Web Developer Tools & Resources
November has been a big month for connecting with Substance 3D users, live at LightBox Expo and online with the conclusion of the Meet Mat 4 contest, which celebrates the imaginative artistry of texturing. We’ve also launched new Parametric Filters in Adobe Photoshop (Beta), enabling designers to apply procedural effects to images using Substance 3D technology. And we’re showcasing how Substance helped bring the digital and physical design in the BVLGARI Aluminium...
Creating effective designs for tech-savvy audiences, such as data scientists and software engineers, requires a careful balance between visual clarity, functionality, and creativity. While the complexity of the product must be communicated clearly, the interface also needs to feel intuitive and engaging. Success in such projects doesn’t just come from creativity; it’s rooted in strategic collaboration.
Have you ever found yourself hooked on an app or website, wondering what keeps you coming back? Chances are, gamification—the art of incorporating game-like elements into non-game contexts—is playing a significant role. Whether it’s earning badges on a learning platform, competing on leaderboards in a fitness app, or unlocking rewards while shopping online, gamification strategies are subtly enhancing our digital experiences. Let’s dive into how you can harness these strategies...
Instead of just showing a list of links, AI-powered search tools now give answers that feel more personal and detailed. They can handle natural language questions better, allowing them to understand what you mean and deliver results that match what you’re really looking for.
With a single layer of texture or a few brush strokes, you can give a vintage look to a modern illustration or instantly add depth to a shallow design.
From KnockoutJS to modern UI libraries like SolidJS, Vue.js, and Svelte, signals revolutionized how we think about reactivity in UIs. Here’s a deep dive into their history and impact by Atila Fassina.
An exploration of real-time terrain reshaping through user interactions, using React Three Fiber.
The world of UI/UX design is constantly evolving, and as technology advances, so too does the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in this field. With AI becoming more integrated into design tools and processes, designers (like you and me) are poised to experience some major shifts — both exciting and a bit unnerving. But before you start worrying about robots stealing our jobs, let’s dive into how AI is shaping...
To create innovative Generative AI experiences that users will adopt and use, we need to ensure appropriate responses. To accomplish this, we need these experiences to be trained on how the business operates, how it is measured, the company’s goals, flows, and processes, how the company should be discussed in different contexts, and how activities like initiatives and projects relate to each other.
If you’re a creative professional working in a visual medium like web design, photography, illustration, or motion graphics, it’s important to put effort into your craft. But even if you’re great at what you do, if you don’t have a well-designed portfolio, you’re missing out on getting your artistry out in front of a bigger audience.
Yes, you read that correctly—we’ve made a major update! Frames X now includes its own open-source code components and design tokens! We’re bringing your favorite UI kit directly into your codebase because we believe great design should be available everywhere.
In September 2024, Matt Mullenweg of WordPress and Automattic declared war against WP Engine. While the legal and very public battle between these two companies rages on, what should WordPress users do about? This post explores some options as well as a timeline of events.
As always, we’ve aimed for a range of apps, utilities, and services to help make life a little easier for designers, and for developers too. And, of course, what would a November collection be without some Thanksgiving images for our readers in the US? Enjoy!
Slideshows and photo galleries are a great addition to any video presentation. They serve as a storytelling vehicle and a way to keep viewers interested. You can also use them to transition to a new scene.
Imagine you’re given a design file. You’re clicking around, trying to figure out the margin values, when you accidentally nudge a button out of place. You hit “undo” only to discover that you didn’t actually move anything—but now you’ve erased someone else’s work. Panic sets in, and you start apologizing to your design peers for potentially messing up “their” file. You feel like a bull in a china shop.
The isolation property in CSS is key for controlling how elements stack. It’s beneficial with features like mix-blend-mode and z-index. It can take two values: ‘auto’ and ‘isolate’. ‘Auto’ only creates a new stacking context when needed, while ‘isolate’ always does.
