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Author Geoff Graham

18 articles

Geoff is a technical editor and writer at Smashing Magazine. On top of that, he’s an independent contractor who teaches front-end design and development classes on the side. Geoff loves reading and writing about the web while helping others become better at all things front-end.

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Geoff Graham wrote

Tight Mode: Why Browsers Produce Different Performance Results

We know that browsers do all sorts of different things under the hood. One of those things is the way they not only fetch resources like images and scripts from the server but how they prioritize those resources. Chrome and Safari have implemented a “Tight Mode” that constrains which resources are loaded and in what order, but they each take drastically different approaches to it. With so little information about Tight Mode available, this article attempts a high-level explanation of what it is, what triggers it, and how it is treated differently in major browsers. Read more…

Geoff Graham wrote

In Praise Of The Basics

What does it mean to learn the “basics”, or fundamentals, of front-end web development? Is starting with HTML and CSS still the best entry point to learn how to make websites and apps when we have a seemingly endless supply of frameworks? Geoff Graham thinks so and discusses why you might consider going “back to basics” to start or move forward in your career. Read more…

Geoff Graham wrote

Preparing For Interaction To Next Paint, A New Web Core Vital

Starting in March 2024, Interaction to Next Paint will formally replace First Input Delay as a Core Web Vital metric. Learn how the two metrics differ, why we needed a new way to measure interaction responsiveness, and how you can start optimizing the performance of your site now for a seamless transition to the latest Core Web Vital metric. Read more…

Geoff Graham wrote

A Few Ways CSS Is Easier To Write In 2023

We’re living in somewhat of a CSS renaissance with new features, techniques, experiments, and ideas coming at us to an extent we haven’t seen since “CSS3”. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when your profession seems to be advancing at breakneck speed, but Geoff Graham considers the ways “modern” CSS in 2023 has actually made CSS “easier” to write. Read more…

Geoff Graham wrote

The Fight For The Main Thread

Having access to a free reporting tool like Lighthouse in DevTools is a great start for diagnosing performance issues by identifying bottlenecks on the main thread. Even better are paid tools like SpeedCurve to dig deeper into the data for more targeted insights and to produce visual reports to help make a case for performance improvements for your team and other stakeholders. Read more…

Geoff Graham wrote

A Roundup Of WCAG 2.2 Explainers

WCAG 2.2 officially became a “W3C Recommended” web standard on October 5, 2023, and with it, new success criteria and changes to existing guidelines for accessible user experiences. What are the changes, and how can you conform to them? This roundup provides links to WCAG 2.2 explainers that have been published or updated since the release. Read more…

Geoff Graham wrote

Running A Page Speed Test: Monitoring vs. Measuring

What does your performance “stack” look like? There are all kinds of tools available for measuring page speed, but what data and assumptions do they use to measure performance? And speaking of measuring performance, there’s quite a difference between that and monitoring performance. Let’s dig in! Read more…

Geoff Graham wrote

Writing CSS In 2023: Is It Any Different Than A Few Years Ago?

CSS is evolving faster than ever. With all of the new features that are now available — and forthcoming — since we got Flexbox and Grid years ago, the way we write CSS is evolving, too. In this article, Geoff Graham shares which features have had the most influence on his current approaches to CSS, as well as those that have not (at least yet). Read more…