NOTE: This is issue #100 of my newsletter, which went live on Monday, July 03. If you find this information useful and interesting and you want to receive future issues as they are published, ahead of everyone else, I invite you to join the subscriber list at frontendnexus.com.
MDN launches Playground, their new tool for interactive examples and rapid prototyping. In Browser News, DuckDuckGo launches the beta version of their Windows browser, while Safari users can test many of the upcoming Safari 17 features in Safari Technology Preview 173. On the Release Radar, we encounter entries like Ember 5.0, Svelte 4, and more. And the Resource set of this issue includes cheatsheets, icons, font faces, and some useful utilities.
Introducing the MDN Playground
The MDN has been for a long time the best knowledge repository for the web platform. Now they up their game even further, by introducing the Playground. This new feature supercharges the existing Live Examples, allowing people to experiment with the notions they are learning about. Of course, that's not all this tool is about, so check out the announcement below for more details.
๐ป Browser news
June was a quiet month for the web platform, with Firefox 114 being the only stable release of the main browsers.
DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo announced the public beta version of its Windows browser. The app is not a fork of Chromium, like many other browsers. Instead, it uses a Windows WebView2 call running the Blink rendering engine.
As expected, the app is packed full of privacy-preserving features. There is an ad-blocker, a password manager, a custom player for YouTube videos, and a lot more.
WebKit
Safari Technology Preview 173 is now available and includes many of the features that will be part of the Safari 17 update. You can select which features to enable with the new Feature Flags section, you can add any web app to the Dock, or you can use the JPEG XL file format, to name just a few of them.
๐ก The Release Radar
- AlaSQL v4.1.0 - JavaScript SQL database for browser and Node.js
- DOCX 8.2.0 - Easily generate and modify .docx files with JS/TS
- Ember 5.0 - A JavaScript framework for creating ambitious web applications
- ESLint v8.43.0 - Find and fix problems in your JavaScript code
- Fresh 1.2 - a modern, Deno-first, edge-native full stack web framework
- Gatsby v5.11 - Build modern websites with React
- Node v16.20.1 (LTS), Node v18.16.1 (LTS), Node v20.3.1 (Current) - an asynchronous event-driven JavaScript runtime
- NodeBB v3.2.0 - Node.js based forum software built for the modern web
- Nuxt 3.6 - The intuitive Vue Framework
- Octokit v2.1.0 - the GitHub SDK for Browsers, Node.js, and Deno.
- Remix v1.18.0 - a full stack web framework that lets you focus on the user interface
- Stencil v4.0.0 - A compiler for generating Web Components using technologies like TypeScript and JSX
- Styled Components v6.0.0 - Visual primitives for the component age
- Svelte 4 - Cybernetically enhanced web apps
- TestCafe v3.0.0 - A Node.js tool to automate end-to-end web testing
- tween.js v21.0.0 - JavaScript/TypeScript animation engine
๐ ๏ธ Front End Resources
- Durves - A tool for creating and exporting dot patterns
- Flowbite Icons - Free and open-source SVG icons
- Free Faces - a curated collection of typefaces available under a variety of free licenses
- QuickRef.ME - cheat sheets and quick references contributed by open-source angels
- SVG Hub - Custom-color elements ready to paste into your project
- SVG Path Visualizer ๐ - Visualize SVG path data and discover all its different commands.
- Tunera Type Foundry - a transnational type foundry, presenting new and original typefaces for everyone
There's more where that came from. Explore the rest of the Front End Resource collection.
Wrapping things up
Ukraine is still suffering from the Russian invasion - if you are looking for ways to help, please check Smashing Magazine's article We All Are Ukraine ๐บ๐ฆ or contact your trusted charity.
If you enjoyed this newsletter, there are a couple of ways to support it:
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That's all I have for this issue. Have a great and productive week, keep yourselves safe, spend as much time as possible with your loved ones, and I will see you again next time!
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