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Explorer les nouvelles fonctionnalités de Java 17 avec exemples

Découvrez les nouvelles fonctionnalités de Java 17 et explorez leurs possibilités avec des exemples concrets !

Java, l’un des langages de programmation les plus populaires, continue d’évoluer et de s’améliorer à chaque nouvelle version. Java 17, la dernière version à support à long terme (LTS), apporte plusieurs fonctionnalités et améliorations intéressantes au langage. Dans cet article, nous explorerons certaines des nouvelles fonctionnalités notables de Java 17 et fournirons des exemples pratiques pour vous aider à comprendre comment les utiliser efficacement.

Java 17, l’une des langues de programmation les plus populaires, continue d’évoluer et de s’améliorer à chaque nouvelle version. La dernière version à long terme (LTS) apporte plusieurs fonctionnalités et améliorations intéressantes à la langue. Dans cet article, nous allons explorer certaines des nouvelles fonctionnalités remarquables de Java 17 et fournir des exemples pratiques pour vous aider à comprendre comment les utiliser efficacement.

Classes scellées

Les classes scellées vous permettent de restreindre les classes ou interfaces qui peuvent les étendre ou les implémenter. Cette fonctionnalité améliore l’encapsulation et aide à maintenir l’intégrité du code en contrôlant qui peut hériter d’une classe scellée. Voyons un exemple :

public sealed class Animal permits Cat, Dog {

// …

}

public class Cat extends Animal {

// …

}

public class Dog extends Animal {

// …

}

Dans cet exemple, nous déclarons une classe scellée Animal qui autorise uniquement les classes Cat et Dog à étendre. Si une autre classe tente d’étendre Animal, elle générera une erreur de compilation. Les classes scellées sont très utiles pour contrôler l’héritage et améliorer la sécurité et la robustesse du code.

Pattern Matching pour le type instanceof

Le pattern matching pour le type instanceof est une autre nouvelle fonctionnalité intéressante de Java 17. Il permet aux développeurs de vérifier le type d’un objet et d’extraire des valeurs à partir de celui-ci en une seule instruction. Voyons un exemple :

if (obj instanceof String s) {

System.out.println(s.length());

}

Dans cet exemple, nous vérifions si l’objet obj est une instance de String. Si c’est le cas, la variable s est initialisée avec la valeur de obj. Nous pouvons ensuite utiliser la variable s pour accéder aux méthodes et propriétés de la chaîne. Le pattern matching pour le type instanceof est très pratique et peut être utilisé pour simplifier le code.

Conclusion

Java 17 apporte plusieurs nouvelles fonctionnalités intéressantes et utiles aux développeurs Java. Les classes scellées permettent de contrôler l’héritage et le pattern matching pour le type instanceof permet de vérifier le type d’un objet et d’extraire des valeurs à partir de celui-ci en une seule instruction. Ces fonctionnalités peuvent être utilisées pour améliorer la sécurité et la robustesse du code et simplifier le processus de codage.

Source de l’article sur DZONE

Whether you are a CSS expert or a front-end beginner, using the right CSS framework is crucial for your daily tasks. There are numerous frameworks whose ultimate goal is the same: helping developers target multiple screens, in the simplest possible way.

This is why Bootstrap is by far the most popular framework on the market. All developers have heard of Bootstrap, and more than 80% of them say they are happy using it.

But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some great alternatives if you’re willing to shop around. Bootstrap won’t be top dog forever, and there are numerous new lightweight and powerful CSS frameworks.

If you are bored of coding with Bootstrap and Foundation and tired of using complex CSS rules, this list is for you. 

From frameworks that take a pure CSS approach to minimalist frameworks with fully customizable themes, nothing is left out. Let’s get started…

1. Bulma

Bulma is one of the most popular alternatives to Bootstrap and Foundation. It is an entirely free, open-source CSS framework that does not have a steep learning curve. No prior CSS knowledge is required to use Bulma.

When you add the variety of colors, responsiveness, and clean flexbox-based grid it offers, it’s no wonder Bulma is becoming more popular every day. Bulma is a well-documented framework that you should definitely try out.

2. UIkit

If you’re looking for a lightweight yet powerful CSS framework that can be wired with HTML and JS, Ulkit is for you. It fully supports right to left languages and has one of the best icon libraries out there.

Keep in mind that Ulkit is also easy to use. All in all, Ulkit is an excellent Bootstrap alternative that is perfect for designing web layouts for desktop and mobile screens.

3. HTML5 Boilerplate

Even though Bootstrap is relatively easy to learn, it is much more than just a front-end template. So what if you need a fully compatible JavaScript, CSS3, and HTML5 template? In this case, HTML5 Boilerplate is a good choice.

Of course, since it’s a template, this framework does not include layouts and component modules. However, if you need a reliable CSS template that offers extensive documentation, HTML5 Boilerplate is a great solution.

4. Metro UI

Metro UI is one of the most flexible CSS frameworks on the market. This front-end framework can be easily combined with JavaScript-based frameworks like Angular, React, etc.

We found Metro UI to be an excellent open-source CSS framework and a great alternative to Foundation during our testing.

