February 12, 2018 — The difference between a good app and a bad app is usually the quality of its user experience (UX). The average US user spends 5 hours per day on mobile. The vast majority of that time is spent in apps and on websites. So, there are many things to consider when designing for mobile. Today, Nick Babich brings you a detailed guide will help you get rid of that headache when building apps. Read more…

February 12, 2018 — Whenever we design a web application utilizing real-time data, we need to consider how we are going to deliver our data from the server to the client. The default answer usually is “WebSockets.” But is there a better way? Let’s compare three different methods: Long polling, WebSockets, and Server-Sent Events; to understand their real-world limitations. The answer might surprise you. Read more…

February 9, 2018 — Three world-renowned designers — Lance Wyman, Anton & Irene, and Büro Destruct — created three UX-themed icon kits that you can download and use for free in Adobe XD. You can download the icon kits for free in .XD format right from Adobe. While each kit carries the characteristic style of their creator, they all have one thing in common: They celebrate well-made user experiences and emphasize how important icon design is to telling stories. Read more…

February 9, 2018 — Deciding to build a PWA or a native app should be based on the needs of the specific project, not hype. With Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) encroaching on native development’s turf, Aaron Gustafson thought this might be a good time to step back and take stock of these two approaches to building products. In this article, Aaron walks you through the pros and cons of each approach to help you arrive at an informed decision. Read more…

February 9, 2018 — Designers tend to get lost in the details until they have everything mapped out. This is not recommended, as the design process is an iterative one. By establishing a high-level process to kick off the design phase of your projects you can work more efficiently to get a clear framework in place. Focus on establishing a clear design direction, and some clear user goals, before getting into the details. In this guide, Christopher Murphy will help you stay on track. Read more…

February 8, 2018 — Today Cosima Mielke wants to take you on a very personal trip to space. Buckle up as you’ll become the captain of the command center — and maybe you’ll even make the acquaintance of an actual alien, too. Imagination has got no limits, right? A free icon set with everything related to space: rockets, space shuttles, meteors, stars, and everything else you might come across on a space mission. You can download them for free in SVG, EPS, AI, and PNG formats. Read more…

February 8, 2018 — In this article, Jakub Mikita is going to guide you through the entire process of creating and handling AJAX calls. You will learn how to make an AJAX call, but also how to do it the best way using features that WordPress offers developers right out of the box. There are a lot of “without-page-refresh” solutions out there, but here’s one you can create with AJAX. by the end of this tutorial, you will know how to build a simple plugin which will allow readers to send a report without reloading the page. Read more…

February 8, 2018 — Every designer and developer has their own way of tackling their work. But, no matter how different their approaches are, one thing is for sure: We can learn a lot from each other. Our friends at Adobe are streaming live from Awwwards Berlin 2018. Join digital thinkers and UX professionals as they discuss current trends from the UX/UI industry. February 8th and 9th. Read more…

February 7, 2018 — We all want to load images fast on the web. Choosing the right image format, optimizing the quality and using responsive images are important tasks, but what can we do beyond that? As developers, we need to measure performance. We should care more about the loading experience of the websites we build. It’s great that we now have tools such as WebPageTest and Lighthouse that can help us easily measure the effect of using progressive image loading techniques. No more excuses! Read more…

February 6, 2018 — Today’s article is all about facial recognition technology. Despite all of the limitations of facial recognition, such as variations in posing, lighting and image quality, the technology is gaining in popularity and eventually will become a part of users’ everyday lives. In this article, Nataliia Kharchenko and Illia Chemolosov decided to share their experience of dealing with facial recognition algorithms and engines and things they’ve learned. Read more…