Interop 2023-2024, Baseline 2023, CSS Wrapped, Browser News, Front End Resources and more | Front End News #106
NOTE: This is issue #106 of my newsletter, which went live on Monday, February 4. You might find this information valuable and exciting and want to receive future issues as they are published ahead of everyone else. In that case, I invite you to join the subscriber list at frontendnexus.com.
Welcome to the first issue of Front End News in 2024. Having a significant break between updates means there are more things worth mentioning. And today's list of topics is extensive. Therefore, there will be a lot more links and less commentary. Enjoy!
2023 was an excellent year for the web platform when we consider Interop 2023 and Interop 2024, the introduction of Baseline, and the many advancements done in leveling the field for CSS development and compatibility among the main browsers.
In Browser News, we discuss the additions to the web platform at the end of 2023 and the releases to the main browsers: Chrome 120-121, Firefox 120-122, Microsft Edge 119-121, Polypane 17.0-17.1, Safari 17.2-17.3, and Vivaldi 6.5. On top of all that, Apple will start allowing other browser engines to run on iOS devices for users inside the European Union.
The Release Radar shows lots of entries as well. We have multiple updates from Astro, Deno, Ember, React Toolkit, YouTube.js, and Node. Other noteworthy names are Angular 17.1, Electron 28, SvelteKit 2, Tailwind CSS v3.4, TypeScript 5.3, or Vue 3.4.
Next, we got a fair collection of assets and utilities, with AI and SVG sprinkled on top. We round things up with a reminder about all the quality content in the advent calendars published in December.
Interop 2023-2024
Interop is the industry initiative I am most pleased about. It brought an unprecedented level of cooperation between browser vendors. It also made life a lot easier for web developers everywhere. Today, we have multiple points of view from some of the parts involved in this process, both about what happened last year and the plans for 2024.
Bocoup: Interop 2024 Launch
Chrome: Celebrate a more interoperable web with Interop 2023 | Interop 2024
Firefox: Announcing Interop 2024
Igalia: Interop 2024 Launches
Microsoft Edge: Microsoft Edge and Interop 2024
Baseline 2023
Baseline is another 2023 initiative aiming to streamline and improve feature support across web browsers and the industry in general. In the following article, Rachel Andrew highlights the changes in the definition between "newly" and "widely" available features and covers most newly available elements in 2023.
CSS Wrapped: 2023!
CSS is the web technology I care about the most. Therefore, I had to mention the roundup made by the Chrome team regarding all the new CSS features that landed in 2023.
π» Browser News
Unsurprisingly, there is so much browser news in this issue. From the monthly "new to the web platform" summaries to the many browser releases: Chrome 120-121, Firefox 120-122, Microsft Edge 119-121, Polypane 17.0-17.1, Safari 17.2-17.3, and Vivaldi 6.5.
Chrome
Firefox
Microsoft Edge
Polypane
Vivaldi
WebKit
Last but not least, the EU has forced Apple to allow other browser engines to run on iOS devices. I look forward to seeing the rest of the world push the Cupertino giant to do the same for everyone else.
π‘ The Release Radar
AdonisJS v6 - Node.js Framework highly focused on developer ergonomics, stability, and confidence
Angular 17.1 - Deliver web apps with confidence
Astro 4.0, 4.1, 4.2 - The web framework that scales with you
Culori v4.0.0 - A comprehensive color library for JavaScript
Deno 1.39, 1.40 - A modern runtime for JavaScript and TypeScript
Dependency cruiser v16.0.0 - Validate and visualize dependencies
Electron 28.0.0 - Build cross-platform desktop apps with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS
Ember.js v5.5.0, v5.6.0 - A JavaScript framework for creating ambitious web applications
Fresh 1.6 - The next-gen web framework
HTML5 Boilerplate v9.0.0 - A professional front-end template for building fast, robust, and adaptable web apps or sites
Jint v3.0.0 - Javascript Interpreter for .NET
Mongoose 8 - MongoDB object modeling designed to work in an asynchronous environment.
Neutralinojs v5.0.0 - Portable and lightweight cross-platform desktop application development framework
Next.js 14.1 - The React Framework
Node v21.3.0, v21.4.0, v21.5.0, v20.11.0 (LTS), v21.6.0, February 2024 Security Releases - an asynchronous event-driven JavaScript runtime
Nuxt 3.9 - The Intuitive Vue Framework
Parcel v2.11.0 - The zero configuration build tool for the web
Prettier 3.2 - An opinionated code formatter
Puppeteer v21.10.0 - Node.js API for Chrome
Qwik v1.4.0 - Instant-loading web apps, without effort
React Email 2.0 - Build and send emails using Reactw
React Native 0.73 - A framework for building native applications using React
React Redux v9.1.0 - Official React bindings for Redux
Redux Toolkit v2.0.0, v2.1.0 - The official, opinionated, batteries-included toolset for efficient Redux development
SvelteKit 2 - web development, streamlined
Tailwind CSS v3.4 - A utility-first CSS framework for rapid UI development
TypeScript 5.3 - a superset of JavaScript that compiles to clean JavaScript output
Vue 3.4 - a progressive, incrementally-adoptable JavaScript framework for building UI on the web
YouTube.js v8.0.0, v8.1.0, v8.2.0 - A wrapper around YouTube's internal API
π οΈ Front End Resources
Big Heads - Randomly Generated Characters for Your Apps & Games
Colour Contrast Checker - Check the contrast between different colour combinations against WCAG standards
CSS Gradients - A collection of beautiful free-to-use CSS gradients
Flectofy - Generate custom SVG shapes
GitHub Profile Generator - Create awesome GitHub profiles and showcase your skills and projects easily
Loadership - Customize and generate stunning loaders for your website
SVG.io - Free AI - Text prompt to SVG
SVG Chart Generator - Free online SVG line & bar chart generator by the MagicPattern design toolbox
UI Faces - Free β¨ AI-generated avatars for your creative projects
unstock.ai - AI-generated vector logos, icons & illustrations
There's more where that came from. Explore the rest of the Front End Resource collection.
2023 Advent Calendars Roundup
December is a special month in the web development industry. That's when many brilliant developers distill their knowledge in tech advent calendars. I have rounded up many of these collections for the fourth time, and I invite you to browse them at your leisure.
Wrapping things up
Ukraine is still suffering from the Russian invasion - if you are looking for ways to help, please check Smashing Magazine's article We All Are Ukraine πΊπ¦ or contact your trusted charity.
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That's all I have for this issue. Have a great and productive week, keep yourselves safe, and spend as much time as possible with your loved ones. I will see you again next time!
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Written by
Adrian Sandu
Adrian Sandu
I am a "front-of-the-front-end" developer, focused on CSS, user experience, and content creation. Available for hire, projects, or outsourcing.