The lh unit in CSS something that I originally read about a couple years ago, and at the time thought ‘I don’t see how that would be useful’. Earlier this year I had a UI problem to solve with alignment, and the lh was the perfect answer. I do this all the time, it’s not until a specific circumstance arises where I have an aha moment and remember something I read about a week or a year ago.

There have been so many additions to CSS and JS, and new tools developed over the last few years that it’s impossible to keep up and know everything.

Instead of trying to learn everything—because you will burn out quickly doing that—I think it’s important to maintain at least a surface level of what’s new and maybe some other things like what has gained wide browser support recently. Learn just enough so that you know the tool or feature exists, but not necessarily know how to use it.

This gives you a deep basket of things to reach for. When the perfect situation arises for the thing, that’s when you can learn how to use it.

Remain aware of the new tools, but don’t waste time learning how to use them until you have a specific need. Otherwise you’ll probably forget and have to relearn it later on anyway.

Here are some resources I use to keep an eye on what’s happening.

Newsletters

Podcasts

You can also check out the people I follow on Bluesky who often post interesting web and interface design content.