Louis Chenais
@lucho.cool
Front-end developer | co-founded https://specifyapp.com | designtokens.org editor.
I also like ambient music and a nice côte de boeuf bien persillée.
I also like ambient music and a nice côte de boeuf bien persillée.
Reposted by Louis Chenais
Yup this is what drives me crazy in vibe coded PR.
I'm used to trying to provide feedback to help contributors, especially beginners, in the long term, but when it turns out it's just a coding agent interface in a disguise and not a human learning from mistakes... it's difficult to stay motivated.
I'm used to trying to provide feedback to help contributors, especially beginners, in the long term, but when it turns out it's just a coding agent interface in a disguise and not a human learning from mistakes... it's difficult to stay motivated.
So what will they do? They will blindly feed your review comments straight to their agentic coding model because that's the only thing they know how to do.
By doing so the vibe coder has put the maintainer in the weird position where the maintainer is doing agentic coding through a shitty UX
By doing so the vibe coder has put the maintainer in the weird position where the maintainer is doing agentic coding through a shitty UX
February 8, 2026 at 11:08 AM
Yup this is what drives me crazy in vibe coded PR.
I'm used to trying to provide feedback to help contributors, especially beginners, in the long term, but when it turns out it's just a coding agent interface in a disguise and not a human learning from mistakes... it's difficult to stay motivated.
I'm used to trying to provide feedback to help contributors, especially beginners, in the long term, but when it turns out it's just a coding agent interface in a disguise and not a human learning from mistakes... it's difficult to stay motivated.
And many skills markdown files that's been popping up since then...
February 6, 2026 at 7:03 AM
And many skills markdown files that's been popping up since then...
Reposted by Louis Chenais
I think the hard part might not be building components, it’s making design intent legible to engineers, tools, and future teammates.
Tokens, schemas, APIs, docs, naming conventions; these aren’t outputs; they’re translation layers.
So, which layers are hardest to maintain? Which ones break down?
Tokens, schemas, APIs, docs, naming conventions; these aren’t outputs; they’re translation layers.
So, which layers are hardest to maintain? Which ones break down?
February 6, 2026 at 4:19 AM
I think the hard part might not be building components, it’s making design intent legible to engineers, tools, and future teammates.
Tokens, schemas, APIs, docs, naming conventions; these aren’t outputs; they’re translation layers.
So, which layers are hardest to maintain? Which ones break down?
Tokens, schemas, APIs, docs, naming conventions; these aren’t outputs; they’re translation layers.
So, which layers are hardest to maintain? Which ones break down?
Reposted by Louis Chenais
Scott Riley tested free and open source design tools out when researching his course, Mindful Design. They actually worked out better than Figma ever could, as he explains in this article with loads of options for you.
piccalil.li/blog/the-ope...
piccalil.li/blog/the-ope...
The open source design stack
Scott Riley tested free and open source design tools out when researching his course, Mindful Design. They actually worked out better than Figma ever could, as he explains in this article with loads of...
piccalil.li
February 5, 2026 at 12:07 PM
Scott Riley tested free and open source design tools out when researching his course, Mindful Design. They actually worked out better than Figma ever could, as he explains in this article with loads of options for you.
piccalil.li/blog/the-ope...
piccalil.li/blog/the-ope...
Reposted by Louis Chenais
This post by @rauno.bsky.social from a few years ago is still a great checklist for web UI best practices. #designsky interfaces.rauno.me
Web Interface Guidelines
A non-exhaustive list of details that make a good web interface.
interfaces.rauno.me
February 5, 2026 at 6:28 PM
This post by @rauno.bsky.social from a few years ago is still a great checklist for web UI best practices. #designsky interfaces.rauno.me
Reposted by Louis Chenais
It looks like style() container queries are enabled in @firefoxnightly.bsky.social - this is one of the features I'm looking forward to most. Especially with range queries starting to roll out.
@ container style(--progress > 80%) {
background: green;
}
bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi...
@ container style(--progress > 80%) {
background: green;
}
bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi...
2014404 - Enable the `layout.css.style-queries.enabled` pref on Nightly
RESOLVED (jfkthame) in Core - CSS Parsing and Computation. Last updated 2026-02-04.
bugzilla.mozilla.org
February 5, 2026 at 5:11 PM
It looks like style() container queries are enabled in @firefoxnightly.bsky.social - this is one of the features I'm looking forward to most. Especially with range queries starting to roll out.
@ container style(--progress > 80%) {
background: green;
}
bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi...
