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    I Used This Open Source Library to Integrate OpenAI, Claude, Gemini to Websites Without API Keys

    Blogger posted a blog entry in F.O.S.S
    by: Bhuwan Mishra Mon, 20 Oct 2025 03:31:08 GMT When I started experimenting with AI integrations, I wanted to create a chat assistant on my website, something that could talk like GPT-4, reason like Claude, and even joke like Grok. But OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and xAI all require API keys. That means I needed to set up an account for each of the platforms and upgrade to one of their paid plans before I could start coding. Why? Because most of these LLM providers require a paid plan for API access. Not to mention, I would need to cover API usage billing for each LLM platform. What if I could tell you there's an easier approach to start integrating AI within your websites and mobile applications, even without requiring API keys at all? Sounds exciting? Let me share how I did exactly that. Integrate AI with Puter.js Thanks to Puter.js, an open source JavaScript library that lets you use cloud features like AI models, storage, databases, user auth, all from the client side. No servers, no API keys, no backend setup needed here. What else can you ask for as a developer? Puter.js is built around Puter’s decentralized cloud platform, which handles all the stuff like key management, routing, usage limits, and billing. Everything’s abstracted away so cleanly that, from your side, it feels like authentication, AI, and LLM just live in your browser. Enough talking, let’s see how you can add GPT-5 integration within your web application in less than 10 lines. <html> <body> <script src="https://js.puter.com/v2/"></script> <script> puter.ai.chat(`What is puter js?`, { model: 'gpt-5-nano', }).then(puter.print); </script> </body> </html>Yes, that’s it. Unbelievable, right? Let's save the HTML code into an index.html file place this a new, empty directory. Open a terminal and switch to the directory where index.html file is located and serve it on localhost with the Python command: python -m http.serverThen open http://localhost:8000 in your web browser. Click on Puter.js “Continue” button when presented. Integrate ChatGPT with Puter JS🚧 It would take some time before you see a response from ChatGPT. Till then, you'll see a blank page. ChatGPT Nano doesn't know Puter.js yet but it will, soonYou can explore a lot of examples and get an idea of what Puter.js does for you on its playground. Let’s modify the code to make it more interesting this time. It would take a user query and return streaming responses from three different LLMs so that users can decide which among the three provides the best result.  <!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> <title>AI Model Comparison</title> <script src="https://cdn.twind.style"></script> <script src="https://js.puter.com/v2/"></script> </head> <body class="bg-gray-900 min-h-screen p-6"> <div class="max-w-7xl mx-auto"> <h1 class="text-3xl font-bold text-white mb-6 text-center">AI Model Comparison</h1> <div class="mb-6"> <label for="queryInput" class="block text-white mb-2 font-medium">Enter your query:</label> <div class="flex gap-2"> <input type="text" id="queryInput" class="flex-1 px-4 py-3 rounded-lg bg-gray-800 text-white border border-gray-700 focus:outline-none focus:border-blue-500" placeholder="Write a detailed essay on the impact of artificial intelligence on society" value="Write a detailed essay on the impact of artificial intelligence on society" /> <button id="submitBtn" class="px-6 py-3 bg-blue-600 hover:bg-blue-700 text-white rounded-lg font-medium transition-colors" > Generate </button> </div> </div> <div class="grid grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-3 gap-4"> <div class="bg-gray-800 rounded-lg p-4"> <h2 class="text-xl font-semibold text-blue-400 mb-3">Claude Opus 4</h2> <div id="output1" class="text-gray-300 text-sm leading-relaxed h-96 overflow-y-auto whitespace-pre-wrap"></div> </div> <div class="bg-gray-800 rounded-lg p-4"> <h2 class="text-xl font-semibold text-green-400 mb-3">Claude Sonnet 4</h2> <div id="output2" class="text-gray-300 text-sm leading-relaxed h-96 overflow-y-auto whitespace-pre-wrap"></div> </div> <div class="bg-gray-800 rounded-lg p-4"> <h2 class="text-xl font-semibold text-purple-400 mb-3">Gemini 2.0 Pro</h2> <div id="output3" class="text-gray-300 text-sm leading-relaxed h-96 overflow-y-auto whitespace-pre-wrap"></div> </div> </div> </div> <script> const queryInput = document.getElementById('queryInput'); const submitBtn = document.getElementById('submitBtn'); const output1 = document.getElementById('output1'); const output2 = document.getElementById('output2'); const output3 = document.getElementById('output3'); async function generateResponse(query, model, outputElement) { outputElement.textContent = 'Loading...'; try { const response = await puter.ai.chat(query, { model: model, stream: true }); outputElement.textContent = ''; for await (const part of response) { if (part?.text) { outputElement.textContent += part.text; outputElement.scrollTop = outputElement.scrollHeight; } } } catch (error) { outputElement.textContent = `Error: ${error.message}`; } } async function handleSubmit() { const query = queryInput.value.trim(); if (!query) { alert('Please enter a query'); return; } submitBtn.disabled = true; submitBtn.textContent = 'Generating...'; submitBtn.classList.add('opacity-50', 'cursor-not-allowed'); await Promise.all([ generateResponse(query, 'claude-opus-4', output1), generateResponse(query, 'claude-sonnet-4', output2), generateResponse(query, 'google/gemini-2.0-flash-lite-001', output3) ]); submitBtn.disabled = false; submitBtn.textContent = 'Generate'; submitBtn.classList.remove('opacity-50', 'cursor-not-allowed'); } submitBtn.addEventListener('click', handleSubmit); queryInput.addEventListener('keypress', (e) => { if (e.key === 'Enter') { handleSubmit(); } }); </script> </body> </html> Save the above file in the index.html file as we did in the previos example and then run the server with Python. This is what it looks like now on localhost. Comparing output from different LLM provider with Puter.jsAnd here is a sample response from all three models on the query "What is It's FOSS". Looks like It's FOSS is well trusted by humans as well as AI 😉 My Final Take on Puter.js and LLMs IntegrationThat’s not bad! Without requiring any API keys, you can do this crazy stuff. Puter.js utilizes the “User pays model” which means it’s completely free for developers, and your application user will spend credits from their Puter’s account for the cloud features like the storage and LLMs they will be using. I reached out to them to understand their pricing structure, but at this moment, the team behind it is still working out to come up with a pricing plan.  This new Puter.js library is superbly underrated. I’m still amazed by how easy it has made LLM integration. Besides it, you can use Puter.js SDK for authentication, storage like Firebase. Do check out this wonderful open source JavaScript library and explore what else you can build with it. Puter.js - Free, Serverless, Cloud and AI in One Simple LibraryPuter.js provides auth, cloud storage, database, GPT-4o, o1, o3-mini, Claude 3.7 Sonnet, DALL-E 3, and more, all through a single JavaScript library. No backend. No servers. No configuration.Puter
  2. Blogger

    LHB Linux Digest #25.31: syslog guide, snippet manager, screen command more

    Blogger posted a blog entry in Linux Tips
    by: Abhishek Prakash Fri, 17 Oct 2025 18:31:53 +0530 Welcome back to another round of Linux magic and command-line sorcery. Weirdly scary opening line, right? That's because I am already in Halloween spirit 🎃 And I'll take this opportunity to crack a dad joke: Q: Why do Linux sysadmins confuse Halloween with Christmas? A: Because 31 Oct equals 25 Dec. Hint: Think octal. Think Decimal. Jokes aside, we are working towards a few new series and courses. The CNCF series should be published next week, followed by either networking or Kubernetes microcourses. Stay awesome 😄       This post is for subscribers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in
  3. Blogger

