🤝 From the desk of @uncenter: “My new Learn Eleventy course”
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Add support for Drafts (in-progress content) using this five line config. This includes draft content during --serve or --watch but not with a regular build!
Learn more: https://www.11ty.dev/docs/config-preprocessors/
https://www.joshcanhelp.com/ is #BuiltAwesome by Josh Cunningham
The beach ball's direct ancestor is a monochrome icon on NeXT computers representing a spinning magneto-optical disc, circa 1988. NeXT flopped. Apple acquired it in 1996. The icon survived and eventually got a rainbow Aqua makeover.
Did you know? Your robots.txt, 404 page, or sitemap.xml don't need to be files in your project. Virtual templates let you generate any output file via config (or plugin).
Read more: https://www.11ty.dev/docs/virtual-templates/
Check out 'Creation #112' from the Font Awesome Icon Gallery!
Curious about the new and improved Icon Wizard 2.0?
Join Jory & Noah as they share demos, answer questions, and talk all things Icon Wizard.
📅 Aug 19 at 1pm ET / 12pm CT / 10am PT → https://www.youtube.com/live/vKRvIfHP4vg?si=4gp8Qu0DXwz8wkAp
https://tampamonitor.com/ is #BuiltAwesome 🏆 by Michael Bishop
New episode of Podcast Awesome digs into the actual history of the Mac's "beach ball of death" cursor: Xerox PARC, Susan Kare, a failed $10,000 NeXT computer, and Steve Jobs's years outside of Apple.
Watch → https://youtu.be/MothoHNhc7E?si=6GAlUXvu5eT06NfE
Listen → https://www.buzzsprout.com/2092855/episodes/19626534
#Apple #DesignHistory #TechHistory #MacOS #PodcastAwesome
New release: Image Color v2.0.0
Fetch colors from any image for theming! Makes use of the new Image v7 release internally.
New v2.0.0 release of our Browsersync plugin (for folks not using the newer Dev Server): https://github.com/11ty/eleventy-server-browsersync/releases/tag/v2.0.0
https://hugopilate.com/ is #BuiltAwesome by Hugo Pilate
The Icon Wizard gallery keeps filling up with incredible creations, and we can't stop scrolling. 👀
Here are a few of our favorites from this week. Think you can outdo them? Enter the Icon Wizard Contest for a chance to win a free year of Pro.
Check out the gallery → https://fontawesome.com/icons/gallery
Four ways to win: Most Useful, Most Creative, Best Remix, Funniest Icon. Pick your lane (or ignore the lanes entirely).
Want to show off your icon? Tag us!
https://fontawesome.com/icons/wizard
Check out "sith + chef + hat-chef + fork + knife" from the Font Awesome Icon Gallery.
The Icon Wizard now does stacking, shape combining, resizing, nudging. Pretty much everything (except make you a sandwich. We've tried). So, the next obvious move: create an Icon Wizard contest! ✨
Build something in the Icon Wizard, submit it to the gallery, win a free year of Pro!
Get to building → https://fontawesome.com/icons/wizard
Read the blog for more details → https://blog.fontawesome.com/build-an-icon-nobodys-ever-made-and-then-show-it-off/
Status code 418, "I'm a teapot," started as an April Fools' joke in RFC 2324, published in 1998. When the IETF tried to remove it in 2017, the dev community built a whole movement to save it.
WA 3.11 puts everything in its place:
📊 <wa-data-grid>, sortable, filterable, and virtualized tables at last
🔢 <wa-pagination>, for paging through results and lists
🔢 <wa-otp-input> for PINs, 2FA, and verification codes
🍞 <wa-toast> moves from Pro to Core, notifications for everyone
🧰 Fixes and improvements
See it all: https://webawesome.com/docs/resources/changelog#wa_3110
New pod: the "Room 404 at CERN" myth is completely made up, the real origin is delightfully boring, and somehow that all leads to 418 coffee pot protocol from 1998. What in the world are we even talking about?! Listen to the latest episode to find out! 🎙️
Watch → https://youtu.be/S1ftZ_Swnmg?si=UHPc3pgg242kXJG1
Listen → https://www.podcastawesome.com/2092855/episodes/19564896
STABLE RELEASE KLAXON
Image 🖼️ v7.0.0
Release: https://github.com/11ty/image/releases/tag/v7.0.0
Docs: https://www.11ty.dev/docs/plugins/image/
Huge memory usage improvements 🎉
Thank you: @djenz, @sentience, Kirthi Balakrishnan, Valadaptive, Jorn Mineur
https://mattdoane.com/ is a personal web site #BuiltAwesome by Matt Doane 🏆
We are only 196 stars away from 20k stars on GitHub: https://github.com/11ty/buildawesome
Have you starred Build Awesome (11ty) yet?
