Ben
benrajalu.net
Ben
@benrajalu.net
Frontend Dev at BlaBlaCar - Design System Engineer
Trying to build up the habit again, this time with an article about component architecture in design systems built for scale. There's a lot of experience and experiments behind it, and once you try it seems obvious.
benrajalu.net/articles/ds-...

#designsystem #ui #ux #frontend
Building components for scale
Design systems are built around component libraries, it's their core. How you choose to build those components is critical.
benrajalu.net
November 4, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Getting back into the groove of writing about design systems. And I want to start again by looking at one of the hardest truths to swallow when working in the field.
Your core design system value is for your business to decide
A design system is many things, but the one thing that will keep it afloat is its business value.
benrajalu.net
October 5, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Reposted by Ben
One of the most powerful tools in my toolbox is SVG. When combined with CSS and JavaScript, we can do some truly remarkable things. ✨

📝 I’ve just published a brand-new blog post that covers the most critical fundamentals. It’s chock full of interactive demos. 😄

Check it out:
A Friendly Introduction to SVG • Josh W. Comeau
SVGs are one of the most remarkable technologies we have access to on the web. They’re first-class citizens, fully addressable with CSS and JavaScript. In this tutorial, I’ll cover all of the most imp...
www.joshwcomeau.com
July 21, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Reposted by Ben
Loving these dialog demos from @nerdy.dev 😍🙏🔥

nerdy.dev/have-a-dialog

Such great UI patterns here! I particularly love the cursor styling when you hover on the ::backdrop area to indicate that the element can be closed in this demo:

codepen.io/argyleink/pe...
April 22, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Reposted by Ben
don't forget `touch-action: manipulation` for buttons on mobile

double taps shouldn't zoom
April 7, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Reposted by Ben
Oh dang this is super cool. WhoCanUse succinctly demonstrates how people with different types of colorblindness see different color choices: www.whocanuse.com
WhoCanUse
A tool that brings attention and understanding to how color contrast can affect people with different visual impairments.
www.whocanuse.com
February 7, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Reposted by Ben
30 #CSS scroll driven animation examples

which is your favorite?
- z-stack and slither are mine

nerdy.dev/scroll-drive...
Scroll Driven Animations Notebook · February 6, 2025
Website for Adam Argyle: Teacher, Speaker, CSSWG member, and creator of Open Props and VisBug.
nerdy.dev
February 6, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Reposted by Ben
🌠 A long-requested CSS feature is the ability to transition height between a known value (`height: 20rem`) and a derived one (`height: auto`).

A new global CSS property makes this possible now. 😄

html {
interpolate-size: allow-keywords;
}

More info in thread 🧵
January 7, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by Ben
📝 New post!

`aria-label` and `aria-labelledby` aren't allowed on divs, spans, and other static text elements out of the box, and *most* screenreaders won't announce them.

#accessibility #a11y
Don’t Use aria-label on Static Text Elements
Don’t use the aria-label or aria-labelledby attributes on divs, spans, or other elements representing static/noninteractive text-level semantics, unless you’re also updating roles.
benmyers.dev
December 7, 2024 at 7:57 PM
Reposted by Ben
November 1, 2024 at 7:45 PM
Reposted by Ben
bringing this tip over from the other site cause i used it again:

you can use `font-variant-numberic: tabular-nums;` in your CSS (on fonts that support this feature) to make your numerals occupy the same width — super useful for clocks, counters, etc :)
October 23, 2024 at 8:58 PM