Recently, with the creation of modern web frameworks such as AngularJS and Ember, we’ve seen a push to render on the client and only use a server for an API. We’re now seeing a possible return or, rather, more of a combination of both architectures happening. Web architecture definitely goes through cycles. We started out rendering everything on the server and shipping it down to the client. Then, JavaScript came along, and we started using it for simple page interactions. At some point, JavaScript grew up and we realized it could be used to build large applications that render all on the client and that use the server to retrieve data through an API.
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Given the importance of filtering, Christian Holst and the entire team at the Baymard Institute spent the nine months researching how users browse, filter and evaluate products in e-commerce product lists. At the core of this research was a large-scale usability study testing 19 leading e-commerce websites with real end users, following the think-aloud protocol. In this article Christian will take a closer look at some of the research findings related to the users’ filtering experience. He’ll walk through each of some filtering insights, showing you the usability test findings, examining the benchmark data and presenting best practice examples for creating a good e-commerce filtering experience.
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Although it’s definitely still a work in progress, Sketch continues to be Ashley Bennent’s go-to web design program. Its tools and interface prioritize design for the web. Things like the premade artboard templates, symbols and simple exporting functionality have drastically sped up my workflow and made the design process a little easier. Sketch has also improved my entire workflow, from moodboards to the early stages of development, making it an optimal tool for responsive design. Plenty of other programs out there have similar features, and until the most recent update (Sketch 3.2), users were battling a lot of bugs in the app. So, why Sketch? Bugs or no bugs, it has become the best tool for UI design, including responsive web design.
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As great as WordPress is, the standard way in which it approaches the archive is far from user-friendly. Let’s fix that today! In this article, Karol K will build an archive page for WordPress that’s actually useful. The best part is that you will be able to use it with any modern WordPress theme installed on your website at the moment. This custom archive page will be based on a custom page template. The page will be responsive and will not depend on the current theme of the website it’s being used on.
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In the first part of this series, David Tucker walked through a messaging application demo powered by the Kinvey application. He explored how to leverage user management, file storage and the data store. To complete the demo, you need to leverage two key pieces of Kinvey functionality: the permissions provided by the data store, and push notifications, which are enabled through the business logic functionality. With this article, you will have seen ways that an MBaaS solution can help you to create compelling business- and consumer-focused mobile experiences. This certainly is a space with a lot of focus at the moment, and David expects rapid maturity and evolution of these services over the next year.
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Living style guides help front-end developers transform front-end codebases into well-described pattern libraries with the minimum of effort. But to make them really efficient, we need to choose the proper tools — so let’s have a closer look at what our community has to offer. In this article, Robert Haritonov has arranged the tools by function, highlighting only the most powerful ones worth knowing about. You can find more tools, plus videos, articles and other material about style guides at styleguide.io.
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Designing mobile apps requires a deep knowledge of devices, and it often means changing the way we think — even if that means leaving behind much of what we’ve learned from designing for the web. Changing one’s mindset to adapt to apps comes from the inside. No one will force you to do it. If you don’t adjust, you run the risk of becoming little more than an icon factory, just a small step in a larger process of design. Designing apps requires a new way of thinking. It’s time to leave our web design boxes and to understand smartphones, tablets and even watches as separate and distinct devices.
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As the volume of data on the web has increased, web scraping has become increasingly widespread, and a number of powerful services have emerged to simplify it. You can use Node.js to create a powerful web scraper that is both extremely versatile and completely free. A basic understanding of Node.js is recommended for this article; so, if you haven’t already, check it out before continuing. Also, web scraping may violate the terms of service for some websites, so just make sure you’re in the clear there before doing any heavy scraping.
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What if we had an opportunity to write visual tests for responsive websites? What if we could describe the look and feel of an application and put this directly into our tests? Ivan Shubin decided to look at another interesting side of visual testing. For the last seven years, his main focus has been testing automation for a big enterprise project. Over time, Ivan became obsessed with the idea of applying automated testing using the TDD methodology to the look and feel of responsive websites. In this article, he’ll describe this experiment in detail and propose TDD as a methodology for front-end development. He will look at the new visual testing technique and examine how to get the most out of it.
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One of the important factors in a customer’s decision of whether to use a product is usually the brand’s visual presence, which can help a product stand out from the rest of what the market has to offer. Upon taking a closer look, it doesn’t take long to see that good typography is involved. Akira Kobayashi believes that good typography reinforces the meaning of the text. He has a background in art and calligraphy and has been a freelance type designer for 18 years.
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