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The Best Furniture for Small Spaces, According to People Who Live in Really Small Spaces
Maximize every inch of space.
I live in a New York City apartment, and, like most New Yorkers I know, it feels like an Olympic feat sharing 600 square feet with my partner. Our living room serves as a dining room, home office, and gym all in one. Needless to say, it’s taken me months to find furniture that looks good *and* fits, involving some (plenty) of trial and error.
Since moving here over two years ago, I’ve learned that finding the best furniture for small spaces is largely a matter of choosing the right-size pieces that will comfortably accommodate a home’s inhabitants and occasional visitors without overcrowding the place. And if a piece of furniture could pull double-duty as storage, then all the better.
Practicality aside, selecting furniture that matches your personal style is also important. As Maeve Richmond, professional organizer and founder of Maeve’s Method, told Well+Good, “Everything in a small space should be functional and decorative.” In other words, furniture should be as much a joy to look at as it is to use.
To save you stress, I’ve listed seven of the best furniture for small spaces, all of which come with the approval of tiny-home dwellers—including myself.
Shop the best furniture for small spaces
Originally $1,509
Choosing the right couch for a small space can feel pretty overwhelming. You need it to be comfy enough for naps or movie nights with friends, and since it’s one of the biggest pieces in a small room, it has to look good too.
The Albany Park Lido Sofa nails it. At 75 inches long and a bit over 37 inches wide, it’s perfect for lounging without taking over the whole room. Plus, it comes in 10 upholstery options, including stain-resistant and kid- and pet-friendly fabrics, so it fits any room and lifestyle. Its clean, minimalist design means it can fit in with pretty much any decor. Bonus: There’s room underneath for storing stuff you want out of sight but still within easy reach
Size: 75” x 32” x 37.5”
Available colors and styles: 10
What a reviewer says: “This is a cute and comfortable sofa, a great value for the money. It perfectly fits the small TV room that we bought it for … The sofa arrived on time, as promised, and it was not difficult to assemble.”
Pros:
- Highly customizable
- Made with premium and PFAS-free fabric
- Lifetime warranty
Cons:
- Assembly required
- According to some reviewers, it’s challenging to assemble
If you could use more seating and storage space, this Better Homes & Gardens storage ottoman fits the bill. It functions as additional seating, but it’s worth it alone for its storage compartment, which is large enough to fit blankets, pillows, and more.
It has a hinged lid, offering easy access to your essentials, and its cushioned seat makes it a comfortable place to sit on or rest your feet. You can place it at the foot of a bed or in the living room, and its rectangular shape can lie flush against a wall or another piece of furniture. At just over 13 pounds when empty, you can also move it from one place to another without much sweat. It comes in three neutral colors, making it easy to coordinate with your home decor, and with a 4.6-star overall rating on Walmart after more than 2,800 reviews.
Size: 30” x 15” x 16.75”
Available colors: 3
What a reviewer says: “I like that it is comfortable to sit on and that it has plenty of storage. I use it as a bench at my eating table. Plan on getting another for the other side of the table.”
Pros:
- Cushioned seat
- Offers storage space
- Available in versatile color options
Cons:
- Available in only one size
- Colors aren’t as accurate as pictured online, according to some reviewers
When you’re working with a limited floor plan, a shelf organizer with a small footprint can help you maximize vertical space. Despite this cabinet’s slim profile, it holds plenty and keeps clutter out of sight, storing items like shoes and other knick-knacks behind its closed doors. If you have more stuff than the organizer can accommodate, it’s also stackable, which means you can add another unit to increase its capacity. The freestanding unit has a 50-pound capacity, and it also has adjustable shelves for storing taller items. You can shop it in white, espresso, or dark cherry—three versatile colors that fit seamlessly into many homes.
Size: 31.5” x 24.13” x 11.63”
Available colors and styles: 5
What a reviewer says: “We bought this for extra storage in the kitchen, as it’s a small kitchen. It’s perfect for our boxed foods and wet cat food. We love it. It holds a lot of items.”
Pros:
- Slim profile
- Stackable design
- Adjustable shelving
Cons:
- Assembly required
- Limited weight capacity, making it unsuitable for heavy items
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Originally $70
With over 1,000 glowing Amazon reviews, this space-saving coffee table is a hit with people who have limited space. It’s super versatile and can double as a dining surface or a work desk.
The top lifts up, giving you a higher surface for eating or working, and there’s extra storage underneath. You get a big compartment under the tabletop and two open shelves for easy access to your stuff. Plus, it’s under $100, which is perfect if you’re on a budget. Even though it’s affordable, shoppers say it’s great quality. The only downside? You have to assemble it yourself, but it comes with all the instructions and tools you need.
Size: 19.7” x 39.37” x 17.4”
Available colors: 2
What a reviewer says: “I downsized from 3,000 to 700 square feet so each piece of … furniture had to be multifunctional. I love the look and versatility of this piece. It is my ‘office’ and a great ‘TV tray’ when I dine alone. I put it together myself and the instructions were easy to understand.”
Also available on Wayfair ($140).
Pros:
- Budget-friendly price
- Plenty of space for storage
- Comes with instructions and tools needed for assembly
Cons:
- Limited color options
- According to some reviewers, assembly is challenging
A bed with built-in storage becomes crucial when closet space isn’t plentiful. Enter, this platform bed, which can help you maximize limited square footage. It has a large compartment underneath where you can store clothes, pillows, linens, and, according to some reviewers, even sports equipment and carry-on luggage.
It lifts from the foot of the bed, eliminating the need for side clearance around its frame, and according to shoppers, the lifting mechanism makes it easy to access items even with a mattress on top. “The hydraulics make it easy to lift up and I have a heavier-than-normal queen mattress,” one shopper proclaims. The bed itself features a tufted headboard and footboard, and you can select from four neutral colors, including black and gray, to match your personal aesthetic.
Sizes: 4 (including twin, full, queen, king)
Available colors: 4
What a reviewer says: “I put everything under my bed … suitcase, winter blanket, jacket, shoes, bags, cat food… you name it. The storage space is so big and so deep, I can’t believe how much stuff it can take … This saved my apartment, my mental state, my relationship, and me. I love this bed and whoever made [it] is a true hero!”
Pros:
- Large storage capacity
- According to reviewers, lifting mechanism offers easy access to storage compartment
- Multiple sizes and colors available
Cons:
- Assembly required
- Some reviewers have mentioned that assembly is challenging
If your living room is your dining room (and vice versa), Winsome’s space-saving table set will be your saving grace. Made from solid and composite wood, it comes with two stools that stow away underneath the table when not in use.