5. Skeleton

As a two-in-one solution, Skeleton quickly made it on our list. This is both a boilerplate and a comprehensive CSS framework. We enjoyed customizing its 12-column grid during our testing, and we found out that it has virtually no learning curve. 

The automatic width resizing works like a charm, and the syntax is fully responsive. This is why we consider Skeleton to be an excellent Bootstrap alternative.

6. Bootflat

If you are looking for a quick way to create a web app, Bootflat is the framework you need. Bootflat’s components are built with CSS3 and HTML5, and the framework offers a comprehensive panel of color schemes for you to choose from. 

Bootflat looks and acts like a simplified version of Bootstrap. However, that doesn’t mean that this CSS framework isn’t scalable and robust. On the contrary, you can fully manipulate the size and performance of the web designs you create. 

7. Semantic UI

If you exclude the fact that Semantic UI doesn’t have the utility classes Bootstrap offers, it is a comprehensive CSS framework that you should try. The best Semantic feature allows you to write HTML code without using BEM methodologies. 

So, if you need a framework that will help you write readable codes in minutes, Semantic is the one for you. 

8. Susy

We know that most developers nowadays use flexbox and native CSS grids. Still, there’s nothing better than Susy if you need a grid system that supports legacy browsers. Although Susy is no longer maintained, it is one of the most flexible old-school grid systems. 

9. Materialize

Like most CSS frameworks on this list, Materialize is built with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. 

It’s specifically designed to help you develop faster using a standard template and customizable components. As the name suggests, Materialize is based on the basic principles of Material Design.

10. Kickstart

If you need a lightweight alternative to Bootstrap, Kickstart is the CSS library for you. A great thing about Kickstart is that it doesn’t require jQuery which makes it very small. 

Of course, like a pruned version of Bootstrap, this CSS framework isn’t as robust. Still, this is an excellent choice for those who need a UI framework and a comprehensive boilerplate library. 

11. Tailwind CSS

With a fast styling process and the ultimate freedom it provides, Tailwind is extremely popular among some developers. This is a utility-first, front-end framework that is fully responsive and stable. 

Unfortunately, Tailwind CSS requires some time to learn, and it is not the most flexible choice when it comes to revising CSS rules.

12. Pure CSS

Yahoo specially developed Pure CSS to help developers create fully responsive web pages. 

We consider Pure a minimalist alternative to Bootstrap that offers every module a beginner needs (navigation menu, grid, tables, etc.).

13. PowertoCSS

PowertoCSS is on this list for a good reason. This is an ultimately responsive CSS framework that you can use to create grids and scale web apps on any platform. 

PowertoCSS is based on Modular Architecture and Scalable when it comes to design.

Unlike other CSS frameworks, PowertoCSS is very lightweight, beginner-friendly, and comes with detailed documentation. 

The coding process is simple, and we found the learning curve to be shallow.

14. Spectre

Spectre is one of the most flexible and lightweight CSS frameworks we tested for this article. 

It has a modern (flexbox) layout system; it is fully customizable and allows you to get quick, attractive results. 

15. Primer

Our last suggestion is Primer, a great open-source CSS framework. 

To be precise, Primer is more of a design system that lets you use a BEM CSS framework and create your projects quickly and efficiently.

So, even though Primer is not a CSS framework in the strict sense, it will help you use React and Figma components, icons, and advanced documentation to unify all of that.

Wrap Up

Choosing the right CSS framework is not easy. It all depends on your personal needs and preferences as a front-end developer. 

Although Bootstrap and Foundation are still the most popular frameworks, many of the alternatives presented above will continue to gain popularity for good reasons.

Source

The post 15 Best CSS Frameworks: Professional Bootstrap and Foundation Alternatives first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

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Do you ever get bored with design projects? Feel like you keep designing the same things on repeat?

This collection of trends – from fun angles to illustrations where you wouldn’t expect them to cool three-dimensional concepts – is sure to help you think a little more out of the box. It might be just the right inspiration to cure some of that design boredom.

Here’s what’s trending in design this month.

1. Angles for Attention

Working with angles is a fun technique because you can essentially point website visitors to what you want them to see on the screen.

Angles can be aggressive and have an obvious visual goal. They can also have an easier feel without so much direct intent. This trend can look a lot of different ways, making it a versatile option for designers.

Each of the three examples here takes a different approach to angles.

Bake Inc. uses various angles with imagery and whitespace to draw the eye past the visual elements to the brand name at the bottom of the screen. If you click through to the design, you’ll see that there isn’t just one angle-image design, but it’s a collection of changing images and angles that work beautifully in concert.

Instabase uses a collection of animated geometric shapes as the main visual element on the screen. Note the directional pull of the triangle in the bottom left of the group of shapes. It helps lead the user to the “Request a Demo” call to action on the other side of the screen.

Readymag’s Custom Cursor is one of those aggressive angles. The giant cursor is what the design is about, but because of the size and shape of the object, users are directed to the word “cursor” as well. That adds extra emphasis to what the design is about. With the combination and the oversized element and giant angle that are so in your face, you can’t help but get a quick understanding of what the design is about.

