In the video below, we take a closer look at java.util.Collections class – Sorting or Ascending and Descending Order Examples | Java Collections Framework. Let’s get started!
Articles
What makes a High-Performance team different from others? Is there any framework or way to build a high-performance team? We all know agile as a framework. Does it help us to build the High-Performance Team? If you and your team follow the agile framework, can just following agile make your teams a high-performance team? In my experience with agile, I have seen teams follow agile by the book, and they do not want to deviate from what they read in the book. Sometimes in teams, it is merely an agile process just for its sake or pushed top to bottom. For me, Agile is a philosophy that enables teams/individuals to be better. You can reap the benefits of agile if you follow it unrestrainedly. We must show agility in our thought process rather than in the work process. Now the question is, if agile is a philosophy to follow, then how does it help us? Do we see agile in real life from which we can learn?
Let us answer these questions with a relatable example of a weight loss journey and co-relate that to your agile team. I chose this as an example to answer questions because I believe you will relate to this example even though you have or are not going through this journey.
In the tech world, DevOps is a word frequently tossed around to describe the blending of development and operations teams. It’s a melting pot where engineers work in tandem across the application lifecycle, revamping the typical « silo » framework. Adopting this model requires a necessary change of antiquated company culture to dismantle and reorganize the traditional structure, ultimately reducing operational inefficiencies. Once optimized, these DevOps teams produce benefits like increased speed and reliability, rapid delivery and scaling ability, and improved collaboration and security.
Typically, this philosophy is hailed as a superior organizational approach; however, Uri Zaidenwerg voices a different opinion in his article « Why DevOps Will Cease to Exist. » In his article, Uri, a DevOps engineer himself, begins by briefly summarizing what the path to becoming a DevOps engineer looks like. Following this career outline, he identifies what he sees as « signs of the end » for DevOps engineers before forecasting his prophecy.
It’s almost time for another season of change. Although the temperatures might not reflect it, this is the time of year where most of us start thinking about what’s next.
This collection of tools and resources for designers is just the spark to propel you forward with work as you think ahead. Here’s what’s new for designers this month.
Gradient.Art
Gradient.Art is a CSS-based gradient generator that’s packed with functionality and customization options. It’s more than just a color selector and is an actual gradient editor that allows you to work with a variety of controls to get just the color variations you want for projects. Create illustrations, patterns, icons, and more with this layer-based tool that’s still in beta.
Wicked Backgrounds
Wicked Backgrounds takes some of the headaches out of creating just the right background for website design projects. It’s another easy and customizable generator designed to help create backgrounds with great color, depth, and balance for various project types. The makers promise more features in the future as well.
Typedream
Typedream is not what you might expect from the name; it’s actually a website-building tool. It’s designed to help put the focus on the words of a design with a simple interface that most people can figure out. You can connect your own domain and then optimize for search with built-in SEO tags. It’s a zippy tool for simple sites.
Orbital
Orbital is a zero-friction, super-interactive, customizable place to gather online. Pop in for meetings, quick chats, open-door office hours, or cowork together through the day – all using the same link. This premium tool has super fun backgrounds and meeting spaces.
Access Guide
Access Guide is your one-stop guide to accessibility information for the web. It’s packed with articles and information to help you understand parts and all of the WCAG 2.1 guidelines, the official standard for accessibility online. (Plus, content is sorted into neat cards that make things easy to search and find.)
InLine
InLine is a free JavaScript library built to create a simple text editor for web applications and mobile apps. The tool claims to be the smallest WYSIWYG editor designed to fit into any layout. The plugin allows you to edit and customize text elements practically anywhere.
3D Bay
3D Bay is a collection of free three-dimensional stock images that you can use for various projects. Collections are searchable. Most of the images are actually 3D scene illustrations, a popular design element with many SaaS website designs.
MeisterNote
MeisterNote is a writing tool for teams. (It’s perfect for the new remote working world.) The interface is sleek and intuitive, and you can create customer workspaces for notes and teams to collaborate. One of the best functions might be the search feature, allowing you to find information in notes easily.
Shapecatcher
Shapecatcher solves an interesting problem. Have you ever visualized an element but don’t know what it is called or how to find it? This tool has a “drawbox” where you can sketch the element, and then it visually searches a database of 11,000-plus Unicode characters in multiple languages to find a close match that you can use online.
Batch Image Processing
Batch Image Processing allows you to edit, crop, and style or add watermarks groups of images all at once. It’s a web-based tool that does everything in a flash and allows you to redownloaded processed images for quick use. (It’s great if you need multiple photos with the same crop or size!)