Pre-release for testing: Image v7.0.0-alpha.5
So many performance improvements and fixes!
https://github.com/11ty/image/releases/tag/v7.0.0-alpha.5
Thank you to: Kirthi Balakrishnan, @djenz, Jorn Mineur
Case study in brand consistency, starring my dog: he wags his tail for Starbucks before he's close enough to see the sign. No one primed him. The consistent experience did that on its own. Humans respond the same way, minus the tail.
Design system components, Part 2: color palette, typography, iconography, imagery, layout, and UI components. The unglamorous ingredients that make a product feel like one coherent thing. https://blog.fontawesome.com/design-system-components/
https://autheona.com/ is #BuiltAwesome #BuiltWithEleventy by Lasan Nishshanka
Why do some interfaces just feel right?
Spoiler: it's not just colors and components. It's visual cohesion.
We pixel-peep the details in our latest Blog Awesome. 👀
https://blog.fontawesome.com/visual-cohesion-design-systems/
Another topic that emerged: Font Awesome's internal AI experiment weekend, and why "taste" and discernment turned out to be the hardest thing to automate.
Josh's advice for new icon designers: the old constraints (tiny pixel grids, limited colors) are gone. What's next hasn't been figured out yet — which is the exciting part.
Part 2 with Josh Williams: software's "final season," why Gowalla and Path are worth studying, and what AI actually changes about design taste and discernment. #design #icons #podcast
Watch on YouTube -> https://youtu.be/8VGw_MduwX4
Listen to the Pod -> https://www.podcastawesome.com/episodes/episodes/19487560-josh-williams-on-icon-design-ai-and-knowing-when-to-stop-pt-2
Part 2 is coming next week... but first:
Catch up with Josh Williams as we talk about Mosaic, his commissioned Font Awesome Pro+ icon pack, how it came together, and why “green fields” create the best design work.
Watch → https://youtu.be/vpgC_N2s49I?si=7MoGEoJRAGEV-aa-
Listen → https://www.buzzsprout.com/2092855/episodes/19424515
FA Vellum: layered icons from guest designer Brian Brasher that feature depth, dimension, and overlapping forms. Available now in Font Awesome Pro+. https://fontawesome.com/icons/packs/vellum
The Mosaic icon style traces back to Josh's Uni Calendar letterpress project. It’s geometric, mid-century-ish, built on reusable shapes. A made-for-print aesthetic that got adapted for screen. Jory has all of them. Because of course he does.
Some minor housekeeping: our `11ty-website` repo on GitHub has been renamed to `docs`: https://github.com/11ty/docs
A new Build Awesome (Eleventy) alpha is available for testing:
🥷 Using our fully async-friendly Nunjucks fork
🎁 Includes updated Bundle Plugin
https://github.com/11ty/buildawesome/releases/tag/v4.0.0-alpha.9
📊 17 fewer dependencies than 3.1.6 (-14%)
📉 6 MB smaller than 3.1.6 (-39%)
FA Pixel: a retro icon pack for the halcyon days of 128kb computers and arcade games. Available now in Pro+, and ready to byte. 🕹️ https://fontawesome.com/icons/packs/pixel
Josh on the design monoculture question: "Things have become homogenous for a while. I feel like we're in a place where maybe it'll break back out a little bit."
He traces this partly to AI lowering the cost of experimentation. Not in a hype way, but more like a tinkerer noticing the tools have changed.