Hope you’re having a productive week! I’ve hand-picked some awesome resources for you this time around – we’re talking slick new CSS techniques for toggling content, a deep dive into why designers and developers sometimes clash (and how to fix it!), a sneak peek at the design trends that will dominate 2025, and an inspiring story about designing a custom keyboard.
Graphic design related to sports has a unique visual identity. It often shines through in its typography. You’ll find big, bold characters that represent motion. It’s as if the text is reaching toward the next challenge.
Typography plays a pivotal role in every design and it has the power to make or break a creation or sometimes even an entire business.
We’re admiring some marvelous children’s toys that Uruguayan artist and designer Joaquín Torres-Garcia created in the early 20th century. I’m also sharing some thoughts on how designing for children might help us design better for everyone else too ð
Social media is a crucial platform needed for visibility, engagement, and building a brand online. Integrating social media into your WordPress site can extend the reach of your website remarkably by enhancing user experience. In this blog post, we will explore why integration of social media plugins for wordpress is essential for WordPress websites and how it supports overall digital strategy and social media marketing efforts.
Montagu Slab is a slab-serif display typeface designed by Florian Karsten. The typeface draws inspiration from 19th-century classic designs and it is available as a variable font with weight and optical size axes.
Many talented professionals hold back from speaking at tech events, believing they need years of experience or expert status first. Drawing from her experience as a first-time speaker at WordPress Accessibility Day 2024, Victoria Nduka discusses how speaking at events benefits both individuals and the tech community.
Don’t miss your chance to save big with any of 2024’s Top 10 Black Friday Deals for Designers and Agencies. These exclusive offers are available for a limited time only!
Eight distributed systems fallacies that are underrated during system design.
Designing gamified interfaces isn’t just about slapping on some badges here and there. It’s about creating a cohesive and enjoyable experience that aligns with your goals.
Did you know a good website with SEO can boost leads by 250%? Web design and SEO are like two hands working together. They help businesses succeed online and increase sales. By mixing great design with smart SEO, you grab your audience’s attention. This leads to more website visitors and higher sales.
A few days ago the developers from Tailwind officially announced the v4-beta which means that you can now officially start playing around with the new version of Tailwind which brings a couple of new features, better performance, and a small switch of the CSS-in-JS paradigm to native CSS layers and variables.
With competition high and industry expectations evolving, knowing how to keep your resume concise, modern, and relevant is essential.
Many first-time startups rush their product development to validate their ideas without a proper run-up. Sure, if you have an intense grasp on the market this can work, but frankly, it’s still extra risky. At Evil Martians, we’ve worked with dozens of early-stage startups and seen how rushed product development can blur founder focus, blow up budgets, and lead to frustration. So, before jumping in—do your homework!
Learn the essential terms and concepts of color theory and palette creation.
Choosing the right font can dramatically elevate the visual impact of your project. As we move into 2025, we’re thrilled to present a fresh selection of 30 remarkable free fonts that bring style and personality to your designs.
In this edition, we’ve curated a list of new tools and resources for web developers, including a handful of AI-powered tools and app, media downloaders, and code management tools. There’s something here for everyone, from beginners to experienced developers looking to boost productivity.
UI3 prompted us to rebuild our own design system from the ground up. Here’s how designers and engineers came together to create a new foundation for building consistent, accessible products.
Website downtime is an extremely frustrating experience for business owners, bloggers, and other professionals across all industries. If this problem isn’t addressed quickly and efficiently, affected sites will likely experience a big drop in engagement and sales.
Creating a new product is an exciting process. You’ve dreamed up a killer idea, drafted some sketches and maybe even started to think about how you’d make money out of this world-beating idea.
While good typography has helped businesses boost revenue bad typography has cost brands millions, mainly as a result of disregard for the psychological effects and the user experience of typography design.
Collaborating remotely and working with digital assets is just another part of graphic designers’ and creatives’ daily routine. However, relying on digital tools exposes designers to various cybersecurity risks that could put their projects, assets, and sensitive client information in danger. Recognizing certain cybersecurity red flags early on is important so your work and client data are always secure.