Integrately
Integrately is an integration automation tool designed to help your apps, tools, and web elements talk back and forth. Connect apps to make tasks run on their own in ways that native software might not do alone. (Pro tip: Use it to connect with your email to send notifications or reports automatically.)
Vechai UI
Vechai UI is a set of high-quality, accessible React UI components with built-in dark mode using Tailwind CSS. Components include pre-designed headless UI and Radix UI.
Style Free HTML Bootstrap 4 Template
Style Free HTML Bootstrap 4 Template is a simple and minimally styled website template for a variety of project types. It’s a great website starter if you need to get a site up and running quickly.
Glass UI CSS Generator
Glass UI CSS Generator helps you create trending neumorphism/soft UI/glass UI style elements. The tool is a CSS generator that allows you to add some of your own elements and then pick styling options while outputting CSS and HTML.
Lineicons
Lineicons is a collection of more than 5,000 line icons that you can use for various projects. Every icon comes with free CDN, regular and light variations, an editor, and more to make it browsable and easy to use. The set has high legibility, and the free set of icons includes more than 500 options.
Carrd
Carrd is a simple, free, and responsive one-page website builder that you can do pretty much anything with. It’s perfect for personal profiles, landing pages, or one-page websites. All it takes is a little imagination.
AdonisJS
AdonisJS includes everything you need to create a fully functional web app or an API server. So stop wasting hours in downloading and assembling hundreds of packages and do it all with this framework for Node.js.
Eastman Condensed
Eastman Condensed is a beautiful and functional sans serif that’s easy to read. The demo version is free for personal use, but a commercial license for the full family is available.
Peachy Rose Font
Peachy Rose Font is a fun novelty option that is fun and light. Plus, it is free for any use, even commercial. The set is fairly large for a free option, with 233 characters.
Selga
Selga is an expressive and complex display font with a retro feel. The swashes and tails are especially nice on this typeface, which is free for personal use.
The post Exciting New Tools For Designers, August 2021 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.
In the video below, we take a closer look at What is LinkedHashMap? | LinkedHashMap Introduction and Sample Programs | Java Collections Framework. Let’s get started!
Vaadin Dev Day is an event that provides in-depth technical topics and insights to the Vaadin community. In the latest edition of the event, we learned about data providers for high-performance data access, advanced JavaScript and TypeScript integrations, and the future of Vaadin Flow. Here’s a recap of the event.
High-Performance Data Access With Vaadin
In this talk, Simon Martinelli explains how to efficiently connect Vaadin Flow applications to databases using JPA and the DataProvider implementations that are available in the framework.
This article explains creating or setting up a cypress.io end-to-end testing framework from scratch using Typescript. Unlike another tutorial, this explains setting up the Cypress framework using Typescript in a simple and easy way. This article is helpful for whoever wants to set up the Cypress Typescript automation framework for the first time. Also, I know that there are many, migrating from different automation frameworks like Protractor, webdriver.io, etc. this will be helpful for them too.
This Tutorial shows page object model creation as well, however you can use it for any type of framework by skipping those steps.
Introduction
I left Microsoft after 19 years, where I led teams that built system software for highly scalable cloud applications. This included leading development of the Microsoft Orleans framework from its inception at Microsoft Research until it became one of the most successful open-source projects within the .NET ecosystem. Orleans powers a number of large-scale Microsoft systems such as Xbox Game Services, Skype, Azure IoT, Azure ML, Azure Active Directory, and many more cloud services outside Microsoft. So if you’ve ever played online multiplayer games like Halo or Call of Duty, our team built much of the underlying infrastructure that supports it.
When I originally joined Orleans, cloud computing was still in its infancy. We had a 10,000-foot vision and not a single line of actual code. We needed to reimagine how cloud-scale applications should be coded because, at the time, available and high-performance scalable systems were only achievable by experts. And while everyone knew the cloud was coming, we had no idea how to build applications in a way that ensured they would be accessible and productive for millions of software engineers.
From dev tools to productivity to a little bit of fun with sudoku, this month’s collection of new tools is packed with something for everyone.
Here’s what new for designers this month.
May’s Top Picks
Am I FLoCed?
Am I FLoCed? Is a tool to see if you are part of a Google Chrome origin trial. It tests a new tracking feature called Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC). According to Google, the trial currently affects 0.5% of users in selected regions, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, and the United States. The page will try to detect whether you’ve been made a guinea pig in Google’s ad-tech experiment.
