CategoryUI (User Interfaces)

May 7, 2019 — Software development and maintenance has, generally speaking, been a time-consuming and arduous process for developers and engineers who carry the brunt of the work. However, with the introduction of front-end-as-a-service, and a company like Mason pioneering the way, that could all change. In this article, Suzanne Scacca is going to give you a closer look at FEaaS, who it’s for and why empowering product and marketing teams with it is a big deal. Read more…

April 19, 2019 — For a while now, Sketch has been the de facto application of choice for UX and UI designers. But in the last year or two, we have seen many new contenders for the Sketch’s crown. Two of them that have made the biggest strides are Figma and Adobe XD. In this article, Ashish Bogawat will try to summarize my thoughts on how Figma and Adobe XD compete with Sketch and what unique features each one of them brings to the table. He will also reference some other alternative apps that are aiming to become leaders in the same niche. Read more…

April 3, 2019 — The z-index property, despite all that’s written about it, is still widely misunderstood and mishandled. Stacking issues in a complex single-page web application can become a major pain. Adhering to some principles, however, we can easily avoid these issues. In this article, Pavel Pomerantsev will recap what z-index actually is and how you can stop guessing whether it might work in any specific case and start treating it just like any other convenient tool. Read more…

March 20, 2019 — In Part 1, Alvin explained the basics of how to design a virtual reality model. In Part 2, he showed how to implement the game’s core logic. In this final part of his tutorial, the finishing touches will be added such as the “Start” and “Game Over” menus as well as a synchronization of game states between mobile and desktop clients. This paves the way for concepts in building multiplayer games. To get started, you will need Internet access, a Glitch project completed from part 2 of this tutorial, and a virtual reality headset. Read more…

March 14, 2019 — Slack has done a lot to bring teams and partners together online. It’s also done a lot to empower developers to build their own custom apps for it. Until recently, however, developers were limited by how much they could do to customize the design of those apps. That’s changing today with Block Kit. Today, Suzanne Scacca is going to talk about Block Kit, Slack’s contribution to building a better collaboration UI. Read more…

March 13, 2019 — If you’ve ever wondered how games with keyboard-less support for VR headsets are built, then this tutorial explains just what you’re looking for. Here’s how you too can bring a basic, functioning VR game to life. In this part, Alvin Wan will implement the game’s core logic and utilize more advanced A-Frame environment manipulations to build the “game” part of this application. By the end, you will have a functioning virtual reality game with a real challenge. Read more…

March 6, 2019 — Virtual reality (VR) is an experience based in a computer-generated environment, and following Alvin’s introduction to programming in VR, this article series aims to introduce more VR concepts in the context of building a game. In this article, Alvin Wan will show you how you can synchronize the game state between two devices which will move you one step closer to building a multiplayer game. He’ll specifically introduce more A-Frame VR concepts such as stylized low-poly entities, lights, and animation. Read more…

January 24, 2019 — You’ve proven your expertise in designing mobile-first websites for clients. It might be time you made a move into designing mobile-first marketing campaigns for them as well. With this guide, Suzanne Scacca explains how to do just that. She will examine the key areas of marketing that stem from the websites you build. Then, zero in on the ways in which designers should adjust these marketing strategies for mobile-friendly and mobile-first audiences. Read more…

January 23, 2019 — When it comes to change, we tend to naturally resist it. The only real boundary we have are our brains telling us that things are best to be left as they’ve always been. But we’re witnessing a fundamental shift in Human-Computer Interaction — rethinking the whole concept of digital experience. In the next decade, designers will break the glass and move to the interfaces of the future — sophisticated voice interfaces, advanced ARs, and truly immersive VRs. In this article, Gleb Kuznetsov shares his thoughts and ideas of how interfaces will look like and what sort of extraordinary experiences we can expect in the near future. Read more…

December 18, 2018 — We’re at the dawn of a UI revolution. Not only will multimodal interfaces give users more power, but they will also change the way users interact with systems. In this article, Nick Babich will show you how to build your own multimodal UI using Adobe XD. You will explore the concept of a voice-enabled interface and review different types of voice-enabled interfaces; find out why voice-enabled, multimodal user interfaces will be the preferred user experience; see how you can build a multimodal UI using Adobe XD. Read more…