    How to Fingerprint Websites With WhatWeb - A Practical, Hands-On Guide

    Blogger posted a blog entry in Linux Tips
    by: Hangga Aji Sayekti Fri, 17 Oct 2025 17:59:33 +0530 This short guide will help you get started with WhatWeb, a simple tool for fingerprinting websites. It’s written for beginners who want clear steps, short explanations, and practical tips. By the end, you’ll know how to run WhatWeb with confidence. What is WhatWeb?Imagine you’re curious about what powers a website: the CMS, web server, frameworks, analytics tools, or plugins behind it. WhatWeb can tell you all that right from the Linux command line. It’s like getting a quick peek under the hood of any site. In this guide, we’ll skip the long theory and go straight to the fun part. You’ll run the commands, see the results, and learn how to understand them in real situations. Legal and ethical noteBefore you start, here’s a quick reminder. Only scan websites that you own or have clear permission to test. Running scans on random sites can break the law and go against ethical hacking practices. If you just want to practice, use safe test targets that are made for learning. For the examples in this guide, we will use http://www.vulnweb.com/ and some of its subdomains as safe test targets. These sites are intentionally provided for learning and experimentation, so they are good places to try WhatWeb without worrying about legal or ethical issues. Install WhatWebKali Linux often includes WhatWeb. Check version with: whatweb --version If not present, install with: sudo apt update sudo apt install whatweb Quick basic scanRun a fast scan with this command. Replace the URL with your target. whatweb http://testphp.vulnweb.com This prints a one-line summary for the target. You will see status code, server, CMS, and other hints: Beyond basic scan: Getting more out of whatwebThe above was just the very basic usse of whatweb. Let's see what else we can do with it. 1. Verbose outputwhatweb -v http://testphp.vulnweb.com This shows more details and the patterns WhatWeb matched. WhatWeb report for http://testphp.vulnweb.com Status : 200 OK Title : Home of Acunetix Art IP : 44.228.249.3 Country : UNITED STATES, US Summary : ActiveX[D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000], Adobe-Flash, Email[wvs@acunetix.com], HTTPServer[nginx/1.19.0], nginx[1.19.0], Object[http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,29,0][clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000], PHP[5.6.40-38+ubuntu20.04.1+deb.sury.org+1], Script[text/JavaScript], X-Powered-By[PHP/5.6.40-38+ubuntu20.04.1+deb.sury.org+1] Detected Plugins: [ ActiveX ] ActiveX is a framework based on Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM) and Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) technologies. ActiveX components officially operate only with Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser and the Microsoft Windows operating system. - More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ActiveX Module : D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000 [ Adobe-Flash ] This plugin identifies instances of embedded adobe flash files. Google Dorks: (1) Website : https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ [ Email ] Extract email addresses. Find valid email address and syntactically invalid email addresses from mailto: link tags. We match syntactically invalid links containing mailto: to catch anti-spam email addresses, eg. bob at gmail.com. This uses the simplified email regular expression from http://www.regular-expressions.info/email.html for valid email address matching. String : wvs@acunetix.com String : wvs@acunetix.com [ HTTPServer ] HTTP server header string. This plugin also attempts to identify the operating system from the server header. String : nginx/1.19.0 (from server string) [ Object ] HTML object tag. This can be audio, video, Flash, ActiveX, Python, etc. More info: http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_object.asp Module : clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000 (from classid) String : http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,29,0 [ PHP ] PHP is a widely-used general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML. This plugin identifies PHP errors, modules and versions and extracts the local file path and username if present. Version : 5.6.40-38+ubuntu20.04.1+deb.sury.org+1 Google Dorks: (2) Website : http://www.php.net/ [ Script ] This plugin detects instances of script HTML elements and returns the script language/type. String : text/JavaScript [ X-Powered-By ] X-Powered-By HTTP header String : PHP/5.6.40-38+ubuntu20.04.1+deb.sury.org+1 (from x-powered-by string) [ nginx ] Nginx (Engine-X) is a free, open-source, high-performance HTTP server and reverse proxy, as well as an IMAP/POP3 proxy server. Version : 1.19.0 Website : http://nginx.net/ HTTP Headers: HTTP/1.1 200 OK Server: nginx/1.19.0 Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2025 07:29:42 GMT Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 Transfer-Encoding: chunked Connection: close X-Powered-By: PHP/5.6.40-38+ubuntu20.04.1+deb.sury.org+1 Content-Encoding: gzip 2. Aggressive scan (more probes)whatweb -a 3 http://testphp.vulnweb.com Use aggressive mode when you want more fingerprints. Aggressive mode is slower and noisier. Use it only with permission. 3. Scan a list of targetsCreate a file named targets.txt with one URL per line. nano targets.txt When nano opens, paste the following lines exactly (copy and right-click to paste in many terminals): http://testphp.vulnweb.com/ http://testasp.vulnweb.com/ http://testaspnet.vulnweb.com/ http://rest.vulnweb.com/ http://testhtml5.vulnweb.com/ Save and exit nano by pressing ctrl+X. Confirm the file was created for the sake of it: cat targets.txt You should see the five URLs listed. Then run: whatweb -i targets.txt --log-json results.json This saves results in JSON format in results.json. What to expect on screen: WhatWeb prints a per-host summary while it runs. When finished, open the JSON file to inspect it: less results.json If you want a pretty view and you have jq installed, run: jq '.' results.json | less -R 4. Save a human readable logwhatweb -v --log-verbose whatweb.log http://testphp.vulnweb.com Let's see the log: cat whatweb.log 5. Use a proxy (for example Burp Suite)whatweb --proxy 127.0.0.1:8080 http://testphp.vulnweb.com 6. Custom user agentIf a site blocks you, slow down the scan or change the user agent. whatweb --user-agent "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64)" http://testphp.vulnweb.com 7. Limit scan to specific portsWhatWeb accepts a URL with port, for example: whatweb http://example.com:8080 Interpreting the outputA typical WhatWeb line looks like this: http://testphp.vulnweb.com [200 OK] Apache[2.4.7], PHP[5.5.9], HTML5 200 OK - HTTP status code. It means the request succeeded.Apache[2.4.7] - the web server software and version.PHP[5.5.9] - server side language and version.HTML5 - content hints.If you see a CMS such as WordPress, you may also see plugins or themes. WhatWeb reports probable matches. It is not a guarantee. Combine WhatWeb with other toolsWhatWeb is best for reconnaissance. Use it with these tools for a fuller picture: nmap - for network and port scansdirsearch or gobuster - for directory and file discoverywpscan - for deeper WordPress checksA simple workflow: Run WhatWeb to identify technologies.Use nmap to find open ports and services.Use dirsearch to find hidden pages or admin panels.If the site is WordPress, run wpscan for plugin vulnerabilities.ConclusionWhatWeb is a lightweight and fast tool for fingerprinting websites. It helps you quickly understand what runs a site and gives leads for deeper testing. Use the copy-paste commands here to get started, and combine WhatWeb with other tools for a full reconnaissance workflow. Happy pen-testing 😀
  4. Blogger

    Looking for Open Source Kindle Alternatives? Build it Yourself

    Blogger posted a blog entry in F.O.S.S
    by: Pulkit Chandak Fri, 17 Oct 2025 05:20:49 GMT The e-ink display technology arrived on the scene as the answer for a long list of issues and desires people had with digital book reading. The strain on the eyes, the distractions, the low battery life—all of it fixed in one swoop. While the most popular option that remains in the category is an Amazon Kindle, not everyone of us would want a DRM-restricted Big Tech ecosystem. As a Linux user and open source enthusiast, I wanted something more 'open' and thus I scoured the World Wide Web and came up with a few interesting options. I have put them into two categories: DIY: You use a board like Raspberry Pi Pico and you build it yourself thanks to the blueprint provided by the project developer. This is for hardware tinkerers.A couple of non-DIY options that may be considered here.Needless to say, you should not expect a polished, out of the box eBook experience like Amazon Kindle but that's not what we are aiming for here, are we? Also, I have not tested these projects on my own. As much as I would like to, I don't have enough money to get all of them and experiment with them. 1. The Open BookThe Open Book project is the definitively DIY ebook reader project. It is based on the Raspberry Pi Pico, and makes a point of having to buy a minimum number of components. The pins on the Pico make it easy to control all necessary actions including button controls, power controls, etc. The firmware is called libros, which needs to be flashed onto the Pico. It also uses a library called Babel that gives it the ability to display the text of all languages in the world, which is a major advantage. Display: 4.2" GDEW042T2 display, designed for fast refreshingFormats supported: Plain UTF-8 text, TXT files (a converter is given by the creator)Battery: 2 AAA batteriesCost: Can differ depending on the cost of the hardware you decide to go with, but a decent build can be made at about $130.The PCB for the main board as well as the e-paper driver are easily printable because the schematics are given by the creator. The instructions for setting up the device and getting books ready to be read on the device are given very clearly and concisely on the website. 2. ZEReaderZEReader is a device inspired by The Open Book, making another iteration of the Raspberry Pi Pico based e-ink device. This project is relatively more convenient as it provides a USB-C port for charging. The convenience is not only limited to the usage, but also the assembly. The software is based on Zephyr Real-Time OS, which makes it easier for the software to be adapted to other hardware boards as well. Display: 7.5" Waveshare ePaper displayFormats supported: EPUB, very basic HTML parsingBattery: LiPo batteryCost: UnknownFor navigation, there are 4 buttons designed on the casing. The board is printable with schematics available online, and the parts can be gathered as the user pleases according to the requirements. There's a micro SD card necessary for storage of files. The instructions can all be found on the GitHub page, along with the information of the parts and software commands. Get more information on our news article about the device. 3. Dual-Screen E-ReaderThe big idea behind this project is getting back to the feeling of reading a two-paged book instead of a single-page pamphlet-like structure like a Kindle provides. A button press to change the page moves both the pages ahead, making it feel more natural, similar to an actual book. Instead of a full single-board computer like a Raspberry Pi, this uses a SoC, ESP32-S3. This provides a significant edge to the power consumption, drawing very low power as it is in the reading mode, but in the deep sleep mode, which occurs after 10 minutes of inactivity, it reduces power consumption even more dramatically, basically never needing to be turned off. Display: 2 x 4.2" panelsFormats supported: EPUB, basic HTMLBattery: 2 x 1300 mAh batteriesCost: Original creator's estimate is a little over $80.The parts are all laid out in a very concise list on the originating Reddit post with all the relevant information linked there effectively. The project is posted on Yanko Design as well in a well written post. 4. piEreaderThe piEreader aims for a fully open approach, that includes the hardware, software, and even a server to host a library. The heart of the device is a Raspberry Pi Compute Module, giving it more capabilities than an average microcontroller. The display on the build has a touch-screen as well as a backlight. The software revolves around MuPDF, which is a very well known popular e-book reader on the Linux platform. Display: 4.2" e-paper displayFormats supported: EPUB, MOBI, CBZ, PDF, etc.Battery: Lithium batteryCost: UnknownThe Hackaday page contains all the necessary information, and the GitLab page hosts all the necessary code. It is worth noting that the creator has been able to successfully try out the software on other boards like PINE64-LTS, SOQUARTZ, etc. as well. Read more about this device in our news article. 5. TurtleBookTaking an extremely practical approach, the creator of TurtleBook made some really innovative choices. First, and as they mention, most e-book readers have a lot of unnecessary features when mostly all that is needed is turning a page. As such, the reader doesn't have any physical buttons. It works on gestures, which can be used to switch pages, open menus and adjust brightness, among other things. Also since e-ink technology doesn't require a lot of power, the power setup is solar with hybrid capacitors, making it truly autonomous and one-of-a-kind. The device is based on an Arduino MEGA2560 board. Display: Waveshare 5.3" e-ink display, and a small OLED panel for easily accessing the menu optionsFormats supported: CB files (custom formatting website is given by the creator)Battery: Hybrid capacitorsCost: $80-$120All the necessary parts and the links to them are provided by the creator in a list on the GitHub page, as well as the schematics for the PCBs and 3D-printable casing. There are two options, one with SRAM, a charger and WiFI capabilities and the other one with no charger or WiFi. The Instructables page for the device has very detailed instructions for the entire process, making it one of the most friendly options on this list. 6. EPub-InkPlate Inkplate 6 from Soldred Electronics is basically an ESP-32 based e-Paper display. Inkplate uses recycled screens from old, discarded e-Book readers. Excellent intiative. The project is open source both software and hardware wise. While you can build a lot of cool devices on top of it, the EPub-InkPlate project allows you to convert it into an eBook reader. Although, the GitHub repo doesn't seen any new updates since 2022, it could be worth giving a shot if you already have an InkPlate display. 7. PineNote (not DIY)While not DIY like the other projects on the list, PineNote is from the company Pine64, which has been one of the most actively pro-open source companies in recent times. Since it is pre-built by a proper manufacturer, it can provide a lot of stable features that the DIY projects might lack. To start with, it is immensely powerful and has a Linux-based OS. It has a 128 GB eMMC storage, 4 GB RAM, and am ARM processor. Display: 10.3" multi-touch e-ink panel with frontlighting and an optional Wacom EMR penFormats supported: PDF, MOBI, CBZ, TXT, etc. virtually any formatBattery: 4000 mAh lithium batteryCost: $400 (I know but it's not just an e-Book reader)It also is charged by USB-C and can be expanded into different sorts of projects, not just an e-book reader since it is based on an unrestricted Linux OS. Special Mention: paper 7Don't confuse this paper 7 with the Paper 7 e-ink tablet from Harbor Innovations. That is also an excellent device but not open source. Yes. paper 7 is an open source device, or at least it is in the process. It is developed by a company called paperless paper based in Leipzig, Germany. It has been designed mainly as a photo frame, but I think it can be repurposed into an e-book reader. Presently, the official integration shows that you can save and read webpages on it. Adding the ability to read PDF and ePUB files would be wonderful. paper 7ConclusionThere are a lot of options to choose from, each with something more distinct than the last. The extent of the open-source philosophy, the amount of effort it might require, the extra features the devices have are some of the factors that might influence your decision when choosing the right device for yourself. Whatever your choice may be, you might find yourself with a new device as well as a new interest, perhaps, after dabbling into the DIY side of open technology. We wish you the very best for it. Let us know what you think about it in the comments. Cheers!
  5. Blogger