According to the designers of Am I FloCed: “FLoC runs in your browser. It uses your browsing history from the past week to assign you to a group with other ‘similar’ people around the world. Each group receives a label, called a FLoC ID, which is supposed to capture meaningful information about your habits and interests. FLoC then displays this label to everyone you interact with on the web. This makes it easier to identify you with browser fingerprinting, and it gives trackers a head start on profiling you.”
Uncut
Uncut is a Libre typeface catalog that just got started in April. It features contemporary typefaces and styles and is set to be updated regularly. Sort by sans serif, serif, monospace, or display typefaces. Plus, you can submit a typeface for inclusion.
Dashblock
Dashblock allows you to build automations without coding. Use it to create visual automations, or turn blocks into use-cases. (It is a premium tool, but comes with a 14-day free trial to test it out.)
Instant
Instant is a fast and secure one-click checkout tool that works with WooCommerce. Users fill out a short form the first time they shop and then join the network to enable instant, frictionless, 1-click checkouts without passwords. It makes shopping easier and cuts abandoned carts.
5 Image Tools
Triangula
Triangula uses a modified genetic algorithm to triangulate images. It works best with images smaller than 3000px and with fewer than 3000 points, typically producing an optimal result within a couple of minutes. The result is a nifty-looking image.
Content-Aware Image Resizing in Javascript
Content-Aware Image Resizing in Javascript solves that problem with images where you have a photo but it just doesn’t quite fit. A crop doesn’t work because you lose important information. The carver slices and cuts photos to give you the image elements you want in the size you want them. It’s probably a good idea to read through the tutorial before jumping into the open-source code on GitHub.
Globs Design
Globs Design uses toggles and drag and drop to help you create funky shapes and fills that you can save in SVG format for projects.
Root Illustrations
Root Illustrations is a stylish set of people-based illustrations that you can customize to create scenes for your projects. Construct a scene and then snag your set of vector graphics that also work with Sketch and Figma. The set includes 24 characters, more than 100 details, and the ability to change colors and styles.
Make Your Photo 16×9
Make Your Photo 16×9 is as simple as it sounds. It is a cropping tool that allows you to upload any shape of photo – even vertical – and pick options to fill the space to make it fit the standard 16×9 aspect ratio.
6 Dev Tools
Devbook
Devbook is a search engine for developers that helps them to find the resources they need and answer their questions faster. Fast, accessible right from a code editor, and fully controllable with just a keyboard.
Madosel
Madosel is a fast, advanced responsive HTML front-end framework that’s in an alpha version. The open-source tool is made to create websites and apps that look great on any device. Plus, it is semantic, readable, flexible, and customizable.
Say Hello to CSS Container Queries
Say Hello to CSS Container Queries helps solve a problem with media queries and smart stacking of elements. CSS Container Queries allow you to make a fluid component that adjusts based on the parent element and everything is independent of viewport width. This post takes you through everything you need to do to implement this yourself.
Frontend Toolkit
Frontend Toolkit is a customizable dashboard that you can use to keep up with recurring tasks. It’s one of those little tools that can speed up workflows.
Flatfile
Flatfile is a production-ready importer for SaaS applications. It allows you to auto-format customer spreadsheets without manual cleaning of data and you can do it all without a CSV parser. The tool also includes an elegant UI component to guide users through the process.
Plasmic
Plasmic is a visual website builder that works with your codebase. It’s designed to speed up development with developers focusing on code (not pixel pushing) and allows non-developers to publish pages and content. The premium tool works with any hosting, CMS, or framework and you can adapt it by the component, section, or page.
2 Productivity Tools
Calendso
Calendso is an open-source calendar scheduling tool. It’s flexible with the ability to host it yourself or with the makers of the calendar. It is API-driven and allows you to control events and information. The interface is simple and sleek and can integrate into your website.
Slidev
Slidev is a set of presentation slides for developers. What’s different about this presentation deck is that you can write slides in a single markdown file with themes, code blocks, and interactive components.
4 Icons and UI Kits
Iconic
Iconic is a set of pixel-perfect icons that gets updated each week. The collection of 24×24 px elements in SVG format contains 160 icons and counting. The simple style is easy to implement and you can search for just what you need by category.
5 Dashboard Templates for Figma
5 Dashboard Templates for Figma is a set of free ready-made screens with light and dark modes for each that you can use with components such as calendars, charts, tables, and more. The free elements are a preview of a larger premium Figma set if you like how they look and work.
Free Mobile Chat UI Kit
Free Mobile Chat UI Kit is a tool of components for Sketch, Figma, and Adobe XD that includes more than 50 messaging screens with light and dark modes.