 

 

2. Unexpected Illustrations

This might be the most fun we’ve seen with a website design trend in a while – projects and companies are using illustrations in some of the most unexpected places.

The design surprise happens when an industry that you don’t expect uses this type of imagery. A simple illustration takes the design to another level, or illustrations mix with other elements to paint a whimsical overall scene. Those are the things you can find with each of these three examples.

Krivitzky is a website for a business law firm. This is not at all the type of website where you’d expect illustrations (including a dragon). While the design is fun to interact with, it’s hard to say if it works. If you needed representation, would this appeal to you? In terms of legal websites, this is a total disruptor and forces your attention. That could be a good thing.

Studio Mesmer is one of those simply understated designs that’s almost perfect. The stark black background makes the simple illustration that much more striking. The eye also has a nice hover animation effect for an added surprise.

Kenn & Kitt mixes an illustration with real imagery to paint a more whimsical scene. What’s nice about the illustrated elements of the website design is that it helps connect the website to the product packaging, which uses illustrations while feeling “real” with the photo of a dog. It’s a bright and sunny combination of photos and illustrations that feels whimsical but has the right vibe for the product category.

 

 

3. 3D Depth

The three-dimensional website design trend keeps ebbing and flowing. And right now, it is flowing with full-screen 3D elements for maximum depth that makes you feel like you can almost dive into the screen.

While most of these designs use illustration with animation to create the 3D scene, you don’t have to abide by this example. The goal is to create something that looks and feels immersive so that users will want to take part in the experience.

The Match Maker has an 80s gamer vibe where you can feel yourself going down the tunnel on the screen. Additional hover animations move the screen, even more to help you get into the game.


Hafele Discoveries uses a wide-angle style animation with back and forth motion. The fish-eye style of the design adds an element of depth, which is further magnified by the foreground box with text and call to action elements. The design concept is attention-getting, but the motion can be a little dizzying if you leave it on the screen too long.

FiveT Hydrogen takes a more “traditional” approach to a three-dimensional website design with an illustration/animation that includes elements of depth. This is magnified on the scroll action of the design with shadows and layers and a variety of elements – real and illustrated – that make you feel like part of what’s happening on the screen. It’s an immersive learning experience about clean hydrogen that almost forces users to keep scrolling. The 3D effect is what takes it to another level.

 

 

Conclusion

Not every design trend is right for every project. Take a good look at what you are trying to accomplish and match it with a design concept.

If you want to try one of these trends, but they are a little too out there, experiment with a small area of the design or a landing page first. That’s a good place to test ideas and conversion rates to see if the design technique will work for your audience.

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The post 3 Essential Design Trends, September 2021 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.


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Choosing to work for free, pro bono, gratis, without charge is something that most of us find ourselves doing at one time or another. Whether we’re filling a hole in our portfolio, there’s a friend or relative we feel beholden to, or because there’s an opportunity to aid a cause we value.

Recently, I agreed to take on some work, free of charge, for a charity whose goals I share. Because it’s a cause I believe in, I enjoyed the idea of being able to contribute in a more meaningful way than donating money. But my initial goodwill rapidly diminished as the project spiraled out of control, leaving me resenting the time I spent on it.

No one should feel obliged to give away their time for free, but if you do choose to, there are rules you can apply to ensure that everything runs smoothly and you’re left with a positive experience.

1. Be Specific in What You’re Donating

The most obvious problem with working pro bono is that there is no correlation between cost and value.

Budget reins in project ambitions in a regular designer-client relationship; the more you ask for, the more it costs. Everyone encounters clients who want an ecommerce store “just like Amazon,” only to then rapidly downscale their plans when the actual development cost of a site on that scale is made clear.

working pro bono…there is no correlation between cost and value

But when there is no development budget, ambitions quickly escalate. Clients do not necessarily understand the work involved, and if they’re not footing the bill, there’s no incentive to learn.

As the professional, you need to guide them. Set limits on what you’re expecting to donate, and use that to frame what is reasonably achievable.

“I’m donating 40 hours of my time, which normally costs $3000.” Or, “I’m donating my SEO package, which is enough to meet your initial goals as discussed.” They are both perfectly fine.

The purpose is not to highlight your generosity; it’s to establish clear boundaries to prevent scope creep.

2. They’re Not Doing You a Favour

Any client who suggests that their project will be good for your portfolio or gain you “exposure” knows they’re underpaying you. When you hear it from a pro bono client, walk away immediately.

The client needs to understand you are donating your expertise, not because you need to, not because you’re expecting something in return, but because you’re an awesome human being who wants to make the world a little better.

A client who thinks you’re getting something out of the arrangement does not understand your commercial value and will treat you as a novice. Your evidence will become guesses, your decisions will become suggestions, and the client will have little faith in the project outcome.

Clients, whether paying or not, need guidance. If they don’t respect you and believe in your guidance, they will start to cast around for other opinions to the detriment of the project outcome and your relationship.

This brings us neatly on to…

3. Everyone’s an Expert

Q. What’s the difference between an amateur and a professional? A. Professionals get paid.

You’re not getting paid, so in the client’s eyes, you’re now an amateur. Hey, guess what? Their 12-year-old daughter is an amateur too, and her views are now equally valid.