    FOSS Weekly #25.42: Hyprland Controversy, German State with Open Source, New Flatpak App Center and a Lot More Linux Stuff

    Blogger posted a blog entry in F.O.S.S
    by: Abhishek Prakash Thu, 16 Oct 2025 04:50:27 GMT In the previous newsletter, I asked what kind of advice someone looking to switch from Windows to Linux would have. I got so many responses that I am still replying to all the suggestions. I am also working on the 'Windows to Linux migration' page. Hopefully, we will have that up by next week. Hope to see more people coming to Linux as Windows 10 support has ended now. 💬 Let's see what you get in this edition: Mastering alias command.A bug that broke Flatpaks on Ubuntu 25.10.Controversy over Framework supporting Hyprland project.New Flatpak software center.Open source game development arriving on iPhone.And other Linux news, tips, and, of course, memes!📰 Linux and Open Source NewsXogot is now available on Apple iPhone for open source game development.The German state of Schleswig-Holstein has completed a massive transition to open source email systems.Ubuntu 25.10 has been released as the second and final interim release of Ubuntu for 2025, with a bug briefly breaking flatpak installations on it.Zorin OS 18 is also available now, looking prettier than ever.Framework has found itself in a controversy over its recent endorsements of Hyprland project. Framework is Accused of Supporting the Far-right, Apparently for Sponsoring the Hyprland ProjectThe announcement has generated quite some buzz but for all the wrong reasons.It's FOSS NewsSourav Rudra🧠 What We’re Thinking AboutTelegram banned our community group without reasons. It's a deja vu moment, as Facebook was also banning links to Linux websites some months ago. Telegram, Please Learn Who’s a Threat and Who’s NotOur Telegram community got deleted without an explanation.It's FOSS NewsSourav RudraProprietary ecosystems are great at keeping creative people locked in, but you can break free with the power of FOSS. 5 Signs Your Proprietary Workflow Is Stifling Your Creativity (And What You Can Do About It)If these signs feel familiar, your creativity may be stifled by proprietary constraints.It's FOSS NewsTheena Kumaragurunathan🧮 Linux Tips, Tutorials, and LearningsYou can greatly improve your efficiency in the Linux terminal by using aliases.Ubuntu/GNOME customization tips.Our beginner's guide to the Nano text editor will teach you the basics without overwhelming you.Understanding software update management in Linux Mint.Getting Started With ManjaroThis is a collection of tutorials that are useful for new Manjaro users.It's FOSSAbhishek Prakash👷 AI, Homelab and Hardware CornerWe have a Pironman alternative for you that saves your wallet and desk space. The Affordable Pironman Alternative Mini PC Case for Raspberry Pi 5We have a new option in tower cases for Raspberry Pi 5. This one has a lower price tag but does that make it worth a purchase?It's FOSSAbhishek PrakashUbo Pod is an open source AI assistant that works for you, not for your data. It is based on Raspberry Pi. Bhuwan tried them all but llama.cpp finally nailed the local LLM experience. I have been using Keychron mechanical keyboard for two years now. I recently came across their upcoming product that has ceramic mechanical keyboards. Interesting materials choice, right? Keychron's Ceramic Keyboards🎫 Event Alert: First Ever UbuCon in IndiaThe Ubuntu India LoCo is hosting the first ever UbuCon event in India, and we are the official media partners for it! India’s First UbuCon Set to Unite Ubuntu Community in Bengaluru This NovemberIndia gets its first UbuCon!It's FOSS NewsSourav RudraProprietary ecosystems are great at keeping creative people locked in, but ✨ Project HighlightsBazaar is getting all the hype right now; it is a neat app store for GNOME that focuses on providing applications and add-ons from Flatpak remotes, particularly Flathub. GitHub - kolunmi/bazaar: New App Store for GNOMENew App Store for GNOME. Contribute to kolunmi/bazaar development by creating an account on GitHub.GitHubkolunmiA new, open source personal finance application. John Schneiderman’s - DRNAn application to manage your personal finances using a budget.DRNJohn Schneiderman📽️ Videos I Am Creating for YouYour Linux Mint setup deserves a stunning makeover! Subscribe to It's FOSS YouTube Channel Desktop Linux is mostly neglected by the industry but loved by the community. For the past 13 years, It's FOSS has been helping people use Linux on their personal computers. And we are now facing the existential threat from AI models stealing our content. If you like what we do and would love to support our work, please become It's FOSS Plus member. It costs $24 a year (less than the cost of a McDonald's burger a month), and you get an ad-free reading experience with the satisfaction of helping the desktop Linux community. Join It's FOSS Plus 💡 Quick Handy TipIn KDE Plasma, open settings and go into Colors & Themes → Window Decorations → Configure Titlebar. Here, add the "On all desktops" and "Keep above other windows" options to the title bar by dragging and dropping. Click on "Apply" to confirm the changes. Now, you can use: The On all desktops button to pin an app to all your desktops.The Keep above other windows button to keep a selected window always on top.🎋 Fun in the FOSSverseCan memory match terminal shortcuts with their actions? Memory Match Terminal Shortcuts With Their ActionsAn enjoyable way to test your memory by matching the Linux terminal shortcuts with their respective actions.It's FOSSAbhishek Prakash🤣 Meme of the Week: Windows 10 will be missed by many, but there are much better Linux choices to replace it with. 🗓️ Tech Trivia: On October 16, 1959, Control Data Corporation introduced the CDC 1604, one of the first fully transistorized computers. It was designed by Seymour Cray, who later became known as the father of supercomputing. The CDC 1604 was among the fastest machines of its time and was used for scientific research, weapons control, and commercial data processing. 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 From the Community: Windows 10 has reached end of life, and our FOSSers are discussing the event. Windows 10 reaches EOL tomorrow!Hi everybody, it’s that time again, that happens approx. every 10 or so years: A Windows version is reaching its end of life. I was doing some research and asked Brave Search about it. And the facts said that Windows 10 has 47% of overall Windows market share, which is roughly 35% of the overall share. Let’s just hope that they will do the right thing and switch to Linux. I wanted to know: what are others opinions on this? Do you know somebody who migrated from Windows?It's FOSS CommunityGeorge1❤️ With lovePlease share it with your Linux-using friends and encourage them to subscribe (hint: it's here). Share the articles in Linux Subreddits and community forums. Follow us on Google News and stay updated in your News feed. Opt for It's FOSS Plus membership and support us 🙏 Enjoy FOSS 😄
  6. Blogger

