In this episode I chat with Henri Helvetica, a performance engineer and active member of the web community. We dive into the significance of conferences and meetups, and how COVID-19 has affected in-person events. Henri offers insights on event organizing, the need for new in-person experiences, and what makes a good event. We also explore the value of community and networking, and how to find events and meetups in today's landscape.

Give Henri a follow!  
- Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/henrihelvetica.bsky.social
- Linkedin: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/henri-helvetica
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/henrihelvetica
- X: https://x.com/henrihelvetica

Conferences & Community: A Chat with Henri Helvetica

✅ Follow Sara: https://front-end.social/@sarajw | https://bsky.app/profile/sjoy.lol
✅ Sara's site: https://sarajoy.dev/
✅ Whimsica11y: https://whimsica11y.net/
✅ Sara’s CSS Joy web ring: https://cs.sjoy.lol/
✅ NeoCities: https://neocities.org/
✅ Yesterweb: https://yesterweb.org/
✅ Mellonland: https://forum.melonland.net/
✅ 32-bit Cafe: https://32bit.cafe/

In this episode, I sit down with Sara Joy to explore her passion for CSS and the critical role of accessibility in web development. We dive into her journey from a hobbyist to a professional, discussing the latest CSS trends and the challenges of making the web accessible for everyone. Join us for an insightful conversation that blends creativity with functionality!

Making the web more whimsical with Sara Joy

✅ The Admin Bar: https://theadminbar.com/

In this episode, I sit down with Kyle of The Admin Bar to talk about the evolution of WordPress. We dive into how WordPress has maintained its staying power over the years, and Kyle shares insights on the challenges and opportunities within the WordPress ecosystem, including the impact of page builders. We also touch on the importance of community and collaboration.

Catching up on the world of WordPress with Kyle of The Admin Bar

Roma's article: https://blog.kizu.dev/dashed-idents-for-everything/

Rethinking how I name some things in CSS

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Sara Soueidan, a renowned expert in web accessibility. Our conversation was a deep dive into the nuances of making the web more inclusive and accessible for everyone.

Follow Sara:

 * Her course, Practical Accessibility: https://practical-accessibility.today/
 * Her newsletter: https://www.sarasoueidan.com/newsletter/
 * Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/sarasoueidan.com
 * Mastodon: https://front-end.social/@SaraSoueidan
 * Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarasoueidan/
 * X: https://x.com/SaraSoueidan

Things we mentioned during our conversations:

 * Making the web sweeter with Food Network and Cupcakes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2l56RmQAQE
 * Blockquotes in screen readers https://adrianroselli.com/2023/07/blockquotes-in-screen-readers.html
 * The Blockquote element https://heydonworks.com/article/the-blockquote-element/
 * The HTML Living Standard https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/grouping-content.html
 * WCAG Quick Reference (contains links to Understanding and Techniques docs) https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/quickref/
 * HTML AAM https://www.w3.org/TR/html-aam-1.0/
 * ARIA 1.3 https://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-1.3/
 * My course :D https://practical-accessibility.today [https://practical-accessibility.today/]
 * My newsletter https://sarasoueidan.com/newsletter/

Navigating the World of Web Accessibility with Sara Soueidan

Starting with a dive into an article about the light-dark() function and theming in CSS, I ramble my way through topics of browser support of new features, browsers fixing issues with existing features, and some talk about the spec and how we can all help out in improving the current state of things.

✅ Should the CSS light-dark() function support more than light and dark values: https://css-tricks.com/should-the-css-light-dark-function-support-more-than-light-and-dark-values/
✅ The game I mentioned: https://css-questions.com [https://css-questions.com/]
✅ Frontend Masters workshop: https://frontendmasters.com/teachers/kevin-powell/?utm_source=powell&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=pro-css&code=powell (affiliate link)
✅ The New CSS Toolkit - Online workshop with Smashing Conference: https://smashingconf.com/online-workshops/workshops/css-toolkit-kevin-powell/
✅ Smashing Conf Amsterdam (and in person workshop): https://smashingconf.com/amsterdam-2026
✅ Interop Proposers Guide: https://github.com/web-platform-tests/interop/blob/main/proposal_guide.md

The ever evolving state of CSS and the web

This one has nothing to do with front-end! Rather, I ramble a lot about how I might be doing too much, and spend quite a bit of time talking about what I wanted to do, and what I might be doing with my HTML & CSS Tip of the Week.

🔗 Links
✅ HTML & CSS Tip of the Week: https://html-css-tip-of-the-week.netlify.app/
✅ DevTools for Beginners: https://devtoolsforbeginners.kevinpowell.co/
✅ CSS Demystified: https://cssdemystified.com/


Navigating Workloads and Priorities

Why is CSS so weird? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHUtMbJw8iA HTML & CSS Tip of the Week: https://html-css-tip-of-the-week.netlify.app/ The Ben Schwarz post on Bluesky I mentioned: https://bsky.app/profile/benschwarz.bsky.social/post/3lulxryudjs2t   [https://bsky.app/profile/benschwarz.bsky.social/post/3lulxryudjs2t]

My primary YouTube channel where I teach frontend development, with a strong focus on CSS: https://youtube.com/@kevinpowell   [https://youtube.com/@kevinpowell]

✉ The written version of my newsletter: https://www.kevinpowell.co/newsletter 💬 Come hang out with other dev's in my Discord Community: https://discord.gg/nTYCvrK   [https://discord.gg/nTYCvrK]

Help support my channel  👨‍🎓 Get a course: https://www.kevinpowell.co/courses 💖 Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/kevinpowell

Is it time to scrap CSS and start over?

Been having a hard time getting anything done the last few weeks, and as I pull out of it, I talk about some of the issues around productivity culture in general, and how sometimes it seems like we are less productive than we might have realized. 

It's been a bit of a grind lately

The livestream I mentioned: https://youtube.com/live/r7m3Ka2LmPM [https://youtube.com/live/r7m3Ka2LmPM?feature=share]

State of CSS Survey: https://survey.devographics.com/en-US/survey/state-of-css/2025?source=kevin_powell

The gap decoration demos by Edge: https://microsoftedge.github.io/Demos/css-gap-decorations/

In this episode I discuss CSS features I wish existed, like custom media queries, gap in block elements, and the color contrast function.

CSS features I wish we had right now

I have a newsletter where I usually start things off with pretty long general musings before I share the content I've created in the previous week, as well as any interesting articles I've stumbled across in the last week. 

Not everyone likes reading or having more emails in their inbox, though, so this podcast is an audio version of my newsletters. They aren't tutorials or technical explorations like my regular videos are, but instead tend to talk about a wide range of different topics, though they're generally at least somewhat related to front-end development in some way.

Kevin Powell

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