When you’re working pro bono, you can expect a lot of “help.” You’ll find that someone’s niece is planning to major in graphic design…when she graduates high school…in four years. You’ll find that someone’s partner has a hiking blog, read an SEO article, and is happy to “give it a try.” You may even find that the client themselves fancies a career switch to web design and doesn’t think it looks too hard.

Shut that **** down immediately. Smile, be gracious. Explain that, of course, you’re happy for contributions, and then avoid them like the coronavirus.

You’re donating a professional service that you’ve spent years developing, and you’re donating it to a cause that you value. You’re not there to increase someone’s chance of getting into college or to distract someone from their boring day job. If you do want to mentor people, there are places you can do that.

Everyone Actually Is An Expert

The nature of pro bono work is that more often than not, the people involved actually are experts. The simple truth is that people who aren’t experts in something tend to be in low-paying employment and are too busy trying not to be in low-paying employment to donate their time.

Like you, the people volunteering their time are doing so because they can afford to. For example, you may find that the organization’s head of accounts spends Monday–Friday as a tax advisor; the head of outreach is a project manager at a construction firm; the head of safeguarding is a school teacher.

People bring transferable skills to pro bono roles. Be sensitive to the fact that just as you are an expert in your professional context, so may they be. Simply not being an expert in design does not make them an idiot.

4. Do Not Foot the Bill

It’s tempting to simply donate everything to do with the project: the domain name’s going to cost $10? Well, it’s only $10; hosting’s $5/month? Well, it’s not too arduous to set up a small space on your own server.

imparting your experience sets the organization up for future success

However, when you give everything away, the client doesn’t understand the cost or value they’re receiving. As a professional, it’s part of your job to educate the client on the costs of a project like this; imparting your experience sets the organization up for future success.

Be clear at the start of the project that the client will be responsible for all expenses.

If you wish to — and you should not feel obliged — you are always free to make a financial donation equivalent to the expenses.

5. Stick to Office Hours

When you agree to do pro bono design work, the chances are that you know the person or organization you’re doing the work for. There’s almost always a personal connection of some kind, which means that the person or organization doesn’t see you in the professional context that normal clients see.

All good clients will respect the fact that you don’t answer emails on a Sunday morning. Not so the charity client. Not only will the charity client assume that you’re available outside of office hours, they may even think they are doing you a favor by not disturbing you during your regular office hours.

It’s important that you find some downtime outside of work to live your life. If you don’t want your evening out with friends to descend into an impromptu planning meeting (you don’t), set clear boundaries about when and how you’re prepared to work on the project.

Unless you’re self-employed, you can’t donate time when you should be working; what you can do is append pro bono work to your paid employment — do an hour after work, on weekday evenings, for example.

If you are literally doing this in your spare time, then allocate a specific time slot, such as a Saturday afternoon, and stick to it.

7. Stick to the Plan, and the Deadline

It is a universal truth that projects run better when there’s a structured approach. It doesn’t matter if it’s lean, agile, waterfall, or whatever you want to dub it. What matters is that you have a plan that works for you and is suitable for the project goals.

A structured approach, especially one that includes a timeline, will combat most disruptions. On the project I was working on recently, I was preparing for final sign-off when one volunteer announced it was time to “start thinking about what pages we need on the site.” 🤨

Discipline is crucial in pro bono work because different stakeholders will have different levels of commitment; some people will be full-time volunteers, others will be donating an hour per week. What matters is that the project that you are responsible for runs on your schedule.

8. You Have Zero Availability

Non-profits tend to talk to one another. When your friends and family see what you’ve done for Joe’s startup, they will start having ideas of their own. The client you’re completed the project for will have other projects lined up. When you aren’t charging, there’s no shortage of clients.

be prepared to say, “no,” at some point

Before you agree to do any pro bono work at all, be prepared to say “no,” at some point.

The simplest way out is to say you have zero availability: you’re already booked up with paying work, or your boss has let you know she needs you for overtime next month.

Don’t feel bad about it. It’s probably true. There are only so many hours in the day, and even if you do have some time to spare, doesn’t your partner, dog, or social life deserve some attention?

There’s No Profit In Non-Profits

Working for free is not transactional. It probably won’t benefit your portfolio. It definitely won’t lead to paying work. Any skills or experience you acquire probably won’t be transferable. (It might give you the topic for a blog post.)

If the work were meant to benefit you, it would be called personalis bono.

Nevertheless, many of us will find ourselves agreeing to do pro bono work, either out of obligation or idealism. It’s not something to shy away from; changing the world — whether for a group or an individual — is a noble pursuit.

The key is that while you will not profit, neither should you suffer a loss. Volunteering your time, skills, and experience should be a sustainable process. One that you will not come to regret.

 

Featured image via Unsplash.

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Productivity is a crowded space, with countless apps and services promising to make your life and business easier and more profitable. Of all the apps that make that promise, very few deliver, but we’ve found one that does: Taskade.