GitHub Releases [11ty/fetch]: Fetch v5.1.3
https://github.com/11ty/fetch/releases/tag/v5.1.3
GitHub Releases [11ty/eleventy-plugin-bundle]: Bundle Plugin v4.0.1
https://github.com/11ty/eleventy-plugin-bundle/releases/tag/v4.0.1
WA 3.10 brings you:
🍫 <wa-random-content> to randomly display one (or more!) slotted elements
👾 Support for FA 7.3 in <wa-icon>, including new Pixel, Mosaic, and Vellum Pro+ packs
🧰 A healthy set of fixes and improvements
See it all: https://webawesome.com/docs/resources/changelog#wa_3100
GitHub Releases [11ty/nunjucks]: Nunjucks v4.0.0-alpha.3 FULL ASYNC
https://github.com/11ty/nunjucks/releases/tag/v4.0.0-alpha.3
GitHub Releases [11ty/nunjucks]: Nunjucks v4.0.0-alpha.3 FULL ASYNC
https://github.com/11ty/nunjucks/releases/tag/v4.0.0-alpha.3
GitHub Releases [11ty/eleventy-plugin-bundle]: v4.0.0
https://github.com/11ty/eleventy-plugin-bundle/releases/tag/v4.0.0
GitHub Releases [11ty/nunjucks]: Nunjucks v4.0.0-alpha.3 FULL ASYNC
https://github.com/11ty/nunjucks/releases/tag/v4.0.0-alpha.3
We asked Josh Williams onto the podcast, and the man opened by talking about ResEdit. Naturally.
Josh designed Mosaic, our new icon pack for Font Awesome Pro. He also once nearly got fired as a teenager for going two layers deep into Mac OS 7 system resources to edit the trash can icon. We're not saying those things are connected, but … you know.
Part 1 is out now!
Watch → https://youtu.be/vpgC_N2s49I?si=sdE-BHE3wk9Uc3pQ
Listen → https://www.buzzsprout.com/2092855/episodes/19424515
Just to be clear: we forked Nunjucks.
Font Awesome Pro+ icon pack Mosaic was designed by Josh Williams with craft in mind: solid forms, swoopy curves, and signature "quirks." Available now in Pro+. https://fontawesome.com/icons/packs/mosaic
FA 7.3 just dropped four Pro+ icon packs. Mosaic is hand-crafted with "quirks." Pixel is pure retro. Vellum is layered and loveable. Slab is back with new styles. And if you've got a Pro+ subscription, you'll get all of them. https://fontawesome.com/icons
A big ol’ maintenance pre-release of Nunjucks reduces library dependencies to 0, audits to 0, install size by 566 kB (828 to 262):
https://github.com/11ty/nunjucks/releases/tag/v4.0.0-alpha.2
Coming soon to a canary release near you.
Maintainence task: our docs on 11ty.dev have moved from clean-css to LightningCSS — excited to make use of CSS nesting!
The whole concept came from a book cover. Specifically the stroke contrast in the typeface on it.
Laura had one question: can you bring thick-to-thin stroke contrast into an icon system?
Nobody had really done it. She wasn't sure it would work. She did it anyway.
Watch → https://youtu.be/ALlNUTYC83g?si=O8fA_ViTGAPYiHsA
🤖 We've added a new webawesome-design skill to help AI agents build better UI with Web Awesome. 🤖
Get the new skill and all of the latest hotness like <wa-checkbox-group> in WA 3.9: https://webawesome.com/docs/resources/changelog#wa_390
Build Awesome and Eleventy v4.0.0-alpha.8 are now available for testing!
https://github.com/11ty/buildawesome/releases/tag/v4.0.0-alpha.8
Using staged publish for extra security, the new Build Awesome package, and batched incremental builds! Try it out!
Laura Bohill got a brief for Font Awesome 7: make something expressive, no rules, total freedom.
Reader, she had an existential crisis.
The result is Chisel — and it's unlike anything we've released. New Podcast Awesome episode is live. 🎙️
Watch → https://youtu.be/ALlNUTYC83g?si=Yi-xANnkrfqaiCed
We ran Build Week at Font Awesome, which was an open week to just build with AI and see what actually happens.
We were surprised that the tools amplified expertise instead of flattening it. The people who knew what they wanted used AI to go further in that direction.
Dave's take: "AI helps you be more of who you are, not less."
Read the full post: https://blog.fontawesome.com/using-ai-tools-as-a-small-team/
Hot take from this episode: the most important thing to find in a job interview isn't the role. It's the leadership.
The position will change. The culture won't. Ask accordingly.
⏰ It's about time! ⏰
We know you've been waiting for a date, so WA 3.8 is hitting the town with:
📅 <wa-date-picker> and <wa-date-input>
🎂 <wa-known-date>
⌚️ <wa-time-input>
🪗 <wa-accordion>
⚙️ SSR support
For all of the updates you won't want to miss: https://webawesome.com/docs/resources/changelog#wa_380
🎬 Ever wonder what it takes to make a 4-minute Kickstarter video?
Apparently: a full film crew, a kitchen set, a puppet in an Eleventy t-shirt, and some very questionable creative decisions.
