October 21, 2016 — What’s going on in the industry? What new techniques have emerged recently? What insights, tools, tips and tricks is the web design community talking about? Anselm Hannemann is collecting everything that popped up over the last week in his web development reading list so that you don’t miss out on anything. The result is a carefully curated list of articles and resources that are worth taking a closer look at. Read more…

October 20, 2016 — Iconography lies at the heart of UI design. It can make or break the usability of an interface. Every icon should serve a purpose. When done correctly, they communicate the core idea and intent of a product or action, and they bring a lot of nice benefits to user interfaces, such as saving screen real estate and enhancing aesthetic appeal. In this article Nick Babich will show you how to make that possible. If you want to take a go at creating your own icons, you can download and test Adobe’s Experience Design CC for free and get started right away! Read more…

October 19, 2016 — Today, many apps make assumptions about user preferences based on personal data. They use this information to make decisions on your behalf, without any direct input from us. This type of design pattern, where user choice is removed, has recently been coined “anticipatory design”, which leverages data on user behavior to automate the decision-making process in user interfaces. Despite the good intentions imbued in anticipatory design, though, automating decisions can implicitly raise trust issues . In this article, Graeme Fulton will look at how you can give people confidence in the decisions made for them by using “light patterns,” which ensure that user interfaces are honest and transparent, while even nudging users to make better decisions for themselves. Read more…

October 18, 2016 — Accessibility has always been a slightly unsettling realm for web developers. Surrounded with myths, misunderstandings, and contradicting best practices, it used to be a domain for a small group of experts who would “add” accessibility on top of the finished product. With our new book, we get to the bottom of it all! Written by Heydon Pickering, a well-respected accessibility expert, the book includes dozens of practical examples of accessible interface components and inclusive design workflow, applicable to your work right away. With this book, you’ll know exactly how to keep interfaces accessible from the very start, and how to design and build inclusive websites without hassle and unnecessary code. Read more…

October 18, 2016 — There is something magical about Halloween, surrounded by mystery, horror, scare and trick-or-treat candies for kids and adults alike. In this post, we feature artists around the world who have been creating wonderful illustrations dedicated to Halloween. We celebrate the creative side of Halloween with those of you who are also planning to celebrate with friends! Read more…

October 17, 2016 — “The Smashing Book #5 has completely changed the potential for books around the web. It dives deep into a topic and continues to dive deeper until you feel as though your brain might explode from the knowledge. The bar has been raised significantly.” For this article, we asked Paul Scrivens if he wanted to review our latest book, Smashing Book #5. Thank you Paul! Read more…

October 17, 2016 — One of the most famous chat bots was Alice (artificial linguistic Internet computer entity), released in 1995. It wasn’t able to pass the Turing test, but it won the Loebner Prize three times. In 2014, Slackbot made chat bots popular again. In 2015, Telegram and then Facebook Messenger released chat bot support; then, in 2016 Skype did the same, and Apple and some other companies announced even more chat bot platforms. Depending on your idea, target market and the platforms you are most familiar with, you can start with any of the other platforms that support chat bots. Read more…

October 14, 2016 — What’s going on in the industry? What new techniques have emerged recently? What insights, tools, tips and tricks is the web design community talking about? Anselm Hannemann is collecting everything that popped up over the last week in his web development reading list so that you don’t miss out on anything. The result is a carefully curated list of articles and resources that are worth taking a closer look at. Read more…

October 14, 2016 — These pictures are the best winter wallpapers from Smashing Magazine’s monthly contest – running from 2008 until 2016 and still counting. Spread the word: Winter is fun! A season to cuddle up in the warmth inside, light some candles and hang out with family while avoiding the bitter cold and snow outside. Winter is the greatest time to walk, ski, play snowballs and have fun with friends. Read more…

October 13, 2016 — When building a pattern library, we tend to focus too much on the modules, providing a structural view of the system, rather than showing how it can be used effectively — thereby undermining its usefulness to most team members. Finding the right way to architect a lasting pattern library is difficult. This article highlights some practical techniques and strategies to establish a pattern library that will be actively and consistently used by the entire team. Read more…