Web Developer Tools & Resources
Prototyping helps to turn ideas into reality, visualize them, and identify and fix any issues early on. Testing ensures that these ideas function well in real-world scenarios. Together, these two processes form a cycle that allows to create high-quality, intuitive interfaces for users.
I’ve spent way too much time playing around with Figma plugins. Most of them are cool but not super useful in day-to-day work. But there are a few that have become absolutely essential for me. Here’s my take on the Figma plugins that actually make a difference in real projects.
One of my historical criticisms is that a view of browser support this simplistic might push people away from using a feature when they need not be.
This article dives into TypeScript, not just as a transformative tool that’s reshaping how we build modern web applications. I’ve been working with TypeScript in recent years, and I’m continually amazed by how it has revolutionized web development. Rather than delving into its history, let’s explore what makes TypeScript unique and why it’s become indispensable in today’s development landscape. I won’t compare it with other “type” languages like Java, C++...
I’ll be honest: writing this post feels like a chore some years. Rounding up and reflecting on what’s happened throughout the year is somewhat obligatory for a site like this, especially when it’s a tradition that goes back as far as 2007. “Hey, look at all the cool things we did!”
This week’s Design Lobster is exploring the nuanced Japanese design concept of Shibui (æ¸ã)—a refreshing antidote to instant gratification and spectacle. Plus a 1971 pocket lighter that Dieter Rams helped to design with a subtle detail that is very much in the same spirit.
With the solstice around the corner, things are slowing down for us so we’re taking time to recharge and gear up for the new year. We’ll be back soon, and maybe with more than just a revamped newsletter in store. Stay tuned!
With Autoscaler, Right Sizing Your SAAS Becomes Easy
Working with clients and colleagues often includes explaining various concepts. Subjects like SEO, technology, and marketing are prime examples. After all, knowing how something works helps people make smart decisions.
As someone with over a decade of experience in software testing – primarily in User Acceptance Testing (UAT) within the UK financial services sector – I’ve seen the evolution of testing methodologies, frameworks, and priorities. While UAT has traditionally been a downstream activity, focused on validating business requirements before release, the growing emphasis on “shift-left” testing challenges us to rethink our approach.
Generative AI has just put usability testing insights into the center of product development.
Static websites don’t need to deal with server-side code, web frameworks or anything like that. But that brings with it a problem: how to deal with dynamic content, in particular how to add a contact form to a static website? In this article, you’ll learn how to set up such online forms and get them up and running in just a few minutes.
Flowbite React, a versatile React-based library, bridges the gap between rapid development and modern design, offering developers pre-designed components and utilities that align perfectly with Tailwind CSS. This article dives deep into Flowbite React, covering its features, installation, use cases, and why it’s a valuable tool for modern developers.
The role of AI for web design has evolved significantly, transforming how websites are built and enhancing their functionality. No longer limited to basic automation, AI is now deeply integrated into the web design process, offering designers a powerful tool to create more dynamic, responsive, and personalized websites.
Santa Claus is a master UX designer, seamlessly combining advanced technology, rigorous testing, and a touch of magic to deliver billions of gifts in one night. From analyzing questionable TikTok trends to perfecting chimney entry systems, his operation is a festive blend of humor, innovation, and holiday cheer.
In this article, I’ve listed 7AI tools across 4 different categories to help you land design jobs in 2025.
Email accessibility is one of those few email design trends that are old but relevant even today! Email marketing experts hope to see senders paying close attention to building accessible emails.
Ever scrolled through a website and thought, “Wow, I wish mine looked like that”? Trust me, you’re not alone. Building an awesome website can feel like trying to solve a Rubik’s cube blindfolded.
Skeuomorphism and flat design are two of the most dominant design trends across web and mobile UI design. Or at least that was the case a few years ago.
Tired of choppy cuts and jarring scene changes? Dive into the world of seamless storytelling with our handpicked selection of free Premiere Pro transitions. We’ve scoured the web to find the best transition presets and templates that will add a touch of magic to your videos without costing a dime. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, these free Adobe Premiere transitions will give your projects a polished look that will leave your...
So Nottingham-based agency Atomic, which designed and built the app, were surprised and delighted when it drove around 100,000 downloads in its first seven days and topped the App Store’s travel chart.
