https://andromedagalactic.com/contributor/martine-dowden Blog posts written by Martine Dowden for the Andromeda Galactic Solutions blog. en-US https://andromedagalactic.com/contributor/martine-dowden https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/andromeda-v2.appspot.com/o/media%2FZbQw6Hxxmjg1ZYgiruWN%2Fblog-post-square.png?alt=media&token=0e917657-456c-4032-af39-b72b19512f38 Blog posts written by Martine Dowden for the Andromeda Galactic Solutions blog. Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT Updating from Angular's structural directives to control flow blocks. https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/angular-upgrading-to-the-control-flow-syntax Technology ttHZJmHyah4HJLLMGAZh Wed, 07 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT By combining popovers with interest invokers we can create tooltips without the need for any JavaScript. Let's dive right in and see how it works. https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/rethinking-tooltip-with-interest-invokers-and-popover Technology yzYDnSm7aDE9glxKKLu6 Tue, 16 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT So you think you know CSS borders, but did you know you could use gradients and images? This article goes in-depth how borders works, and tricks to get around some of their limitations. https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/styling-on-the-edge Technology 2DXZnmBBK6gBog9BZM2e Wed, 19 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT A very common CSS question is whether there is such a thing as a parent selector. In this article we dig into the use of the pseudo-class :has() and how we can use it to select elements based on the element's siblings or children. https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/css-parent-selector Technology NYZiOPUqSs9aqG4HTVKO Fri, 07 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT Have you played with subgrid yet? Let's explore how it works and how to create fallbacks so we can start using subgrid in our projects today. https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/css-subgrid Technology mI8Jw1AOpzLyAuOsmv1p Thu, 23 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT Getting text to wrap just right in CSS use to require workarounds but we now have new values for the text-balance property that allow us take our typography to the next level. Check it out! https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/manipulating-text-layout-using-text-wrap Technology rsnFWAK0qsIpgWgRK1TK Tue, 06 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT A deep dive into JavaScript promises and how to use them. https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/java-script-promises-demystified Technology 05NDwjhgqdqxE8X7hwaG Wed, 25 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMT Drop caps have been around for for centuries but on the web they haven't been so easy to create. Let's look at the new CSS initial-letter property and how we can use to make a drop cap. https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/drop-caps-then-and-now Technology 9ljAQynvQIp6m2XehRrQ Fri, 14 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMT Did you know there is a dialog element with built in methods and CSS selectors that can be used to created and style dialogs? Let's take a look at how it works and implement one together. https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/html-dialog Technology iBusXLmZrpqrtpfyoQ59 Mon, 08 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT Ever create a component for a project or website but didn't know where it was going to be used? With the newly added container queries, available in all major browsers, we can now style elements based on the size of the container they are placed in. Let's look at how they work. https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/container-queries Technology a7PjDu35MM4IY128ILES Sun, 30 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT One of the newly added features to our CSS toolbox is scroll snap. Let's combine it with a sticky header to see what it can do. https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/scroll-snap-sticky-header Technology SnXhALBsBAcLqNbUp6W1 Wed, 12 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT Learn about how Martine created a content management system for Firebase to build apps and static websites. https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/building-a-static-website Technology Nvh32QPFpQpHwqp0Nk5b Thu, 08 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMT One of the really cool features of Sass are mixins. In this post we will use a mixin to generate classes for some information panels and show techniques for debugging our code. https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/when-your-sass-gets-sassy Technology syScCg95rXKrtLBwCuAI Tue, 12 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT One of the most common requests I receive when designing a UI for a client is “Can you make the table headers sticky like in Excel?” So how do we create a sticky header using CSS? https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/sticky-table-headers Technology Ga2Scx3jpNvgWQzZNQCv Wed, 01 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT Bulleted lists on the web come with default styles. What if we wanted to use emojis instead of the boring standard bullet points? Let's take a look at how we would create that. https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/creating-custom-list-styles Technology M33GQlX1OYsTp3Jp1SkR Tue, 03 May 2022 00:00:00 GMT Radio inputs are one of those input types that are notoriously difficult to style because we don't have a whole lot of control over the style of the native input. Let's explore 2 different pure CSS options we can take. https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/styling-radio-buttons Technology jWV5MiwE4oTlKfzaygQV Tue, 05 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMT Light or Dark mode, which one do you prefer? Or does it change based on device or situation? Let's delve into how to give our users the choice use CSS https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/light-or-dark-which-do-you-prefer Technology fIT4E1g5FFUOEZIL2PdK Tue, 01 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT A cool effect is to make it look like an image or shape is being drawn on the page. This article walks through how to create this illusion in SVGs usi https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/animating-drawing-svg-shapes-and-paths Technology wJf2scK7mtTp2yohl4mJ Tue, 15 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT Exposing validation errors in a human-readable way guides the user when filling out and submitting forms, but when default implementations don't fit o https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/reactive-form-custom-validators-banned-words Technology 68zz8SUfTs7E0f64SrpS Thu, 10 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT Although part of most applications, a well designed, user friendly, testable form is still one of those things that is really hard to achieve. Let's l https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/testing-reactive-forms Technology 2hUXE1ZbgTR5pI2MdSzm Tue, 25 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT Language attributes can not only help our User Experience but also our SEO. Let's explore the options and the benefits. https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/the-importance-of-using-language-attributes Technology DV3tRCFdqiOpiqt0QdBa Tue, 11 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT Tables being used for layout and difficult to contend with on mobile have resulted in their decreased use on the web. Using media queries we can use a https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/tables-have-their-place Technology JEeF9F5GDnnQYB1mOS5f Tue, 26 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMT Sometimes, the best solution for a layout is to use CSS float, but what do we do when it misbehaves and we don’t want to use hacks like clearfix, or randomly inserted tags with clear=“both”? We can use display:flow-root. Let’s look at how it’s done. https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/using-flow-root Technology fovpZX39BbNryTqUre4v Mon, 13 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT Today the use of the CSS `float` property has fallen by the wayside, but what if I told you it can do some really cool stuff? Coupled with some modern CSS properties like `shape`, we can make some really cool things happen. Let's take a closer look. https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/float-is-cooler-than-you-think Technology ZFGUvrmgmAzl9xyjRa2C Wed, 30 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT Ever watched a video while in a crowded subway, or better yet, during that really boring meeting, and because you were not in a situation where you could just listen to it, turned on captions? You used an accessibility feature! https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/on-auto-captions Technology 7ZpAMWAvJoYPT7jSULvQ Tue, 01 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT Most applications, even single page apps, have routing. Just like most things when it comes to code, there are several ways that routes can be implemented in Angular. https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/angular-routing-understanding-child-routes Technology E0deBbgo0OkziukjutLE Fri, 28 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMT https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/pluralsight-styling-web-components Technology tM59aaVZGnlYdxQnueHM Mon, 10 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMT Our CTO, Martine Dowden, published an article on Pluralsight. https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/pluralsight-css-encapsulation-in-angular Technology vm3CY8LPkQPfC1qtY8c5 Thu, 25 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT This article provides a 15 minute, step-by-step guide to adding OAuth support to a CLI-generated Angular application using Firebase. We will implement OAuth with a Google account, but other platforms supported by Firebase include: Facebook, Twitter, https://andromedagalactic.com/blog/implement-oauth-in-15-minutes-with-firebase Technology JNKqffr9g6l69ZvXunkG