Flexible Planning With Taskade

Every problem is unique, and part of what defines us as creative professionals is the different ways we approach problems. What suits one person in one situation doesn’t suit another in another. This is where many planning apps fall down: they adopt one singular approach and expect users to fit around the app.

Taskade is different. Like the love-child of Trello, Notion, and Slack, Taskade uses a template approach to create a flexible planning system that you can use in whatever way you prefer.

When you open up Taskade, you’ll see some quick options: ‘blank,’ ‘weekly planner,’ ‘meeting agenda,’ and so forth. But there’s also a ‘more’ option that will give you access to the hundreds of templates Taskade supplies. There are dozens of template categories, and each category contains multiple templates that you can use to drive your planning process.

Whether you’re looking for a task list for launching on Product Hunt, a design system checklist, or a project scrum board, you’ll find the template ready and waiting for you.

If none of the predesigned options are right for the task at hand, Taskade gives you the option to create your own template from the basic building blocks of boards, actions, mind maps, charts, and lists.

Team Collaboration With Taskade

One of Taskade’s main strengths is its ability to work equally well for individuals and teams.

It makes sense when you’re evaluating a product that you do it on your own. But we encourage you to bring team members on board early in the trial because it’s when working with teams that Taskade really excels as a collaborative tool.

Once you’ve created a new planning project, you can invite your team, either by email or — if they’re already registered — by tagging them with their Taskade username.

You can assign tasks to individuals or multiple individuals (a much better option than the free-for-all you find in some to-do apps). You can also set deadlines for tasks so that everyone knows what the schedule is.

Team Chat on Taskade

Another area that Taskade excels for teams is the built-in real-time live chat. You can communicate with team members right in the project instead of jumping onto Slack or email.

For teams working remotely, or even just multi-tasking throughout the day, it’s a great way of ensuring that everyone has the information they need. As a result, mistakes are minimized, and best of all, there’s a written record that can be referred back to at any time.

Chat can be sent to the whole team, or direct messaged to an individual, so you don’t need to worry about filling up everyone’s notifications with messages that don’t apply to them.

Project Management With Taskade

If you’re working on a single project, then you probably know exactly where it is at all times. But for anyone working on multiple projects, it can be hard to keep track of everything. So Taskade has several different options for project managers.

The Mindmap section is one of the most useful parts of Taskade because it gives you a complete overview of everything in your project. You can see what has been completed and how much time it took — that way, you can assess how viable the timeline for your other tasks is.

Another great feature of Taskade is the activity feed. When one of your team makes a change to a project, it will pop up in your activity feed, and the next time you log in, you’ll see the status of your projects with a single glance.

Multi-Platform

One of our favorite aspects of Taskade is that it works equally well across different platforms. As well as the desktop web app, you’ll also find native apps in the iOS app store and the Android play store.

Syncing your account over different apps is awesome because ideas often occur at inconvenient times — on your commute, walking the dog. Even when you’re at your desk, it’s much handier to grab your phone and make notes than it is to switch to your browser and visit a site.

Easy Registration

If you’re feeling the pressure of a bulging inbox, or to-do lists on multiple post-its, then the last thing you need is another complex, confusing task to add to the pile.

Taskade is super-easy to get started with. Just click the ‘Sign up’ link in the top right of the site, and you’ll have three options: Sign up with Google, sign up with your email, or you can continue as a guest.

If you’re not sold yet, then continue as a guest — essentially a free trial — you can sign in properly later once your curiosity is satisfied.

Free to Use

Taskade is free to use on a limited basis. The free plan comes with 500Mb of storage and a maximum 25Mb file size. You can create individual tasks or whole projects, workflows, and custom templates and share tasks and projects with your team. That’s enough to help you make the most of Taskade for $0.

If you find that the generous free plan isn’t quite enough, paid plans start at just $5 per month. The paid plan gives you unlimited storage and bumps the maximum file size up to 250Mb. You have the same core features as the free plan; it’s just that they’re unlimited, which means you can do even more planning. In addition, the paid plan adds some handy extra features that are great time-savers, such as sorting tasks, creating repeat tasks, and bulk assigning tasks. Just look at how Taskade compares to similar tools.

Most professionals will get along with the free plan just fine, but $5 per month for unlimited storage is a great deal. On top of that, you have future premium features to look forward to, including a project revision history and a calendar view.

You can sign up to Taskade for free now, as a guest, with your email, or with Google.

 

[– This is a sponsored post on behalf of Taskade –]

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The dog days of summer are here. From vacations to pool time, you might not be thinking about work that much. But there are still plenty of new tools and resources popping up to help you become a better or more efficient designer.

Here’s what new for designers this month.

Haikei

Haikei is a web app that you can use to generate SVG shapes, backgrounds, and patterns in a web-based editor that you can use with any design tool or workflow process. Everything is customizable and it is free with access to 15 generator functions. (Additional templates and generators will be available when the pro plan is released later.)

Pixelhunter

Pixelhunter is a smart image resizer for social media platforms. It recognizes objects and crops pictures automatically. It supports 102 sizes and is free to use.

