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Smashing Magazine · Design

Building Dynamic Forms In React And Next.js

Some forms stay UI, while others quietly become rule engines. Here’s why these two different approaches exist and how to choose between them.

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Sunil Sandhu) 1 month ago

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Smashing Magazine · Design

Persuasive Design: Ten Years Later

Many product teams still lean on usability improvements and isolated behavioral tweaks to address weak activation, drop-offs, and low retention – only to see results plateau or slip into shallow gamification. Anders Toxboe updates persuasive design for today’s reality, clarifying what has actually h...

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Anders Toxboe) 1 month ago

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Smashing Magazine · Design

Human Strategy In An AI-Accelerated Workflow

UX design is entering a new phase, with designers shifting from makers of outputs to directors of intent. AI can now generate wireframes, prototypes, and even design systems in minutes, but UX has never been only about creating interfaces. It’s about navigating ambiguity, advocating for humans in sy...

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Carrie Webster) 1 month ago

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Smashing Magazine · Design

Now Shipping: Accessible UX Research, A New Smashing Book By Michele Williams

Our newest Smashing Book, “Accessible UX Research” by Michele Williams, is finally shipping worldwide — and we couldn’t be happier! This book is about research, but you’ll also learn about assistive technology, different types of disability, and how to build accessibility into the entire design proc...

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Ari Stiles) 1 month ago

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Smashing Magazine · Design

Getting Started With The Popover API

What happens if you rebuild a single tooltip using the browser’s native model without the aid of a library? The Popover API turns tooltips from something you simulate into something the browser actually understands. Opening and closing, keyboard interaction, Escape handling, and much of the accessib...

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Godstime Aburu) 1 month ago

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Smashing Magazine · Design

Fresh Energy In March (2026 Wallpapers Edition)

Do you need a little inspiration boost? Well, then our new batch of desktop wallpapers is for you. Designed by the community for the community, the wallpapers in this collection are the perfect opportunity to get your desktop ready for spring — and, who knows, maybe they’ll spark some new ideas, too...

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Cosima Mielke) 1 month ago

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Smashing Magazine · Design

Say Cheese! Meet SmashingConf Amsterdam 🇳🇱

Meet our brand new conference for designers and UI engineers who love the web. That’s [SmashingConf Amsterdam](https://smashingconf.com/amsterdam-2026), taking place in the legendary Pathé Tuschinski, on April 13–16, 2026.

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Iris Lješnjanin) 1 month ago

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Smashing Magazine · Design

A Designer’s Guide To Eco-Friendly Interfaces

Every high-resolution hero image, autoplay video, and complex JavaScript animation carries a cost. Sustainable UX challenges the era of “unlimited pixels” and reframes performance as responsibility. In 2026, truly sophisticated design is defined not by how much it adds, but by how thoughtfully it re...

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Carrie Webster) 1 month ago

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Smashing Magazine · Design

Designing A Streak System: The UX And Psychology Of Streaks

What makes streaks so powerful and addictive? To design them well, you need to understand how they align with human psychology. Victor Ayomipo breaks down the UX and design principles behind effective streak systems.

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Victor Ayomipo) 1 month ago

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Smashing Magazine · Design

Building Digital Trust: An Empathy-Centred UX Framework For Mental Health Apps

Designing for mental health means designing for vulnerability. Empathy-Centred UX becomes not a “nice to have” but a fundamental design requirement. Here’s a practical framework for building trust-first mental health products.

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Kat Homan) 2 months ago

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Smashing Magazine · Design

Designing For Agentic AI: Practical UX Patterns For Control, Consent, And Accountability

Autonomy is an output of a technical system. Trustworthiness is an output of a design process. Here are concrete design patterns, operational frameworks, and organizational practices for building agentic systems that are not only powerful but also transparent, controllable, and trustworthy.

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Victor Yocco) 2 months ago

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Smashing Magazine · Design

CSS <code>@scope</code>: An Alternative To Naming Conventions And Heavy Abstractions

Prescriptive class name conventions are no longer enough to keep CSS maintainable in a world of increasingly complex interfaces. Can the new `@scope` rule finally give developers the confidence to write CSS that can keep up with modern front ends?