Sidebars are a staple in UI design, acting as essential navigational tools that help users explore and interact with an app or website. Typically found as vertical panels on the left or right side of the screen, sidebars provide quick access to key sections like dashboards, settings, or user profiles. Their primary role is to improve usability by organizing links and tools in one easily accessible space, so users don’t...
Over the past decade, Ian Frost and I have created design token systems for dozens of organizations — including some of the largest organizations in the world — to help them power their multi-product, multi-brand, multi-platform, multi-generation, Multi-All-The-Things product landscapes.
Design leaders are expected to deliver the impossible. Instead of trying, we need to redefine our role from implementor to enabler.
Build interactive, engaging web interfaces with CSS anchor positioning and popover elements. Create tooltips, hover cards, or overlays anchored to an element with only a few lines of CSS and HTML—no JavaScript or complex layouts required.
Dev Mode is Figma’s solution to ease collaboration between designers and developers. Figma features plenty of low-code and no-code support for design professionals with minimal coding experience, but development experts are still necessary to ensure everything works correctly. Dev Mode aims to simplify the handoff process so both sides can work efficiently according to their own skills.
OpenAI announced a new family of AI reasoning models on Friday, o3, which the startup claims to be more advanced than o1 or anything else it’s released. These improvements appear to have come from scaling test-time compute, something we wrote about last month, but OpenAI also says it used a new safety paradigm to train its o-series of models.
What else do we want or need CSS to do? It’s like being out late at night someplace you shouldn’t be and a stranger in a trenchcoat walks up and whispers in your ear.
Before you hit send on your first job application, take a moment to check if your UX (user experience) portfolio lines up with your career goals. Is it a perfect match?
An interview with Will S., Head of Design Operations for the GenAI team at Meta
In the ever-evolving world of AI, it’s easy for companies to focus solely on showcasing their technological prowess. However, Kriss.ai, a dental AI assistant, aimed to do things differently.
In the Developer Coefficient, a study commissioned by the fintech giant Stripe, developers reported that they spent over 17 hours a week on maintenance tasks like debugging and refactoring—work classified as “toil.”
Every year, Apple honors the best apps and games through the App Store Awards. The awards are a recognition of exceptional user experience, design, and innovation from developers across the world for building apps that fuel creativity and deliver remarkable experiences that inspire their audiences
Layout space is precious, and designers always try to find ways to show enough information without overwhelming the user. Carousel is a popular interaction pattern that is used to showcase multiple pieces of content in a limited space.
If you’re not using AI color palette generators yet, you’re missing out on a design revolution. Creating stunning color combinations has never been easier, and these tools can completely transform your design process.
Nothing is more personal, mysterious, and valuable for a creative person than their individual artistic style. No matter their medium, the idiosyncratic way an artist expresses themselves is not only their currency in the creative market, it is fundamentally how their past and human experience informs their unique point of view — and it is how they represent themselves.
The DOMContentLoaded event has been around for a long time and has often been used as a web performance metric. However today it has mostly been replaced by more modern user-focussed metrics like the Core Web Vitals.
So, how do you make your presentations memorable? Adding video to the mix is one way to get a viewer’s attention. It keeps people engaged while helping to explain concepts and ideas. Besides, a video is endlessly more interesting than an old static PowerPoint file.
Digital products and services are becoming a bigger part of our daily lives. Every new app claims to meet user expectations, anticipate their needs, and be “user-friendly.” As a result, the concept of User Experience (UX) has gained importance in almost every industry.
This ambitious project introduces autonomous AI agents designed to navigate the web, execute tasks, and provide actionable results, fundamentally reshaping how users interact with digital platforms.
Splash screen is the first screen that users see when they launch a mobile app. Despite the splash screen being displayed only for a few seconds, it immediately forms a first impression about the product.
Dribbble’s mission is to help professional designers earn a living doing work they take pride in.
There are many ways to elevate a design project from good to incredible. For web and product designers, it’s not just about adding more animations and flair. What it truly comes down to is a reframing of your thought processes starting before the project even kicks off. Olivia De Alba presents three approaches that designers can implement and which will change the way they make their projects more successful.
