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Adrian Sandu
Adrian Sandu

Posted on • Originally published at Medium on

Front End News #5: State of CSS 2019, Firefox Living Brand and Chrome Incognito no longer detected

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

Let’s take a look at what I have prepared for you this week:

  • The results for the “State of CSS 2019” survey are live
  • Firefox gets a shiny new branding
  • Chrome Incognito mode is no longer detectable

A bit less than usual, but it has been a quiet week. No major outages, no big releases, and no big scandals… Just a normal week in the office.

Just like last time, 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.

State of CSS 2019 results are live

You may not know who Sacha Greif is, but chances are, you completed one of the “State of JS” surveys she created over the last three years. Well, this year she decided to expand the field by creating another survey, focused on CSS. Over 11.000 developers from 135 countries answered the call. It took months to analyze the data and create a visual model of the results. And now the wait is finally over.

Source: https://2019.stateofcss.com/

Sacha does a really in-depth analysis of the results on the official site and the interactive diagrams are a joy to explore. But she is also presenting a few highlights in an article published on FreeCodeCamp.org.

Source: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-state-of-css-2019-survey-results-are-live/

These highlights are as follows:

  • Flexbox is the current leader in creating layouts, with Grid coming strong from behind.
  • Everyone knows about Bootstrap but most developers are not interested in it anymore and have moved to greener pastures. Like Tailwind, Bulma or PureCSS, which also hold the top three spots in the “satisfaction category”
  • There are only three items that are “established” in the CSS world: BEM, Sass, and Bootstrap. And Bootstrap is in decline. Everything else is in a state of flux that can bring up unexpected results.

Bottom line — and I quote from the conclusion at the end of the results:

While JavaScript isn’t going anywhere, it also seems certain that CSS is not going to be replaced anytime soon. And the more powerful CSS becomes, the more valuable mastering it will be.

Amen to that!

A new look for Firefox

Source: https://blog.mozilla.org/opendesign/firefox-the-evolution-of-a-brand/

I mentioned in the last episode that Mozilla has big plans for Firefox. This week brings a new announcement on the official blog of the company.

As part of their movement to expand the suite of products available under the Firefox brand, Mozilla had to rethink the image of their browser. As part of this process, Firefox was ascended to the status of a living brand. It will continue to evolve with time to cover and integrate current and future products.

Source: https://blog.mozilla.org/opendesign/firefox-the-evolution-of-a-brand/

Opinions are split regarding this move. Some love it. Some don’t. Some outright hate it. We will have to wait and see where things will go.

I got my eyes on you, foxy!

Chrome Incognito mode no longer detectable

Paul Irish, one of the Google developers working on Lighthouse and Google Chrome, made an announcement on Twitter that Chrome 76 will bring a patch that will make incognito mode no longer detectable.

Up until now, websites could detect if a visitor used Chrome in private or incognito mode checking for support of the FileSystem API. Some major portals like The NY Times or The Boston Globe are using such scripts to prevent people from bypassing their paywall. What changes will this update cause? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Question of the Day

Are you a Firefox user? What is your opinion on the latest brand update? Please let us all know in the comments area down below.

That’s all there is in this edition. Follow Front End Nexus on Twitter at 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. 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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