menu, selecting **Help** then **About Firefox**. Once the upload is downloaded, restart the browser to install it. That’s all you need to do.

Sources and references:

- [https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2019-18/](https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2019-18/)
- [https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2019-19/](https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2019-19/)
- [https://www.zdnet.com/article/mozilla-fixes-second-firefox-zero-day-exploited-in-the-wild/](https://www.zdnet.com/article/mozilla-fixes-second-firefox-zero-day-exploited-in-the-wild/)
- [https://www.zdnet.com/article/firefox-zero-day-was-used-in-attack-against-coinbase-employees-not-its-users/](https://www.zdnet.com/article/firefox-zero-day-was-used-in-attack-against-coinbase-employees-not-its-users/)

### Bringing service workers to Google Search

A new article came up this week on the Google Developers Web.dev blog, describing in great detail how Google Search experience was enhanced using service workers.

For those that don’t know, a service worker is a script that runs in the background, separate from the web page. Some of the most common uses are the push notifications or synchronizing data in the background. More details can be found via the Google Developers portal link below.

The article goes through the reasons behind the decision to use service workers, the most important challenges the team encountered and the solutions they found to reach the project goals. For all the “juicy” details, you have the entire article link down below.

Sources and references:

- [https://web.dev/google-search-sw/](https://web.dev/google-search-sw/)
- [https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/primers/service-workers/](https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/primers/service-workers/)

### CSS Day 2019 sessions are live

[CSS Day](https://cssday.nl/) is one of the most prestigious conferences in the industry and the seventh edition took place last week in Amsterdam. It featured an amazing line-up of speakers and I simply couldn’t keep up with my Twitter feed as the presentations happened.

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*lzbY8ybvAcr1sqj9NJ1dCw.png)<figcaption><a href="https://cssday.nl/2019">https://cssday.nl/2019</a></figcaption>

There is good news though for those unfortunate enough not to be able to attend (such as me). The recordings of all the presentations are up now on the official YouTube channel of the conference, free for everyone to see.

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*zD0KOXoXqOwfslnhDb6RTQ.png)<figcaption><a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjnstNlepBvNTimR5FhD5tdbbQr57o1Oh">https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjnstNlepBvNTimR5FhD5tdbbQr57o1Oh</a></figcaption>

So fetch the popcorn, grab a notebook and say goodbye to your loved ones for the weekend, before you start the viewing marathon. See you at the other end.

Sources and references:

- [https://cssday.nl/2019](https://cssday.nl/2019)
- [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjnstNlepBvNTimR5FhD5tdbbQr57o1Oh](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjnstNlepBvNTimR5FhD5tdbbQr57o1Oh)

### Every Layout

Next item on the list is a project called “Every Layout”, created by Heydon Pickering ([@heydonworks](https://twitter.com/heydonworks)) and Andy Bell ([@andybelldesign](https://twitter.com/andybelldesign)). They are taking a new approach in layout building, where the code takes advantage of the algorithms in the layout engine, instead of enforcing a “pixel-perfect” structure based on a static design mockup.

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*Meo6XJk7NvuljbpvmB9IYQ.png)<figcaption><a href="https://every-layout.dev/">https://every-layout.dev/</a></figcaption>

The entire system is built on top of a set of “rudiments”, rules and axioms that describe the elementary behavior of the building blocks. Next, there are 8 major layout primitives, covering some of the most common scenarios one can encounter.

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/848/1*_RcY8Vp1S4ck5H6wm1XWug.png)<figcaption><a href="https://every-layout.dev/layouts/">https://every-layout.dev/layouts/</a></figcaption>

The project is still under development, as only 3 layout primitives are ready at this moment. So keep an eye on the website for more updates, if this is interesting to you. I know I will.

### Question of the Day

Were you ever the victim of a cyber attack due to using software that was not up-to-date with the security patches? Let us all know in the comment section down below.

That’s all there is in this edition. Follow Front End Nexus on Twitter at [https://twitter.com/frontendnexus](https://twitter.com/frontendnexus) to be notified as soon as a new update happens. I also want to encourage you to subscribe to the YouTube channel at [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgACtqiDmnSaskDIBsK54ww](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgACtqiDmnSaskDIBsK54ww). I can unlock some more options once the channel hits 100 subscribers, so your support is highly appreciated.

Have a great and productive week and I will see you next time!

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