    Sequential linear() Animation With N Elements

    Blogger posted a blog entry in Programmer's Corner
    by: Temani Afif Wed, 15 Oct 2025 13:39:39 +0000 Let’s suppose you have N elements with the same animation that should animate sequentially. The first one, then the second one, and so on until we reach the last one, then we loop back to the beginning. I am sure you know what I am talking about, and you also know that it’s tricky to get such an effect. You need to define complex keyframes, calculate delays, make it work for a specific number of items, etc. Tell you what: with modern CSS, we can easily achieve this using a few lines of code, and it works for any number of items! The following demo is currently limited to Chrome and Edge, but will work in other browsers as the sibling-index() and sibling-count() functions gain broader support. You can track Firefox support in Ticket #1953973 and WebKit’s position in Issue #471. CodePen Embed Fallback In the above demo, the elements are animated sequentially and the keyframes are as simple as a single to frame changing an element’s background color and scale: @keyframes x { to { background: #F8CA00; scale: .8; } } You can add or remove as many items as you want and everything will keep running smoothly. Cool, right? That effect is made possible with this strange and complex-looking code: .container > * { --_s: calc(100%*(sibling-index() - 1)/sibling-count()); --_e: calc(100%*(sibling-index())/sibling-count()); animation: x calc(var(--d)*sibling-count()) infinite linear(0, 0 var(--_s), 1, 0 var(--_e), 0); } It’s a bit scary and unreadable, but I will dissect it with you to understand the logic behind it. The CSS linear() function When working with animations, we can define timing functions (also called easing functions). We can use predefined keyword values — such as linear, ease, ease-in, etc. — or steps() to define discrete animations. There’s also cubic-bezier(). But we have a newer, more powerful function we can add to that list: linear(). From the specification: animation-timing-function: linear creates a linear interpolation between two points — the start and end of the animation — while the linear() function allows us to define as many points as we want and have a “linear” interpolation between two consecutive points. It’s a bit confusing at first glance, but once we start working with it, things becomes clearer. Let’s start with the first value, which is nothing but an equivalent of the linear value. linear(0 0%, 1 100%) We have two points, and each point is defined with two values (the “output” progress and “input” progress). The “output” progress is the animation (i.e., what is defined within the keyframes) and the “input” progress is the time. Let’s consider the following code: .box { animation: move 2s linear(0 0%, 1 100%); } @keyframes move { 0% {translate: 0px } 100% {translate: 80px} } In this case, we want 0 of the animation (translate: 0px) at t=0% (in other words, 0% of 2s, so 0s) and 1 of the animation (translate: 80px) at t=100% (which is 100% of 2s, so 2s). Between these points, we do a linear interpolation. CodePen Embed Fallback Instead of percentages, we can use numbers, which means that the following is also valid: linear(0 0, 1 1) But I recommend you stick to the percentage notation to avoid getting confused with the first value which is a number as well. The 0% and 100% are implicit, so we can remove them and simply use the following: linear(0, 1) Let’s add a third point: linear(0, 1, 0) As you can see, I am not defining any “input” progress (the percentage values that represent the time) because they are not mandatory; however, introducing them is the first thing to do to understand what the function is doing. The first value is always at 0% and the last value is always at 100%. linear(0 0%, 1, 0 100%) The value will be 50% for the middle point. When a control point is missing its “input” progress, we take the mid-value between two adjacent points. If you are familiar with gradients, you will notice the same logic applies to color stops. linear(0 0%, 1 50%, 0 100%) Easier to read, right? Can you explain what it does? Take a few minutes to think about it before continuing. Got it? I am sure you did! It breaks down like this: We start with translate: 0px at t=0s (0% of 2s). Then we move to translate: 80px at t=1s (50% of 2s). Then we get back to translate: 0px at t=2s (100% of 2s). CodePen Embed Fallback Most of the timing functions allow us to only move forward, but with linear() we can move in both directions as many times as we want. That’s what makes this function so powerful. With a “simple” keyframes you can have a “complex” animation. I could have used the following keyframes to do the same thing: @keyframes move { 0%, 100% { translate: 0px } 50% { translate: 80px } } However, I won’t be able to update the percentage values on the fly if I want a different animation. There is no way to control keyframes using CSS so I need to define new keyframes each time I need a new animation. But with linear(), I only need one keyframes. In the demo below, all the elements are using the same keyframes and yet have completely different animations! CodePen Embed Fallback Add a delay with linear() Now that we know more about linear(), let’s move to the main trick of our effect. Don’t forget that the idea is to create a sequential animation with a certain number (N) of elements. Each element needs to animate, then “wait” until all the others are done with their animation to start again. That waiting time can be seen as a delay. The intuitive way to do this is the following: @keyframes move { 0%, 50% { translate: 0px } 100% { translate: 80px } } We specify the same value at 0% and 50%; hence nothing will happen between 0% and 50%. We have our delay, but as I said previously, we won’t be able to control those percentages using CSS. Instead, we can express the same thing using linear(): linear(0 0%, 0 50%, 1 100%) The first two control points have the same “output” progress. The first one is at 0% of the time, and the second one at 50% of the time, so nothing will “visually” happen in the first half of the animation. We created a delay without having to update the keyframes! @keyframes move { 0% { translate: 0px } 100% { translate: 80px } } CodePen Embed Fallback Let’s add another point to get back to the initial state: linear(0 0%, 0 50%, 1 75%, 0 100%) Or simply: linear(0, 0 50%, 1, 0) CodePen Embed Fallback Cool, right? We’re able to create a complex animation with a simple set of keyframes. Not only that, but we can easily adjust the configuration by tweaking the linear() function. This is what we will do for each element to get our sequential animation! The full animation Let’s get back to our first animation and use the previous linear() value we did before. We will start with two elements. CodePen Embed Fallback Nothing surprising yet. Both elements have the exact same animation, so they animate the same way at the same time. Now, let’s update the linear() function for the first element to have the opposite effect: an animation in the first half, then a delay in the second half. linear(0, 1, 0 50%, 0) This literally inverts the previous value: CodePen Embed Fallback Tada! We have established a sequential animation with two elements! Are you starting to see the idea? The goal is to do the same with any number (N) of elements. Of course, we are not going to assign a different linear() value for each element — we will do it programmatically. First, let’s draw a figure to understand what we did for two elements. When one element is waiting, the other one is animating. We can identify two ranges. Let’s imagine the same with three elements. This time, we need three ranges. Each element animates in one range and waits in two ranges. Do you see the pattern? For N elements, we need N ranges, and the linear() function will have the following syntax: linear(0, 0 S, 1, 0 E, 0) The start and the end are equal to 0, which is the initial state of the animation, then we have an animation between S and E. An element will wait from 0% to S, animate from S to E, then wait again from E to 100%. The animation time equals to 100%/N, which means E - S = 100%/N. The first element starts its animation at the first range (0 * 100%/N), the second element at the second range (1 * 100%/N), the third element at the third range (2 * 100%/N), and so on. S is equal to: S = (i - 1) * 100%/N …where i is the index of the element. Now, you may ask, how do we get the value of N and i? The answer is as simple as using the sibling-count()and sibling-index() functions! Again, these are currently supported in Chromium browsers, but we can expect them to roll out in other browsers down the road. S = calc(100%*(sibling-index() - 1)/sibling-count()) And: E = S + 100%/N E = calc(100%*sibling-index()/sibling-count()) We write all this with some good CSS and we are done! .box { --d: .5s; /* animation duration */ --_s: calc(100%*(sibling-index() - 1)/sibling-count()); --_e: calc(100%*(sibling-index())/sibling-count()); animation: x calc(var(--d)*sibling-count()) infinite linear(0, 0 var(--_s), 1, 0 var(--_e), 0); } @keyframes x { to { background: #F8CA00; scale: .8; } } I used a variable (--d) to control the duration, but it’s not mandatory. I wanted to be able to control the amount of time each element takes to animate. That’s why I multiply it later by N. CodePen Embed Fallback Now all that’s left is to define your animation. Add as many elements as you want, and watch the result. No more complex keyframes and magic values! Note: For unknown reasons (probably a bug) you need to register the variables with @property. More variations We can extend the basic idea to create more variations. For example, instead of having to wait for an element to completely end its animation, the next one can already start its own. CodePen Embed Fallback This time, I am defining N + 1 ranges, and each element animates in two ranges. The first element will animate in the first and second range, while the second element will animate in the second and third range; hence an overlap of both animations in the second range, etc. I will not spend too much time explaining this case because it’s one example among many we create, so I let you dissect the code as a small exercise. And here is another one for you to study as well. CodePen Embed Fallback Conclusion The linear() function was mainly introduced to create complex easing such as bounce and elastic, but combined with other modern features, it unlocks a lot of possibilities. Through this article, we got a small overview of its potential. I said “small” because we can go further and create even more complex animations, so stay tuned for more articles to come! Sequential linear() Animation With N Elements originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.
  7. Blogger

    413: Still indie after all these years

    Blogger posted a blog entry in Programmer's Corner
    by: Chris Coyier Tue, 14 Oct 2025 13:52:25 +0000 We’re over 13 years old as a company now. We decide that we’re not a startup anymore (we’re a “small business” with big dreams) but we are still indie. We’ve seen trends come and go. We just do what we do, knowing the tradeoffs, and plan to keep getting better as long as we can. Links Timeline – Chris Coyier 115: Adam Argyle on Cracking the 2025 Web Dev Interview | Front-End Fire Time Jumps 00:05 Are we still an indie startup? 04:32 Remote working at CodePen 19:20 Progressing and advancement in a small business 22:51 Career opportunities in tech 25:39 Startups starting at free 29:17 2.0 for the future
  8. Blogger

    Chris’ Corner: Design (and you’re going to like it)

    Blogger posted a blog entry in Programmer's Corner
    by: Chris Coyier Mon, 13 Oct 2025 17:01:15 +0000 Damning opening words from Edwin Heathcote in Why designers abandoned their dreams of changing the world. The situation is, if you wanna make money doing design work, you’re probably going to be making it from some company hurting the world, making both you and them complicit. Kinda dark. But maybe it is course correction for designers thinking they are the world’s salvation, a swing too far in the other direction. This pairs very nicely with Pavel Samsonov’s UX so bad that it’s illegal, again opening with a banger: Big companies products are so dominant that users are simply going to use them no matter what. Young designers will be hired to make the products more profitable no matter what, and they will like it, damn it. Using design to make money is, well, often kind of the point. And I personally take no issue with that. I do take issue with using design for intentional harm. I take issue with using the power of design to influence users to make decisions against their own better judgement. It makes me think of the toy catalog that showed up at my house from Amazon recently. It’s early October. Christmas is 3 months away, but the message is clear: get your wallets ready. This design artifact, for children, chockablock with every toy under the sun, to set their desire ablaze, to ensure temper tantrums for until the temporary soothing that only a parent clicking a Buy Now button gives. It isn’t asking kids to thoughtfully pick out a toy they might want, it’s says give me them all, I want every last thing. The pages are nicely designed with great photography. A designer make the argument: let’s set all the pages on white with product cutouts and plenty of white space, so kids can easily visibly circle all the things they want. Let their fingers bleed with capitalism. Making a list isn’t just implied though, the first page is a thicker-weight paper that is a literal 15-item wish list page designed to be filled out and torn out. More. Morrrreeeee. And just as a little cherry on top, it’s a sticker book too. It begs to travel with you, becoming an accessory to the season. It’s cocaine for children with the same mandates as the Instagram algorithm is for older kids and adults.
  9. Blogger