It also features two storage drawers and a towel rod, plus it has wheels so you can move it from one place to another without a hitch. Several reviewers have also used it as an extra counter while they cook. “My son lives in a small one-bedroom apartment and needed a small dining room table as well as an area for food prep,” one shopper wrote. “This compact unit fits the bill!” What’s more, many others have also attested to its sturdy construction. You can shop it in three shades of wood finishes, from beech to teak to coffee.
What a reviewer says: “I have a very small apartment that lacks a real kitchen. I use this as a dining table, extra counter space, a desk, and occasionally as a step ladder. It is very sturdy and took surprisingly little effort to put together.”
Also available on Walmart ($157).
Pros:
- Comes with a pair of stools
- Features wheels for easy maneuverability
- According to reviewers, assembly is relatively simple
Cons:
- May be too small for larger households
- Some reviewers mentioned that stools aren’t as comfortable as they would like
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Size: 15.8” x 15.8” x 19.7”
Available colors: 5
What a reviewer says: “We ordered this small end table for our extra guest bedroom space in our basement. It was the perfect touch for a small room. I love that the end table was so easy to put together with minimum tools. The color was such a perfect natural wood color and it’s very lightweight so it’s easy to move.”
Also available on Walmart ($40).
Pros:
- Inexpensive
- Weight capacity of up to 200 pounds
- Multiple color options available
Cons:
- Limited storage space
- According to some reviewers, assembly is challenging
User Research Is Storytelling
Ever since I was a boy, I’ve been fascinated with movies. I loved the characters and the excitement—but most of all the stories. I wanted to be an actor. And I believed that I’d get to do the things that Indiana Jones did and go on exciting adventures. I even dreamed up ideas for movies that my friends and I could make and star in. But they never went any further. I did, however, end up working in user experience (UX). Now, I realize that there’s an element of theater to UX—I hadn’t really considered it before, but user research is storytelling. And to get the most out of user research, you need to tell a good story where you bring stakeholders—the product team and decision makers—along and get them interested in learning more.
Think of your favorite movie. More than likely it follows a three-act structure that’s commonly seen in storytelling: the setup, the conflict, and the resolution. The first act shows what exists today, and it helps you get to know the characters and the challenges and problems that they face. Act two introduces the conflict, where the action is. Here, problems grow or get worse. And the third and final act is the resolution. This is where the issues are resolved and the characters learn and change. I believe that this structure is also a great way to think about user research, and I think that it can be especially helpful in explaining user research to others.
Use storytelling as a structure to do research
It’s sad to say, but many have come to see research as being expendable. If budgets or timelines are tight, research tends to be one of the first things to go. Instead of investing in research, some product managers rely on designers or—worse—their own opinion to make the “right” choices for users based on their experience or accepted best practices. That may get teams some of the way, but that approach can so easily miss out on solving users’ real problems. To remain user-centered, this is something we should avoid. User research elevates design. It keeps it on track, pointing to problems and opportunities. Being aware of the issues with your product and reacting to them can help you stay ahead of your competitors.
In the three-act structure, each act corresponds to a part of the process, and each part is critical to telling the whole story. Let’s look at the different acts and how they align with user research.
Act one: setup
The setup is all about understanding the background, and that’s where foundational research comes in. Foundational research (also called generative, discovery, or initial research) helps you understand users and identify their problems. You’re learning about what exists today, the challenges users have, and how the challenges affect them—just like in the movies. To do foundational research, you can conduct contextual inquiries or diary studies (or both!), which can help you start to identify problems as well as opportunities. It doesn’t need to be a huge investment in time or money.
Erika Hall writes about minimum viable ethnography, which can be as simple as spending 15 minutes with a user and asking them one thing: “‘Walk me through your day yesterday.’ That’s it. Present that one request. Shut up and listen to them for 15 minutes. Do your damndest to keep yourself and your interests out of it. Bam, you’re doing ethnography.” According to Hall, “[This] will probably prove quite illuminating. In the highly unlikely case that you didn’t learn anything new or useful, carry on with enhanced confidence in your direction.”
This makes total sense to me. And I love that this makes user research so accessible. You don’t need to prepare a lot of documentation; you can just recruit participants and do it! This can yield a wealth of information about your users, and it’ll help you better understand them and what’s going on in their lives. That’s really what act one is all about: understanding where users are coming from.
Jared Spool talks about the importance of foundational research and how it should form the bulk of your research. If you can draw from any additional user data that you can get your hands on, such as surveys or analytics, that can supplement what you’ve heard in the foundational studies or even point to areas that need further investigation. Together, all this data paints a clearer picture of the state of things and all its shortcomings. And that’s the beginning of a compelling story. It’s the point in the plot where you realize that the main characters—or the users in this case—are facing challenges that they need to overcome. Like in the movies, this is where you start to build empathy for the characters and root for them to succeed. And hopefully stakeholders are now doing the same. Their sympathy may be with their business, which could be losing money because users can’t complete certain tasks. Or maybe they do empathize with users’ struggles. Either way, act one is your initial hook to get the stakeholders interested and invested.
Once stakeholders begin to understand the value of foundational research, that can open doors to more opportunities that involve users in the decision-making process. And that can guide product teams toward being more user-centered. This benefits everyone—users, the product, and stakeholders. It’s like winning an Oscar in movie terms—it often leads to your product being well received and successful. And this can be an incentive for stakeholders to repeat this process with other products. Storytelling is the key to this process, and knowing how to tell a good story is the only way to get stakeholders to really care about doing more research.
This brings us to act two, where you iteratively evaluate a design or concept to see whether it addresses the issues.
Act two: conflict
Act two is all about digging deeper into the problems that you identified in act one. This usually involves directional research, such as usability tests, where you assess a potential solution (such as a design) to see whether it addresses the issues that you found. The issues could include unmet needs or problems with a flow or process that’s tripping users up. Like act two in a movie, more issues will crop up along the way. It’s here that you learn more about the characters as they grow and develop through this act.
Usability tests should typically include around five participants according to Jakob Nielsen, who found that that number of users can usually identify most of the problems: “As you add more and more users, you learn less and less because you will keep seeing the same things again and again… After the fifth user, you are wasting your time by observing the same findings repeatedly but not learning much new.”