In this new tutorial, you’ll learn how to build a flexible website page configurator to customize the page UI on the fly.
Looking for ways to shake up your teaching? These collaborative templates help students connect, create, and learn together.
Happy Thursday, hope you are having an amazing week! We’ve got a packed edition so let’s get reading!
Mixed media design is one of the most popular trends in graphic design that combines reality with creativity to birth visuals that not only stand out but also tell captivating stories.
Over the past two decades I’ve been hearing people I’ve worked with and in the product community — other designers and PMs, clients when I ran an agency, founders and CEOs — saying they want designers to “design like Apple”. The problem has always been a chicken-and-egg one: to design like Apple, you need to prioritize simplicity in all parts of your organization (like Apple).
I have this habit where when I’m watching a TV show where I like to read about it on my phone while I’m watching it. Reviews, summaries, fan theories, whatever. Seems like that would be distracting — but I think it’s extra engaging sometimes. I’d often end up on Wikipedia where they do episode informational summaries in a particular layout where the small screen layout had a horribly obnoxious side...
Ant Design X is a brand new AGI component library from Ant Design, designed to help developers more easily develop AI product user interfaces. Building on Ant Design, Ant Design X further expands the design specifications for AI products, offering developers more powerful tools and resources. We look forward to driving the development of AI technology with you!
I’ve been talking to a lot of junior designers lately. After one of these chats, I reflected on how my career evolved. Interestingly, I couldn’t say I was much different from today’s junior designers. What’s different today compared to a decade ago is the environment. The job market has changed for the worse, and design tools have bloomed.
Practical recommendations along with tutorials for Figma that will help you design the best progress bar for your product.
Don’t come for my head, but I think it’s safe to say that static websites are officially a thing of the past. People nowadays expect some level of interactivity when they visit websites. One of the ways you can keep them engaged is by adding hover animations to your websites.
Customer churn becomes most noticeable during dramatic events – consistent negative reviews, sudden user drop-offs, significant spikes in bounce rates or, the more obvious, plummeting revenue. Whilst these dramatic usability failures and system outages immediately demand attention, subtle UX issues that slowly erode user engagement can also play a damaging role in an organisation’s troubles.
Once we covered basic shapes, it’s time to move on to the path element. The path is the most powerful SVG element. We can define pretty much anything with paths and if you open any SVG file, you will mostly see paths.
Imagine cozying up with your favourite app, and instead of being blinded by bright white screens, you’re greeted with a sleek, calming dark interface. Feels good, right? Dark mode Design isn’t just a trend—it’s a revolution in UI/UX design, and it’s here to stay. Whether you’re binge-watching YouTube, chatting on Slack, or scrolling through Instagram, dark mode is making our digital lives easier on the eyes and just a bit...
Payment button is one of the most important elements for any eCommerce or SaaS website. It’s way more than just a functional element — it’s a critical touchpoint in the user journey that can make or break a transaction.
Think of any website you thought was so cool and it would undoubtedly feature a surprise element. Whether it’s an attractive animation, an interactive widget, or an uncommon layout, the designs that surprise you are the ones that stay in your memory.
At Z1, we master the cleanest code and ride at the forefront of design. We craft our content with a writer’s lens and get excited about coming up with the freshest marketing campaigns. We know the best technologies for developing each of our products, we take pride in building strong teams with our clients… and we know a whole lot about deadlines.
Are you looking for ways to make your website stand out in 2025? Want to learn more about the web design trends predicted to take charge in 2025?
Animated GIFs are a great way to add fun, engaging visuals to your content. Whether you’re sharing a funny moment, explaining a concept, or creating something eye-catching for social media, turning a portion of a video into a GIF is easier than you might think.
Clients love their logos, and designers dread the infamous request: “Make it bigger!” This timeless clash combines comedy, chaos, and the pursuit of balance in design.
Fonts aren’t just letters; they’re your silent salespeople, your brand ambassadors, and the storytellers of your brand
Local farmers markets are an essential part of Berlin’s food system, offering fresh, locally produced goods while contributing to environmental sustainability and community building.
Implementing the style can be as simple as using an Art Deco font. Both serif and sans-serif variants offer a classic look. They’re a fit for any project that requires a touch of elegance.