    Masonry: Watching a CSS Feature Evolve

    Blogger posted a blog entry in Programmer's Corner
    by: Saleh Mubashar Mon, 13 Oct 2025 14:31:35 +0000 You’ve probably heard the buzz about CSS Masonry. You might even be current on the ongoing debate about how it should be built, with two big proposals on the table, one from the Chrome team and one from the WebKit team. The two competing proposals are interesting in their own right. Chrome posted about its implementation a while back, and WebKit followed it up with a detailed post stating their position (which evolved out of a third proposal from the Technical Architecture Group). We’ll rehash some of that in this post, but even more interesting to me is that this entire process is an excellent illustration of how the CSS Working Group (CSSWG), browsers, and developers coalesce around standards for CSS features. There are tons of considerations that go into a feature, like technical implementations and backwards compatibility. But it can be a bit political, too. That’s really what I want to do here: look at the CSS Masonry discussions and what they can teach us about the development of new CSS features. What is the CSSWG’s role? What influence do browsers have? What can learn from the way past features evolved? Masonry Recap A masonry layout is different than, say Flexbox and Grid, stacking unevenly-sized items along a single track that automatically wraps into multiple rows or columns, depending on the direction. It’s called the “Pinterest layout” for the obvious reason that it’s the hallmark of Pinterest’s feed. Pinterest’s masonry layout We could go deeper here, but talking specifically about CSS Masonry isn’t the point. When Masonry entered CSS Working Group discussions, the first prototype actually came from Firefox back in 2019, based on an early draft that integrated masonry behavior directly into Grid. The Chrome team followed later with a new display: masonry value, treating it as a distinct layout model. They argued that masonry is a different enough layout from Flexbox and Grid to deserve its own display value. Grid’s defaults don’t line up with how masonry works, so why force developers to learn a bunch of extra Grid syntax? Chrome pushed ahead with this idea and prototyped it in Chrome 140: .container { display: masonry; grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fit, minmax(160px, 1fr)); gap: 10px; } Meanwhile, the WebKit team has proposed that masonry should be a subset of Grid, rather than its own display type. They endorsed a newer direction based on a recommendation by the W3C Technical Architecture Group (TAG) built around a concept called Item Flow that unifies flex-flow and grid-auto-flow into a single set of properties. Instead of writing display: masonry, you’d stick with display: grid and use a new item-flow shorthand to collapse rows or columns into a masonry-style layout: .container { display: grid; grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fill, minmax(14rem, 1fr)); item-flow: row collapse; gap: 1rem; } The debate here really comes down to mental models and how you think about masonry. WebKit sees it as a natural extension of Grid, not a brand-new system. Their thinking is that developers shouldn’t need to learn an entirely new model when most of it already exists in Grid. With item-flow, you’re not telling the browser “this is a whole new layout system,” you’re more or less adjusting the way elements flow in a particular context. How CSS Features Evolve This sort of horse-trading isn’t new. Both Flexbox and Grid went through years of competing drafts before becoming the specs we use today. Flexbox, in particular, had a rocky rollout in the early 2010s. Those who were in the trenches at the time likely remember multiple conflicting syntaxes floating around at once. The initial release had missing gaps and browsers implemented the features differently, leading to all kinds of things, like proprietary properties, experimental releases, and different naming conventions that made the learning curve rather steep, and even Frankenstein-like usage in some cases to get the most browser support. In other words, Flexbox (nor Grid, for that matter) did not enjoyed a seamless release, but we’ve gotten to a place where the browsers implementations are interoperable with one another. That’s a big deal for developers like us who often juggle inconsistent support for various features. Heck, Rob O’Leary recently published the rabbit hole he traveled trying to use text-wrap: pretty in his work, and that’s considered “Baseline” support that is “widely available.” But I digress. It’s worth noting that Flexbox faced unique challenges early on, and masonry has benefitted from those lessons learned. I reached out to CSSWG member Tab Atkins-Bittner for a little context since they were heavily involved in editing the Flexbox specification. In other words, Flexbox was sort of a canary in the coal mine as the CSSWG considered what a modern CSS layout syntax should accomplish. This greatly benefited the work put into defining CSS Grid because a lot of the foundation for things like tracks, intrinsic sizing, and proportions were already tackled. Atkins-Bittner goes on further to explain that the Grid specification process also forced the CSSWG to rethink several of Flexbox’s design choices in the process. This also explains why Flexbox underwent several revisions following its initial release. It also highlights another key point: CSS features are always evolving. Early debate and iteration are essential because they reduce the need for big breaking changes. Still, some of the Flexbox mistakes (which do happen) became widely adopted. Browsers had widely implemented their approaches and the specification caught up to it while trying to establish a consistent language that helps both user agents and developers implemented and use the features, respectively. All this to say: Masonry is in a much better spot than Flexbox was at its inception. It benefits from the 15+ years that the CSSWG, browsers, and developers contributed to Flexbox and Grid over that time. The discussions are now less about fixing under-specified details and more about high-level design choices. Hence, novel ideas born from Masonry that combine the features of Flexbox and Grid into the new Item Flow proposal. It’s messy. And weird. But it’s how things get done. The CSSWG’s Role Getting to this point requires process. And in CSS, that process runs through the Working Group. The CSS Working Group (CSSWG) runs on consensus: members debate in the open, weigh pros and cons, and push browsers towards common ground. Miriam Suzanne, an invited expert with the CSSWG (and CSS-Tricks alumni), describes the process like this: But consensus only applies to the specifications. Browsers still decide when and how to those features are shipped, as Suzanne continues: So, while the CSSWG facilitates discussions around features, it can’t actually stop browsers from shipping those features, let alone how they’re implemented. It’s a consensus-driven system, but consensus is only about publishing a specification. In practice, momentum can shift if one vendor is the first to ship or prototype a feature. In most cases, though, the specification adoption process results in a stronger proposal overall. By the time features ship, the idea is that they’ve already been thoroughly debated, which in theory, reduces the need for significant revisions later that could lead to breaking changes. Backwards compatibility is always at the forefront of CSSWG discussions. Developer feedback also plays an important role, though there isn’t a single standardized way that it is solicited, collected, or used. For the CSSWG, the csswg-drafts GitHub repo is the primary source of feedback and discussion, while browsers also run their own surveys and gather input through various other channels such as Chrome’s technical discussion groups and Webkit’s mailing lists. The Bigger Picture Browsers are in the business of shaping new features. It’s also in their best interest for a number of reasons. Proposing new ideas gives them a seat at the table. Prototyping new features gets developers excited and helps further refine edge cases. Implementing new features (particularly first) gives them a competitive edge in the consumer market. All that said, prototyping features ahead of consensus is a bit of a tightrope walk. And that’s where Masonry comes back into the bigger picture. Chrome shipped a prototype of the feature that leans heavily into the first proposal for a new display: masonry value. Other browsers have yet to ship competing prototypes, but have openly discussed their positions, as WebKit did in subsequent blog posts. At first glance, that might suggest that Chrome is taking a heavy-handed approach to tip the scales in its favorable direction. But there’s a lot to like about prototyping features because it’s proof in the pudding for real-world uses by allowing developers early access to experiment. Atkins-Bittner explains it nicely: This kind of “soft” commit moves conversations forward while leaving room to change course, if needed, based on real-world use. But there’s obviously a tension here as well. Browsers may be custodians of web standards and features, but they’re still employed by massive companies that are selling a product at the end of the day. It’s easy to get cynical. And political. In theory, though, allowing browsers to voluntarily adopt features gives everyone choice: browsers compete in the market based on what they implement, developers gain new features that push the web further, and everyone gets to choose the browser that best fits their browsing needs. If one company controls access to a huge share of users, however, those choices feel less accessible. Standards often get shaped just as much by market power as by technical merit. Where We’re At At the end of the day, standards get shaped by a mix of politics, technical trade-offs, and developer feedback. Consensus is messy, and it’s rarely about one side “winning.” With masonry, it might look like Google got its way, but in reality the outcome reflects input from both proposals, plus ideas from the wider community. As of this writing: Masonry will be a new display type, but must include the word “grid” in the name. The exact keyword is still being debated. The CSSWG has resolved to proceed with the proposed **item-flow** approach. Grid will be used for layout templates and explicitly placing items in them. Some details, like a possible shorthand syntax and track listing defaults, are still being discussed. Further reading This is a big topic, one that goes much deeper and further than we’ve gone here. While working on this article, a few others popped up that are very much worth your time to see the spectrum of ideas and opinions about the CSS standards process: Alex Russell’s post about the standards adoption process in browsers. Rob O’Leary’s article about struggling with text-wrap: pretty, explaining that “Baseline” doesn’t always mean consistent support in practice. David Bushell’s piece about the WHATWG. It isn’t about the CSSWG specifically, but covers similar discussions on browser politics and standards consensus. Masonry: Watching a CSS Feature Evolve originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.
  10. Blogger