There are parallels with storytelling here too; if you try to tell a story with too many characters, the plot may get lost. Having fewer participants means that each user’s struggles will be more memorable and easier to relay to other stakeholders when talking about the research. This can help convey the issues that need to be addressed while also highlighting the value of doing the research in the first place.
Researchers have run usability tests in person for decades, but you can also conduct usability tests remotely using tools like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or other teleconferencing software. This approach has become increasingly popular since the beginning of the pandemic, and it works well. You can think of in-person usability tests like going to a play and remote sessions as more like watching a movie. There are advantages and disadvantages to each. In-person usability research is a much richer experience. Stakeholders can experience the sessions with other stakeholders. You also get real-time reactions—including surprise, agreement, disagreement, and discussions about what they’re seeing. Much like going to a play, where audiences get to take in the stage, the costumes, the lighting, and the actors’ interactions, in-person research lets you see users up close, including their body language, how they interact with the moderator, and how the scene is set up.
If in-person usability testing is like watching a play—staged and controlled—then conducting usability testing in the field is like immersive theater where any two sessions might be very different from one another. You can take usability testing into the field by creating a replica of the space where users interact with the product and then conduct your research there. Or you can go out to meet users at their location to do your research. With either option, you get to see how things work in context, things come up that wouldn’t have in a lab environment—and conversion can shift in entirely different directions. As researchers, you have less control over how these sessions go, but this can sometimes help you understand users even better. Meeting users where they are can provide clues to the external forces that could be affecting how they use your product. In-person usability tests provide another level of detail that’s often missing from remote usability tests.
That’s not to say that the “movies”—remote sessions—aren’t a good option. Remote sessions can reach a wider audience. They allow a lot more stakeholders to be involved in the research and to see what’s going on. And they open the doors to a much wider geographical pool of users. But with any remote session there is the potential of time wasted if participants can’t log in or get their microphone working.
The benefit of usability testing, whether remote or in person, is that you get to see real users interact with the designs in real time, and you can ask them questions to understand their thought processes and grasp of the solution. This can help you not only identify problems but also glean why they’re problems in the first place. Furthermore, you can test hypotheses and gauge whether your thinking is correct. By the end of the sessions, you’ll have a much clearer picture of how usable the designs are and whether they work for their intended purposes. Act two is the heart of the story—where the excitement is—but there can be surprises too. This is equally true of usability tests. Often, participants will say unexpected things, which change the way that you look at things—and these twists in the story can move things in new directions.
Unfortunately, user research is sometimes seen as expendable. And too often usability testing is the only research process that some stakeholders think that they ever need. In fact, if the designs that you’re evaluating in the usability test aren’t grounded in a solid understanding of your users (foundational research), there’s not much to be gained by doing usability testing in the first place. That’s because you’re narrowing the focus of what you’re getting feedback on, without understanding the users’ needs. As a result, there’s no way of knowing whether the designs might solve a problem that users have. It’s only feedback on a particular design in the context of a usability test.
On the other hand, if you only do foundational research, while you might have set out to solve the right problem, you won’t know whether the thing that you’re building will actually solve that. This illustrates the importance of doing both foundational and directional research.
In act two, stakeholders will—hopefully—get to watch the story unfold in the user sessions, which creates the conflict and tension in the current design by surfacing their highs and lows. And in turn, this can help motivate stakeholders to address the issues that come up.
Act three: resolution
While the first two acts are about understanding the background and the tensions that can propel stakeholders into action, the third part is about resolving the problems from the first two acts. While it’s important to have an audience for the first two acts, it’s crucial that they stick around for the final act. That means the whole product team, including developers, UX practitioners, business analysts, delivery managers, product managers, and any other stakeholders that have a say in the next steps. It allows the whole team to hear users’ feedback together, ask questions, and discuss what’s possible within the project’s constraints. And it lets the UX research and design teams clarify, suggest alternatives, or give more context behind their decisions. So you can get everyone on the same page and get agreement on the way forward.
This act is mostly told in voiceover with some audience participation. The researcher is the narrator, who paints a picture of the issues and what the future of the product could look like given the things that the team has learned. They give the stakeholders their recommendations and their guidance on creating this vision.
Nancy Duarte in the Harvard Business Review offers an approach to structuring presentations that follow a persuasive story. “The most effective presenters use the same techniques as great storytellers: By reminding people of the status quo and then revealing the path to a better way, they set up a conflict that needs to be resolved,” writes Duarte. “That tension helps them persuade the audience to adopt a new mindset or behave differently.”
This type of structure aligns well with research results, and particularly results from usability tests. It provides evidence for “what is”—the problems that you’ve identified. And “what could be”—your recommendations on how to address them. And so on and so forth.
You can reinforce your recommendations with examples of things that competitors are doing that could address these issues or with examples where competitors are gaining an edge. Or they can be visual, like quick mockups of how a new design could look that solves a problem. These can help generate conversation and momentum. And this continues until the end of the session when you’ve wrapped everything up in the conclusion by summarizing the main issues and suggesting a way forward. This is the part where you reiterate the main themes or problems and what they mean for the product—the denouement of the story. This stage gives stakeholders the next steps and hopefully the momentum to take those steps!
While we are nearly at the end of this story, let’s reflect on the idea that user research is storytelling. All the elements of a good story are there in the three-act structure of user research:
- Act one: You meet the protagonists (the users) and the antagonists (the problems affecting users). This is the beginning of the plot. In act one, researchers might use methods including contextual inquiry, ethnography, diary studies, surveys, and analytics. The output of these methods can include personas, empathy maps, user journeys, and analytics dashboards.
- Act two: Next, there’s character development. There’s conflict and tension as the protagonists encounter problems and challenges, which they must overcome. In act two, researchers might use methods including usability testing, competitive benchmarking, and heuristics evaluation. The output of these can include usability findings reports, UX strategy documents, usability guidelines, and best practices.
- Act three: The protagonists triumph and you see what a better future looks like. In act three, researchers may use methods including presentation decks, storytelling, and digital media. The output of these can be: presentation decks, video clips, audio clips, and pictures.
The researcher has multiple roles: they’re the storyteller, the director, and the producer. The participants have a small role, but they are significant characters (in the research). And the stakeholders are the audience. But the most important thing is to get the story right and to use storytelling to tell users’ stories through research. By the end, the stakeholders should walk away with a purpose and an eagerness to resolve the product’s ills.