The process of learning how to code has changed dramatically over the past few years. Back then, you had to follow complex coding tutorials and spend hours learning by trial and error with only a few forums to help you through the journey.
Browse examples from the best portfolio landing page design & websites
Google unveiled on Wednesday its first-ever AI agent that can take actions on the web, a research prototype from the company’s DeepMind division called Project Mariner. The Gemini-powered agent takes control of your Chrome browser, moves the cursor on your screen, clicks buttons, and fills out forms, allowing it to use and navigate websites much like a human would.
Core code, plugins, and themes are developed by a vibrant community and shared freely via GPL licenses. This ethos of open contribution has helped WordPress grow into the world’s leading content management system.
Impressive 3D hero animation that continues to wow as you scroll this One Pager for ChainGPT Labs. C
This article will walk you through the process and logic of designing a basic but attractive flyer. We’ll look at how you can plan your content, find and implement some quality images and handle the alignment of a significant amount of content while not sacrificing too much of the visual appeal.
If you’re interested and passionate about sustainability and you want to reduce your carbon footprint, sustainable web design is the way to go.
It’s been 10 years since scroll-driven animations were introduced in a spec proposal, and after five years in development, we’re finally beginning to see pop up in websites.
Language models (LMs) have become a critical technology for tackling a wide range of natural language processing tasks, making them ubiquitous in both AI research and commercial products.
Rather than provide any high level insight, let me address the various changes in Tailwind 4 individually.
When the content wraps to a new line, there is enough space for the figure, but the figure stays with the classic look. Can we do better?
We are living, breathing websites – each of us a complex layout system constantly negotiating space.
This has been a good year for web performance. We’ve seen some exciting new features and updates that have the potential to make a big impact on how we build and optimize websites.
Your approach to budgeting as a digital entrepreneur has a huge impact on your business. A solid strategy helps you manage your monthly income, track expenses, and achieve your financial goals.
Some fresh hand-picked motion designs and animation concepts for your inspiration.
How teams manage code changes in software development can greatly impact productivity, collaboration, and overall project success.
The developer behind popular Adobe Express add-ons like Color Blindness Simulator and Gifinity gives us an exclusive look into his process.
Create stunning color palettes instantly with AI. Enter any keyword or theme to generate the perfect color combination for your project.
In this deep dive, we’ll go through the API design, starting from the basics and advancing towards the best practices that define exceptional APIs.
A stateless service is one that doesn’t retain information about client sessions between requests. Each request contains all the information necessary for the server to process it.
It includes everything you can hear or see, such as images, videos, music, and animations. This guide will explore how multimedia is used in HTML and why it’s important for modern web design.
Headless commerce definition refers to an e-commerce architecture that separates the frontend of an online store (what shoppers see) from the backend (the tech running it).
Review insights are aggregated sentiment scores that provide a quick overview of topics using facial icons — positive, neutral, and critical — displayed above a business’s reviews. Yelp users can click specific topics to read related reviews that focus on those aspects of the business, such as what customers are saying about the food or service.
This is a rough transcription based on my notes for the sharing session I presented at the online Groove meetup in June. I’ve shared the slides before, but I think it’s worth putting the content in writing.
In our React 19 Upgrade Guide, we shared step-by-step instructions for upgrading your app to React 19. In this post, we’ll give an overview of the new features in React 19, and how you can adopt them.
Hyperlinks don’t always get the attention they deserve from web designers. Sure, we might make a few tweaks. However, we don’t always go the extra mile to make them stand out.
It is clear that, with or without AI, the things designers and developers find most useful haven’t fundamentally changed: good quality design resources to make good work; productivity tools to get that work done faster; and business helpers to get the job in the first place, and get paid for it while maybe having a little fun along the way.
These core functions support higher-order executive functions like reasoning, problem-solving, and planning. In this analysis, we focus primarily on the three core functions, as these represent the foundational cognitive processes underlying how people interact with technology.
As I delve deeper into understanding the capabilities and limitations of Artificial Intelligence, I see an opportunity for AI/ML to improve an existing flow in the Automotive industry.