CSS got a new logo! After well over a decade of using the “CSS3” badge, there’s now a new CSS logo that fits nicely next to the JS, TS and friends logo’s.
Watch a real-life session in which we explain how to build functional prototypes with UXPin Merge and Porsche Design System.
Whether you’re looking for learning resources, productivity boosters, or curated directories, these picks are here to help you work smarter and level up your frontend skills. So, don’t forget to save this list and share it with others who might find it helpful ð
Regardless of whether you’ve given an element equal padding on the top and bottom, used margin: auto or align-content, with or without flexbox or grid, its often not enough to vertically center text.
In accessibility, “focusable” UI elements are represented by two separate yet equally important concepts: the elements who can be focused sequentially and those who can only receive focus programmatically. These are their stories. Dun-Dun
As I sit down to write this article, I can’t help but marvel at the incredible changes sweeping through our industry. For the first time in my career, I feel like we’re no longer limited by our technology but by our imagination. Well, almost. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping the web design landscape in ways we could only dream of a few years ago, and I’m excited to share with you...
When exploring customer acquisition cost optimisation strategies for digital products, we often overlook the most fundamental element: the user experience itself. This oversight leads to a critical gap in our understanding of true acquisition costs.
Iconography is a crucial part of UI design and web development in general. Well-chosen icons can effectively convey any message and enhance your brand through thoughtful, eye-catching visuals. However, badly chosen icons can also disrupt the experience or, even worse, confuse the user and push towards the wrong interface actions.
JavaScript is filled with subtle quirks that can trip up even seasoned developers. Below are ten commonly asked JavaScript interview questions and their explanations. Understanding these concepts will help you avoid surprises during interviews and solidify your grasp of the language.
We’ve all been there – staring down code that should work but is practically unreadable. And let’s be real: every developer (yes, every single one of us) has written code like that at some point. The good news? Refactoring is a skill you can learn, and clean code is within reach.
Users expect seamless, visually captivating experiences delivered at lightning-fast speeds. Striking the perfect balance between stunning design and optimal performance is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity. As designers and developers your ability to harmonize aesthetics with functionality can set your projects apart in a crowded marketplace.
Where do inspirational people find inspiration? Our Config speakers share their favorite talks from 2024, offering up a blueprint for crafting sessions that truly stand out.
10 AI-driven Features That Will Revolutionize Banking UX. Discover how AI technologies transform banking UX and open innovation opportunities.
Your website is like your business’s digital storefront, representing your brand to the world. Yet even the most beautifully designed sites face challenges in visibility because they don’t follow best practices concerning SEO. A poorly designed website will drive away both users and search engines, ultimately undermining your business’s online success.
Artificial intelligence (AI) can simplify your UX design process. Chances are, you already know that. Maybe you’ve even tried some popular AI tools, like the good ol’ ChatGPT. But did you know that certain AI tools work best at specific phases of the design process?
This feature enhances how you search, organize, and interact with content in some of Apple’s native apps such as Mail, Notes, Reminders, and Siri. Let’s take a look at some of the features and how you can enable and use Apple Intelligence on your Mac.
There’s a bunch of great questions about design systems, workflow, atomic design, the future of design systems, buy-in, designer-developer collaboration, personal development, and global design system stuff. Let’s dig in!
The amount of CSS novelty in the last two to four years has been staggering. Multiple innovations have been released and are now supported in all modern browsers, and some of them fundamentally change how to make websites.
One of the concerns we often hear about Artificial intelligence (AI) is the effect its use could have on the way we work and on certain human skills, such as creativity.
As a graphic designer, you’ve probably heard the three little words that can strike terror into the hearts of even the most seasoned creatives: “Make it pop.” These words are so vague, so void of meaning, yet so charged with expectation that they deserve their own horror film.
Flowbite Svelte is an official Flowbite component library for Svelte. All interactivities are handled by Svelte.
In this list, you’ll find InDesign magazine templates with everything from sleek, minimalistic layouts to bold, photo-driven spreads. Each template is highly customizable, ensuring that your magazine doesn’t look like a carbon copy but instead a polished, branded masterpiece. What’s even better is that many of these templates offer free options, allowing you to experiment without breaking the bank.
