June 11, 2018 — From campfires to books to advertisements to film, stories have a power over us that no other human invention can wield. They calm us, thrill us, enthrall us and send us running back to the box office for another hit. If we consider story structure as we look at user interactions, there are lots of ways we can put ourselves in the user’s shoes and optimize their experience, providing support exactly when they need it. In this article, John Rhea brings you some techniques. Read more…

June 7, 2018 — When it comes to performance, what works in the browser doesn’t necessarily suit Node.js. So, how do we make sure a Node.js implementation is fast and fit for purpose? Node is a very versatile platform, but one of the predominant applications is creating networked processes. In this article David Mark Clements is going to focus on profiling the most common of these: HTTP web servers. Read more…

June 6, 2018 — The defining characteristic of UX design is its focus on user research and on an iterative, user-centered, approach to creating solutions. But what if we applied the user-centered design process to ourselves, our lives, and our careers? In this article, JD Jordan is going to introduce you to four tools and techniques you can use to get started: Your Life In Weeks, Eisenhower Charts, Affinity Mapping and Prototyping Life. Read more…

June 5, 2018 — Nowadays, users are increasingly cautious of online and email scams, phishing attacks, and data breaches. In this article, Lyndon Cerejo will present a brief history of persuasion, look at how persuasion is used with technology and new media, and present food for thought for designers and developers to avoid crossing the ethical line to the dark side of persuasion. Read more…

June 4, 2018 — In this tutorial, you will build a sci-fi ID card for Avengers. Today, Kunal Sarkar will teach you Flexbox, Nested Flexbox, CSS animations, and a ton of other CSS techniques while building this interesting project. You will learn an effective way of making a full-page background, centering elements with Flexbox and auto margins, and see the basic usage of Flexbox and nested Flexboxes to make single dimension layouts. Let’s get started! Read more…

June 1, 2018 — In terms of how to handle typography in mobile web design, it appears that simpler and safer works best. In this article, Suzanne Scacca will break down the elements you need to pay attention to in mobile typography and then visit what the research says about how to handle them. She will give you a brief summary of what it is we know about typography in web design, and then see what UX experts and tests have been able to reveal about using typography for mobile. Read more…

May 31, 2018 — Welcome June with a fresh desktop wallpaper. Designed by artists and designers from across the globe and available with and without a calendar. Read more…

May 30, 2018 — Debugging data ranges from simple things like API response latency to monitoring a user’s network health. Without the right framework and tools, the debugging process can be a nightmare. That’s why Akhil Labudubariki developed his own in-house Central Logging Service tool (CLS) to record all important events logged during a session. In this article, Akhil walks through a number of steps and considerations his team made when developing their own in-house Central Logging Service (CLS) tool. Read more…

May 29, 2018 — Let’s say you want to reach out to a business. What would be the first thing you would do? Probably you would look up their website to search for answers to your questions or simply any contact details you can find. With no doubt, the first impression of any website is now more important than ever. There are more than 1.8 billion websites on the Internet right now, and the number is growing. What makes your website stand out? In order to make sure your website is a success, it’s important to keep the big picture in mind. Read more…

May 29, 2018 — SmashingConf is heading back to New York! SmashingConf NYC 2018 will explore how new web technologies, findings and emerging front-end/UX techniques can make us all better designers and developers. Today, Vitaly Friedman invites you to join us for two days full of front-end adventures and UX practices — highly practical techniques and strategies that you can apply to your work right away. Read more…