Get Started on the CSS of the Future with PostCSS-cssnext

A discussion of PostCSS-cssnext appeared earlier this year in "7 PostCSS Plugins to Ease You into PostCSS", published by SitePoint. PostCSS-cssnext is a plug-in pack for writing next generation CSS. This article provides an insight into the project's history and its benefits. Once we gain a deeper understanding of PostCSS-cssnext, we'll then jump into a handful of examples for you to play with. By the end of the article, you'll be well-versed in future CSS syntax with PostCSS-cssnext, and be able to decide whether it is something you wish to use in an upcoming (or existing) project!

The Need for Next Generation CSS

Regardless of the language, developers are always after the latest features. Whereas tools like Babel provide JavaScript developers with support for future ECMAScript features, PostCSS-cssnext provides web designers with future CSS features. Currently, this means offering support for CSS4-related features, such as CSS variables, nesting, and more! Now, before we go any further, I would like to point out the fact that future CSS features can be subject to change, and the CSS4 spec is no different in this regard. Nonetheless, PostCSS-cssnext alleviates the negative impact this may have on a project by informing users in advance of any changes that are about to occur.

From cssnext to PostCSS-cssnext

Initially, "cssnext" was meant to perform such tasks as minifying code and displaying error messages. These capabilities were helpful, however they did not support future CSS features, which is the ultimate goal of the PostCSS-cssnext project. As a consequence, the cssnext team decided to abandon the idea of cssnext as a standalone tool on the grounds that the time spent supporting it could be better spent on supporting future CSS syntax and any of its subsequent changes. For additional CSS-related processes, developers can integrate PostCSS-cssnext with other technologies like cssnano for code minification and postcss-browser-reporter for error reporting.

Dissecting PostCSS-cssnext

If we delve into the PostCSS-cssnext repository on GitHub, we can see just how modular this plug-in is. Inside the src/features.js file, we'll see that the code for each future CSS feature is enclosed within its own module named in accordance with the relevant CSS specification.

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by Thomas Greco via SitePoint

Use Indeed Prime to Get Matched with Only the Best Companies

This article was sponsored by Indeed Prime. Thank you for supporting the sponsors who make SitePoint possible.

Looking for a job in the tech industry can be an incredibly frustrating experience. You must find companies that are actively looking for employees with your skillset, and even when you find those companies there’s no guarantee that they are in a solid place financially or have a good reputation in the tech industry.

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When a company is interested in you, they will reach out with with salary, position, and equity upfront. This means no surprise 11th hour lowball offers. Additionally, if you are hired, Prime will give you a $2,000 signing bonus as a thanks for using Prime! Not only do you get your dream job, but you also get some extra cash up front.

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by Stephen Altrogge via SitePoint

Creating a Backend for Your iOS App Using Firebase

Firebase is a Backend as a Service platform that can help you quickly develop and deploy your application. It provides a myriad of features including Realtime Database, Authentication (with email and password, Facebook, Twitter, GitHub and Google), Cloud Messaging, Storage, Hosting, Remote Config, Test Lab, Crash Reporting, Notification, App Indexing, Dynamic Links, Invites, AdWords and AdMob.

In this article, we'll create a simple To Do app that will show how to save and retrieve data from Firebase, how to authenticate users, set read/write permissions on the data and validate the data on the server.

To get started, first download the started project that we'll use in the tutorial and then head over to Firebase and create an account if you don't already have one.

The Login view has a Register button that takes you to the Sign Up view when tapped; and on this view, there is a Sign Up form as well as a Login button that takes you back to the Login view.

To add the Firebase libraries to the project, we'll use CocoaPods. First make sure that you have CocoaPods installed on your computer.

Open Terminal and navigate to the root of the downloaded project with cd Path/To/ToDo\ App (the \ escapes the whitespace in the directory name).

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by Joyce Echessa via SitePoint

Beaver in Action: Practical MySQL Optimization

Clients with an existing application sometimes ask me to fix bugs, improve efficiency by speeding up the application, or add a new feature to some existing software. The first stage of this is researching the original code – so-called reverse engineering. With SQL databases, it is not always immediately obvious which SQL queries were executed - especially if these queries were generated by a framework or some kind of external library.

In this article, I will talk specifically about MySQL and present a common optimization use case which might come in handy if you run into a similar problem one day.

MySQL allows you to save all queries into a log.

Open MySQL console:

mysql --user=USERNAME --password=PASSWORD

This turns on the log:

set global general_log = "on";

This saves it to a table:

set global log_output = "table";

To view the logs you've saved:

select * from mysql.general_log;

To compress your logs:

truncate mysql.general_log;

However, viewing logs in the MySQL's console is not as convenient as it could be because:

• There are no highlighting or formatting options
• It's hard to locate problematic queries among the huge list you get from running parallel processes.

As I often work with logs, I developed a tool called "Beaver MySQL logger" to optimize and make them easier for the user to analyze.

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by Kirill Zhirnov via SitePoint

Food and Wine Hualalai

Events, restaurants, and gatherings. Four Seasons Hualalai offers rich and memorable food experiences from its secluded location on the Big Island of Hawaii.

by csreladm via CSSREEL | CSS Website Awards | World best websites | website design awards | CSS Gallery

APA Smart

Every house, office, and factory can work in a smarter, more intuitive way with the system provided by Building Management System. APA Smart has an outstanding idea for presenting all the possibilities of this system in the showroom, with Chilid resp

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Arkit One Page HTML Template

Arkit is a Responsive One Page HTML5 Template for architects, designers or agencies. It’s based on Bootstrap framework, clean and minimal, fully responsive and customizable.

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