    Masonry: Watching a CSS Feature Evolve

    Blogger posted a blog entry in Programmer's Corner
    by: Saleh Mubashar Mon, 13 Oct 2025 14:31:35 +0000 You’ve probably heard the buzz about CSS Masonry. You might even be current on the ongoing debate about how it should be built, with two big proposals on the table, one from the Chrome team and one from the WebKit team. The two competing proposals are interesting in their own right. Chrome posted about its implementation a while back, and WebKit followed it up with a detailed post stating their position (which evolved out of a third proposal from the Technical Architecture Group). We’ll rehash some of that in this post, but even more interesting to me is that this entire process is an excellent illustration of how the CSS Working Group (CSSWG), browsers, and developers coalesce around standards for CSS features. There are tons of considerations that go into a feature, like technical implementations and backwards compatibility. But it can be a bit political, too. That’s really what I want to do here: look at the CSS Masonry discussions and what they can teach us about the development of new CSS features. What is the CSSWG’s role? What influence do browsers have? What can learn from the way past features evolved? Masonry Recap A masonry layout is different than, say Flexbox and Grid, stacking unevenly-sized items along a single track that automatically wraps into multiple rows or columns, depending on the direction. It’s called the “Pinterest layout” for the obvious reason that it’s the hallmark of Pinterest’s feed. Pinterest’s masonry layout We could go deeper here, but talking specifically about CSS Masonry isn’t the point. When Masonry entered CSS Working Group discussions, the first prototype actually came from Firefox back in 2019, based on an early draft that integrated masonry behavior directly into Grid. The Chrome team followed later with a new display: masonry value, treating it as a distinct layout model. They argued that masonry is a different enough layout from Flexbox and Grid to deserve its own display value. Grid’s defaults don’t line up with how masonry works, so why force developers to learn a bunch of extra Grid syntax? Chrome pushed ahead with this idea and prototyped it in Chrome 140: .container { display: masonry; grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fit, minmax(160px, 1fr)); gap: 10px; } Meanwhile, the WebKit team has proposed that masonry should be a subset of Grid, rather than its own display type. They endorsed a newer direction based on a recommendation by the W3C Technical Architecture Group (TAG) built around a concept called Item Flow that unifies flex-flow and grid-auto-flow into a single set of properties. Instead of writing display: masonry, you’d stick with display: grid and use a new item-flow shorthand to collapse rows or columns into a masonry-style layout: .container { display: grid; grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fill, minmax(14rem, 1fr)); item-flow: row collapse; gap: 1rem; } The debate here really comes down to mental models and how you think about masonry. WebKit sees it as a natural extension of Grid, not a brand-new system. Their thinking is that developers shouldn’t need to learn an entirely new model when most of it already exists in Grid. With item-flow, you’re not telling the browser “this is a whole new layout system,” you’re more or less adjusting the way elements flow in a particular context. How CSS Features Evolve This sort of horse-trading isn’t new. Both Flexbox and Grid went through years of competing drafts before becoming the specs we use today. Flexbox, in particular, had a rocky rollout in the early 2010s. Those who were in the trenches at the time likely remember multiple conflicting syntaxes floating around at once. The initial release had missing gaps and browsers implemented the features differently, leading to all kinds of things, like proprietary properties, experimental releases, and different naming conventions that made the learning curve rather steep, and even Frankenstein-like usage in some cases to get the most browser support. In other words, Flexbox (nor Grid, for that matter) did not enjoyed a seamless release, but we’ve gotten to a place where the browsers implementations are interoperable with one another. That’s a big deal for developers like us who often juggle inconsistent support for various features. Heck, Rob O’Leary recently published the rabbit hole he traveled trying to use text-wrap: pretty in his work, and that’s considered “Baseline” support that is “widely available.” But I digress. It’s worth noting that Flexbox faced unique challenges early on, and masonry has benefitted from those lessons learned. I reached out to CSSWG member Tab Atkins-Bittner for a little context since they were heavily involved in editing the Flexbox specification. In other words, Flexbox was sort of a canary in the coal mine as the CSSWG considered what a modern CSS layout syntax should accomplish. This greatly benefited the work put into defining CSS Grid because a lot of the foundation for things like tracks, intrinsic sizing, and proportions were already tackled. Atkins-Bittner goes on further to explain that the Grid specification process also forced the CSSWG to rethink several of Flexbox’s design choices in the process. This also explains why Flexbox underwent several revisions following its initial release. It also highlights another key point: CSS features are always evolving. Early debate and iteration are essential because they reduce the need for big breaking changes. Still, some of the Flexbox mistakes (which do happen) became widely adopted. Browsers had widely implemented their approaches and the specification caught up to it while trying to establish a consistent language that helps both user agents and developers implemented and use the features, respectively. All this to say: Masonry is in a much better spot than Flexbox was at its inception. It benefits from the 15+ years that the CSSWG, browsers, and developers contributed to Flexbox and Grid over that time. The discussions are now less about fixing under-specified details and more about high-level design choices. Hence, novel ideas born from Masonry that combine the features of Flexbox and Grid into the new Item Flow proposal. It’s messy. And weird. But it’s how things get done. The CSSWG’s Role Getting to this point requires process. And in CSS, that process runs through the Working Group. The CSS Working Group (CSSWG) runs on consensus: members debate in the open, weigh pros and cons, and push browsers towards common ground. Miriam Suzanne, an invited expert with the CSSWG (and CSS-Tricks alumni), describes the process like this: But consensus only applies to the specifications. Browsers still decide when and how to those features are shipped, as Suzanne continues: So, while the CSSWG facilitates discussions around features, it can’t actually stop browsers from shipping those features, let alone how they’re implemented. It’s a consensus-driven system, but consensus is only about publishing a specification. In practice, momentum can shift if one vendor is the first to ship or prototype a feature. In most cases, though, the specification adoption process results in a stronger proposal overall. By the time features ship, the idea is that they’ve already been thoroughly debated, which in theory, reduces the need for significant revisions later that could lead to breaking changes. Backwards compatibility is always at the forefront of CSSWG discussions. Developer feedback also plays an important role, though there isn’t a single standardized way that it is solicited, collected, or used. For the CSSWG, the csswg-drafts GitHub repo is the primary source of feedback and discussion, while browsers also run their own surveys and gather input through various other channels such as Chrome’s technical discussion groups and Webkit’s mailing lists. The Bigger Picture Browsers are in the business of shaping new features. It’s also in their best interest for a number of reasons. Proposing new ideas gives them a seat at the table. Prototyping new features gets developers excited and helps further refine edge cases. Implementing new features (particularly first) gives them a competitive edge in the consumer market. All that said, prototyping features ahead of consensus is a bit of a tightrope walk. And that’s where Masonry comes back into the bigger picture. Chrome shipped a prototype of the feature that leans heavily into the first proposal for a new display: masonry value. Other browsers have yet to ship competing prototypes, but have openly discussed their positions, as WebKit did in subsequent blog posts. At first glance, that might suggest that Chrome is taking a heavy-handed approach to tip the scales in its favorable direction. But there’s a lot to like about prototyping features because it’s proof in the pudding for real-world uses by allowing developers early access to experiment. Atkins-Bittner explains it nicely: This kind of “soft” commit moves conversations forward while leaving room to change course, if needed, based on real-world use. But there’s obviously a tension here as well. Browsers may be custodians of web standards and features, but they’re still employed by massive companies that are selling a product at the end of the day. It’s easy to get cynical. And political. In theory, though, allowing browsers to voluntarily adopt features gives everyone choice: browsers compete in the market based on what they implement, developers gain new features that push the web further, and everyone gets to choose the browser that best fits their browsing needs. If one company controls access to a huge share of users, however, those choices feel less accessible. Standards often get shaped just as much by market power as by technical merit. Where We’re At At the end of the day, standards get shaped by a mix of politics, technical trade-offs, and developer feedback. Consensus is messy, and it’s rarely about one side “winning.” With masonry, it might look like Google got its way, but in reality the outcome reflects input from both proposals, plus ideas from the wider community. As of this writing: Masonry will be a new display type, but must include the word “grid” in the name. The exact keyword is still being debated. The CSSWG has resolved to proceed with the proposed **item-flow** approach. Grid will be used for layout templates and explicitly placing items in them. Some details, like a possible shorthand syntax and track listing defaults, are still being discussed. Further reading This is a big topic, one that goes much deeper and further than we’ve gone here. While working on this article, a few others popped up that are very much worth your time to see the spectrum of ideas and opinions about the CSS standards process: Alex Russell’s post about the standards adoption process in browsers. Rob O’Leary’s article about struggling with text-wrap: pretty, explaining that “Baseline” doesn’t always mean consistent support in practice. David Bushell’s piece about the WHATWG. It isn’t about the CSSWG specifically, but covers similar discussions on browser politics and standards consensus. Masonry: Watching a CSS Feature Evolve originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.
  11. Blogger

