Our Latest Insights
Thoughts from our team on current events, new techniques and tools, trends we're seeing, and our culture.
14 results shown.
Fixture-first Development
March 3, 2020When you hear the word "Storybook", you probably think UI libraries. Tools like Storybook and Cosmos have been around for a few years now and do a pretty awesome job of presenting UI components in isolation. What most don't consider, however, is how these tools can go beyond just presenting UI components.How to urql, Part 2: Authentication & Multiple Users
February 26, 2020In the last blog-post we covered the basics on how to query and mutate our data; in real-world applications, there's more to it. In this post, we'll cover setting an authentication token and handling multiple users interacting with the same data.How to urql, Part 1
February 10, 2020When picking a GraphQL client for React, many default to using Apollo or Relay, but now there’s a new kid on the block rising in popularity over the last year: Its name is urql. It's not as packed with features as other GraphQL clients. Instead, urql aims to be minimal and highly customizable. This blog post series will start by walking you through getting started with urql, and then move on to more advanced topics like subscriptions, normalised caching, etc.Reflections on Renature
February 6, 2020In this final post in our three-part series on renature, Parker looks back on how this whole thing started, what we accomplished in the six weeks, and what programs like the Fellowship mean for our commitment to open source sustainability.Our Newest Office is Now Open In Phoenix/Tempe
January 15, 2020A year ago at Formidable we began to consider a new expansion city beyond Seattle, Denver, and London. Today we're celebrating the official launch of our office, and formalizing our commitment to growth in the Phoenix-Tempe metro area.Building Physics-Based Animations with renature
January 12, 2020Since the initial announcement of the renature project we've made a lot of progress, adding full support for three forces and beginning to scaffold out an API for pausing, reversing, and replaying animations while preserving the simplicity of our tiny hooks API.Introducing Renature: Experimenting with Physics for UI Animation
December 18, 2019For this first fellowship, Parker Ziegler, in collaboration with others at Formidable, is working on a new physics-based animation library for React focused on modeling natural-world forces like gravity, friction, air resistance, and fluid dynamics. The project is called renature, harkening to the inspiration it takes from the physics of our universe. It's targeted at UI developers, digital artists, and physics nerds alike. In this post, we'll introduce the motivations behind writing renature, highlight some of the technology we're using to build it, and show off the progress we've made in these first two weeks!The UX Deck: Card-Based Testing for Better Design
December 12, 2019Formidable design team has developed a card-based user testing model to meet the needs of client projects that require early-stage research and concept validation. As part of our commitment to open source, we are sharing our learnings and best practices related to this methodology. Here's what it is, how to use it, and where to get your own copy.Runpkg v1.0 - The node packages explorer
December 4, 2019Earlier in the year we released Runpkg, an online tool to help developers explore npm packages and their dependencies. We were pleased with the results, but, as with any prototype, there was room for improvement. Over the past few weeks, we were able to iterate on our prototype to improve the package viewing experience, the performance and speed of the site, and the overall design and user experience. Today we are delighted to announce the release of Runpkg v1.Meet Emma Brillhart
November 14, 2019We'd like to introduce you to Emma Brillhart. Emma is a senior developer, engineering manager, experienced speaker, co-lead of our newest office in Phoenix, Arizona, and now leads our DevRel program at Formidable.urql DevTools: Introducing Explorer View
October 17, 2019In its current state, the urql DevTools make it easy to understand how these responses come in, but you’re still not able to observe your GraphQL data as a whole. We wanted a simpler way for users to see what data their app is currently consuming with a clear overview of which exact query produced which response, without the need to check the network tab manually. We also wanted to see that data update in real time and include any metadata such as cache outcomes as part of the view.Living on the Edge: Lazy Static Sites with Modern CDNs and Lambda
October 15, 2019Websites like the New York Times can't wait for a twenty-minute build to deliver breaking stories. A CDN-based service like unpkg can't build a static filesystem for every possible npm package without exorbitant storage and compute costs. Yet these services stay fast in spite of the pitfalls of dynamic sites. How?Responsive Images: Improving performance by letting the browser do the work
October 8, 2019We want to serve appropriate images to all of our users, like small images on slower connections and small screens, and large, high-quality images on fast connections and high-resolution screens. Luckily, all modern browsers support a few nifty HTML features to help us optimize our images for whatever device your users are visiting your site on.Building a more accessible web with semantic HTML
October 2, 2019I want to make a case for semantic HTML as a way to unlock the door to building accessible apps from the ground up. Accessibility is something that we must get better at slowly, not overnight, and if we do, we will end up saving time and become stronger developers.