Compo

Compo is an Apple app that allows you to play with shapes and colors and create compositions on your own. You can see shapes and colors like the Bauhaus masters, creating from a blank canvas or shuffling in more creative ways. You can move, rotate, copy, overlap, and adjust shapes and colors to suit your style. Available for iPad and iPhone.

Backlight

Backlight is an all-in-one design system platform that allows you to build code and reference sites in a space where designers and developers can work together. It has a series of “starter kits” to help you with the technology you use from React to Chakra to Tailwindcss. It’s designed to be collaborative with everything in one place and integrates into your workflows. The tool is just launching and you can request early access to learn more.

Multi Color Text With CSS

Multi Color Text With CSS is pure fun. Check out the pen by Shireen Taj.

Mega Creator

Mega Creator is an online graphic design tool that helps you create images, icons, illustrations, backgrounds, and more for a number of uses. It has templates that are sized for common uses such as social media. You can upload your own elements to work with (free) or use including graphic assets for a fee.

Noloco

Noloco is a no-code solution for designers to build web apps. You can start building for free and design almost anything you can dream up from a set of drag-and-drop ready-made blocks. (And it will work across all screen sizes.)

Tinter

Tinter is a tiny web tool to generate color variations of images. The tool also generates monochrome colors of images with multiple variants, without hampering the quality of the image.

Radix Colors

Radix Colors is an accessible, open-source color system for designing gorgeous websites and apps. It includes 28 color scales with 12 steps each and includes support for dark mode as well as matching transparencies.

WP Cost Calculator

WP Cost Calculator is a smart, simple tool that allows you to easily create price estimation forms. It’s perfect for a number of industries that use online pricing.

TraveledMap

TraveledMap allows you to create customizable maps thanks to the use of markers, routes, and photos, which you can share or add to your website or blog. This tool is made for travelers and tourism pros.

Glyph Neue Icons

Glyph Neue Icons is a collection of 1,500 icons in SVG and PNG format. (They are free with a link.) Icons come in plenty of categories and styles for all types of use.

Streamline Icons

Streamline Icons is a set of thousands of icons in 12 different styles and themes that you can use for projects. They work through the Streamline app or a plugin for Figma, Sketch, or Adobe XD.

Health Icons

Health Icons is a set of free, open-source health icons for personal or commercial projects. They include filled and outline styles that are editable. There are more than 800 icons in the collection.

OMG, SVG Favicons FTW!

OMG, SVG Favicons FTW! Is a look at the benefits of using SVG favicons in web projects. It also examines some of the challenges – such as browsers support – with code snippets to help you get started.

Aspect Ratio in CSS

Aspect Ratio in CSS explores a design concept we talk about a lot in other places, but not so much with CSS. This piece by Ahmad Shadeed takes a look at how you can go beyond the “padding hack” and use native aspect ratio support in CSS to maintain image height and width ratios in responsive design.

Fight Kick

Fight Kick is a bold font with a lot of personality. The free demo version has 249 characters and is for personal use only.

Glow Better

Glow Better is a beautiful premium typeface with a pair of options – a serif and script. Both contain letterforms with swashes and tails that are delightful.

Huggable Hedgehogs

Huggable Hedgehogs is a playful font that’s perfect for children’s projects. Everything has a mono-height in the all uppercase typeface.

Monice

Monice is a rounded sans serif with thick lines and high readability. It includes bold, regular, and italic styles with free (demo, personal) and commercial options.

Rustica

Rustica is a robust premium typeface with 20 styles and family options. It has slim curves and an easy-to-read character set that would work for almost any use. It also supports 219 languages.

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There are many reasons you might be wanting to improve your design skills this year. Perhaps you have extra time on your hands and want to put it to good use. Or maybe you’re new to web design and finding that there’s a lot you still don’t know how to do. It could also be that you recognize that the web is changing, and your skills could use some refreshing to keep up.

Whatever the reason, there are many ways to level up your web design skills in 2021. Here are 12 ideas to get you started:

Tip 1: Niche Down If You Haven’t Already

Jack-of-all-trades designers might be able to say “yes” to everyone. However, they’re going to be stretched very thin as they attempt to strengthen every skill needed to keep up with demand.

It’s much easier to become a trusted designer and to improve your skills if you have a smaller and more specific skill set to develop.

Just keep in mind that niching down doesn’t necessarily mean focusing on a particular industry. For instance, you might choose to be a UX designer instead of a web designer. Or you might specialize in designing ecommerce websites instead of monetized blogs. Just find something that you’re passionate about and will be good at doing, and zero-in on the skills needed for it.

Tip 2: Play Around in the Sandbox

Local development environments are useful for staging websites, doing redesigns, and testing updates safely away from live sites. But you can also use them for experimenting with new design techniques, trends, templates, plugins, and more.

Local by Flywheel is the one I prefer to use:

Here’s a good exercise to start with:

Take a website you like — something you’ve looked at in awe and couldn’t imagine ever building on your own. Then, put yourself to the test. See if you can recreate it in your sandbox.

Don’t be hard on yourself if you don’t figure it out right away. Consult your resources and give yourself time to make sense of what’s going on and implement it with the available skills and tools.