So the next time that you’re planning research with clients or you’re speaking to stakeholders about research that you’ve done, think about how you can weave in some storytelling. Ultimately, user research is a win-win for everyone, and you just need to get stakeholders interested in how the story ends.
If You’re a Caffeine Connoisseur, White Coffee Might Be Your New Best Friend, According to a Roasting Expert
The roasting process lends to a nuttier and lighter flavor.
Did watching the bespectacled Stephen Nedoroscik, aka, Pommel Horse Steve, inspire you to buy a new pair of glasses? Us too. And we know of a sneaky way to get a shiny new pair of frames for just $1.
Zenni Optical, home to a slew of luxury eyewear brands, is having a flash sale now through August 11 where you can score $1 frames (yes, as in one dollar) with any lens purchase over $24. Among the many summer sales we’ve seen, Zenni’s is definitely one of the best looking (ugh, was that too cornea?). Read on to shop the styles we have our eye on. Sorry, no more vision puns!
What is Zenni Optical?
Zenni Optical is an online optical company that offers affordable prescription glasses, as well as brand-name frames, sunglasses, and contact lenses. Alongside Zenni’s own frames you’ll find styles from designers like Kate Spade, Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs, and Jimmy Choo, plus sportier brands like Adidas, Under Armour, and Nike. You’ll see plenty of athletes and celebs rocking Zenni including Keke Palmer and the U.S. Olympic Beach Volleyball Team.
How Zenni Optical works
Step 1: Choose the eyeglass frames that call to you, then try them on using Zenni’s virtual try-on service. Sure, this doesn’t exactly give you a feel for the frames, but the technology is pretty great and does a good job of suggesting how the frames will look on your face. Many of Zenni’s frames also come in a variety of colors and patterns, so you’ll have no shortage of styles to choose from.
Step 2: Once you’ve selected your frames, you’ll choose lenses. Most frames are available for prescription ranges between -20.00-+12.00, and a PD (pupillary distance) ranging from 59-79 mm. Many Zenni frames are also available as progressive or bifocal frames, sunglasses, or even as blue-light blocking or clear lenses if you don’t need a prescription (but want to look super cool). Note: you’ll need to upload a photo of your written prescription for corrective lenses.
Step 3: After you’ve chosen lenses, you’ll have the option to engrave your glasses with whatever 15 characters you’d like. Zenni also sells cases, cleaning supplies, and a repair kit, all of which you can add to your order before you check out.
Step 4: Select your shipping method and check out! Zenni ships to over 200 countries worldwide and offers returns on glasses within 14 days of receiving your order for a full refund (or within 30 days for store credit). Zenni also has a replacement warranty for broken frames in the first 30 days.
Happy shopping!
Styles to shop at the Zenni Optical Flash Sale
Original frame price: $28
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Tortoiseshell
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $24
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Tortoiseshell, orange-clear, black, leopard print
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $28
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Gold, black, blue
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
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Original frame price: $26
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Tortoiseshell, black, purple, green, beige
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $30
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Forest green and gold, white
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $40
Size: Adult small (4.7-4.9 in)
Frame colors available: White, yellow, pink, black
Available lenses: Prescription or non-prescription sunglasses
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Why It’s So Compelling to Watch the U.S. Open, Even if You Don’t Regularly Follow Tennis
The tennis tournament is a cultural intersection.
Did watching the bespectacled Stephen Nedoroscik, aka, Pommel Horse Steve, inspire you to buy a new pair of glasses? Us too. And we know of a sneaky way to get a shiny new pair of frames for just $1.
Zenni Optical, home to a slew of luxury eyewear brands, is having a flash sale now through August 11 where you can score $1 frames (yes, as in one dollar) with any lens purchase over $24. Among the many summer sales we’ve seen, Zenni’s is definitely one of the best looking (ugh, was that too cornea?). Read on to shop the styles we have our eye on. Sorry, no more vision puns!
What is Zenni Optical?
Zenni Optical is an online optical company that offers affordable prescription glasses, as well as brand-name frames, sunglasses, and contact lenses. Alongside Zenni’s own frames you’ll find styles from designers like Kate Spade, Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs, and Jimmy Choo, plus sportier brands like Adidas, Under Armour, and Nike. You’ll see plenty of athletes and celebs rocking Zenni including Keke Palmer and the U.S. Olympic Beach Volleyball Team.
How Zenni Optical works
Step 1: Choose the eyeglass frames that call to you, then try them on using Zenni’s virtual try-on service. Sure, this doesn’t exactly give you a feel for the frames, but the technology is pretty great and does a good job of suggesting how the frames will look on your face. Many of Zenni’s frames also come in a variety of colors and patterns, so you’ll have no shortage of styles to choose from.
Step 2: Once you’ve selected your frames, you’ll choose lenses. Most frames are available for prescription ranges between -20.00-+12.00, and a PD (pupillary distance) ranging from 59-79 mm. Many Zenni frames are also available as progressive or bifocal frames, sunglasses, or even as blue-light blocking or clear lenses if you don’t need a prescription (but want to look super cool). Note: you’ll need to upload a photo of your written prescription for corrective lenses.
Step 3: After you’ve chosen lenses, you’ll have the option to engrave your glasses with whatever 15 characters you’d like. Zenni also sells cases, cleaning supplies, and a repair kit, all of which you can add to your order before you check out.
Step 4: Select your shipping method and check out! Zenni ships to over 200 countries worldwide and offers returns on glasses within 14 days of receiving your order for a full refund (or within 30 days for store credit). Zenni also has a replacement warranty for broken frames in the first 30 days.
Happy shopping!
Styles to shop at the Zenni Optical Flash Sale
Original frame price: $28
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Tortoiseshell
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $24
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Tortoiseshell, orange-clear, black, leopard print
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $28
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Gold, black, blue
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
<!– –>
Original frame price: $26
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Tortoiseshell, black, purple, green, beige
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $30
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Forest green and gold, white
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $40
Size: Adult small (4.7-4.9 in)
Frame colors available: White, yellow, pink, black
Available lenses: Prescription or non-prescription sunglasses
<!– –>
7 Reasons Your Eyes Are *Super* Red When You Wake Up, and How to Refresh Them
Lack of sleep isn’t always to blame.
Did watching the bespectacled Stephen Nedoroscik, aka, Pommel Horse Steve, inspire you to buy a new pair of glasses? Us too. And we know of a sneaky way to get a shiny new pair of frames for just $1.