This week, OpenAI launched what its chief executive, Sam Altman, called “the smartest model in the world”—a generative-AI program whose capabilities are supposedly far greater, and more closely approximate how humans think, than those of any such software preceding it. The start-up has been building toward this moment since September 12, a day that, in OpenAI’s telling, set the world on a new path toward superintelligence.
Around 75% of consumers lean into the email channel for both promotional and transactional updates from brands.
Visual hierarchy plays an important role in creating designs that are not just beautiful but also functional. Without the right balance of size, color, and spacing, a design will become cluttered, confusing, and chaotic.
Cross-document view transitions and scroll-driven animations let you add more interactivity to your applications with a few lines of CSS. You can now animate to height: auto;, style scrollbars, and size text inputs to their contents.
Caching is the process of storing copies of files in a cache, or temporary storage location, so that they can be accessed more quickly. When a browser caches a file, it stores a copy of that file on the user’s device. This means that the next time the user visits the same page, the browser can load the file from the cache instead of downloading it again from the server.
I’m writing this story recovering from burnout and a mild cold, which is a terrible combination. But you didn’t come to hear about my cold so let’s dive into the article.
Pinterest’s 2025 trend forecast highlights bold, nostalgic, and sustainable aesthetics set to shape digital design and branding. From Rococo-inspired elegance to mood-driven color schemes, these trends provide fresh opportunities for creating impactful, audience-focused experiences.
Tons of tasty component designs throughout this One Pager for Granola AI notepad.
Designers are encouraged to follow the rules and use grids to create well-structured and “effective” designs. However, this also puts restraints on creativity.
Adobe’s DevSecOps team creates innovative solutions that seamlessly integrates application and infrastructure security into Agile and DevOps workflows.
Keeping your personal information safe online is more important than ever. Whether you’re signing up for a newsletter, creating an account, or filling out online forms, sharing your real email or identity can expose you to privacy risks like spam or data breaches.
Every update in Figma is created in dialogue with our community—how you work and what you create pushes us to make Figma better for you.
In the visually-driven world of design, high-quality images are non-negotiable. Whether you’re creating social media graphics, website banners, or print materials, blurry or pixelated photos simply won’t cut it. That’s where image optimization comes in.
Few things are as frustrating to a user as when a site won’t respond. Unfortunately, it’s also an all-too-common scenario. Many websites and apps depend on so many elements that one of any number of errors could cause the whole thing to fail.
I tried a lot of AI tools in 2024 but only 7 of those made sense for my developer workflow. The ones that actually helped me write better code.
When we embarked on our journey with Base we were excited by the challenge of supporting diverse platforms — from Base Mobile to Base Web. Each platform came with its own set of native components and frameworks, and our ambitious goal was to unify them under a single, seamless system.
As UX designers, one of the most valuable tools in our toolkit is the skill to validate our design decisions with user research. It’s invaluable to making quality design decisions.
We often see websites left untouched for years, resulting in a stagnant online presence that no longer represents a business or brand, this often leads to poor user engagement and low conversion rates. This can then lead to costly overhaul projects that could have been avoided with regular updates. A website doesn’t necessarily need rebuilding every few years; it just needs to evolve alongside your business.
Web design is more than skin-deep. It’s about crafting digital experiences that resonate with users. Psychology is the secret ingredient to effective web design. By understanding how users think and behave online, designers can create interfaces that are not only visually appealing but also emotionally engaging.
An interview snapshot is a way to organize your thinking as research sessions are happening, setting you up for smoother, less stressful analysis later on. There’s no wrong way to use it, and we have a customizable template to get you going.
Gen Z – a generation of young people born between the last few years of the 20th century and the first ten years of the 21st, are the primary users of a modern-day Internet.
Most of my multi-page designs are typically created in Adobe InDesign, but for simpler layouts, I sometimes opt for Illustrator. While InDesign offers more advanced tools for managing text styles, the key advantage lies in its use of Master Pages. However, Illustrator also supports threaded text, allowing you to link text areas and have the content flow from one frame to another, along with several useful options and features.
IKEA’s Hus of FRAKTA pop-up on Oxford Street celebrates the iconic blue FRAKTA bag through immersive design experiences, creative customization stations, and a curated collection of bold, functional products. This playful tribute highlights how simple, democratic design can inspire creativity and elevate everyday objects into cultural icons.
