11 Frontend tricks that most Frontend Developers don’t know about

Interesting tricks you can do with HTML/JS/CSS

Below are some tricks which a lot of frontend developers don’t know about. To do with HTML/CSS/JavaScript.

Hopefully, there will be at least a couple on the list which you didn’t know about!

1. Datalist element

One HTML element that you don’t see used much at all and for no reason!

The <datalist> tag is used to provide an “autocomplete” feature for <input>elements. You will see a drop-down list of pre-defined options as you type.

Example:

<input list="animals" name="animal" id="animal"><datalist id="animals">
    <option value="Cat">
    <option value="Dog">
    <option value="Chicken">
    <option value="Cow">
    <option value="Pig">
  </datalist>

The <datalist> list attribute (see bold items above) must be equal to the id of the <input> , this is what binds them together.

2. Clickable label with a checkbox

If you want a clickable label for checkbox, you would usually use have a label element with a “for” attribute, like below.

<input type="checkbox" name="checkbox" id="checkbox_id" value="value">
<label for="checkbox_id">I agree</label>

You can actually just put the label element around the checkbox to accomplish the same thing. So when you click “I agree” it will select the checkbox!

Example:

<label><input type="checkbox" name="checkbox" id="checkbox_id" value="value">I agree</label>

3. Child selectors

Probably more of the most well used on this list but most people don’t know the extent of their power.

Child Selectors are used to match all the elements which are a child of a specified element. It gives the relation between two elements.

Examples:

 /* 1st <li> element */
 li:first-child { 
    color: red;
 }/* Last <li> element */
 li:last-child { 
     color: green;
 }// Select All <li> elements but The First Three */
li:nth-child(n+4) {     
      color: yellow;    
}/* Select only the first 3 <li> elemets */
li:nth-child(-n+3) {     
    color: green;    
}/* Styles are elements that are not a <p> */
.my-class:not(p) { 
    display: none;
}

4. Writing mode

Writing mode is little known yet quite powerful CSS property.

This allows text to run vertically like this:

The code for accomplishing this very simple.

writing-mode: vertical-rl;

Full example:

<style>
.sideway { 
   writing-mode: vertical-rl;
}
.normal {
   width: 5%;
   float: left;
}
</style>
<p class="normal">
     Hi some paragraph text
</p>
<p class="sideway"> 
     Hey I'm some sidway text 
</p>

The writing-mode property has five possible options.

  writing-mode: horizontal-tb;
  writing-mode: vertical-rl;
  writing-mode: vertical-lr;
  writing-mode: sideways-rl;
  writing-mode: sideways-lr;

5. calc() function

The calc() CSS function lets you perform calculations when specifying CSS property values.

The most useful ability of calc() is its ability to mix units, like percentages and pixels. No Preprocessor will ever be able to do that. It is something that has to happen at render time.

Examples:

width: calc(5px + 100px);
width: calc(6em * 8);
width: calc(100% - 50px);

6. Math.round & Math.floor alternatives

Maybe not the easiest to read but still a cool trick.

Math.floor() you can use 0|:

0|743.4343 // returns 743
Math.floor(743.4343) // returns 743

Math.round() you can use +.5|0 :

812.777+.5|0 // returns 813
Math.round(812.777) // returns 813

7. Console.table

Hopefully, by now you have heard and used console.log() but one you may not is console.table() which takes in an array or an object. This displays a table in the console view in a very neat way!

Array Example:

let car1 = { name : "Audi", model : "A4" }
let car2 = { name : "Volvo", model : "XC90" }
let car3 = { name : "Ford", model : "Fusion" }console.table([car1, car2, car3]);

8. Console.time

Another useful console method. console.time() starts a timer. It takes a parameter as a label. Then you use console.timeEnd() with the same label name and the console will output the time in milliseconds from when you called console.time() and console.timeEnd()

Example:

// Starts the timer
console.time("MyTimer");// Ends the timer and outputs the time in milliseconds
console.timeEnd("MyTimer");

9. In operator

The “in” operator can check if an index exists in an array and will return true or false.

Example:

let cars = ['Audi', 'BMW', 'Mini', 'Bentley', 'Porsche'];0 in cars        // returns true
3 in cars        // returns true
6 in cars        // returns false

You can also check if a property exists in an object.

Example:

const person = { firstName : "Dave", surname: "Smith", age: 34 };'firstName' in person  // returns true
'surname' in person    // returns true
'age' in person        // returns true
'gendar' in person     // returns false

10. Make Chrome a text editor

Maybe a very random one on the list. If you enter the below in URL bar and hit the return key. It will turn Chrome into a notepad

data:text/html, <html contenteditable>

11. Multiple statements in if block without curly brackets

I wouldn’t use this actual production code but still one a lot of people don’t know about. The trick is the comma!

if (1 === 1)
 alert("Alert 1"), alert("Alert 2");