Want to see how we used Figma’s latest features to audit and refresh our web system? Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how we streamlined our components, improved our workflows, and built for the future
Responsive design has become a non-negotiable element in modern web development, bridging usability, aesthetics, and functionality across a wide array of devices. Let’s explore the foundation of responsive design, its relevance, and why implementing a mobile-first approach is crucial in today’s digital age.
Welcome to the 2024 UX Tools Map. If you’re here by chance, congratulations—you have stumbled upon the internet’s only immersive, illustrated guide to the UX software landscape! If you’re a repeat visitor (this is our 6th annual Tools Map to date), then it’s great to have you back for another year!
Writing that feels pretty wild. Making Framer Motion has been the best job of my life. To do so for six years within the best product team in the world, both a massive learning experience and a privilege.
The overflow CSS property is common when building a website. It’s used for different purposes
I’ve a hypothesis that something like these Agents will be how we build software in the future, so as I build these apps I try to never adjust the output, I want to see how far that I can get with the machine creating all the code and so see how far away we are from this future.
If you’re responsible in some way for a digital product or system, you should be doing usability testing — whatever your sector, industry or role.
The market Study is segmented by key regions which is accelerating the marketization.
The right photo effect can transform an ordinary image into a work of art. Adjustments to lighting, color balance, and texture help you create the perfect mood for your project.
Discover top YouTube channels dedicated to UX design, offering insights and tutorials to enhance your skills in creating intuitive and engaging user experiences. Here are some of the best channels for UX designers.
I had a fantastic conversation with Jem Sophia today (our first actual conversation after years of talking online!) who pointed me in the direction of this fantastic article. I love the sentiment and the metaphor. Creating software to scratch an itch without any ambitions of ScAlInG and turning it into a capitalistic enterprise.
UX competitor analysis is a valuable user research method that focuses on understanding your products’ competitors, helping you better understand your market and goals. Idea Theorem™ has worked with many clients that required a UX competitor analysis to get actionable insights about their competitors’ strengths, weaknesses, and mistakes to avoid and know what they are doing right.
This week’s designer news includes CSS Printing Guide, Retrofitting Fluid Typography, CSS :has() Interactive Guide, Bootstrap 5 Modern Backgrounds, and much more.
Focus outlines highlight the active interactive element on a web page. They’re crucial for accessibility, especially for keyboard users and those with motor impairments. If you ever tried navigating a website without a mouse, you can imagine how frustrating it is when you can’t see where you are. If not, imagine not seeing your cursor
Ask the search engine Ecosia about “Paris to Prague” and flight booking websites dominate the results. Ecosia’s CEO Christian Kroll would prefer to present more train options, which he considers better for the environment. But because its results are licensed from Google and Microsoft’s Bing, Ecosia has little control over what’s shown. Kroll is ready for that to change.
Creating effective designs for tech-savvy audiences, such as data scientists and software engineers, requires a careful balance between visual clarity, functionality, and creativity. While the complexity of the product must be communicated clearly, the interface also needs to feel intuitive and engaging. Success in such projects doesn’t just come from creativity; it’s rooted in strategic collaboration.
Let’s create a Breakout game using Vanilla JavaScript. In a Breakout game, the player uses a paddle to bounce a ball and hit bricks, removing the bricks one by one.
This article is the culmination of months of work, trial and error, and research to craft the perfect painterly shader for your next WebGL project.
Tooltips are used to provide simple text hints for UI controls. Think of them as tips for tools. They’re basically little bubbles of text content that pop up when you hover over an unnamed control (like the bell icon in Stripe).
Thomas Bohm rethinks technical illustrations and data visualizations, sharing interesting and uncommon examples of how to present data and information. Bar graphs and pie charts are great, but there’s so much more to explore!
Heuristic evaluation is a powerful tool in UX design, offering a structured way to identify and address usability issues in interfaces. But what exactly does it entail, and how can designers use it to improve user experiences?
