April 9, 2018 — How do we go about understanding the myriad of users and their needs? One of the most common problems when designing for accessibility is knowing what needs you should design for. The more inclusive you are to the needs of your users, the more accessible your design is. In this article, Steven Lambert will take a closer look at the different lenses of accessibility through which you can refine your designs. Read more…

April 9, 2018 — CSS Grid is important, really important. With it, we can now be as creative with layout on the web as we can in print, without compromising accessibility, responsiveness, or usability. If you’re at all serious about web design or development, you need to be serious about learning and using CSS Grid, too. In this article, Andrew Clarke will show you how to use one aspect, grid-template areas, an easy way of arranging elements. Read more…

April 6, 2018 — Building an MVP is all about building lots of functionality in a small amount of time. Vue.js is a good option, with a minimum of architectural boilerplate and a lot of raw power. All it needs is somewhere to store data. Let’s say you have this great idea for a new product. In this article, Lukas van Driel will guide you through the steps of creating and hosting this new web app. Read more…

April 5, 2018 — The importance of Conversational UI cannot be understated, even if some of us wish it wasn’t happening. Conversational UI is not a new concept. Technologies such as Natural Language Processing are key to delivering great a conversational UI, and we’re finally to the point where everyone can use it, regardless of skill level. In this article, Burke Holland is going to take a look at why NLP is so important, and how you can build your own. Read more…

April 4, 2018 — How can you gain a better understanding of your audience? Well, one way would be to use user-generated content that can be integrated into Machine Learning (ML) technology. In this article, Jamie Munro demonstrates how you can turn social media content into a powerful understanding of how the people creating the content think. Using the results from Watson, your application can use the categories of interest where the percentile exceeds or is less than a predetermined amount to change how you target your audience. Read more…

April 3, 2018 — Finding people to participate in qualitative UX studies can be an elusive task. We tend to hear about studies and their findings, but we don’t hear how researchers recruit study participants. We need to access users and potential users in order to effectively conduct research. You’ll want to become familiar with each of these and adapt your approach based on your product, budget, and timeline. In this article, Victor Yocco will help you resolve this mystery. Read more…

April 2, 2018 — Pop-ups still play a vital role in signing up more email subscribers and converting more customers from mobile devices. But, as with anything else, you need to play by Google’s rules and always think about how your decisions will affect your users’ experience. But, are mobile pop-ups dying, or will they simply undergo another adaptation? In this article, Suzanne Scacca will show you what the research says. Read more…

April 2, 2018 — Have you noticed the alarming lack of touch stimuli in current technologies? Our thoughts and feelings are strongly connected to the gestures, postures, and actions we perform. I aim to push you — as a designer — to think outside of the zone of screens. In this article, Lucia Kolesárová will aim to consider using more touch and motor skills when designing your very next product. Read more…

March 31, 2018 — As a part of our recent creativity challenge, artists and designers from across the globe created monthly desktop wallpapers dedicated to their favorite songs. And, of course, we do have some spring-themed wallpapers for April, too. Read more…

March 29, 2018 — CSS Logical Properties and Values aren’t quite ready to be used yet, however learning about them can help you to understand CSS Layout, and the interaction with Writing Modes. In this article, Rachel Andrew  is going to explain how CSS is changing to support writing modes, and in doing so, she’ll clear up some of the things that might confuse you about Flexbox and Grid. Read more…