Innovative insights

Hello readers!

Just as we do every month, we've pulled together a selection of articles from the world of web tech that we think are worth sharing…

Learn how to develop faster in the cloud, get insights into CSS centering, find out what Million optimizer for React is about, and much more.

Happy reading!

SafeTest – a different type of end-to-end testing

End-to-end tests come with the limitation of losing the ability to bootstrap the app code and adjust the app for the needs of the testing. Another option, unit testing, is well designed for that purpose, but then loses the context of the entire application. SafeTest by Netflix aims to address these issues by merging these two approaches, providing options to inject the bootstrapping code into the application to simplify testing, while not affecting actual application runtime. Learn how it works in this blog post.

Ultimate CSS centering guide

Josh W. Comeau has created another awesome guide for the CSS feature. Check out his new article discussing all the possible ways to center content on a page. I am sure you will learn a couple of new approaches!

Million 3 for faster React apps

Do you know Million – the optimizing compiler for React? It improves the rendering of the React component tree by distinguishing between the static components and interactive ones, and skipping the component tree traversal for the noninteractive ones. It works well for dynamic data-heavy UIs such as dashboards and has recently been updated to v3. Have a read of this article to find out more. 

CodeSandbox CDE – a new cloud development environment

CodeSandbox has a long experience with collaborative coding environments. And now they’ve moved a step further and introduced the full cloud dev environment. Check out their offering and features, which include all the modern tools such as an AI assistant and various integrations.

CSS blurred shadow effect

Do you use the box shadow to provide a bit of contrast and pitch your modal dialogs from the background? This article shows how to create an even cooler blurry gradient around your modal dialogues.