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diff --git a/content/blog/2019-01-07-useful-css.md b/content/blog/2019-01-07-useful-css.md deleted file mode 100644 index 1e6e014..0000000 --- a/content/blog/2019-01-07-useful-css.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,190 +0,0 @@ -+++ -date = 2019-01-07 -title = "Useful CSS Snippets" -description = "" -draft = false -+++ - -# Introduction to CSS - -[CSS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS), the language used to markup HTML code -and make it "pretty", is one of the most effective ways to increase the -attractiveness of a website. It can also lead to increased user engagement, -retention, and satisfaction. In fact, there are whole career fields are -dedicated to the improvement of user experiences, known as UI design and UX -design. - -Some web developers are used to the common CSS properties, such as element -sizing, fonts, colors, etc., but are not as well versed in less-used properties -and values such as `flexbox`, `clip-path`, and `transform`. This article will -provide some insight into the less-used and unique CSS properties. - -# CSS Variables - -The first topic today is CSS variables. Variables are not often used by smaller -developers. CSS variables allow you to give your website a well-defined -structure, where you can easily reuse CSS properties throughout the project. - -You can use variables to define things, such as color palettes. Then, you can -use these colors for backgrounds anywhere else in the HTML. This could be -extended, where extra variables could be defined for `primary-text`, -`quoted-text`, etc. Variables can also be used to define spacing (e.g. `32px` or -`2rem`), which can then be applied to margins, padding, font sizes, and more. - -For example, here are some variables defined at the root of the website, which -allows for any subsequent CSS rules to use those variables: - -```css -:root { - --primary-color: black; - --secondary-color: white; -} - -body { - background-color: var(--primary-color); - color: var(--secondary-color); -} -``` - -# CSS Box Shadows - -Box shadows were once my mortal enemy. No matter how hard I tried, I just -couldn't get them to work how I wanted. Because of this, my favorite discovery -has been CSSMatic's [box shadow generator](https://www.cssmatic.com/box-shadow). -It provides an excellent tool to generate box shadows using their simple -sliders. Surprisingly, this is the reason I learned how box shadows work! You -can use the sliders and watch how the CSS code changes in the image that is -displayed. Through this, you should understand that the basic structure for box -shadows is: - -```css -box-shadow: inset horizontal vertical blur spread color; -``` - -Now, let's look at some basic examples! You can copy and paste the following -code into a site like CodePen or your own HTML files. Feel free to play around -with the code, experiment, and learn. - -**Box Shadow #1** - -```html -<div class="shadow-examples"> - <div class="box effect1"> - <h3>Effect 1</h3> - </div> -</div> -``` - -```css -.box h3 { - text-align: center; - position: relative; - top: 80px; -} -.box { - width: 70%; - height: 200px; - background: #fff; - margin: 40px auto; -} -.effect1 { - box-shadow: 0 10px 6px -6px #777; -} -``` - -**Box Shadow #2** - -```html -<div class="shadow-examples"> - <div class="box effect2"> - <h3>Effect 2</h3> - </div> -</div> -``` - -```css -.box h3 { - text-align: center; - position: relative; - top: 80px; -} -.box { - width: 70%; - height: 200px; - background: #fff; - margin: 40px auto; -} -.effect2 { - box-shadow: 10px 10px 5px -5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.75); -} -``` - -Try these box shadows out on your own and see how changing each shadow value -works. - -# CSS Flexbox - -Now, let's move on to the best part of this article: flexbox. The flexbox is by -far my favorite new toy. I originally stumbled across this solution after -looking for more efficient ways of centering content horizontally AND -vertically. I had used a few hack-ish methods before, but flexbox throws those -out the window. The best part of it all is that flexbox is _dead simple_. - -Flexbox pertains to the parent div of any element. You want the parent to be the -flexbox in which items are arranged to use the flex methods. It's easier to see -this in action that explained, so let's see an example. - -**Flexbox** - -```html -<div class="flex-examples"> - <div class="sm-box"> - <h3>1</h3> - </div> - <div class="sm-box"> - <h3>2</h3> - </div> -</div> -``` - -```css -.flex-examples { - display: flex; - flex-wrap: wrap; - justify-content: flex-start; - align-items: center; - padding: 10px; - background-color: #f2f2f2; -} -.sm-box { - display: flex; - justify-content: center; - align-items: center; - width: 20%; - height: 100px; - background: #fff; - margin: 40px 10px; -} -``` - -You may notice that we no longer need to use the `top` property for the `h3` -elements in our code. This is because we set the display box to be a flex -container for the small boxes, AND we made the small boxes flex containers for -their elements (the h3 tags). Flex boxes can be nested like this to center -content that is inside centered content. - -For the example above, we designated the `justify-content` property to be -`flex-start` so that the boxes stack from the left side of the screen. This -property can be changed to `center` to make the boxes appear in the center of -the screen. - -For an interactive example, [check out this -CodePen](https://codepen.io/LandonSchropp/pen/KpzzGo) from -[LandonScropp](https://codepen.io/LandonSchropp/). Resize the window with dice -to see how they collapse and re-align. - -# Even More CSS - -For more inspiration, you can visit [CodePen](https://www.codepen.io), -[Dribbble](https://dribbble.com), or [UI Movement](https://uimovement.com) to -browse the collections of many amazing web designers. |