Go behind the scenes 👀
https://youtu.be/3rhilRoWZUw?si=F8lujhUzsdn8IYIA
"Company loyalty is trivial to get. You're not gonna like what it costs."
Dave Gandy on what actually makes people stay, and why most companies won't do it. New Podcast Awesome with Font Awesome co-founder @davegandy 🎙️
Watch → https://youtu.be/IpjlsPF5lsk?si=FlPTqej7MT82DSFR
Listen → https://www.buzzsprout.com/2092855/episodes/18758254
Eleventy Core v3.1.6 fixes `module.register` deprecation warning shown in console when using Node v26.
Our Kickstarter campaign finishes at 313% funded: thank you!!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fontawesome/build-awesome-pro
We’re working towards the goal of making it easier for everyone to have a web site!
Two hours. After that, the campaign closes tonight.
Last chance for early access pricing on Build Awesome Pro. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fontawesome/build-awesome-pro?ref=c254qp
It's really worth unpacking the "full history, no lock-in" bit: you can export everything, any time, and take it with you. Your content stays yours. That was a non-negotiable for us when we built this.
Last day. Build Awesome Kickstarter closes tonight.
Publish for $29. Edit visually. Collaborate live. Newsletter tools built in. Self-host or use ours. Export everything, full history, no lock-in.
Early access ends today.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fontawesome/build-awesome-pro?ref=7qg5pm
Two stretch goals unlocked. $100k gets us newsletter tools built right into Build Awesome. Let's do it!
One day left on the Build Awesome Pro Kickstarter. Early access pricing, the vinyl possum figurine, all of it — gone tomorrow. Back it now. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fontawesome/build-awesome-pro?ref=5kd0cy
48 hours left. Early access pricing on Build Awesome Pro disappears when the campaign does. Don't say the 'possum didn't warn you.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fontawesome/build-awesome-pro?ref=e791t2
Only 179 million milliseconds left to lock in early pricing of Build Awesome Pro: starting at $29 for a *year*. And you get to keep that price when renewing too!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fontawesome/build-awesome-pro?ref=e791t2
New Podcast Awesome: Font Awesome founder Dave Gandy on what it actually takes to build a workplace people want to stay in.
The episode covers the "lifestyle business" myth, how to interview for leadership instead of just the role, and why the rockstar label almost always signals something's broken.
Practical, honest, a little contrarian. It's worth the listen. 🎙️ https://www.podcastawesome.com/2092855/episodes/18758254
(independent of any specific site generator or tool)
Anonymous poll: how long does your production build take? How long does it take you to see a change live on your production site after starting a build?
🚨 One week left! 🚨
$77K raised 🤯 Build Awesome Pro brings in-browser editing, live collaboration, and quick site updates without spinning up your whole dev environment.
Early bird pricing disappears when the campaign ends 👀
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fontawesome/build-awesome-pro?ref=24nhuj
RE: https://neighborhood.11ty.dev/@11ty/116608122426517767
Batched Incremental Builds™ — coming soon.
Coming soon to an alpha release (v4.0.0-alpha.8) near you: More efficient incremental builds when the build queue has multiple changes waiting.
Friendlier to Save All from your editor or switching git branches with lots of file changes.
RE: https://neighborhood.11ty.dev/@11ty/116573736043583505
Want your brand icon in Font Awesome? Want to help Build Awesome build even more awesome stuff for the web?
Good news: we’ve got new sponsorship tiers for that 😎
Your logo in our icon library + perks that help fund the future of the open web.
We hit $75K and unlocked our Metadata Plugin 🔓
Next up: Newsletter tools 👀 Easily broadcast content via email and build a community of your own—independent of social media.
More awesome incoming → https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fontawesome/build-awesome-pro?ref=2woas9
Sponsorship tiers (priced yearly) are available on the Build Awesome Kickstarter to unlock unique new benefits!
🤝 Add your Brand Icon to Font Awesome!
🕵 Private Discord with the Build Awesome Team
https://blog.fontawesome.com/new-build-awesome-sponsorship-tiers/
🚨 Live Now! Watch Zach Leatherman and Noah Jacobus build a Font Awesome keyboard and answer more of your burning questions on Build Awesome!
https://www.youtube.com/live/-NkmUmq0JUQ?si=d-JGG1tZEUNg4aVp
We’ll be live in 5m: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NkmUmq0JUQ
We’ll answer your questions about Font Awesome, Build Awesome, and the Kickstarter. Watch as @jabronus helps @zachleat assemble a Font Awesome keyboard! Test our multitasking skills!
