10 Years of Web Fonts, GitHub roadmap, Firefox 79, and Beta CanIUse | Front End News

Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Front End News. I do hope you will find the following topics both interesting and useful.

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Happy 10th Anniversary Web Fonts!

10 years ago the newly formed Web Fonts Working Group published the working draft for the new Web Open Form Format (WOFF) and typography on the web never looked the same anymore. At least under the hood.

• The W3 blog article celebrating this event
• The original working draft for the Web Open Font Format

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Firefox 79 is out in the wild

We got a fresh update for the Firefox browser, bumping the current stable version up to 79. Here are the main highlights of this release:

• WebRender now works for Intel and AMD cards as well, rounding up availability for all types of video cards.
• Improved JavaScript logging and debugging
• All links with target=_blank get implicit rel=noopener

Of course, there's a lot more that was shipped with this update, therefore I invite you to check the official articles and release notes linked below.

• https://hacks.mozilla.org/2020/07/firefox-79/
• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Firefox/Releases/79
• https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/79.0/releasenotes/

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GitHub announces its public roadmap

GitHub made public their roadmap as (of course) a GitHub repository where everyone can see what they are planning to release and when. This allows teams and companies to plan ahead for any upcoming features and avoid unpleasant surprises.

• https://github.blog/2020-07-28-announcing-the-github-public-roadmap/

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CanIUse Beta is now available

CanIUse is one of the most useful websites for web developers. Recently we got the announcement that a beta version is in the works, with lots of improvements. Faster loading, dark mode, better contrast and so much more... We can already have a peek at the Beta version and I can hardly wait the moment it replaces the current main site.

• https://caniuse.com/feed/162
• https://beta.caniuse.com/

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Software updates and releases

Here are the updates and releases for this edition. In each case, you can find the full details in the release notes linked down below.

Safari Technology Preview 111

• https://webkit.org/blog/10967/release-notes-for-safari-technology-preview-111/

Tailwind CSS v1.6.0

• https://blog.tailwindcss.com/tailwindcss-1-6

Babel 7.11.0

• https://babeljs.io/blog/2020/07/30/7.11.0

Git 2.28

• https://github.blog/2020-07-27-highlights-from-git-2-28/

NextJS 9.5

• https://nextjs.org/blog/next-9-5

Ember 3.20

• https://blog.emberjs.com/2020/07/29/ember-3-20-released.html

Mocha v8.1.0

• https://github.com/mochajs/mocha/releases/tag/v8.1.0

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That's all there is in this edition. Next week will be the last edition of this second season. I will be taking a break for the rest of August while I'm preparing the third season, with a lot of new exciting stuff.

You might also want to subscribe to the YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgACtqiDmnSaskDIBsK54ww. I am working on bringing you new content there, such as the recent interview with Katie Fenn on the power of developer communities. As always, your support is highly appreciated.

Have a great and productive week, keep yourselves safe and I will see you next time!