Tip 3: Redesign One of Your First Projects

There’s always a clear evolution in a designer’s skill set, from the day they begin designing to the present day. And that’s a good thing. If your work doesn’t improve or change with time, then you’re going to have a lot of catching up to do when the stagnation begins to hurt your business.

Want to see how much progress you’ve made so far? Revisit one of your first projects and look at it with fresh eyes. I bet you’ll see a big change in how you design today from how you designed that site then.

Now, ask yourself what you would do differently. And then, go to your sandbox and do the redesign.

Tip 4: Work on a Passion Project

A friend of mine is taking a UX design course and needed some users to run through a prototype he created for the class. He could create anything he wanted, so he designed an app related to his other love: Music.

While he could’ve easily thrown together some carbon copy of Spotify or SoundCloud, he came up with a completely new concept. And it was really impressive, to the point where I urged him to put it into production and see if he could list it in the app stores.

I think it’s when we’re really passionate about something that we’re willing to push past our limits. So, carve out some time to tackle that passion project you’ve been toying around with and see where it takes you.

Tip 5: Share Your Designs on Dribbble and Ask for Feedback

One of the reasons UX designers do user testing is how valuable users’ raw input is. While it would be nice to think that design is a completely subjective matter, that isn’t really the case when usability becomes compromised due to design choices.

Understanding what users like and dislike is an important part of taking your design skills to the next level. And a good way to do that is to share your designs on Dribbble.

Here’s an example of UI8 asking for feedback:

Tip 6: Create a Design Toolbox

I’m a huge fan of automation and shortcuts powering things behind the scenes in business.

After all, one of the reasons you become a web designer is so you can design, right? When you’re bogged down with administrative and logistical tasks, that’s time spent away from doing what you enjoy.

One way in which you can streamline your backend processes is by putting together a design toolbox. Your preferred CMS. Flexible templates or apps you use from project to project. Website testing tools. And so on.

As you do this, it’ll force you to examine how you build websites. Are you really working as efficiently as possible? Are there newer apps or systems that’ll help you design better sites? And as you improve your design toolbox, you’ll improve your design skills.

Tip 7: Subscribe to Your Favorite Blogs

I have a hard time recommending this one, only because I’m reluctant to sign up for yet another newsletter. That said, I do see the value in subscribing to some blog newsletters as I don’t always remember to revisit their websites and check out the latest content.

What I’d suggest you do is pick one or two design blogs that have a good variety of content and publish regularly. And then pick one small business or freelance blog.

WebdesignerDepot, of course, is a good one to start with as it comes at a good frequency, recommends great reads from all around the web, and is fluff-free:

I’d also recommend signing up for one that’s focused on your niche as well as one for business.

As a freelancer, I’d vote for the Freelancers’ Union newsletter. There’s always something timely and useful in there.

Tip 8: Listen to a Podcast

I just adopted a second dog, so I’ve spent a lot more time on walks while house-training her. At first, I was stressed about it because it was time spent away from work. However, I started to fill that time with podcasts and found that it helped me work better for the rest of the day.

One reason is that I’ve been listening to work-related podcasts, which are always chock full of helpful tips. Another reason is that it gives my eyes a rest from looking at the screen so that when I come back 15 or so minutes later, I feel refreshed and ready to go.

Rebekah Carter has a good set of web design podcast recommendations to get you started.

Tip 9: Take a Free Online Design Course

There’s an overabundance of information online. If you want to brush up on CSS, there are hundreds of YouTube courses that cover it. If you want to learn how to use a new WordPress plugin, you’ll find dozens of great tutorials across various online course platforms, YouTube channels, and even people’s blogs.

There’s no need to go back to school to become a better designer. Here are five places where you’re bound to find free courses for web designers.

Tip 10: Read a Book on Design Principles or Theory

It’s easy to lose sight of design principles when your clients are clamoring for a website that will make them a lot of money, get them a lot of readers, and so on. Sure, you can design a UI and UX that works, but do you remember why the design choices you made are effective?

Choose a book — just one to start — that’ll help you reconnect with the roots of good web design. Not only will you get a good refresher on web design principles or design theory, but you might learn something brand new.

Here are some of my favorite books for web designers:

Tip 11: Find Your People

Now more than ever, finding a community of like-minded web designers, developers, or freelancers is important. It’s not just about having a group of people to vent to when clients drive you nuts (though that’s great, too).

It’s about finding a group that brings something new to the table and enriches your understanding of web design and what it means to be a web designer.

If you’re on Facebook or LinkedIn, start there. There are tons of web design and freelance groups that have productive discussions every day. If you prefer to meet up with local designers and developers, check out Meetup.

You may be surprised by how many groups there are and the kinds of meetups they have planned.

Tip 12: Attend a Virtual Conference

Did any of you attend a design conference last year? I did. I virtually attended Adobe MAX — from the comfort of my home, in my pajamas, for three days.

I scheduled my assignments around the sessions I wanted to attend and didn’t have to pick one over the other (i.e., “Do I make money or do I learn something new?”).

Some of the sessions showed us how to do more with Adobe’s tools, while some of them featured design and business leaders who shared personal insights on how to work more effectively. It was a great way to shake up my normal routine and to get a ton of information about the future of web design in a short period of time.

