slop is something that takes more human effort to consume than it took to produce. When my coworker sends me raw Gemini output he’s not expressing his freedom to create, he’s disrespecting the value of my time

"here I asked AI to generate a doc for you to read and review" Can we please stop doing this.

Congratulations to the @npmx.dev team on their launch day! 🎉❤️ Here's @vlad.website on how npmx's success shows us why Open Source collaboration itself is so special.

"Does 200 lines of Python code understand anything? My siblings in Christ I hope it’s clear how utterly bizarre this question is."

when you have 16,000 new lines of code which must be maintained indefinitely, and neither the author (who used AI) nor the reviewers (who used AI) has any knowledge about what that code *actually* does… that’s a perfect recipe for the erosion of institutional knowledge

The violent occupation of Minneapolis started with a vlog. I've wanted to find a framework to describe Nick Shirley & others like him: "Influencer" is too quaint. "Journalist" is obviously wrong. I landed on "slopagandist." Gift link (open in a web browser) www.theverge.com/news/869824/...

Ok but why does this lego tiger have a butthole? My family thinks I'm crazy for questioning this

A lot of parenting is just saying "wow" to things that definitely aren't "wow"

I have a pretty sweet design engineer/technologist role that just opened: careers.snowflake.com/us/en/job/SN...

Have kids so you can have a 6yo punch you in the stomach because they're angry they had to stop doing something after you tell them it's time to stop. Then 30 minutes later say mother's and father's day is their favorite holiday because it celebrates mommy and daddy.

HEY HEY, the Design Tokens Specification is stable! This is absolutely phenomenal news for the design system community and the technology industry in general. www.w3.org/community/de...

The two most effective ways your company can support open source: 1. Let your developers have time for open source work. 2. Give each of your developers an annual budget to allocate to whatever OSS projects they think are important.

Today is the 30th anniversary of Hackers

I am not like a sudoku person (I do them sometimes), but I heard about this video on @theverge.com and I had to watch it. It is brilliant www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKf9...

I got kneed in my penis by my 3yo and then slapped there by my 5yo as he ran through the house. In case anyone was wondering what having kids is like

📙 📗 📘 📕 The History of Themeable User Interfaces: bradfrost.com/blog/post/th... It was an incredible experience to write this piece. It blurs together the history of computers, video games, the web, design systems, and my own existence on this planet.

What a fucking week huh?

📣 Save the Date! 10th Annual Clarity: A Design Systems Retreat December 2nd–4th, 2025 Palm Springs, California www.clarityconf.com Early bird tickets will be available this Friday, August 22nd.

Giving designtokenscourse.com a re-watch and other than being an awesome course, which I can't recommend highly enough, I forgot how soothing @bradfrost.com's voice is

The SPEAKER implies. The LISTENER infers. The DUDE abides.

Have we pointed out yet that open source is inherently political? And not even in the way that everything is political. In the way that it is a direct political action to reject artificial scarcity and undermine technocratic power.

Slightly diminish a band: Mild chili peppers

I just published a new blog post about two of my absolute favourite CSS tricks. ✨ www.joshwcomeau.com/animation/pa...

The infinite consumes us all.

Our 5yo is starting kindergarten tomorrow and the first 7 days they have to bring snacks in disposable bags and he loves Pokemon, so I decorated them

[first date] Him: So what do you do? Her: I’m an oncologist. Him: So you’re always on call?

A helpful graph made by @stevekrouse.com on the inverse relationship between vibes and understanding in AI assisted code. Put a few thoughts down here: maggieappleton.com/2025-08-vibe... Original article: blog.val.town/vibe-code

The GOAT

As vibe-coded apps and self-creating websites become the norm, luxe companies will pay large dollars for bespoke, hand-crafted HTML and CSS.

I don't know how to describe it, but every member of Weezer looks like they are actually in very different bands.

👀 Looking for Design Systems consultancy or front-end development for your project? 📅 I have availability and would love to assist! 👇 Here's some of my recent work 💡 If you’ve got something coming up, let’s chat! 🌐 Visit www.alwaystwisted.com or email me at [email protected] 🙏🖤

Partner and I went to a fancy omakase. I felt like we won the best customer of that sitting, which is a very normal thing to want.

I love CSS folks. They are soldiers of joy and delight. The world is burning and AI debates have people at each others throats and CSS peeps keep being like “check out this dancing turtle I made out of divs 🥰”

Partner and I are going on a work trip for the rest of the week (grandma is watching them). This morning: 3yo: I want you to leave already. When are you leaving? 5yo: I don't want you to leave 😭

Oh no I think we are entering a new stage of parenthood. 5yo made signs that warn us not to enter their room

I got my law degree just about 20 years ago and this point it's fair to say nothing I was taught about the Constitution and how it works is relevant anymore

. @ian-frost.bsky.social and I had a great time providing some design tokens therapy to @davatron5000.bsky.social and @chriscoyier.net on @shoptalkshow.com youtu.be/NS51te_wx-s

My partner has been sick so I've been juggling the kids and work today. The 3yo is being an a-hole for bedtime routine, yelling at me. When I go to brush 5yo's teeth he tells me: "it's ok, I know she can be a lot to handle sometimes" 😭😭😭

A new episode of the awesome Code & Pixels podcast just droppped: www.buzzsprout.com/1958356/epis... featuring yours truly. I hope you like it!

Fuck yea Pasadena

PSA for everyone going to protests

The last two "big" announcements from Silicon Valley: 1) Figma sites: inaccessible mess 2) Apple Liquid Glass: inaccessible mess I can't actually remember the last time Silicon Valley came up with something that was actually good.

what if bad at make question?

Why people are burning Waymos, anti-ICE Labubu, menswear guy milkshake duck, All In pod's existential crisis, a reputation marketplace, SF's salad war, a BlackBerry resurgence, NYC's dating economy, why Christians love AI slop, and MORE in today's newsletter

I beg of you all to write CSS

Give the photographer the Pulitzer Prize

I get that it's a skill issue on my end, but damn if it doesn't feel like every time I try to use React I feel like everywhere I step there's a rake waiting to bash me in the face I feel like, somehow, knowing JavaScript actively hinders me from writing React, which feels weird and wrong

My 5yo and 3yo said they have a TV show called "The do it duo" where they do science experiments together. As annoying as my kids are, they are pretty great sometimes

I built some more physical stuff. This time: floating canvas frames!