Zenni Optical, home to a slew of luxury eyewear brands, is having a flash sale now through August 11 where you can score $1 frames (yes, as in one dollar) with any lens purchase over $24. Among the many summer sales we’ve seen, Zenni’s is definitely one of the best looking (ugh, was that too cornea?). Read on to shop the styles we have our eye on. Sorry, no more vision puns!
What is Zenni Optical?
Zenni Optical is an online optical company that offers affordable prescription glasses, as well as brand-name frames, sunglasses, and contact lenses. Alongside Zenni’s own frames you’ll find styles from designers like Kate Spade, Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs, and Jimmy Choo, plus sportier brands like Adidas, Under Armour, and Nike. You’ll see plenty of athletes and celebs rocking Zenni including Keke Palmer and the U.S. Olympic Beach Volleyball Team.
How Zenni Optical works
Step 1: Choose the eyeglass frames that call to you, then try them on using Zenni’s virtual try-on service. Sure, this doesn’t exactly give you a feel for the frames, but the technology is pretty great and does a good job of suggesting how the frames will look on your face. Many of Zenni’s frames also come in a variety of colors and patterns, so you’ll have no shortage of styles to choose from.
Step 2: Once you’ve selected your frames, you’ll choose lenses. Most frames are available for prescription ranges between -20.00-+12.00, and a PD (pupillary distance) ranging from 59-79 mm. Many Zenni frames are also available as progressive or bifocal frames, sunglasses, or even as blue-light blocking or clear lenses if you don’t need a prescription (but want to look super cool). Note: you’ll need to upload a photo of your written prescription for corrective lenses.
Step 3: After you’ve chosen lenses, you’ll have the option to engrave your glasses with whatever 15 characters you’d like. Zenni also sells cases, cleaning supplies, and a repair kit, all of which you can add to your order before you check out.
Step 4: Select your shipping method and check out! Zenni ships to over 200 countries worldwide and offers returns on glasses within 14 days of receiving your order for a full refund (or within 30 days for store credit). Zenni also has a replacement warranty for broken frames in the first 30 days.
Happy shopping!
Styles to shop at the Zenni Optical Flash Sale
Original frame price: $28
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Tortoiseshell
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $24
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Tortoiseshell, orange-clear, black, leopard print
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $28
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Gold, black, blue
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
<!– –>
Original frame price: $26
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Tortoiseshell, black, purple, green, beige
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $30
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Forest green and gold, white
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $40
Size: Adult small (4.7-4.9 in)
Frame colors available: White, yellow, pink, black
Available lenses: Prescription or non-prescription sunglasses
<!– –>
This 1 Hack Makes It Easy (and Fun!) to Start Playing Tennis
This is tennis’ answer to easy-to-play pickleball.
Did watching the bespectacled Stephen Nedoroscik, aka, Pommel Horse Steve, inspire you to buy a new pair of glasses? Us too. And we know of a sneaky way to get a shiny new pair of frames for just $1.
Zenni Optical, home to a slew of luxury eyewear brands, is having a flash sale now through August 11 where you can score $1 frames (yes, as in one dollar) with any lens purchase over $24. Among the many summer sales we’ve seen, Zenni’s is definitely one of the best looking (ugh, was that too cornea?). Read on to shop the styles we have our eye on. Sorry, no more vision puns!
What is Zenni Optical?
Zenni Optical is an online optical company that offers affordable prescription glasses, as well as brand-name frames, sunglasses, and contact lenses. Alongside Zenni’s own frames you’ll find styles from designers like Kate Spade, Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs, and Jimmy Choo, plus sportier brands like Adidas, Under Armour, and Nike. You’ll see plenty of athletes and celebs rocking Zenni including Keke Palmer and the U.S. Olympic Beach Volleyball Team.
How Zenni Optical works
Step 1: Choose the eyeglass frames that call to you, then try them on using Zenni’s virtual try-on service. Sure, this doesn’t exactly give you a feel for the frames, but the technology is pretty great and does a good job of suggesting how the frames will look on your face. Many of Zenni’s frames also come in a variety of colors and patterns, so you’ll have no shortage of styles to choose from.
Step 2: Once you’ve selected your frames, you’ll choose lenses. Most frames are available for prescription ranges between -20.00-+12.00, and a PD (pupillary distance) ranging from 59-79 mm. Many Zenni frames are also available as progressive or bifocal frames, sunglasses, or even as blue-light blocking or clear lenses if you don’t need a prescription (but want to look super cool). Note: you’ll need to upload a photo of your written prescription for corrective lenses.
Step 3: After you’ve chosen lenses, you’ll have the option to engrave your glasses with whatever 15 characters you’d like. Zenni also sells cases, cleaning supplies, and a repair kit, all of which you can add to your order before you check out.
Step 4: Select your shipping method and check out! Zenni ships to over 200 countries worldwide and offers returns on glasses within 14 days of receiving your order for a full refund (or within 30 days for store credit). Zenni also has a replacement warranty for broken frames in the first 30 days.
Happy shopping!
Styles to shop at the Zenni Optical Flash Sale
Original frame price: $28
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Tortoiseshell
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $24
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Tortoiseshell, orange-clear, black, leopard print
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $28
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Gold, black, blue
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
<!– –>
Original frame price: $26
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Tortoiseshell, black, purple, green, beige
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $30
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Forest green and gold, white
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $40
Size: Adult small (4.7-4.9 in)
Frame colors available: White, yellow, pink, black
Available lenses: Prescription or non-prescription sunglasses
<!– –>
6 Off-the-Court Exercises That Will Help You Ace Your Next Tennis Match
Build up the endurance and speed you need to score more points and prevent injury.
Did watching the bespectacled Stephen Nedoroscik, aka, Pommel Horse Steve, inspire you to buy a new pair of glasses? Us too. And we know of a sneaky way to get a shiny new pair of frames for just $1.
Zenni Optical, home to a slew of luxury eyewear brands, is having a flash sale now through August 11 where you can score $1 frames (yes, as in one dollar) with any lens purchase over $24. Among the many summer sales we’ve seen, Zenni’s is definitely one of the best looking (ugh, was that too cornea?). Read on to shop the styles we have our eye on. Sorry, no more vision puns!
What is Zenni Optical?
Zenni Optical is an online optical company that offers affordable prescription glasses, as well as brand-name frames, sunglasses, and contact lenses. Alongside Zenni’s own frames you’ll find styles from designers like Kate Spade, Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs, and Jimmy Choo, plus sportier brands like Adidas, Under Armour, and Nike. You’ll see plenty of athletes and celebs rocking Zenni including Keke Palmer and the U.S. Olympic Beach Volleyball Team.
