Plus Equals #3, September 2021

Want to take a deep dive into tiling images? Like, a really deep dive. Rob has you covered.

Basic Pattern Repository

A nice little collection of very simple—and very lightweight—SVGs to use as background patterns.

CSS-only chat

A truly monstrous async web chat using no JS whatsoever on the frontend.

This is …I mean …yes, but …it …I …

Remove Background from Image – remove.bg

Well, this looks like it could come in handy—no more tedious time in Photoshop trying to select turn a person into a separate layer by hand; this does it for you.

Introducing Background Fetch  |  Web  |  Google Developers

I’m going to have to read through this article by Jake a few times before I begin to wrap my head around this background fetch thing, but it looks like it would be perfect for something like the dConstruct Audio Archive, where fairly large files can be saved for offline listening.

Finding Dead CSS – CSS Wizardry

Here’s a clever idea from Harry if you’re willing to play the long game in tracking down redundant CSS—add a transparent background image to the rule block and then sit back and watch your server logs for any sign of that sleeper agent ever getting activated.

If you do find entries for that particular image, you know that, somehow, the legacy feature is potentially still accessible—the number of entries should give you a clue as to how severe the problem might be.

Lisbon Azulejos

When I was in Porto a few weeks back, I took lots of pictures of the beautiful tiles. They reminded me of the ubiquitous repeating background images that were so popular on the early web. I was thinking about abstracting them into a collection of reusable patterns but now it looks like I’ve been beaten to it!

Send messages when you’re back online with Service Workers and Background Sync – Twilio Cloud Communications Blog

This example of using background sync looks like it’s specific to Twilio, but the breakdown of steps is broad enough to apply to many situations:

On the page we need to:

1. Register a Service Worker
2. Intercept the “submit” event for our message form
3. Place the message details into IndexedDB, an in browser database
4. Register the Service Worker to receive a “sync” event

Then, in the Service Worker we need to:

1. Listen for sync events
2. When a sync event is received, retrieve the messages from IndexedDB
3. For each message, send a request to our server to send the message
4. If the message is sent successfully, then remove the message from IndexedDB

And that’s it.

Enhancing a comment form: From basic to custom error message to BackgroundSync | justmarkup

This is a truly fantastic example of progressive enhancement applied to a form.

What I love about this is that it shows how progressive enhancement isn’t a binary on/off choice: there are layers and layers of enhancements here, from simple inline validation all the way to service workers and background sync, with many options in between.

Superb!

the new code – Even Stevens: Using Round and Space in Repeated Background Images

See, when I first heard about background-repeat: round; I thought it was something to do with making things circular. But no, it’s about tiling a background image so that nothing gets cut off. The amount of tiling required is rounded to the nearest whole number.

Now I get it.

Psiu Puxa Wallpapers

Yummy wallpapers for your desktop, tablet, and phone, from NASA and ESA.

ServiceWorker: A Basic Guide to BackgroundSync

A nice introduction to using Service Workers to enable syncing in the background: when the user is offline, tasks get queued up and then when the user is back online, those tasks execute.

The Pattern Library

Literally a library of patterns: y’know, for tiling background images. Old school!

Protip: All browsers that support SVG background images also supports multiple background images.

A very hand tip from Ben on using SVG background images with a PNG fallback for IE8 and below.

NoisePNG - Generate noisy PNG-images with alpha-transparency

If you’re adding some noise texture to your backgrounds, this little service might be handy. I usually base-64 encode these kinds of background images: it would be nice to see that added as an option here.

JoshEmerson.co.uk · Blog · Base64 and the tiling background

Josh explains the pros and cons of embedding background images in your CSS using base 64 encoding.

The Cicada Principle and Why It Matters to Web Designers » HTML & CSS, Layout » Design Festival

A lovely bit of experimentation with prime numbers and multiple background images.

Multiple Backgrounds and Borders with CSS 2.1 – Nicolas Gallagher — Blog & Ephemera

A clever technique to create the effect of multiple background images using the :before and :after pseudo-elements.

Meme Scenery - Waxy.org

There's something haunting about this: the physical settings of internet memes with the protagonists removed.

iPhone/iTouch Backgrounds, Set 1 · Journal · AntonPeck.com

Awesome iPhone wallpaper images from the awesome Anton.