Which of These Tips Will You Use to Improve Your Design Skills?

Like I said before, there’s a lot you can do to improve your design skills. Just be careful not to overdo it.

Pick one or two things on this list to start with. If you have more time in your schedule and you’re excited about what you’ve learned so far, add a couple more.

Just take it slowly. Your brain will only be able to absorb so much at once. Plus, the last thing you want is to burn yourself out on skills training and not have the energy to complete your work.

 

Featured image via Unsplash.

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We’re going to try something a little different this month; with this roundup of tools and resources for designers, we’re going to pick a few of our favorites and group everything else in a manner that makes it even easier to find elements that will work for you, and your projects, right now.

Here’s what’s new for designers this month…

February’s Top Picks

Pika

Pika is a new Mac app that is an open-source color picker. It helps you find color swatches on-screen, saving time and design headaches. Plus, it’s packed with bonuses such as the ability to confirm accessibility compliance for colors, compact size and style, easy to access from your desktop, and format-friendly with plenty of color code options.

Iconduck

Iconduck is a searchable database of more than 100,000 icons in one place. (No more searching various marketplaces!) The goal of the project is to make open-source icons and illustrations more accessible. So, everything you find here is free! The site does all the heavy lifting for you by collecting icon sets, tagging them, and making them searchable.

Descript

Descript is a premium tool that eliminates some of the intimidation factors with audio and video editing. With a design that functions as a word document and allows you to transcribe, record the screen, publish, and edit, all with some cool AI features.

Persona

Persona is an all-in-one identity infrastructure that allows you to collect, verify, manage, and decide customer identities from a single dashboard. Everything is fully automated, and most users can be up and running in about 10 minutes. The premium tool does have a free version for small-scale verifications.

6 Productivity Boosters

Peekalink

Peekalink turns standard links into rich content that users will be delighted to share and engage in. And it’s easy to use. Just send a request to the API with a link and get a response back to use, including a rich link for your project.

LinkAce

LinkAce is an open-source and self-hosted archive to store and organize links that you want to save. You can search thanks to tags and lists, and all of the content is available thanks to automated backups and monitoring. There’s a demo you can try before installing it yourself.

Formality

Formality is a WordPress plugin that helps you make forms a little bit easier. It’s made to work with the Gutenberg-based form builder with a single block format to control the form. The plugin has a theme-agnostic design that works with any layout style and includes customizations to make it feel a little more personal.

Wondercall

Wondercall is an embeddable video call system for any website or app. You can make calls and schedule them with a widget you can embed right into your design.

Editor X

The Editor X website builder is out of beta and ready for mainstream use. The platform is designed for designers and agencies to create websites collaboratively and quicker. Features include live commenting, roles and permissions, and shared design libraries. Plus, the platform offers code-free interactions.

Shareful/h2>

Shareful is a Mac app that makes the system share menu more powerful. You can copy, save as, and open indirectly from the system share menu.

2 Icon Sets

Supercons

Supercons is a giant set of icons in React. They are all open-source, and there are plenty of choices to help you propel projects forward.

Plumpy Icons

Plumpy Icons are packed with style. The set of icons has a fun design, comes in duotone colors, and scales to any size. Plus, there are more than 4,000 icons in the collection. There are free and paid options depending on the file type and use.

3 Tutorials and Demos

Noise Planets

Noise Planets is a fun look at plotting random points in a circle to create amazing art pieces. You can generate fun shapes and textures and even animate your results with the tutorial and code snippets’ help.

CSS Polygon Shapes

CSS Polygon Shapes are generated using CSS-doodle and clip-path. You can go in and make adjustments to customize shapes further and use them in your website projects.

Mutsuacen

Mutsuacen is a little app that lets you create animated and interactive drawings. There’s a lot of potential with this tool if you have some true drawing chops, but it not; it’s just fun to play with. Create a doodle or sketch and export.

5 Fresh Fonts and Text Tools

Text Warping – Animated

Text Warping – Animated is a fun effect pen from Lokesh Dhakar. It feels funky while leaving text pretty readable. Play with it for sure.

Gazpacho

Gazpacho is a fun and flexible premium font family with 14 styles from thin to heavy italic. It’s a highly readable serif with a wider stance and great curves.

Stay Home

Stay Home is a simple, line-style all caps font. It has a limited character set but could have some fun applications.

Dogmeal Figure

Dogmeal Figure is an almost silly novelty typeface with dog faces and paw prints in the character set. It might make a fun option for a kids’ project.

Haster

Haster is a futuristic-style slab with a limited character set. It does have shapes and lines with a lot of impact for display use.

Covid Pandemic Lockdown

Covid Pandemic Lockdown is an interesting novelty font with thick lines and a brush-dot style. While it probably won’t read well small, it could be fun as a display option.

Valeria

Valeria is a simple typeface that’s a little wide but has a nice shape and structure. It includes upper- and lowercase letters.

Cornellia

Cornellia is a beautiful script that has amazing letter combinations for use with long swashes and tails. It can add extra elegance to almost any design project instantly.

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