@ container style(--progress > 80%) {
background: green;
}
bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi...
TIL
💡 CSS Tip!
Have you ever tried to use "auto" within clamp()? Unfortunately, it doesn't work, but it's now possible using the new calc-size()!
css-tip.com/clamp-auto/
The same applies to all the sizing values (min-content, max-content, fit-content, etc.)
Have you ever tried to use "auto" within clamp()? Unfortunately, it doesn't work, but it's now possible using the new calc-size()!
css-tip.com/clamp-auto/
The same applies to all the sizing values (min-content, max-content, fit-content, etc.)
February 5, 2026 at 8:49 PM
TIL
Reposted by Louis Chenais
Blink: Intent to Prototype: Lazy loading for video and audio elements
Blink: Intent to Prototype: Lazy loading for video and audio elements
Blink: Intent to Prototype: Lazy loading for video and audio elements
groups.google.com
February 5, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Blink: Intent to Prototype: Lazy loading for video and audio elements
Reposted by Louis Chenais
If you're not familiar with software development, seeing "lines of code produced" as a metric of quality is like paying a cook by the amount of salt they use.
Meta now forcing all employees to use AI tools and tying it to employee performance, according to @theinformation.com.
HR said "this is not an activity tracker—it’s an impact-evidence starter"
That's a fun way to rebrand workplace surveillance.
HR said "this is not an activity tracker—it’s an impact-evidence starter"
That's a fun way to rebrand workplace surveillance.
February 4, 2026 at 2:40 PM
If you're not familiar with software development, seeing "lines of code produced" as a metric of quality is like paying a cook by the amount of salt they use.
Reposted by Louis Chenais
February 3, 2026 at 5:26 PM
Reposted by Louis Chenais
Getting the contrasting color from another in CSS has been something I've always wanted, and you may have wanted too.
You can do it today, without waiting for the dedicated function!
You can do it today, without waiting for the dedicated function!
While we wait for contrast-color() to arrive in all browsers, these CSS-only approaches by Donnie D’Amato give us a practical way forward that we can use right now, along with lots of other knowledge on how colour works in CSS.
piccalil.li/blog/some-cs...
piccalil.li/blog/some-cs...
Some CSS only contrast options until contrast-color() is Baseline widely available
While we wait for contrast-color() to arrive in all browsers, these CSS-only approaches by Donnie D’Amato give us a practical way forward that we can use right now, along with lots of other knowledge...
piccalil.li
February 3, 2026 at 1:06 PM
Getting the contrasting color from another in CSS has been something I've always wanted, and you may have wanted too.
You can do it today, without waiting for the dedicated function!
You can do it today, without waiting for the dedicated function!
Reposted by Louis Chenais
Reposted by Louis Chenais
We released our new ngrok.com homepage redesign last week and after the release I got given some time to bring one of our diagrams to life. I'll be doing more of these over time <3
February 2, 2026 at 6:06 PM
We released our new ngrok.com homepage redesign last week and after the release I got given some time to bring one of our diagrams to life. I'll be doing more of these over time <3
Reposted by Louis Chenais
It's always struck me how little empirical evidence there is that AI actually saves time, given how widely accepted the idea seems to be.
No company has more motivation to prove it than Anthropic—yet their own study confirms the speed gain is not only insignificant, but carries *steep* penalties.
No company has more motivation to prove it than Anthropic—yet their own study confirms the speed gain is not only insignificant, but carries *steep* penalties.
The latest from Anthropic: using Anthropic's products makes you worse at your job
How AI assistance impacts the formation of coding skills
Anthropic is an AI safety and research company that's working to build reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems.
www.anthropic.com
January 31, 2026 at 3:43 AM
It's always struck me how little empirical evidence there is that AI actually saves time, given how widely accepted the idea seems to be.
No company has more motivation to prove it than Anthropic—yet their own study confirms the speed gain is not only insignificant, but carries *steep* penalties.
No company has more motivation to prove it than Anthropic—yet their own study confirms the speed gain is not only insignificant, but carries *steep* penalties.
TIL I could fall in love with a website. Hats off @iamrob.in 👏
January 30, 2026 at 1:58 PM
TIL I could fall in love with a website. Hats off @iamrob.in 👏
Reposted by Louis Chenais
Linked lists using anchor-positioning.
Adapted from my JS version which used SVG paths to this version which positions pseudo elements using position-anchor to link them to the checked checkbox items and current selected radio button.