How Zenni Optical works
Step 1: Choose the eyeglass frames that call to you, then try them on using Zenni’s virtual try-on service. Sure, this doesn’t exactly give you a feel for the frames, but the technology is pretty great and does a good job of suggesting how the frames will look on your face. Many of Zenni’s frames also come in a variety of colors and patterns, so you’ll have no shortage of styles to choose from.
Step 2: Once you’ve selected your frames, you’ll choose lenses. Most frames are available for prescription ranges between -20.00-+12.00, and a PD (pupillary distance) ranging from 59-79 mm. Many Zenni frames are also available as progressive or bifocal frames, sunglasses, or even as blue-light blocking or clear lenses if you don’t need a prescription (but want to look super cool). Note: you’ll need to upload a photo of your written prescription for corrective lenses.
Step 3: After you’ve chosen lenses, you’ll have the option to engrave your glasses with whatever 15 characters you’d like. Zenni also sells cases, cleaning supplies, and a repair kit, all of which you can add to your order before you check out.
Step 4: Select your shipping method and check out! Zenni ships to over 200 countries worldwide and offers returns on glasses within 14 days of receiving your order for a full refund (or within 30 days for store credit). Zenni also has a replacement warranty for broken frames in the first 30 days.
Happy shopping!
Styles to shop at the Zenni Optical Flash Sale
Original frame price: $28
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Tortoiseshell
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $24
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Tortoiseshell, orange-clear, black, leopard print
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $28
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Gold, black, blue
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
<!– –>
Original frame price: $26
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Tortoiseshell, black, purple, green, beige
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $30
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Forest green and gold, white
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $40
Size: Adult small (4.7-4.9 in)
Frame colors available: White, yellow, pink, black
Available lenses: Prescription or non-prescription sunglasses
<!– –>
7 Benefits of Tennis That’ll Convince You to Pick Up a Racket and Hit the Court
The biggest perk? It’s really freaking fun.
Did watching the bespectacled Stephen Nedoroscik, aka, Pommel Horse Steve, inspire you to buy a new pair of glasses? Us too. And we know of a sneaky way to get a shiny new pair of frames for just $1.
Zenni Optical, home to a slew of luxury eyewear brands, is having a flash sale now through August 11 where you can score $1 frames (yes, as in one dollar) with any lens purchase over $24. Among the many summer sales we’ve seen, Zenni’s is definitely one of the best looking (ugh, was that too cornea?). Read on to shop the styles we have our eye on. Sorry, no more vision puns!
What is Zenni Optical?
Zenni Optical is an online optical company that offers affordable prescription glasses, as well as brand-name frames, sunglasses, and contact lenses. Alongside Zenni’s own frames you’ll find styles from designers like Kate Spade, Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs, and Jimmy Choo, plus sportier brands like Adidas, Under Armour, and Nike. You’ll see plenty of athletes and celebs rocking Zenni including Keke Palmer and the U.S. Olympic Beach Volleyball Team.
How Zenni Optical works
Step 1: Choose the eyeglass frames that call to you, then try them on using Zenni’s virtual try-on service. Sure, this doesn’t exactly give you a feel for the frames, but the technology is pretty great and does a good job of suggesting how the frames will look on your face. Many of Zenni’s frames also come in a variety of colors and patterns, so you’ll have no shortage of styles to choose from.
Step 2: Once you’ve selected your frames, you’ll choose lenses. Most frames are available for prescription ranges between -20.00-+12.00, and a PD (pupillary distance) ranging from 59-79 mm. Many Zenni frames are also available as progressive or bifocal frames, sunglasses, or even as blue-light blocking or clear lenses if you don’t need a prescription (but want to look super cool). Note: you’ll need to upload a photo of your written prescription for corrective lenses.
Step 3: After you’ve chosen lenses, you’ll have the option to engrave your glasses with whatever 15 characters you’d like. Zenni also sells cases, cleaning supplies, and a repair kit, all of which you can add to your order before you check out.
Step 4: Select your shipping method and check out! Zenni ships to over 200 countries worldwide and offers returns on glasses within 14 days of receiving your order for a full refund (or within 30 days for store credit). Zenni also has a replacement warranty for broken frames in the first 30 days.
Happy shopping!
Styles to shop at the Zenni Optical Flash Sale
Original frame price: $28
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Tortoiseshell
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $24
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Tortoiseshell, orange-clear, black, leopard print
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $28
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Gold, black, blue
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
<!– –>
Original frame price: $26
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Tortoiseshell, black, purple, green, beige
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $30
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Forest green and gold, white
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $40
Size: Adult small (4.7-4.9 in)
Frame colors available: White, yellow, pink, black
Available lenses: Prescription or non-prescription sunglasses
<!– –>
PSA: Stock Up on New Specs for a $1 at the Zenni Optical Flash Sale
Your fav new frames await.
Did watching the bespectacled Stephen Nedoroscik, aka, Pommel Horse Steve, inspire you to buy a new pair of glasses? Us too. And we know of a sneaky way to get a shiny new pair of frames for just $1.
Zenni Optical, home to a slew of luxury eyewear brands, is having a flash sale now through August 11 where you can score $1 frames (yes, as in one dollar) with any lens purchase over $24. Among the many summer sales we’ve seen, Zenni’s is definitely one of the best looking (ugh, was that too cornea?). Read on to shop the styles we have our eye on. Sorry, no more vision puns!
What is Zenni Optical?
Zenni Optical is an online optical company that offers affordable prescription glasses, as well as brand-name frames, sunglasses, and contact lenses. Alongside Zenni’s own frames you’ll find styles from designers like Kate Spade, Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs, and Jimmy Choo, plus sportier brands like Adidas, Under Armour, and Nike. You’ll see plenty of athletes and celebs rocking Zenni including Keke Palmer and the U.S. Olympic Beach Volleyball Team.
How Zenni Optical works
Step 1: Choose the eyeglass frames that call to you, then try them on using Zenni’s virtual try-on service. Sure, this doesn’t exactly give you a feel for the frames, but the technology is pretty great and does a good job of suggesting how the frames will look on your face. Many of Zenni’s frames also come in a variety of colors and patterns, so you’ll have no shortage of styles to choose from.
