Essential Newsletters for UI-Focused Front-End Developers

Newsletters are a great way to keep ahead of things in the ever-evolving world of front-end development. They distill the most relevant news into a concise format so you can stay up-to-date without spending hours on social media or multiple websites. That said, reading newsletters as soon as they land in your inbox can be pretty distracting. Instead, I recommend setting aside a specific time slot for reading them. Personally, I auto-sort newsletters into dedicated folders and read the most relevant ones at the end of each week.

Here are some of my favorite front-end related newsletters:

Smashing Magazine

Vitaly and his team give a warm home to developers and designers alike, delivering the most relevant and reliable content on code and design, including accessibility, performance, and best practices for common UI/UX challenges. What sets Smashing apart? The depth and quality of the articles paired with a friendly community that almost feels like family. The weekly newsletter focuses on one topic and highlights upcoming workshops and recent articles.

Frequency: weekly

Link: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/the-smashing-newsletter/

Josh Comeau

In his newsletter, software developer and educator Josh Comeau shares his extensive and enlightening blog posts on CSS and React. Besides spreading good karma, he writes with the right mental model in mind and creates inspiring interactive tools and playgrounds. His course “CSS for Javascript Developers” is probably the best self-paced CSS course on the web, with a well-balanced mix of theory, practical exercises, in-depth videos, and interactive demos.

Frequency: ~monthly

Link: https://www.joshwcomeau.com/

Go Make Things

Chris Ferdinandi is an advocate of accessibility, progressive enhancement, and the responsible use of JavaScript. Instead of following the latest JS framework trends, he prefers to rely on the pure, vanilla flavor of JavaScript and web APIs. His weekdaily newsletter covers topics like JavaScript basics and tricks as well as advice on accessibility, performance, and workflows. In addition, he publishes plugins, creates courses and ebooks, and runs the Vanilla JS podcast.

Frequency: weekdays

Link: https://gomakethings.com/

Codrops

Codrops is a treasure trove for creative developers. The platform publishes articles and tutorials on the latest trends in web design. Whether you need micro-interactions, full-page transitions, data visualizations, or immersive 3D landscapes, Codrops has covered you. Some examples are ahead of their time, while others are ready to excite your site’s visitors. The weekly newsletter collects inspirational websites, creative coding examples, new tools, and trending technologies.

Frequency: bi-weekly

Link: https://tympanus.net/codrops/

Sidebar

Since 2012, Sidebar has delivered a daily dose of five hand-picked, high-quality links that will help you stay on track in the design, UX, and front-end scene. Maintained by designer, developer, and entrepreneur Sascha Greif, who is also running the highly recommended “State of JavaScript” and “State of CSS” surveys, Sidebar features recent articles, case studies, code demos, and tutorials — perfect for all of you front-of-the-front-end developers.

Frequency: weekdays

Link: https://sidebar.io/

CSS Weekly

Curated by front-end dev, writer, and builder Zoran Jambor, CSS Weekly delivers a well-structured rundown of the most recent articles, tutorials, and tools on modern CSS—with a few sprinkles of JS. Today, the web platform is evolving faster than ever. New features are being shipped almost monthly, offering new solutions for long-existing problems. Zoran helps you stay ahead with a birds-eye brief on the current CSS landscape.

Frequency: weekly

Link: https://css-weekly.com/

Frontend Focus

This weekly resource is published by Cooperpress, a UK-based company specializing in developer-focused newsletters. Front-loaded with dozens of relevant links, Frontend Focus is one of the most comprehensive newsletters out there. Topics include HTML, CSS, JS, frameworks, 3D, accessibility, performance, fonts, browser technology, tool updates, case studies, job listings, and much more.

Frequency: weekly

Link: https://frontendfoc.us/

Friday Front-End

Scott Vandehey is a front-end architect and CSS specialist from Portland, Oregon. In his weekly newsletter, he shares a handful of web development links alongside a video resource. The focus is on CSS concepts, features, and tools, but you can also learn more about usability, accessibility, and productivity—definitely a great way to end the week! If you prefer daily updates, you can head over to the Friday Front-end Twitter account.

Frequency: weekly

Link: https://fridayfrontend.curated.co/

More inspiring newsletters

• Frontend at Scale: Software design & architecture
• Stephanie Eckles: Modern CSS
• Paul Boag: UX insights
• Web.dev: Web platform news
• Web Tools Weekly: Tools, tools, tools