Creating an infinite horizontal logo scroll effect with pure CSS is a simple yet powerful way to add dynamic movement to a website. This tutorial will walk you through building an infinite scroll effect with added hover effects that allow the user to pause scrolling and scale each logo slightly when hovered.
AI’s new capability to operate computers directly could redefine user experience, from aiding disabled users to automating complex tasks. AI will soon be able to run usability studies, once it can observe the user’s actions and the computer’s response.
Google Photos continues to get new and improved features on a regular basis, and one of the most recent Android updates has focused on video editing. Even if you don’t have the latest Pixel 9 phone (which is required if you want to try out the weird new Reimagine tool), you can now speed up, slow down, and enhance your clips with a few taps as well as trim them down...
A big thing you need to contend with when working on design systems is anticipating all the different ways someone may use a component. The idea here is that you then preemptively provide sensible behavior and safeguards to keep things working well.
In a competitive online world, your website must boast a color palette that appeals to your ideal target audience, encourages conversions, and enhances your brand’s visual identity.
Front End Development is the practice of creating user interfaces for websites and applications using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Flowbite Qwik is an official Flowbite component library for Qwik. All interactivities are handled by Qwik
Today, having a well-developed online platform is applicable to almost all businesses, as any initiative is highly competitive in the market
This article explores the fundamentals of color psychology, color selection methods, and successful examples in UX design.
Back in the old days, when I was building web sites by hand, in the snow, uphill, both ways, jQuery was my default tool when building any kind of interactivity on a web page. Way before I even considered building apps, jQuery was the workhorse that made cross-browser web development easy, or at least a little less painful. In 2024, it’s still in use on the vast majority of web sites. (I’ve...
Recently, Twitter unveiled a new design for its website and app, including a new font, higher-contrast colors, and less visual clutter. According to Twitter Design, the changes are meant to make the platform more accessible and allow users to be more focused.
I’m a bit uncomfortable that responsive design is often pushed into discreet chunks, like “layout A up to this size, then layout B until there’s enough space for layout C.”
As the design landscape changes, the traditional Head of Design role is evolving to meet new challenges. Today’s design leaders aren’t just delivering products; they’re amplifying team impact, shaping an innovation-focused culture, and working closely with business leaders to align on strategy. This article unpacks the shift, illustrating how design leadership is moving from tactical execution to strategic influence, bringing fresh value to growing organizations. Explore what this means for...
It’s hard to believe the end of the year is right around the corner. That isn’t stopping website designers from trying new things to keep things interesting as we begin to close out 2024, though.
We all have different writing styles and tones of voice, but what if fonts did, too? What kind of personality would Calibri have?
I’ve been using visual regression tools off and on since 2017 when building Design Systems. Seven years later in 2024, things haven’t changed a whole lot. While the current offerings are better than they were in 2017, there’s a lingering cross-operating system problem, which is where the paid offerings come in. Paying for visual regression testing can be difficult in different organizations, so it’s tempting to look at open source...
Learn how to create an organic distortion effect for text using JavaScript and CSS for a unique, fluid animation.
Creating a seamless user experience (UX) is not a one-step process; it’s a journey that requires careful planning, research, iteration, and collaboration.
This article records my conversation with Miranda Slayter, Principal Designer at Booking.com and Content Creator at UX Survival Guide. We chatted during the WaysConf conference in September 2024. We discussed how Miranda shapes Booking’s vision for the next five years, how she measures the success of her work, her take on the future of UX and Product Design, and her thoughts about dark patterns. Happy reading!
In the world of digital marketing, on-page SEO is essential not only for boosting search engine rankings but also for driving sales.
If you’re on the fence as to whether you should pay for a custom designed website, or try and create something yourself then you’re not alone.
Beginners in the UX world will quickly face one constant dilemma: bridging the gap between their own labels and mental models and those of users.
If you’re finding today a bit stressful for some reason, grab a respite by sinking into any of these web design inspiration websites.