Back the Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fontawesome/build-awesome-pro?ref=9n0yiq
New Podcast Awesome: @davegandy demos Look Awesome, a color theming tool he built in under 3 weeks. It tackles WCAG contrast, palette aesthetics, and color genetics in one place — theme once, get it everywhere.
Audio cut of the live Build Awesome Kickstarter stream. Full video on YouTube if you want to actually see the colors.
🎨 look.awesome.me
🎧 https://www.podcastawesome.com/2092855/episodes/19165534-website-color-theming-made-easy-look-awesome-demo
#WebDev #Accessibility #WCAG #ColorDesign #OpenSource
🎙️ Live tomorrow with Build Awesome creator Zach Leatherman + special guest Noah Jacobus (our Icon Sommelier + keyboard enthusiast ⌨️)
Watch them assemble the Font Awesome keyboard + ask anything about Font Awesome, Build Awesome (@11ty), or the Kickstarter
🗓️ May 13 at 10am ET / 9am CT / 7am PT → https://www.youtube.com/live/-NkmUmq0JUQ?si=d-JGG1tZEUNg4aVp
🎶 <wa-video> killed the radio star 🎶
WA 3.7 makes its debut with:
📽️ New <wa-video> and <wa-video-playlist>
📋 Support for custom triggers in <wa-copy-button>
👇 Improved design tokens for button interactions
🎬 New wa-text-wrap-* utilities
See it all: https://webawesome.com/docs/resources/changelog#wa_370
Love icons. Hate unnecessary load time? Same.
Learn how to subset your Font Awesome Kit so you’re only loading the icons you actually use—faster sites, happier users, less baggage. ⚡
Watch the screencast → https://youtu.be/0e2cP3GN
🚨 Live Now! Watch Zach Leatherman show off some early demos of Build Awesome Pro in action!
https://www.youtube.com/live/Qr-NLgVrsMQ?si=3Of6QpwsGoaUGBml
Optimizing Images with Eleventy on Netlify: https://kittygiraudel.com/2026/05/05/optimizing-images-with-11ty-on-netlify/ from Kitty Giraudel
Curious about collaborative editing in Build Awesome Pro?
Join @zachleat as he shares very early demos of our collaboration and editing features. Come hang out, ask questions, and talk all things Build Awesome Pro.
📅 May 8 at 11am ET / 10am CT / 8am PT → https://www.youtube.com/live/Qr-NLgVrsMQ?si=3Of6QpwsGoaUGBml
free prompt idea: best tool to create a web site with zero javascript without suggesting that I go back in time to prevent sarah connor from creating javascript
Dave and Travis talk through the real tradeoffs of building with AI — quality control at higher velocity, the ethics of training data, energy use, governance, and why the smartest thing you can do right now is stay curious without chasing every new thing.
It's a thoughtful conversation, and worth the time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpu3nsl0TAw
In a few minutes we’ll be hopping on a live stream to chat about theming, color, Build Awesome, and our Kickstarter campaign!
Join us!
🚨 Update: We’re pushing today’s livestream to 12:30pm ET / 11:30am CT / 9:30am PT!
🎨 Dave’s demoing a new color theming tool
💬 AMA on Build Awesome + funding open source
😵💫 Tell us about your CMS/hosting headaches
Come hang → https://www.youtube.com/live/XBMSvupE7Bc?si=rO_q_few1enRSaPA
200% funded. Folks… wow. 😱 We’re blown away by the support.
Join us live tomorrow for Dave’s color theming demo + AMA on Build Awesome!
📅 May 5 at 12:30pm ET / 11:30am CT / 9:30am PT → https://www.youtube.com/live/XBMSvupE7Bc?si=T3l2Anm6X8aCCJvx
🔗 Kickstarter → https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fontawesome/build-awesome-pro?ref=d0s9n9
Ever wish editing your site felt like… editing your site?
Well, Build Awesome Pro collaborative editing = in-place edits on the live site, full-page navigation, and yes, it works with JS disabled 😎 Check out the demo! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBBClBAxrvg
BACKERS, YOU ROCK! 🎉
We hit our first stretch goal: theming system unlocked 🔓 Consistent colors, type, and styles across your whole site—easy.
More awesome incoming. Let’s keep it going → https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fontawesome/build-awesome-pro?ref=7qtesr