Hair brushes let you replicate textures, strands, and gradients with just a few strokes, saving hours of manual work. The best part? Many of these tools are available for free, offering high-quality results without denting your budget. They range from fine, detailed strands perfect for close-ups to dynamic locks for quick volume rendering.
Forms are already notoriously tough to customize and style — to the extent that we’re already starting to see new ideas for more flexible control. But what we don’t often discuss is designing good-form experiences beyond validation. That’s what Jima Victor discusses in this article, focusing specifically on creating multi-step forms that involve navigation between sections.
Welcome to Part 2 of our guide on integrating Live Activities and Dynamic Island in iOS. In Part 1, we explored the fundamentals—how to set up a Live Activity, manage its lifecycle, and design layouts that work seamlessly on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island.
This article explores the differences between CSS and Sass, highlights their respective benefits, and provides code examples to illustrate their unique features.
Organizational silos and product-centric design make it difficult to resolve friction for customers who use our products and services. User-centered design is applied to digital products, but many pain points in real customer journeys require solutions in areas beyond product-design improvement, such as marketing, tech, and customer support.
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!
Programmer and developer are often used interchangeably, but there is an important distinction between them: the developer’s broader perspective and focus beyond just code. In this article, we will step back from coding to highlight the skills that define what skills a successful developer should have.
You can generate an infographic or a data-driven diagram. You can animate an image with CSS. You can make a clock that shows the actual time.
Did you found a button you like? Just click on it and paste the code to your project.
As we delve into the world of innovative web design, we’ve explored hundreds of portfolio websites, carefully selecting the 100 most creative and visually striking examples that truly stand out in 2024. These sites embody the best of modern design, blending originality, beauty, and a unique perspective. Our curated list showcases what’s truly at the forefront of web design today.
In his session with user researcher Oliver Sommermann, Pablo breaks down how tapping into this “plural consciousness” shaped the development of the Ableton Note app, an interface for sketching music. Instead of a conventional red record button, Note has a “Capture” feature that loops musical phrases after they’re played.
Get started with a collection of 586 free and open-source SVG icons compatible with Flowbite and Tailwind CSS based on solid and outline styles with React (JSX) and Figma support.
An in-depth exploration of anti-aliasing techniques, covering traditional approaches like SSAA, MSAA, and FXAA, and presenting a new “Analytical Anti-Aliasing” method that uses signed distance fields for smooth, artifact-free rendering, offering a more efficient solution for achieving high-quality visuals.
This shift also aimed to unify the mobile and web platforms, offering a seamless experience that empowers users and solidifies Garanti BBVA Securities’ brand as a market leader.
Psychologists studying the functioning of the human brain found out a long time ago that it has a tendency to take shortcuts and simplify tasks. By nature, our brain just doesn’t want to fatigue itself. This is especially true today when many of us experience cognitive overload. A brain overwhelmed with too much information it can’t process effectively tries to find a way to make things easier. The result? Cognitive biases.
We’ll take a look at some of the jobs that web developers need to do and the experience of doing them. These jobs tend to be somewhat complex tasks involving many steps and plenty that can go wrong. This is both a challenge and an opportunity to make good tools. Done poorly, developers are losing time, getting frustrated, and potentially making worse products. Done well, great tools make developers faster,...
From the big names like Netflix, HelloFresh, and Amazon Prime to the more niche ones, like car features unlocked by a monthly fee or olive oil delivered to your door — companies are leaning into subscriptions over single purchases, and it’s easy to see why. The model provides predictable revenue, fosters loyalty, and builds long-term relationships — all driving profitability.
It’s easy to default to what you know. When it comes to toggling content, that might be reaching for display: none or opacity: 0 with some JavaScript sprinkled in.
User scenarios are a key part of UX design, helping you map out how users interact with your product and guiding decisions to improve usability.
This innovative tool allows you to create beautiful animated 3D gradients that can be used for hero backgrounds or other design elements on your site. It’s incredibly easy to use and gives you endless creative possibilities
AI code generators empower freelance developers to boost income by automating tasks, increasing efficiency, and improving code quality. This allows for taking on more projects and focusing on higher-value work, leading to greater earning potential.