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Blake Lundquist) 2 months ago

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Smashing Magazine · Design

Combobox vs. Multiselect vs. Listbox: How To Choose The Right One

Combobox vs. Multi-Select vs. Listbox vs. Dual Listbox? How they are different, what purpose they serve, and how to choose the right one. Brought to you by Design Patterns For AI Interfaces, **friendly video courses on UX** and design patterns by Vitaly.

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Vitaly Friedman) 2 months ago

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Smashing Magazine · Design

Short Month, Big Ideas (February 2026 Wallpapers Edition)

Let’s make the most of the shortest month of the year with a new collection of desktop wallpapers that are sure to bring a smile to your face — and maybe spark your creativity, too. All of them were designed with love by the community for the community and can be downloaded for free. Happy February!

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Cosima Mielke) 2 months ago

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Smashing Magazine · Design

Practical Use Of AI Coding Tools For The Responsible Developer

AI coding tools like agents can be valuable allies in everyday development work. They help handle time-consuming grunt work, guide you through large legacy codebases, and offer low-risk ways to implement features in previously unfamiliar programming languages. Here are practical, easy-to-apply techn...

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Stefan Kaltenegger) 2 months ago

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Smashing Magazine · Design

Unstacking CSS Stacking Contexts

In CSS, we can create “stacking contexts” where elements are visually placed one on top of the next in a three-dimensional sense that creates the perception of depth. Stacking contexts are incredibly useful, but they’re also widely misunderstood and often mistakenly created, leading to a slew of lay...

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Gabriel Shoyombo) 2 months ago

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Smashing Magazine · Design

Beyond Generative: The Rise Of Agentic AI And User-Centric Design

Developing effective agentic AI requires a new research playbook. When systems plan, decide, and act on our behalf, UX moves beyond usability testing into the realm of trust, consent, and accountability. Victor Yocco outlines the research methods needed to design agentic AI systems responsibly.

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Victor Yocco) 2 months ago

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Smashing Magazine · Design

Rethinking “Pixel Perfect” Web Design

Amit Sheen takes a hard look at the “Pixel Perfect” legacy concept, explaining why it’s failing us and redefining what “perfection” actually looks like in a multi-device, fluid world.

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Amit Sheen) 2 months ago

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Smashing Magazine · Design

Smashing Animations Part 8: Theming Animations Using CSS Relative Colour

CSS relative colour values are now widely supported. In this article, pioneering author and web designer [Andy Clarke](https://stuffandnonsense.co.uk/) shares practical techniques for using them to theme and animate SVG graphics.

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Andy Clarke) 3 months ago

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Smashing Magazine · Design

UX And Product Designer’s Career Paths In 2026

How to shape your career path for 2026, with decision trees for designers and a UX skills self-assessment matrix. The only limits for tomorrow are the doubts we have today. Brought to you by Smart Interface Design Patterns, a **friendly video course on UX** and design patterns by Vitaly.

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Vitaly Friedman) 3 months ago

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Smashing Magazine · Design

Penpot Is Experimenting With MCP Servers For AI-Powered Design Workflows

[Penpot](https://penpot.app/?utm_source=SmashingMagazine&utm_medium=Article&utm_campaign=MCPserver) is experimenting with MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers, which could lead to designers and developers being able to perform tasks in Penpot using AI that’s able to understand and interact with Penp...

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Daniel Schwarz) 3 months ago

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Smashing Magazine · Design

Pivoting Your Career Without Starting From Scratch

Most developers spend their days fixing bugs, shipping features, and jumping into the next sprint without even thinking about it. After a while, you begin to ask yourself, “Is this still what I want to be doing?” This article looks at how you can move into a new direction in your career without star...

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Joas Pambou) 3 months ago

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Smashing Magazine · Design

Countdown To New Adventures (January 2026 Wallpapers Edition)

Whether 2026 has already begun as you’re reading this or you’re still waiting for the big countdown to start, how about some new wallpapers to get your desktop ready for the new year? We’ve got you covered.

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Cosima Mielke) 3 months ago

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Smashing Magazine · Design

How To Design For (And With) Deaf People

Practical UX guidelines to keep in mind for 466 million people who experience hearing loss. More design patterns in Smart Interface Design Patterns, a **friendly video course on UX** and design patterns by Vitaly.

hello@smashingmagazine.com (Vitaly Friedman) 3 months ago

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