See the full demo on @codepen.io codepen.io/cbolson/pen/...
Adapted from my JS version which used SVG paths to this version which positions pseudo elements using position-anchor to link them to the checked checkbox items and current selected radio button.
See the full demo on @codepen.io codepen.io/cbolson/pen/...
January 29, 2026 at 11:24 AM
Linked lists using anchor-positioning.
Adapted from my JS version which used SVG paths to this version which positions pseudo elements using position-anchor to link them to the checked checkbox items and current selected radio button.
See the full demo on @codepen.io codepen.io/cbolson/pen/...
Adapted from my JS version which used SVG paths to this version which positions pseudo elements using position-anchor to link them to the checked checkbox items and current selected radio button.
See the full demo on @codepen.io codepen.io/cbolson/pen/...
Reposted by Louis Chenais
typography details
- tabular nums
- right-aligned number columns
- curly quotes, not straight
- no text widows
- no ligatures in code blocks
- tabular nums
- right-aligned number columns
- curly quotes, not straight
- no text widows
- no ligatures in code blocks
January 28, 2026 at 6:15 PM
typography details
- tabular nums
- right-aligned number columns
- curly quotes, not straight
- no text widows
- no ligatures in code blocks
- tabular nums
- right-aligned number columns
- curly quotes, not straight
- no text widows
- no ligatures in code blocks
Reposted by Louis Chenais
One more custom <select> demo, with a bunch of CSS transforms and animations.
I can't get enough of this. So cool.
I can't get enough of this. So cool.
January 27, 2026 at 9:38 AM
One more custom <select> demo, with a bunch of CSS transforms and animations.
I can't get enough of this. So cool.
I can't get enough of this. So cool.
This one is also gooood: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD7r...
Smallpeople - And You And You
YouTube video by DayOff
www.youtube.com
January 28, 2026 at 1:59 PM
This one is also gooood: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD7r...
Reposted by Louis Chenais
NEW POST
Erik Doernenburg maintains CCMenu: a Mac application that shows the status of CI/CD builds in the Mac menu bar. He assesses how using a coding agent affects internal code quality by adding a feature using the agent, and seeing what happens to the code.
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
Erik Doernenburg maintains CCMenu: a Mac application that shows the status of CI/CD builds in the Mac menu bar. He assesses how using a coding agent affects internal code quality by adding a feature using the agent, and seeing what happens to the code.
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
Assessing internal quality while coding with an agent
Notes from my Thoughtworks colleagues on AI-assisted software delivery
martinfowler.com
January 27, 2026 at 3:55 PM
NEW POST
Erik Doernenburg maintains CCMenu: a Mac application that shows the status of CI/CD builds in the Mac menu bar. He assesses how using a coding agent affects internal code quality by adding a feature using the agent, and seeing what happens to the code.
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
Erik Doernenburg maintains CCMenu: a Mac application that shows the status of CI/CD builds in the Mac menu bar. He assesses how using a coding agent affects internal code quality by adding a feature using the agent, and seeing what happens to the code.
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
Reposted by Louis Chenais
CSS Anchor Positioning is one of those features that instantly changes how you think about layout.
I built a small demo connecting comments and replies using nothing but anchor() — no JS, no extra markup.
🧵 Relationships, not coordinates.
rolandfranke.nl/frontend-sto...
🧵 Relationships, not coordinates.
rolandfranke.nl/frontend-sto...
Drawing Connections with CSS Anchor Positioning - Roland Franke
A practical exploration of CSS Anchor Positioning and the anchor() function to visually connect related elements without extra markup.
rolandfranke.nl
January 26, 2026 at 8:56 AM
CSS Anchor Positioning is one of those features that instantly changes how you think about layout.
I built a small demo connecting comments and replies using nothing but anchor() — no JS, no extra markup.
🧵 Relationships, not coordinates.
rolandfranke.nl/frontend-sto...
🧵 Relationships, not coordinates.
rolandfranke.nl/frontend-sto...
Reposted by Louis Chenais
There are few ideas to integrate Engramma into various tools. Now you can use Engramma on your website. The new engramma package packs the whole app in a Custom Element that you can drop into a dialog and use to edit design tokens extracted from CSS variables directly on the page.
January 26, 2026 at 7:49 AM
There are few ideas to integrate Engramma into various tools. Now you can use Engramma on your website. The new engramma package packs the whole app in a Custom Element that you can drop into a dialog and use to edit design tokens extracted from CSS variables directly on the page.