The Collective #910: GSAP is now 100% FREE, Functional HTML, Magic Patterns

Olá, frontend friends! 👋

Here’s a fresh roundup of the latest frontend news, links, and resources to inspire and inform you. Whether you're looking for new ideas or just something interesting, we hope you'll discover something exciting in this edition!

We’re trying an (old) new layout, let us know if you enjoy the images or if you prefer a more compact format!

Happy exploring! 💙

P.S. We've been hosting Codrops with Liquid Web for almost a decade now—super reliable and solid support. Highly recommended.

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GSAP Site of the Week: Aurel’s Grand Theater

This week's Site of the Week is Aurel's Grand Theater by Aurelien Vigne, selected by the GSAP team for its impressive use of animation techniques like ScrollTrigger, MotionPath, and Three.js.

^{gsap / three-js / web-trends}

Breeze PDF

A free PDF editor that works entirely offline in your browser, allowing you to edit, sign, merge, and secure PDFs while ensuring complete privacy by processing documents locally without uploading them.

^{pdf / tool}

Building a more accessible GitHub CLI

The article discusses GitHub CLI's journey toward making terminal experiences more accessible for developers, focusing on improvements for screen reader users, high contrast options, and customizable color features.

^{accessibility / article}

I hate my portfolio

Valeria Yakovchik’s article discusses the emotional challenges of updating a design portfolio, focusing on self-doubt, conflicting advice, and the pressure to meet expectations.

^article

Magic Patterns

An AI-powered prototyping platform that helps product teams rapidly create UI designs, get user feedback, and make data-driven decisions, enhancing collaboration and streamlining the design process.

^{ai / tool / web-design}

You Can Be a Great Designer and Be Completely Unknown

Christopher Butler's essay explores the idea that true design greatness isn't measured by fame or visibility, but by creating work that seamlessly serves human needs and becomes invisible in its functionality.

^{article / graphic-design}

I use Zip Bombs to Protect my Server

Ibrahim Diallo uses clever zip bombs to protect his server from malicious bots by overwhelming them with massive compressed files.

^security

Polyfilling CSS with CSS Parser Extensions

Bramus proposes CSS Parser Extensions to make polyfills easier, letting devs extend the CSS parser with custom syntax and features.

^{css / opinion}

Arcade car physics

A playful physics demo blending car dynamics and arcade vibes—customize traction, speed, and more in-browser.

^{game-development / physics / three-js}

Easier layout with margin-trim

Jen Simmons introduces margin-trim, a new CSS property that simplifies layout by automatically trimming child element margins at container edges.

^{article / css}

Functional HTML

Dan Abramov reimagines HTML as a functional, JSON-first language with full-stack tags and client/server boundaries shaped like components.

^{html / opinion / react}

When Skill Became Obsolete: Art, Code, and the End of the Amateur

This article discusses how technological advancements, like the automation of programming through AI, are shifting the focus of creative work.

^{ai / art / opinion / software-engineering}

Anchors for Tailwind CSS

Bran McConnell releases Anchors for Tailwind CSS, a plugin for declarative anchor positioning with full CSS API and View Transition support.

^tailwindcss

Revisiting Image Maps

Andy Clarke revisits image maps while designing a retro-style site, ultimately favoring inline SVG for expressive, modern interactivity.

^{accessibility / article / svg}

The canvas element

Heydon Pickering critiques the <canvas> element with wit, arguing it's often misused where semantic, accessible HTML would be better.

^{accessibility / html / opinion}

GSAP x Made With Gsap – Inertia Plugin

Made With GSAP shares a hover effect tutorial using GSAP’s now-free InertiaPlugin — images shift with mouse speed and bounce back.

^{animation / gsap / tutorial}

GSAP is now 100% FREE!

GSAP is now fully free, with a revamped SplitText plugin and new features like animating to CSS variables, plus simpler Webflow integration.

^gsap

The One-Person Framework in practice

Bram Jetten shares how he built a €1M ARR SaaS solo in Rails, proving the power of the “One-Person Framework.”

^{opinion / rails}

Interactive Neural Network Viz

A dynamic 3D network built with Three.js and custom GLSL shaders. Clicks send animated pulses that light up nodes and links.

^{3d / three-js / webgl}

One Million Chessboards

A chaotic, real-time multiplayer chess playground

^{interactive-games}

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