Step 2: Once you’ve selected your frames, you’ll choose lenses. Most frames are available for prescription ranges between -20.00-+12.00, and a PD (pupillary distance) ranging from 59-79 mm. Many Zenni frames are also available as progressive or bifocal frames, sunglasses, or even as blue-light blocking or clear lenses if you don’t need a prescription (but want to look super cool). Note: you’ll need to upload a photo of your written prescription for corrective lenses.
Step 3: After you’ve chosen lenses, you’ll have the option to engrave your glasses with whatever 15 characters you’d like. Zenni also sells cases, cleaning supplies, and a repair kit, all of which you can add to your order before you check out.
Step 4: Select your shipping method and check out! Zenni ships to over 200 countries worldwide and offers returns on glasses within 14 days of receiving your order for a full refund (or within 30 days for store credit). Zenni also has a replacement warranty for broken frames in the first 30 days.
Happy shopping!
Styles to shop at the Zenni Optical Flash Sale
Original frame price: $28
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Tortoiseshell
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $24
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Tortoiseshell, orange-clear, black, leopard print
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $28
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Gold, black, blue
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
<!– –>
Original frame price: $26
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Tortoiseshell, black, purple, green, beige
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $30
Size: Adult medium (5.0-5.2 inches)
Frame colors available: Forest green and gold, white
Available lenses: Prescription, readers, non-prescription (blue-light blocking, sunglasses, transition lenses, or clear)
Original frame price: $40
Size: Adult small (4.7-4.9 in)
Frame colors available: White, yellow, pink, black
Available lenses: Prescription or non-prescription sunglasses
<!– –>
Breaking Out of the Box
CSS is about styling boxes. In fact, the whole web is made of boxes, from the browser viewport to elements on a page. But every once in a while a new feature comes along that makes us rethink our design approach.
Round displays, for example, make it fun to play with circular clip areas. Mobile screen notches and virtual keyboards offer challenges to best organize content that stays clear of them. And dual screen or foldable devices make us rethink how to best use available space in a number of different device postures.
These recent evolutions of the web platform made it both more challenging and more interesting to design products. They’re great opportunities for us to break out of our rectangular boxes.
I’d like to talk about a new feature similar to the above: the Window Controls Overlay for Progressive Web Apps (PWAs).
Progressive Web Apps are blurring the lines between apps and websites. They combine the best of both worlds. On one hand, they’re stable, linkable, searchable, and responsive just like websites. On the other hand, they provide additional powerful capabilities, work offline, and read files just like native apps.
As a design surface, PWAs are really interesting because they challenge us to think about what mixing web and device-native user interfaces can be. On desktop devices in particular, we have more than 40 years of history telling us what applications should look like, and it can be hard to break out of this mental model.
At the end of the day though, PWAs on desktop are constrained to the window they appear in: a rectangle with a title bar at the top.
Here’s what a typical desktop PWA app looks like:
Sure, as the author of a PWA, you get to choose the color of the title bar (using the Web Application Manifest theme_color property), but that’s about it.
What if we could think outside this box, and reclaim the real estate of the app’s entire window? Doing so would give us a chance to make our apps more beautiful and feel more integrated in the operating system.
This is exactly what the Window Controls Overlay offers. This new PWA functionality makes it possible to take advantage of the full surface area of the app, including where the title bar normally appears.
About the title bar and window controls
Let’s start with an explanation of what the title bar and window controls are.
The title bar is the area displayed at the top of an app window, which usually contains the app’s name. Window controls are the affordances, or buttons, that make it possible to minimize, maximize, or close the app’s window, and are also displayed at the top.
Window Controls Overlay removes the physical constraint of the title bar and window controls areas. It frees up the full height of the app window, enabling the title bar and window control buttons to be overlaid on top of the application’s web content.
If you are reading this article on a desktop computer, take a quick look at other apps. Chances are they’re already doing something similar to this. In fact, the very web browser you are using to read this uses the top area to display tabs.
Spotify displays album artwork all the way to the top edge of the application window.
Microsoft Word uses the available title bar space to display the auto-save and search functionalities, and more.
The whole point of this feature is to allow you to make use of this space with your own content while providing a way to account for the window control buttons. And it enables you to offer this modified experience on a range of platforms while not adversely affecting the experience on browsers or devices that don’t support Window Controls Overlay. After all, PWAs are all about progressive enhancement, so this feature is a chance to enhance your app to use this extra space when it’s available.
Let’s use the feature
For the rest of this article, we’ll be working on a demo app to learn more about using the feature.
The demo app is called 1DIV. It’s a simple CSS playground where users can create designs using CSS and a single HTML element.
The app has two pages. The first lists the existing CSS designs you’ve created:
The second page enables you to create and edit CSS designs:
Since I’ve added a simple web manifest and service worker, we can install the app as a PWA on desktop. Here is what it looks like on macOS:
And on Windows:
Our app is looking good, but the white title bar in the first page is wasted space. In the second page, it would be really nice if the design area went all the way to the top of the app window.
Let’s use the Window Controls Overlay feature to improve this.
Enabling Window Controls Overlay
The feature is still experimental at the moment. To try it, you need to enable it in one of the supported browsers.
As of now, it has been implemented in Chromium, as a collaboration between Microsoft and Google. We can therefore use it in Chrome or Edge by going to the internal about://flags page, and enabling the Desktop PWA Window Controls Overlay flag.
Using Window Controls Overlay
To use the feature, we need to add the following display_override member to our web app’s manifest file:
{
"name": "1DIV",
"description": "1DIV is a mini CSS playground",
"lang": "en-US",
"start_url": "/",
"theme_color": "#ffffff",
"background_color": "#ffffff",
"display_override": [
"window-controls-overlay"
],
"icons": [
...
]
}
On the surface, the feature is really simple to use. This manifest change is the only thing we need to make the title bar disappear and turn the window controls into an overlay.
However, to provide a great experience for all users regardless of what device or browser they use, and to make the most of the title bar area in our design, we’ll need a bit of CSS and JavaScript code.
Here is what the app looks like now:
The title bar is gone, which is what we wanted, but our logo, search field, and NEW button are partially covered by the window controls because now our layout starts at the top of the window.
