Proto.io is powerful solution for prototyping native and web apps for use on a variety of devices. The learning curve is a bit steeper than with Axure, but it can be mastered with a little time and practice. Proto.io’s real strength is its built-in support for many device types and native app libraries, and its support for gestures and transitions. The first thing to know is that unlike most prototyping tools, Proto.io is a web application, so you’ll need an internet connection to do your work. Assuming you’ll have access when you need it, Proto.io offers a lot for mobile designers to love, built right into the app.
Read more…
ESI works in a similar way to other methods of including fragments in your pages, such as Server Side Includes (SSI) or PHP include statements, but it has been designed for reverse proxies like Varnish that sit in front of a web server and cache content. In this article Rachel Andrew will explain how you can benefit from using Varnish even when there are parts of your pages that can’t be cached for long periods, using Edge Side Includes.
Read more…
Mobile technology has brought us some fantastic benefits, but with always available, always connected technology, it can have a negative impact when it demands our attention and distracts us from the real world.When was the last time you enjoyed a meal with friends without it being interrupted by people paying attention to their smartphones instead of you? How many times have you had to watch out for pedestrians who are walking with their faces buried in a device, oblivious to their surroundings? We have to shift our design focus from technology to the world around us. As smartwatches and wearables become more popular, we need to create design experiences that allow us to create experiences that are still engaging, but less distracting.
Read more…
Carousels come in many shapes and sizes. Some can be effective, others less so. You need a lot more data from a lot of different situations before you dismiss the pattern entirely. In this article, Kyle Peatt aims for a better understanding of the current argument against carousels and whether they really deserve the reputation they’ve gained, using real data. He’ll break down the arguments point by point and see if his data lines up with those expectations. He’ll also detail his findings and methods and make some recommendations on how and when you should use carousels in future.
Read more…
Mail.Ru Group has about 40 products — even more if you add mobile and tablet websites and apps, promo websites, etc. Yury Vetrov’s team deals with almost half of them. Their goal is to update these products and unify them around several guidelines. Continue reading of Part Two. In this article Yury will discuss the transformation of their design process from the classic Prototype → Design Mockup → HTML → Implement approach for every screen to a modern and more efficient framework-based approach.
Read more…
When approaching AngularJS for the first time, the interaction between scopes, directives and controllers is what immediately becomes (and remains) confusing for most. After the confusion sets in, you start learning about the advanced concepts, which are mind-blowingly complex as well. In this article, Nicolas Bevacqua will navigate the salt marsh that is AngularJS scopes and the lifecycle of an AngularJS application, while providing an amusingly informative, in-depth read.
Read more…
Interface designers can emulate real-life physics and movement on a digital screen. This type of motion is becoming more common, which is why it’s becoming easier for people to understand computers. We’re not getting better, the interfaces are! In this article, Drew Thomas will cover a little bit of the history of motion on the web, why that’s important, and what the future of motion on the web will look like. (Hint: motion is really important for usability, and it’s changing everything.) Then he’ll explain the CSS behind motion and how to use motion well.
Read more…
Professional automated testing software is a solution to a common problem: how to produce high-quality, robust and reliable software with the ever-growing complexity of technology and under massive competitive pressure. Automated software testing is a cost-effective solution to this problem. In this article, Ville-Veikko Helppi will walk you through a sample use case for test automation and will provide a downloadable example to get you started. Also, he’ll focus on different aspects of mobile test automation and explain how this relatively new yet popular topic can help mobile app and game developers to build better, more robust products for consumers.
Read more…
Creating a new cross-platform native and web applications seamlessly on an entire back end for your mobile applications that is feature-complete in data synchronization, push-notification support, user management and file-handling before you even started building the mobile experience is exactly what providers of mobile back end as a service (MBaaS) are aiming to give app developers. It is up to you to determine whether that is true for the experiences you are creating.
Read more…
Testing is a critical process that developers should integrate into their workflow to minimize the number of bugs that get caught in the quality assurance phase. In this article, Lawrence Howlett shows you what to consider when creating a front-end testing plan and how to test efficiently accross browsers, devices and web pages. Front-end testing also needs to be budgeted for — with time, resources and money. Whichever tool you pick, stick with it, define a process and put the effort in. The result will be a better website, with significantly fewer bugs.
Read more…
