We recently got the shape() function and corner-shape property. What else could we possibly need as far as making shapes in CSS? Let me tell you: the border-shape property!

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Get Ready For the Powerful CSS border-shape Property! originally handwritten and published with love on CSS-Tricks. You should really get the newsletter as well.

The soon-Baseline sibling-index() function for animations, CSS and the 2026 FIFA World Cup, use cases for the infinity keyword, container "stuck" queries, and more.

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What’s !important #16: sibling-index() Animations, Use Cases for the infinity Keyword, Container Stuck Queries, and More originally handwritten and published with love on CSS-Tricks. You should really get the newsletter as well.

As AI reshapes product design, it could give designers greater autonomy or expose the gaps that autonomy makes harder to hide. Exploring both the bull and bear cases, Andy Budd examines what happens when designers need less permission to act.

Many of the AI tools we interact with take the form of text boxes. But what if there was a different way to interact with AI? Oleksii Hrzhehorzhevskyi explores a different approach to creating a new AI assistant and how designers can navigate the field as AI continues to change it.

While React Server Components rely on the custom Flight protocol to stream interactive UIs, this same mechanism introduces powerful deserialization sinks that attackers can exploit. Durgesh Pawar breaks down the mechanics behind the CVSS 10.0 “React2Shell” vulnerability to show how protocol manipulation can lead to remote code execution.

The writing-mode CSS property sets whether lines of text are laid out horizontally or vertically, and the direction in which blocks and lines progress.

.element {
  writing-mode: vertical-rl;
}

This is most useful in languages such as Chinese, Japanese or …

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writing-mode originally handwritten and published with love on CSS-Tricks. You should really get the newsletter as well.

The common rule of thumb is to never “block” the browser’s main thread when running JavaScript tasks. But is this a hard rule? Victor Ayomipo describes a use case he encountered involving a screenshot extension where he made an exception to the rule and decided that blocking the main thread was absolutely the right thing to do.

The pointer-events property controls whether an element can become the target of pointer events like clicks, hover states, and other pointer-based events. In other words, it lets you decide whether the browser should treat an element as interactive when the …

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pointer-events originally handwritten and published with love on CSS-Tricks. You should really get the newsletter as well.

Many companies assume everyone craves new AI features. But the reality is that most people don't want more AI — at least not in the way most AI leaders envision it. Brought to you by Design Patterns For AI Interfaces, **friendly video courses on UX** and design patterns by Vitaly.

Read all about boundary-aware CSS, accessible grid lanes, time-based web designs, full-bleed, the customizable select, and new web platform features.

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What’s !important #15: Boundary-aware CSS, Time-based CSS, Full-bleed CSS, and More originally handwritten and published with love on CSS-Tricks. You should really get the newsletter as well.

The strongest visual concepts don’t start in Figma. They start with the right questions. Explore the pre-concept phase of brand identity design, where teams research brand context, uncover hidden assumptions with stakeholders, and turn shared direction into a visual foundation before a single concept is created.

Many UI trends are designed to capture attention and signal innovation, but those goals often conflict with the needs of mental health apps: reducing cognitive strain, fostering trust, and providing a sense of refuge. Kat Homan introduces an evaluation framework that helps designers assess whether trendy visual and interaction patterns support or undermine the unique goals of mental health experiences.

We have been building websites inside boxes for years on WordPress. Let’s take a closer look at [Kirki](https://kirki.com/), the first freeform visual builder with an infinite canvas, and explore how it redefines the experience with cleaner performance, full design freedom, and zero plugin dependency.

A closer look at why users don’t need more tools in their daily lives. What they need are seamless integrations of useful features to match already existing, established mental models. Brought to you by Design Patterns For AI Interfaces, **friendly video course on UX** and design patterns by Vitaly.

We’ve fallen into conversational tunnel vision, defaulting every AI capability into a chat-based interface simply because LLMs are trained on dialogue data. But great UX is about matching modality to users’ context, intent, and cognitive load, so the interface adapts to the user, not the other way around.