It’s similar on Windows, with the difference that the close, maximize, and minimize buttons appear on the right side, grouped together with the PWA control buttons:
Using CSS to keep clear of the window controls
Along with the feature, new CSS environment variables have been introduced:
titlebar-area-xtitlebar-area-ytitlebar-area-widthtitlebar-area-height
You use these variables with the CSS env() function to position your content where the title bar would have been while ensuring it won’t overlap with the window controls. In our case, we’ll use two of the variables to position our header, which contains the logo, search bar, and NEW button.
header {
position: absolute;
left: env(titlebar-area-x, 0);
width: env(titlebar-area-width, 100%);
height: var(--toolbar-height);
}
The titlebar-area-x variable gives us the distance from the left of the viewport to where the title bar would appear, and titlebar-area-width is its width. (Remember, this is not equivalent to the width of the entire viewport, just the title bar portion, which as noted earlier, doesn’t include the window controls.)
By doing this, we make sure our content remains fully visible. We’re also defining fallback values (the second parameter in the env() function) for when the variables are not defined (such as on non-supporting browsers, or when the Windows Control Overlay feature is disabled).
Now our header adapts to its surroundings, and it doesn’t feel like the window control buttons have been added as an afterthought. The app looks a lot more like a native app.
Changing the window controls background color so it blends in
Now let’s take a closer look at our second page: the CSS playground editor.
Not great. Our CSS demo area does go all the way to the top, which is what we wanted, but the way the window controls appear as white rectangles on top of it is quite jarring.
We can fix this by changing the app’s theme color. There are a couple of ways to define it:
- PWAs can define a theme color in the web app manifest file using the theme_color manifest member. This color is then used by the OS in different ways. On desktop platforms, it is used to provide a background color to the title bar and window controls.
- Websites can use the theme-color meta tag as well. It’s used by browsers to customize the color of the UI around the web page. For PWAs, this color can override the manifest
theme_color.
In our case, we can set the manifest theme_color to white to provide the right default color for our app. The OS will read this color value when the app is installed and use it to make the window controls background color white. This color works great for our main page with the list of demos.
The theme-color meta tag can be changed at runtime, using JavaScript. So we can do that to override the white with the right demo background color when one is opened.
Here is the function we’ll use:
function themeWindow(bgColor) {
document.querySelector("meta[name=theme-color]").setAttribute('content', bgColor);
}With this in place, we can imagine how using color and CSS transitions can produce a smooth change from the list page to the demo page, and enable the window control buttons to blend in with the rest of the app’s interface.
Dragging the window
Now, getting rid of the title bar entirely does have an important accessibility consequence: it’s much more difficult to move the application window around.
The title bar provides a sizable area for users to click and drag, but by using the Window Controls Overlay feature, this area becomes limited to where the control buttons are, and users have to very precisely aim between these buttons to move the window.
Fortunately, this can be fixed using CSS with the app-region property. This property is, for now, only supported in Chromium-based browsers and needs the -webkit- vendor prefix.
To make any element of the app become a dragging target for the window, we can use the following:
-webkit-app-region: drag;
It is also possible to explicitly make an element non-draggable:
-webkit-app-region: no-drag;
These options can be useful for us. We can make the entire header a dragging target, but make the search field and NEW button within it non-draggable so they can still be used as normal.
However, because the editor page doesn’t display the header, users wouldn’t be able to drag the window while editing code. So let’s use a different approach. We’ll create another element before our header, also absolutely positioned, and dedicated to dragging the window.
... .drag {
position: absolute;
top: 0;
width: 100%;
height: env(titlebar-area-height, 0);
-webkit-app-region: drag;
}With the above code, we’re making the draggable area span the entire viewport width, and using the titlebar-area-height variable to make it as tall as what the title bar would have been. This way, our draggable area is aligned with the window control buttons as shown below.
And, now, to make sure our search field and button remain usable:
header .search,
header .new {
-webkit-app-region: no-drag;
}With the above code, users can click and drag where the title bar used to be. It is an area that users expect to be able to use to move windows on desktop, and we’re not breaking this expectation, which is good.
Adapting to window resize
It may be useful for an app to know both whether the window controls overlay is visible and when its size changes. In our case, if the user made the window very narrow, there wouldn’t be enough space for the search field, logo, and button to fit, so we’d want to push them down a bit.
The Window Controls Overlay feature comes with a JavaScript API we can use to do this: navigator.windowControlsOverlay.
The API provides three interesting things:
navigator.windowControlsOverlay.visiblelets us know whether the overlay is visible.navigator.windowControlsOverlay.getBoundingClientRect()lets us know the position and size of the title bar area.navigator.windowControlsOverlay.ongeometrychangelets us know when the size or visibility changes.
Let’s use this to be aware of the size of the title bar area and move the header down if it’s too narrow.
if (navigator.windowControlsOverlay) {
navigator.windowControlsOverlay.addEventListener('geometrychange', () => {
const { width } = navigator.windowControlsOverlay.getBoundingClientRect();
document.body.classList.toggle('narrow', width < 250);
});
}In the example above, we set the narrow class on the body of the app if the title bar area is narrower than 250px. We could do something similar with a media query, but using the windowControlsOverlay API has two advantages for our use case:
- It’s only fired when the feature is supported and used; we don’t want to adapt the design otherwise.
- We get the size of the title bar area across operating systems, which is great because the size of the window controls is different on Mac and Windows. Using a media query wouldn’t make it possible for us to know exactly how much space remains.
.narrow header {
top: env(titlebar-area-height, 0);
left: 0;
width: 100%;
}Using the above CSS code, we can move our header down to stay clear of the window control buttons when the window is too narrow, and move the thumbnails down accordingly.
Thirty pixels of exciting design opportunities
Using the Window Controls Overlay feature, we were able to take our simple demo app and turn it into something that feels so much more integrated on desktop devices. Something that reaches out of the usual window constraints and provides a custom experience for its users.
In reality, this feature only gives us about 30 pixels of extra room and comes with challenges on how to deal with the window controls. And yet, this extra room and those challenges can be turned into exciting design opportunities.
More devices of all shapes and forms get invented all the time, and the web keeps on evolving to adapt to them. New features get added to the web platform to allow us, web authors, to integrate more and more deeply with those devices. From watches or foldable devices to desktop computers, we need to evolve our design approach for the web. Building for the web now lets us think outside the rectangular box.
So let’s embrace this. Let’s use the standard technologies already at our disposal, and experiment with new ideas to provide tailored experiences for all devices, all from a single codebase!
If you get a chance to try the Window Controls Overlay feature and have feedback about it, you can open issues on the spec’s repository. It’s still early in the development of this feature, and you can help make it even better. Or, you can take a look at the feature’s existing documentation, or this demo app and its source code.