In the quest for better user engagement, we’ve collectively moved past the flashy animations of the early web (farewell, Flash) to embrace more considered, purpose-driven motion design. As we navigate the challenges of 2020’s remote-first world, keeping users engaged with our interfaces has never been more critical. Let’s explore how to implement effective motion UI with current tools and techniques that won’t tank your performance. The Psychology Behind Motion Before diving into implementation, it’s worth understanding why we’re adding motion in the first place. Motion isn’t just eye candy—it creates cognitive anchors that help users understand what’s happening in your interface. ...

As we find ourselves firmly in the middle of 2020 (what a year so far, right?), web developers have spent several years working with WebAssembly (WASM). What began as an exciting experiment has now matured into a robust, production-ready technology with widespread browser support and growing adoption across the industry. The Performance Promise JavaScript has served us well for decades, but we’ve all hit that performance wall, the point where no amount of optimization seems to help. Whether you’re building data visualization tools, complex animations, or processing user-generated content, JavaScript’s interpreted nature introduces unavoidable overhead. ...