Andy Bell
Andy Bell — Designer, developer, founder of Set Studio and Piccalilli
CSS expert and design systems advocate focused on progressive enhancement.
bell.bzAndy Bell writes about building websites the way they should be built — accessible, resilient, and grounded in web standards rather than the framework of the month. As the founder of Set Studio and the educational platform Piccalilli, he practices what he preaches: progressive enhancement, thoughtful CSS, and design systems that actually hold up. His posts are practical and direct, written for people who want to get better at the craft of front-end development.
Written by Andy Bell.
Regular
Publishes weekly or bi-weekly
25
Independent Blog
English
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I did the Standard.site thing
It seems like everyone is integrating Standard.site on their personal websites (and beyond) at the moment. It’s mainly been encouraged by Bluesky’s recent update to the treatment of sites integrated with Standard.site. Sam has a good explainer here. It’s a cool feature! There’s loads of different platforms doing cool stuff, all using different data structures, so the standardisation was really needed. Integrating is fairly straightforward too. If you’re using WordPress, for example, it’s a...
I want an alarm clock
Nothing fancy is needed here and certainly nothing “smart”, but my one actual use for an Apple Watch — as a chill alarm clock — is silly really. I’m so fed up of my Apple Watch, so has anyone got a recommendation for an alarm clock that: Is chill with the sounds. I don’t need to be yelled awake thanks. Allows me to set a different time alarm — or no alarm — for different days Is not smart and never connects to the internet Doesn’t tick Thanks!
Wait it out
You know what I’m talking about. Play along but protect yourself by doing everything to ensure decision makers are held accountable when the burst comes Keep your cognition levels high and don’t outsource your brain Touch grass and embrace art Preserve your mental health and do things that make you happy Do work, go home
I’m unsubscribing from the AI discourse
I’m bored of hearing about it, bored of seeing people I respect(ed) fawn over it and it’s really not doing my mental health any good. I’m going wait for the inevitable bubble burst and then be ready to help people burned by this harmful technology via Set.studio and Piccalilli. We’ve recently made our viewpoint very clear over there anyway. How am I doing it? Filters and mutes in Bluesky and Feedbin will do the job nicely for me I think because I don’t really listen to podcasts, I don...
I listen to a lot of I Prevail
I only discovered them in July 2025 and I’ll let this last.fm chart do the rest to illustrate the point. I think this chart sums me up as: Anyway, I think they rip. They’re a bit cheesy, sure, but this record especially sounds massive, so if you’re into metalcore etc, give ’em a try.
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If you want to build websites that work for everyone — not just the latest Chrome on a fast connection — Andy Bell is one of the best voices in the space.