In this tutorial, Blake Lundquist walks us through two methods of creating the “moving-highlight” navigation pattern using only plain JavaScript and CSS. The first technique uses the getBoundingClientRect method to explicitly animate the border between navigation bar items when they are clicked. The second approach achieves the same functionality using the new View Transition API.
https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/06/creating-moving-highlight-navigation-bar-javascript-css/
SVG is easy — until you meet path. However, it’s not as confusing as it initially looks. In this first installment of a pair of articles, Myriam Frisano aims to teach you the basics of <path> and its sometimes mystifying commands. With simple examples and visualizations, she’ll help you understand the easy syntax and underlying rules of SVG’s most powerful element so that by the end, you’re fully able to translate SVG semantic tags into a language path understands.
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We often spotlight wireframes, research, or tools like Figma, but none of that moves the needle if we can’t collaborate well. Great UX doesn’t happen in isolation. It takes conversations with engineers, alignment with product, sales, and other stakeholders, and the ability to listen, adapt, and co-create. That’s where design becomes a team sport, and when your ability to capture the outcomes multiplies the UX impact. https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/06/collaboration-most-underrated-ux-skill/
What’s the best way to make your SVGs faster, simpler, and more manageable? In this article, pioneering author and web designer Andy Clarke explains the process he relies on to prepare, optimise, and structure SVGs for animation and beyond. https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/06/smashing-animations-part-4-optimising-svgs/
Designers love to craft, but polishing pixels before the problem is solved is a time-sink. This article pinpoints the five traps that lure us into premature detail — being afraid to show rough work, fixing symptoms instead of causes, solving the wrong problem, drowning in unactionable feedback, and plain fatigue — then hands you a four-step rescue plan to refocus on goals, ship faster, and keep your craft where it counts. https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/06/why-designers-get-stuck-in-details/
Designing for neurodiversity means recognizing that people aren’t edge cases but individuals with varied ways of thinking and navigating the web. So, how can we create more inclusive experiences that work better for everyone? https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/06/designing-for-neurodiversity/
Let’s kick off June — and the beginning of summer — with some fresh inspiration! Artists and designers from across the globe once again tickled their creativity to welcome the new month with a new collection of desktop wallpapers. Enjoy! https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/05/desktop-wallpaper-calendars-june-2025/
The web is mired in a struggle to eliminate third-party cookies, with the World Wide Web Consortium Technical Architecture Group leading the charge. But there are obstacles preventing this from happening, and, as a result, many essential web features continue to rely on cookies to function properly. That’s why detecting third-party cookie blocking isn’t just good technical hygiene but a frontline defense for user experience. https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/05/reliably-detecting-third-party-coo
What’s the difference between data, findings, and UX insights? And how do you argue for statistical significance in your UX research? Let’s unpack it. https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/05/data-vs-findings-vs-insights-ux/
Road-tripping along the line between engineering and spirituality, Robert M. Pirsig’s musings on the arts, sciences, and Quality ring as true now as they ever have. https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/05/what-zen-art-motorcycle-maintenance-teach-web-design/