Revisiting the Best Web Design Blogs of 2017

The year 2017 was a pivotal moment for web design. Mobile-first thinking had matured, responsive design was universal, and a new wave of JavaScript frameworks was reshaping how websites were built. The blogs that thrived during this period captured a discipline in transition, moving from skeuomorphic legacies to flat design maturity and the first experiments with variable fonts and CSS Grid. At AAMAX.CO, we draw on lessons from this era while building modern websites that reflect the latest standards.

Understanding the blogs of 2017 helps us understand where we are today. Many of the principles those writers championed, performance, accessibility, progressive enhancement, remain foundational to high-quality web design.

Smashing Magazine: The Gold Standard

Smashing Magazine was the undisputed king of web design blogs in 2017. Its long-form articles on CSS Grid, service workers, and design systems were required reading for serious practitioners. What made Smashing special was its insistence on depth. A Smashing article was not a 500-word summary, it was a 4,000-word deep dive complete with working demos and real-world examples.

Even today, Smashing remains a powerhouse. The lessons we learned from its 2017 coverage of design systems directly inform how we structure component libraries for clients using React-based front-ends.

CSS-Tricks and the Rise of Modern CSS

CSS-Tricks earned its reputation in 2017 by embracing the explosion of new CSS features. Chris Coyier and his team documented CSS Grid, Flexbox, and custom properties with the clarity and enthusiasm of true teachers. Their tutorials gave millions of developers the confidence to adopt modern layout techniques.

The blog also expanded into JavaScript territory, covering React, Vue, and tooling. This evolution reflected the broader industry shift toward component-based front-end architectures that we still build on today.

A List Apart: Thoughtful Essays on the Craft

A List Apart occupied a unique niche in 2017. While other blogs focused on tutorials and trends, A List Apart published thoughtful essays on the philosophy and ethics of design. Pieces on content strategy, inclusive design, and the responsibilities of designers set a tone of intellectual seriousness that the industry sorely needed.

Many of these essays predicted conversations we are still having today around accessibility, ethics in AI, and the long-term consequences of design decisions.

Web Designer Depot and Awwwards

For inspiration, Web Designer Depot and Awwwards were indispensable. Web Designer Depot offered daily news, resource roundups, and practical tips, while Awwwards showcased the best new websites each day. Together, they shaped the visual sensibilities of an entire generation of designers.

The trends celebrated on Awwwards in 2017, bold typography, experimental layouts, and immersive scroll experiences, have since become mainstream. Today, we regularly build custom Next.js websites that push these ideas even further with server-side rendering and seamless performance.

Codrops and the Experimental Edge

Codrops earned a devoted following in 2017 through its experimental demos. While other blogs taught fundamentals, Codrops showed what was possible on the bleeding edge. Menu transitions, hover effects, and creative animations that seemed impossible became realistic with their open-source examples. Many of these patterns found their way into production websites within months.

UX Magazine and UX Collective

User experience blogs matured significantly in 2017. UX Magazine and UX Collective helped UX transition from a niche discipline to a mainstream practice. Articles on user research, interaction design, and product strategy shaped how modern agencies approach projects today. We build UX thinking into every phase of our website development process, a discipline rooted in these foundational conversations.

Net Magazine Online

Net Magazine, in both print and digital form, was a staple for web professionals in 2017. Its mix of interviews, tutorials, and industry analysis provided context that daily blogs often missed. Although Net Magazine has since ceased print publication, its archive remains a valuable historical resource for anyone studying the evolution of the web.

What 2017 Taught Us About Web Design

Looking back, 2017 was a year of consolidation. Responsive design became universal. Progressive web apps emerged. Performance budgets entered mainstream vocabulary. Accessibility finally started receiving the attention it deserved. The blogs of that year documented these shifts and helped practitioners navigate them.

Many of the principles championed in 2017 are now non-negotiable in professional web design. Mobile-first layouts, performance budgets, semantic HTML, and accessible color contrast have become baseline expectations rather than aspirational goals.

Applying 2017 Wisdom to 2026 Websites

Nearly a decade later, the lessons from these blogs still inform our work. We build every website with performance, accessibility, and content strategy at the core. We favor progressive enhancement over fragile JavaScript-only experiences. We treat design systems as living products rather than one-time deliverables. These principles, deeply rooted in the thinking of 2017, produce websites that age gracefully and perform exceptionally.

Hire Us to Build on These Foundations

The best ideas from 2017 never really went out of style. They evolved and matured, and we have evolved with them. If you are looking for a web design partner who respects the craft's history while embracing its future, hire us for your next Web Design and Development project. We bring the wisdom of the past and the tools of the present together to create websites that win today and endure tomorrow.