Modern-day samurai kneeling in traditional armor, sword in hand, against a vibrant wall of multicolored paint splashes — symbolizing the fusion of ancient warrior spirit with contemporary creativity.

Articles tagged with "Thoughts"

PHP in 2026: Modern Language, Fragmented Tooling

blogComic illustration of a developer struggling with the fragmented ecosystem of modern PHP. The scene features a messy desk with overlapping package managers (npm and composer), OS-level tools like apt-get, and conflicting formatters.

Practical take on PHP and Laravel in 2026: a modern, capable language with fragmented tooling, OS coupling, and DX trade-offs in mixed-stack teams.

12 min read • 1,517 words

Contrast: Beyond WCAG Compliance

blogComic-style illustration of Michaël Vanderheyden wearing a baseball cap and samurai-themed shirt, working on a laptop with a samurai sticker. To the side, accessibility icons and the hashtag #A11yTips promote practical accessibility tips for developers.

Discover why APCA offers more perceptually accurate approach to color contrast than traditional WCAG standards for better readability.

9 min read • 1,066 words

Scaling Accessibility, Developer Mindsets & the European Accessibility Act

podcastPromotional banner for "Beyond Barriers" featuring Michaël Vanderheyden, Lead UX Engineer.

Accessibility is not just for users with permanent disabilities. It’s about making every interaction smoother for everyone, in every situation

From Skeletons to Smooth Reveals: A Case for the :complete pseudo-class

blogThe CSS logo in front of a skeleton UI template

Why the web needs a :complete (or resource state) pseudo-class: to replace JS skeleton/loader hacks with declarative CSS for images, avatars & performance.

8 min read • 1,039 words

Frameworks are tools, not gatekeepers: Rethinking web developer hiring

blogA comic-style illustration of Michaël Vanderheyden frowning at popular framework logos next to the text "Frameworks are tools, not gatekeepers"

Framework hiring is broken. Stop filtering great web developers by framework checklists—hire for HTML, accessibility, progressive enhancement, performance.

4 min read • 449 words