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Lighthouse gave me a shitty score during the weekend.
...
I was finishing up the marketing site for Reachly, and everything looked pixel-perfect. Then, I ran the initial Lighthouse test.
My heart sank: Accessibility and SEO were all yellow (not bad but i love me a Green). 😁
Google flagged a critical error: “Image elements do not have [alt] attributes.” (See image)
🚨The culprit? The video testimonials.
I was using Framer’s native YouTube component.
Lighthouse was demanding image alt text for a video thumbnail (weird).
Framer doesn't provide an option to add alt text to that native component.
So i spent a stressful Sunday down a research rabbit hole. Nothing worked. I closed my laptop and took the weekend off.
On Monday, with a clear head, I fixed it - took maybe 20 minutes.
🚨So how did i do it?:
"I ditched the native YouTube component & instead copied the raw HTML embed code for each video, inserted an Embed block and pasted the HTML embed code.
The error vanished. Lighthouse shot straight up into a clean, green circles all 90s
(Fun fact: Webflow users run into this exact same video thumbnail issue, though the workaround is slightly different).
🚨The takeaway:
Having design and building skills is great but learn the technical side too.
I could have easily ignored this error and handed off the site, but ignoring the technical side under the hood is a mistake. Hidden technical debt is a silent killer for your SEO and kills your chances of getting free customers from Google.
🚨PS: I'm thinking of writing a longer & more detailed, step-by-step guide on how I solved this probelm.
Would this be useful to you? Let me know in the comments.
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Well... Fiverr finally suspended my account. 😂
Honestly, I think we both moved on a while ago.
In the meantime, I brought some clients over to Contra, earned the referral bonuses, and now I get to focus on a platform that doesn't take 20% of every project.
Sometimes getting kicked out is just the universe helping you commit.
Even mine was permanently suspended, then I came across contra and have started my journey here.
What if the best way to introduce a product was to let people play first?
I'm building aftrglo - a motion tool for designers who want their work to look good online without learning motion
The app is still in dev, so for now I made a coming soon page where people can join the waitlist
And since it's a tool for designers, I knew I didn't want a classic marketing landing page
We all know how those work
But it doesn't feel like me 🤪
So I made a tiny interactive playground instead: a halftone effect that reacts to cursor movement, with adjustable settings to play with
Because designers love interactive little things
Not being sold to
And it worked!
The waitlist is growing with people waiting for the launch (which is coming very soon) and I've also been getting sooo many messages about the effect, the interaction, and how it actually works
I'm very into openness and creative support, so no gatekeeping here
👩🏫 ✍️ Here's the breakdown:
1. In Unicorn Studio, I have a scene with the logo image on the bg (the same one I use as the Instagram avatar)
2. On top of it, there's a God Rays effect that reacts to cursor movement
3. Plus a Bloom effect to make it even more glowy (because it's aftrglo, obv)
4. After that, outside of Unicorn Studio, I added a canvas overlay with a halftone effect
So the background is a live 3D scene, and the dotted pattern on top keeps reading and redrawing it in real time
Like old newspaper print but inverted:
Where the image is darker, the dots get smaller
Where it's lighter, the dots get bigger
That's why the pattern breathes and moves in real time
Magic! ✨
Play with it and join the waitlist if you want to see what I'm building 👩🍳
aftrglo.app
Goated plugin!
Built my website so people don't have to ask what I do.
Still got asked what I do... maybe I need a bigger font. 😅
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