Welcome to our roundup of the best new fonts we’ve found online in the last four weeks. In this month’s selection we have a mixture of different styles, from highly practical serifs, to experimental display typefaces. Enjoy!
Picture yourself unlocking your phone this morning. Within seconds, you’ve made dozens of micro-decisions: which notification to check first, whether to respond to that message, which app to open. Without realising, we make countless decisions every day. Behind each of these interactions lies careful consideration by UX designers who shape not just interfaces, but the very way we make choices in the digital world.
While searching for a villa for a vacation with my friends, I stumbled upon the stunning Pekoe Villa, which boasts an incredible view. However, when I visited their website for more information, I realized it didn’t do the villa justice, so I decided to redesign it.
Design isn’t just about making things aesthetically pleasing; it’s about creating meaningful and intuitive experiences for users. At the core of effective design lies psychology—the study of how people think, feel, and behave. By understanding and applying psychological principles, designers can craft interfaces that resonate deeply with users, ensuring both functionality and emotional connection. This article explores the intricate relationship between design and psychology and offers practical insights to enhance...
Feeling good with your Lighthouse score of 100%? You should! But you should also know that you’re only looking at part of the performance picture. Learn how Lighthouse scores are measured differently than other tools, the impact that has on measuring performance metrics, and why you need real-user monitoring for a complete picture.
The visible grid web design trend seems to be here to stay. But what makes it so compelling and how can you put it to use? Let’s explore that and more.
This eBook serves as a toolkit for those of you who want to design hyper-interactive prototypes in UXPin. It comes with do’s and dont’s about designing interactions.
Are you frustrated with slow Prettier formatting when saving files? Many developers face this issue, especially in larger projects. Here’s how to significantly improve Prettier’s performance without compromising code quality.
“We’re at the mercy of Google.” Undecided voters in the US who turn to Google may see dramatically different views of the world – even when they’re asking the exact same question.
Let’s face it: video editing can be an endless rabbit hole of tweaks and techniques. You’ve got the footage, but turning it into something captivating? That’s the real art! And Adobe Premiere Pro is undoubtedly a powerhouse in the editing world. But who doesn’t love a good shortcut, especially when it’s free? That’s where Adobe Premiere Templates come in—pre-designed, ready-to-use assets that can turn your video from “meh” to “whoa” without hours of fiddling.
Get started with AI agents in this practical tutorial and learn to build an AI-powered newsletter aggregator using React and KaibanJS.
Accessibility is an incredibly important topic that is often overlooked. This is partially because of how complex accessibility is. That is why in this video I cover a complete master class of everything you need to know about accessibility.
HTML Forms have powerful validation mechanisms, but they are heavily underused. In fact, not many people even know much about them. Is this because of some flaw in their design? Let’s explore.
Form controls are notoriously difficult to style, something the web community has been talking about for years. In 2019, when I was still at Microsoft, I had been working with Greg Whitworth to start evangelizing the work that was being planned for <select>, as well as the Open UI community group that would help bring this plan to life.
https://www.userinterviews.com/ai-in-ux-research-report
Caption on Image HTML- Welcome to an enlightening exploration into the realm of HTML and its application in contextualizing images with captions
While you are working on a UI/UX design project, I have developed a set of practical tips for designing a clickable button that helps me maintain design standards throughout the process.
You can use Lightroom Look-Up Tables (LUTs) to improve the look of any photo. They provide an easy way to add all manner of professional effects. They are a must-have addition to every designer’s toolbox.
In my years of experience in UI design and development, I’ve learned a crucial lesson: having data isn’t everything.
I save many things each month that I find inspiring for some reason, and I like organized lists, so I figured I’d share those lists and maybe help someone out of a creative block.
Imagine stepping into the shoes of a refugee, feeling the sand beneath your feet and the weight of uncertainty on your shoulders. This isn’t just imagination — it’s the power of immersive media. But as UX professionals, we must ask: At what cost does this emotional journey come?
Learn how to create an interactive shader background effect using React Three Fiber and Drei in four simple steps.