Blog preview card using HTML & CSS

What are you most proud of, and what would you do differently next time? What I'm Most Proud Of

I'm particularly proud of two aspects of this project:

1. Interactive Elements: My implementation of smooth hover transitions that enhance user experience through subtle visual cues. The coordinated box-shadow expansion and color change animations provide professional polish without being distracting.

2. CSS Architecture: The way I structured my CSS using custom properties (variables) made the styling system consistent and easily maintainable. Defining colors, spacing, and typography values in the :root selector created a design system that could be updated from a single location.

This focus on both user interaction design and maintainable CSS architecture demonstrates my growing maturity as a front-end developer.

What I'd Do Differently

If I were to approach this project again, I would:

1. Start with a more comprehensive understanding of CSS transitions and descendant selectors before beginning. The time spent learning these concepts during development could have been reduced with better preparation.

2. Take a more systematic approach to planning hover states for all interactive elements from the beginning, rather than implementing them incrementally.

What challenges did you encounter, and how did you overcome them? Challenges and Solutions

Hover Effect Implementation

The primary challenge I faced was implementing a coordinated hover effect where multiple properties changed simultaneously—specifically making the card-title change color when hovering over the entire card while also changing the box-shadow.

To overcome this challenge, I:

• Researched CSS descendant selectors to understand how to target child elements on parent hover
• Learned about the proper implementation of CSS transitions
• Discovered that transitions need to be applied to the base element, not just the hover state

Animation Timing

Another challenge was creating smooth animations that felt natural rather than abrupt. Initially, my transitions were either too fast or non-existent.

I overcame this by:

• Experimenting with different transition durations until finding the right balance
• Learning about timing functions (ease, linear, etc.) and their visual effects
• Understanding the importance of applying transitions to both directions of state changes

What specific areas of your project would you like help with? Areas Where I'd Like Feedback

CSS Transition Best Practices

I'm seeking guidance on:

• Whether my implementation of transitions follows current best practices
• If there are performance considerations I should keep in mind with CSS animations
• How to effectively combine multiple transitions for more complex interactions

Interactive Design Principles

I'd appreciate feedback on:

• Whether my hover effects enhance or potentially distract from the user experience
• If the visual feedback provided is sufficient for users to understand interactivity
• How I might improve the accessibility of these interactive elements

Component Structure

While I've implemented the blog card component successfully, I'd like to know:

• If my HTML structure effectively supports the intended interactions
• Whether there are opportunities to make the component more reusable
• If there are additional states (focus, active, etc.) I should be considering beyond hover