    The Affordable Pironman Alternative Mini PC Case for Raspberry Pi 5

    Blogger posted a blog entry in F.O.S.S
    by: Abhishek Prakash Mon, 13 Oct 2025 07:48:52 GMT SunFounder's Pironman cases for Raspberry Pi are a huge hit. This bestselling device converts the naked Raspberry Pi board into a miniature tower PC. The RGB lighting, OLED display and glass casing make it look cool. Full HDMI ports, NVMe ports and active-passive cooling options enhance the functionality of the Pi 5. This great gadget is too expensive for some people to buy at $76 for the Pironman and $95 for the dual-NVMe NVMe Pironman Max. SunFounder knows it and that's why they have introduced Pironman 5 Mini at $45 but have removed the OLED display, full HDMI ports and reduced the number of fans. Dealbreaker? Maybe. Maybe not. But I have come across a new case that has most of the features at a much lower price. Elecrow's PitowerLike SunFounder, Elecrow's has been offering gadgets and accessories for Raspberry Pi and other embedded devices for years. Their CrowView Note and all-in-on starter kits have been popular among SBC enthusiasts. They have just revealed a new product, a mini PC case for your Raspberry Pi 5 and Jetson Orin Nano. Yes, that doubles the excitement. Parameter Specification Compatible Devices Raspberry Pi 5 / Jetson Orin Nano Display 1.3″ OLED Screen Material Aluminum Alloy + Acrylic Cooling System 3 × Cooling Fans Power Control Integrated Power Button PCIe Interface (Raspberry Pi Version) PCIe M.2 Supported SSD Sizes 2230 / 2242 / 2260 / 2280 RTC (Real-Time Clock) Support Supported (Raspberry Pi Version) Dimensions 120 × 120 × 72 mm Weight 500 g Ports 2 x Full HDMI Ports 4 x USB 1 X Ethernet 1 X Type C for power Included Accessories 1 × Case (Unassembled) 1 × PCBA Board 3 × Cooling Fans 1 × Heatsink (for Raspberry Pi) -1 × User Manual And all this comes at a lower price tag of nearly $40 (more on this later). That sounds tempting, right? Let's see how good this case is. 📋Elecrow sent me this case for review. The views expressed are my own.Features meet affordibilityLet's take a look at the appearance of Elecrow's mini PC case. It is slightly bigger than the Pironman cases and has a more boxy looks somehow. The OLED display and power button are at the top. The micro SD card outlet is at the bottom and to accommodate it, the case has taller feet. There is nothing in the front of the device except a transparent acrylic sheet. The main look of the case comes from the side that gives you a broader look at the circuits. It looks magnificent with the RGB lights. The GPIO pins are accessible from here and they are duly marked. Front viewThere are three RGB fans here. Two in the back throw air out and one at the top sucks air in. This is done to keep the airflow in circulation inside the case. The official Raspberry Pi Active Cooler is also added to provide some passive cooling. All the other ports are accessible from the back. In addition to all the usual Raspberry Pi ports like, there are two full-HDMI ports replacing the mini HDMI ports. Back viewThe NVMe board is inside the case and it is better to insert the SSD while assembling the case. Yes, this is also an assembly kit. 📋I used the case for Raspberry Pi 5 and hence this section focuses on the Pi 5 specific features.Assembling the caseMini PC case boxSince Elcerow's tower case is clearly inspired from SunFounder's Pironman case, they also have kept the DIY angle here. This simply means that you have to assemble the kit yourself. It is while assembling that you can decide whether you want to use it for Raspberry Pi 5 or Jetson Orin Nano. Assembling instructions differ slightly for the devices. There is an official assembly video and you should surely watch it to get a feel of how much effort is required for building this case. In my case, I was not aware of the assembly video as I was sent this device at the time the product was announced. I used the included paper manual and it took me nearly two hours to complete the assembly. If I had had the help of the video and if I had not encountered a couple of issues, this could have been done within an hour. Assembling the caseDid I say issues? Yes, a few. First, the paper manual didn't specifically mention connecting one of the FPC cables. The video mentions it, thankfully. One major issue was in putting in the power button. It seems to me that while they sized the hole according to the power button, they applied the black coating later on. And this reduced the size of the hole from which the power button passes through. I don't see the official assembly video mentioning this issue and it could create confusion. The workaround is to simply use an object to remove the coating. I used scissors to scrape it. Another issue was putting in the tiny screws in even tinier spaces at times. The situation worsened for me as the paper manual suggested joining the main board and all the adapter boards in the initial phases. This made putting the screws in even harder. As the video shows, this could be done in steps. My magnetic screwdriver helped a great deal in placing the tiny screws in narrow places, and I think Elecrow should have provided a magnetic screwdriver instead of a regular one. User experienceTo make full use of all the cool features, i.e., OLED display, RGB fans, etc., you need to install a few Python scripts first. Scripts to add support for power button actions and OLED screenAnd here's the thing that I have noticed with most Elecrow products: they are uncertain about the appropriate location for their documentation. The paper manual that comes with the package has a QR code that takes you to this Google Drive that contains various scripts and a readme file. But there is also an online Wiki page and I think this page should be considered and distributed as the official documentation. After running 12 or so commands, including a few that allow 777 permissions, the OLED screen started showing system stats such as CPU temperature and usage, RAM usage, disk stats, date and time. It would have been nice if it displayed the IP address too. Milliseconds of light sync issue which is present in SunFounder cases tooLike Pironman, Elecrow also has RGB lighting of fans out of sync by a few milliseconds. Not an issue unless you have acute OSD. The main issue is that it has three fans and the fans start running as soon as the device is turned on. For such a tiny device, three continuously running fans generate considerable noise. The problem is that there is no user-facing way of controlling the fans without modifying the scripts themselves. Another issue is that if you turn off Pi from the operating system, i.e., use the shutdown command or the graphical option of Raspberry Pi OS, the RGB lights and fans stay on. Even the OLED screen keeps on displaying whatever message it had when the system was shut down. Top of the case has the OLED display and power buttonIf you shut down the device by long pressing the power button, everything is turned off normally. This should not be the intended behavior. I have notified Elecrow about it and hopefully their developers will work on fixing their script. Barring these hiccups, there are plenty of positives. There is an RTC battery to give you correct time between long shutdowns, although it works only with Raspberry Pi OS at the moment. The device stays super cool thanks to three fans maintaining a good airflow and the active cooler adding to the overall cooling. The clear display with RGB lights surely gives it an oomph factor. My photography skills don't do justiceConclusion There is room for improvement here, and I hope Elecrow updates their scripts to address these issues in the future: Proper handling of lights/fans shutdown instead of relying on the power button.oProvide options to configure the RGB lights and control the fans.Include IP address in OLED display (optional).Other than that, I have no complaints. The case is visually appealing, the device remains cool, and the price is reasonable in comparison to the popular Pironman cases. Coming to the pricing. The device costs $32 for the Jetson Nano version and $40 for the Raspberry Pi version. I am guessing this is because the Pi version includes the additional active cooler. Do note that the pricing displayed on the website DOES NOT include shipping charges and customs duty. Those things will be additional. Alternatively, at least for our readers in the United States of America, the device is available on Amazon (partner link) but at a price tag of $59 at the time of writing this review. You don't have to worry about extra shipping or custom duty fee if you order from Amazon. Get it from Amazon US (for $59)Get it from official website (shipping/customs extra)
  12. Blogger

    I Switched From Ollama And LM Studio To llama.cpp And Absolutely Loving It

    Blogger posted a blog entry in F.O.S.S
    by: Bhuwan Mishra Sat, 11 Oct 2025 02:26:37 GMT My interest in running AI models locally started as a side project with part curiosity and part irritation with cloud limits. There’s something satisfying about running everything on your own box. No API quotas, no censorship, no signups. That’s what pulled me toward local inference. My struggle with running local AI modelsMy setup, being an AMD GPU on Windows, turned out to be the worst combination for most local AI stacks. The majority of AI stacks assume NVIDIA + CUDA, and if you don’t have that, you’re basically on your own. ROCm, AMD’s so-called CUDA alternative, doesn’t even work on Windows, and even on Linux, it’s not straightforward. You end up stuck with CPU-only inference or inconsistent OpenCL backends that feel like a decade behind. Why not Ollama and LM Studio?I started with the usual tools, i.e., Ollama and LM Studio. Both deserve credit for making local AI look plug-and-play. I tried LM Studio first. But soon after, I discovered how LM Studio hijacks my taskbar. I frequently jump from one application window to another using the mouse, and it was getting annoying for me. Another thing that annoyed me is its installer size of 528 MB.  I’m a big advocate for keeping things minimal yet functional. I’m a big admirer of a functional text editor that fits under 1 MB (Dred), a reactive JavaScript library and React alternative that fits under 1KB (Van JS), and a game engine that fits under 100 MB (Godot). Then I tried Ollama. Being a CLI user (even on Windows), I was impressed with Ollama. I don’t need to spin up an Electron JS application (LM Studio) to run an AI model locally. With just two commands, you can run any AI models locally with Ollama. ollma pull tinyllama ollama run tinyllama But once I started testing different AI models, I needed to reclaim disk space after that. My initial approach was to delete the model manually from File Explorer. I was a bit paranoid! But soon, I discovered these Ollama commands: ollama rm tinyllama #remove the model ollama ls #lists all modelsUpon checking how lightweight Ollama is, it comes close to 4.6 GB on my Windows system. Although you can delete unnecessary files to make it slim (it comes bundled with all libraries like rocm, cuda_v13, and cuda_v12),  After trying Ollama, I was curious! Does LM Studio even provide a CLI? Upon my research, I came to know, yeah, it does offer a command lineinterface. I investigated further and found out that LM Studio uses Llama.cpp under the hood. With these two commands, I can run LM Studio via CLI and chat to an AI model while staying in the terminal: lms load <model name> #Load the model lms chat #starts the interactive chatI was generally satisfied with LM Studio CLI at this moment. Also, I noticed it came with Vulkan support out of the box. Now, I have been looking to add Vulkan support for Ollama. I discovered an approach to compile Ollama from source code and enable Vulkan support manually. That’s a real hassle! I just had three additional complaints at this moment. Every time I needed to use LM Studio CLI(lms), it would take some time to wake up its Windows service. LMS CLI is not feature-rich. It does not even provide a CLI way to delete a model. And the last one was how it takes two steps to load the model first and then chat.  After the chat is over, you need to manually unload the model. This mental model doesn’t make sense to me.  That’s where I started looking for something more open, something that actually respected the hardware I had. That’s when I stumbled onto Llama.cpp, with its Vulkan backend and refreshingly simple approach.  Setting up Llama.cpp🚧The tutorial was performed on Windows because that's the system I am using currently. I understand that most folks here on It's FOSS are Linux users and I am committing blasphemy of sort but I just wanted to share the knowledge and experience I gained with my local AI setup. You could actually try similar setup on Linux, too. Just use Linux equivalent paths and commands.Step 1: Download from GitHubHead over to its GitHub releases page and download its latest releases for your platform. 📋If you’ll be using Vulkan support, remember to download assets suffixed with vulkan-x64.zip like llama-b6710-bin-ubuntu-vulkan-x64.zip, llama-b6710-bin-win-vulkan-x64.zip.Step 2: Extract the zip fileExtract the downloaded zip file and, optionally, move the directory where you usually keep your binaries, like /usr/local/bin on macOS and Linux. On Windows 10, I usually keep it under %USERPROFILE%\.local/bin. Step 3: Add the Llama.cpp directory to the PATH environment variableNow, you need to add its directory location to the PATH environment variable.  On Linux and macOS (replace path-to-llama-cpp-directory with your exact directory location): export PATH=$PATH:”<path-to-llama-cpp-directory>”On Windows 10 and Windows 11: setx PATH=%PATH%;:”<path-to-llama-cpp-directory>”Now, Llama.cpp is ready to use. llama.cpp: The best local AI stack for meJust grab a .gguf file, point to it, and run. It reminded me why I love tinkering on Linux in the first place: fewer black boxes, more freedom to make things work your way. With just one command, you can start a chat session with Llama.cpp: llama-cli.exe -m e:\models\Qwen3-8B-Q4_K_M.gguf --interactiveIf you carefully read its verbose message, it clearly shows signs of GPU being utilized: With llama-server, you can even download AI models from Hugging Face, like: llama-server -hf itlwas/Phi-4-mini-instruct-Q4_K_M-GGUF:Q4_K_M-hf flag tells to download the model from the Hugging Face repository. You even get a web UI with Llama.cpp. Like run the model with this command: llama-server -m e:\models\Qwen3-8B-Q4_K_M.gguf --port 8080 --host 127.0.0.1This starts a web UI on http://127.0.0.1:8080, along with the ability to send an API request from another application to Llama. Let’s send an API request via curl: curl http://127.0.0.1:8080/completion -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{\"prompt\":\"Explain the difference between OpenCL and SYCL in short.\",\"temperature\":0.7,\"max_tokens\":128}temperature controls the creativity of the model’s outputmax_tokens controls whether the output will be short and concise or a paragraph-length explanation.llama.cpp for the winWhat am I losing by using llama? Nothing. Like Ollama, I can use a feature-rich CLI, plus Vulkan support. All comes under 90 MB on my Windows 10 system. Now, I don’t see the point of using Ollama and LM Studio, I can directly download any model with llama-server, run the model directly with llama-cli, and even interact with its web UI and API requests.  I’m hoping to do some benchmarking on how performant AI inference on Vulkan is as compared to pure CPU and SYCL implementation in some future post. Until then, keep exploring AI tools and the ecosystem to make your life easier. Use AI to your advantage rather than going on endless debate with questions like, will AI take our jobs?
  13. Blogger

