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Spreadsheets can help you compare features and evaluate bottlenecks. We got some useful spreadsheets
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Spreadsheets can help you compare features and evaluate bottlenecks. We got some useful spreadsheets that will make your digital life much easier.Issue #209 ⢠Tue, July 3, 2018 ⢠[View in the browser]( ð¨
[Smashing Newsletter](
Dear Friend,
Who doesnât like dense color-coded spreadsheets? Not because they look particularly exciting or attractive, but because they bring structure, clarity, and insight into an otherwise untamed realm of data. A good spreadsheet can serve as a strong foundation for informed discussions and sound decisions, and it shows both the big and the small picture of the surveyed landscape.
For example, a spreadsheet can serve as a way to compare features, evaluate bottlenecks and discover culprits. Harry Roberts has already [explained how to audit third-parties]( and among other things, released a [Third-Party Audit Spreadsheet](. A great little template to use when working on performance optimization.
Talking of spreadsheets: we have released a [monthly expenses template for digital workers]( a while back, to help you track your expenses that add up quickly. In his series of articles ([part 1]( and [part 2]( George Margaritis explains the design process for onboarding and filtering, powered by almighty Google Spreadsheets.
As a bonus, we also published an [ultimate digital clean-up checklist]( that might help you keep tabs on your data and on your privacy. Any other spreadsheets you use frequently? Let us know on [Twitter](
Thank you for your trust and ongoing support, everybody â you are smashing inded! Ah, and make sure to stay hydrated (or warm, depending on where you live in this wonderful world of ours!) these days.
â Vitaly ([@smashingmag](
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Table of Contents
1. [State Of Mobile 2018](#a1)
2. [SmashingConf NYC Is Coming!](#nyc)
3. [React Native At Airbnb](#a3)
4. [Why Design Systems Fail](#a4)
5. [Drawing Images With CSS Gradients](#a5)
6. [Building Carousels With Obsolete HTML](#a6)
7. [A JavaScript-Based Music Synthesizer](#a7)
8. [Upcoming In Smashing Membership](#a8)
9. [Upcoming Workshops With Vitaly Friedman](#a9)
10. [New On Smashing Job Board](#a10)
11. [Popular Articles This Month](#a11)
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#1. State Of Mobile 2018
The mobile landscape is continuously evolving and bringing forth new opportunities for mobile users. In his 2h-long presentation, Luke Wroblewski walks us through not only some market fundamentals and statistics, but also how to find the core values of your app and to increase sign-up conversions and make app-onboarding more convenient. The latter part starts at [38:30](.
[The Mobile Planet](
You can also [download Lukeâs slides]( (102 MB) which he kindly shared publicly. Thatâs a goldmine of knowledge â and kudos to Luke for his fantastic research! (cm)
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#2. SmashingConf New York Is Coming!
Booo-yah! The hunt for shiny front-end and UX treasures has begun! For our fifth [SmashingConf New York]( taking place on October 23â24 in NYC, our speakers will cover all kinds of failures and the decisions they had to make to turn it all around. Theyâll share the lessons they learned and techniques that worked well.
[SmashingConf New York 2018](
[Early-bird tickets]( to SmashingConf New York 2018 are now available â grab yours before itâs gone!
Weâll look into all those shiny new things in front-end and design, from HTTP/2 Performance patterns to Progressive Web Apps, Vue.js, Webpack â all the way to Design Workflow, DesignOps and Variable Fonts. With Monica Dinculescu, Dan Mall, Jason Grigsby, Sara Soueidan and [many others](. It will be a quite special event, and weâd love to see you there! You can also [convince your boss (PDF)]( that itâs a good investment! Just sayin' ;-) (vf)
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#3. React Native At Airbnb
In the past few years, mobile web usage has grown tremendously, and oftentimes mobile devices are the primary or only form of communication when away from home. To provide their users with a pleasant experience on the go, the Airbnb team decided to give React Native a try two years ago. And, well, what started out as an experiment has grown into one of the main pillars of Airbnbâs mobile startegy.
[React Native At Airbnb](
Now their engineering team published a [five-part article series on the things they learned using React Native](. What worked and what didnât? What are the challenges that come with building a cross-platform mobile team? Where do they stand today? And how can native be made even better? Interesting insights guaranteed. (cm)
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#4. Why Design Systems Fail
Everybodyâs talking about design systems, but one aspect is often left out in the discussion: Why do some design systems fail? Una Kravets gave a talk at An Event Apart in Boston on the topic, and [Jeremy Keith summarized it in a live blog](. A good overview over building robust, easy-to-use design systems that get the buy-in they need to fully unfold their power. (cm)
[Why Design Systems Fail](
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[Qlik Playground](
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#5. Drawing Images With CSS Gradients
Images that look as if they are SVGs drawn in Illustrator, but in reality thet are made right in the browser? If you [search CodePen for âCSS imagesâ]( youâll get a lot of cool examples of what they can look like. Now, Jon Kantnder explains [how you can create CSS images yourself]( â only with backgrounds and minimal use of other properties.
[CSS Images](
Jon shows how you can order each background, draw parts of circles, rounded rectangles, and how to adjust gradient stops for smooth edges. If you love tinkering with code, then this is for you. But beware: Thereâs a lot of thinking outside the box and experiments involved to get the desired result. (cm)
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#6. Building Carousels With Obsolete HTML
Do you remember the