    We Completely Missed width/height: stretch

    Blogger posted a blog entry in Programmer's Corner
    by: Daniel Schwarz Fri, 10 Oct 2025 14:03:52 +0000 The stretch keyword, which you can use with width and height (as well as min-width, max-width, min-height, and max-height, of course), was shipped in Chromium web browsers back in June 2025. But the value is actually a unification of the non-standard -webkit-fill-available and -moz-available values, the latter of which has been available to use in Firefox since 2008. The issue was that, before the @supports at-rule, there was no nice way to implement the right value for the right web browser, and I suppose we just forgot about it after that until, whoops, one day I see Dave Rupert casually put it out there on Bluesky a month ago: Layout pro Miriam Suzanne recorded an explainer shortly thereafter. It’s worth giving this value a closer look. What does stretch do? The quick answer is that stretch does the same thing as declaring 100%, but ignores padding when looking at the available space. In short, if you’ve ever wanted 100% to actually mean 100% (when using padding), stretch is what you’re looking for: div { padding: 3rem 50vw 3rem 1rem; width: 100%; /* 100% + 50vw + 1rem, causing overflow */ width: stretch; /* 100% including padding, no overflow */ } CodePen Embed Fallback The more technical answer is that the stretch value sets the width or height of the element’s margin box (rather than the box determined by box-sizing) to match the width/height of its containing block. Note: It’s never a bad idea to revisit the CSS Box Model for a refresher on different box sizings. And on that note — yes — we can achieve the same result by declaring box-sizing: border-box, something that many of us do, as a CSS reset in fact. *, ::before, ::after { box-sizing: border-box; } I suppose that it’s because of this solution that we forgot all about the non-standard values and didn’t pay any attention to stretch when it shipped, but I actually rather like stretch and don’t touch box-sizing at all now. Yay stretch, nay box-sizing There isn’t an especially compelling reason to switch to stretch, but there are several small ones. Firstly, the Universal selector (*) doesn’t apply to pseudo-elements, which is why the CSS reset typically includes ::before and ::after, and not only are there way more pseudo-elements than we might think, but the rise in declarative HTML components means that we’ll be seeing more of them. Do you really want to maintain something like the following? *, ::after, ::backdrop, ::before, ::column, ::checkmark, ::cue (and ::cue()), ::details-content, ::file-selector-button, ::first-letter, ::first-line, ::grammar-error, ::highlight(), ::marker, ::part(), ::picker(), ::picker-icon, ::placeholder, ::scroll-button(), ::scroll-marker, ::scroll-marker-group, ::selection, ::slotted(), ::spelling-error, ::target-text, ::view-transition, ::view-transition-image-pair(), ::view-transition-group(), ::view-transition-new(), ::view-transition-old() { box-sizing: border-box; } Okay, I’m being dramatic. Or maybe I’m not? I don’t know. I’ve actually used quite a few of these and having to maintain a list like this sounds dreadful, although I’ve certainly seen crazier CSS resets. Besides, you might want 100% to exclude padding, and if you’re a fussy coder like me you won’t enjoy un-resetting CSS resets. Animating to and from stretch Opinions aside, there’s one thing that box-sizing certainly isn’t and that’s animatable. If you didn’t catch it the first time, we do transition to and from 100% and stretch: CodePen Embed Fallback Because stretch is a keyword though, you’ll need to interpolate its size, and you can only do that by declaring interpolate-size: allow-keywords (on the :root if you want to activate interpolation globally): :root { /* Activate interpolation */ interpolate-size: allow-keywords; } div { width: 100%; transition: 300ms; &:hover { width: stretch; } } The calc-size() function wouldn’t be useful here due to the web browser support of stretch and the fact that calc-size() doesn’t support its non-standard alternatives. In the future though, you’ll be able to use width: calc-size(stretch, size) in the example above to interpolate just that specific width. Web browser support Web browser support is limited to Chromium browsers for now: Opera 122+ Chrome and Edge 138+ (140+ on Android) Luckily though, because we have those non-standard values, we can use the @supports at-rule to implement the right value for the right browser. The best way to do that (and strip away the @supports logic later) is to save the right value as a custom property: :root { /* Firefox */ @supports (width: -moz-available) { --stretch: -moz-available; } /* Safari */ @supports (width: -webkit-fill-available) { --stretch: -webkit-fill-available; } /* Chromium */ @supports (width: stretch) { --stretch: stretch; } } div { width: var(--stretch); } Then later, once stretch is widely supported, switch to: div { width: stretch; } In a nutshell While this might not exactly win Feature of the Year awards (I haven’t heard a whisper about it), quality-of-life improvements like this are some of my favorite features. If you’d rather use box-sizing: border-box, that’s totally fine — it works really well. Either way, more ways to write and organize code is never a bad thing, especially if certain ways don’t align with your mental model. Plus, using a brand new feature in production is just too tempting to resist. Irrational, but tempting and satisfying! We Completely Missed width/height: stretch originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.
  14. Blogger

    LHB Linux Digest #25.30: New Systemd Automation Course, LoggiFly, Docker Storage and More

    Blogger posted a blog entry in Linux Tips
    by: Abhishek Prakash Fri, 10 Oct 2025 16:36:22 +0530 Our latest course, Advanced Automation With Systemd, is available now. Believe it or not, systemd is the future of automation on Linux. Its automation framework lets you precisely schedule task, create complex, dependent workflows and sandbox risky jobs for security. You can even create containers with systemd. Advanced Automation with systemdTake Your Linux Automation Beyond CronLinux HandbookUmair KhurshidThe idea is to focus on small, niche topics and provide you a streamlined learning. Next, we are working on adding videos to the Docker course (I think I already told you about that), a micro course 'Linux Networking at Scale' and a tutorial series on building an open source product from scratch and publishing it to CNCF-level standards. I have not forgotten core Linux stuff. There are additional series and microcourse ideas around them, too. Stay tuned 😄       This post is for subscribers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in
  15. Blogger

    412: 2.0 Embedded Pens

    Blogger posted a blog entry in Programmer's Corner
    by: Chris Coyier Thu, 09 Oct 2025 15:45:43 +0000 Or just “Embeds” as we more frequently refer to them as. Stephen and Chris talk about the fairly meaty project which was re-writing our Embeds for a CodePen 2.0 world. No longer can we assume Pens are just one HTML, CSS, and JavaScript “file”, so they needed a bit of a redesign, but doing as little as possible so that existing Embed Themes still work. This was plenty tricky as it was a re-write from Rails to Next.js, with everything needing to be Server-Side Rendered and as lightweight as possible (thank urql!). Time Jumps 00:06 Welcome back to CodePen Land 00:35 What’s new about Pens in CodePen 2.0 05:20 Designing with custom themes in mind 10:40 What the editor looks like in the 2.0 Editor 16:09 Converting old Pens to new Pens 17:20 Debating using Apollo in embeds

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