Stratum UI Design Kit
Stratum UI Design Kit is a collection of more than 9,000 consistent elements for Figma. It’s packed with elements and tools that make this premium UI kit a tool that gets projects moving quickly.
4 Type Tools and Fresh Fonts
Fluid Typography
Fluid Typography is a nifty tool that allows you to test headings in any size at different viewports to ensure it looks great everywhere. Then you can copy the CSS and use it in your projects.
Eighty-Eight
Eighty-Eight is a funky block-style typeface for display use.
Harmonique
Harmonique is a robust typeface family with lovely serifs and alternates. It’s a type family of two styles that work in harmony together to add distinction and personality to your own typographic compositions. Harmonique’s low contrast forms have the appeal of a humanist sans serif typeface.
Sketchup
Sketchup is a charming display typeface that has a nice pen style. The free version has a limited character set.
Just for Fun
Generating and Solving Sudokus in CSS
Generating and Solving Sudokus in CSS by Lee Meyer for CSS-Tricks is a fun deep dive into using CSS for something you might not expect. It’s a complicated – but fun – look at some of the things CSS can do with plenty of code snippets. The final result is a solvable puzzle with 16 squares.
The post 26 Exciting New Tools For Designers, May 2021 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.
Sometimes you just don’t give a damn anymore. Possibly the only thing worse than designer’s block is designer’s apathy: that sinking feeling you get when you realize that you just don’t care about this particular piece of work anymore is disheartening.
The dread of going back to it is paralyzing.
There are many reasons you can stop caring about your work. Maybe you’ve just done the same thing too many times in a row. Maybe your client is insisting on asking for things you know won’t work for them. Maybe something much more important just happened in your life, and you’ve got bigger things to worry about. You could be discouraged by the apparent ‘sameness’ of bandwagon-hopping designs.
I’ve been not caring about my work ever since I was first asked to pick up my toys
Whatever the reason, we all experience times when we know exactly what we have to do… we just don’t care.
I’m something of an expert on this phenomenon. I’ve been not caring about my work ever since I was first asked to pick up my toys. Worse, I have the attention span of a goldfish, even now.
Web design is different. When I discovered it, it was new, exciting, and I could do it on the computer. I loved it, and I still do. Writing code that makes design happen in a browser window will never get old for me.
But even so, sometimes, a particular project will make me want to throw up my hands in exasperation and play video games ‘til Judgement Day. I’d welcome Skynet with tacos and RPGs.
So what do we do about it? First, answer this question: who is the project for?
For A Client
If the project is for a client, it’s just gotta get done. There’s no way around that. You made a commitment. You’re going to follow through and give it your best possible effort because you’re a professional. Anything less would be wrong.
However, that doesn’t mean you have to just power through with only coffee and misery for company. There are things you can do to make the work easier on yourself. The less miserable you are while you work, the better quality you can deliver.
For Yourself
There are a couple of schools of thought here. The first is that it’s perfectly fine to give up on personal projects when you stop caring. I mean, it’s your free time. Why spend it on something you don’t care about?
On the other hand, is a commitment made to yourself any less important than a commitment made to someone else? Many people seem to be perfectly fine with breaking promises to themselves when they’d never willingly do that to a client. Is that wrong?
I usually buy myself a drink and forgive myself, but it’s worth thinking about.
The deciding factor for me is whether my personal project will have any sort of lasting benefit. If whatever I’m designing, writing, or making counts as a long-term investment in my career or quality of life, then it absolutely has to get done, even when I’m not feeling it. Otherwise, I call it a learning experience and move on.
How To Power Through
So, for whatever reason — whether because you have to, or you want to — you’re gonna power through. Here are five ways to do it in style:
1. Start
The hardest part of doing work you don’t care about is starting. This is when you’ll be tempted to procrastinate until the last minute. Try not to.
2. Switch To A Different Part Of The Project
If you can safely (without causing problems) work on a different aspect of the project for a while, try that. The mere variety, the break from the work in front of you before, can boost your morale.
Indeed, working on a different part of the project can give you ideas of getting the most troubling bits done faster or more easily.
3. Do Something Old In A New Way
This one has its pros and cons.
Pro: You can look at this project as a chance to try out a new grid framework, script, code editor, or another tool of some kind. Injecting the process of discovery into an otherwise boring project can make it a lot more fun and even make you look forward to working on it.
Con: You’ll need to plan for extra hours and use some version control; because bringing a new tool or process into play is almost guaranteed to make something interesting go wrong — when this happens, you probably shouldn’t bill the client for the extra hours spent on StackOverflow.
4) Make Like Aziz Ansari And Treat Yo’self
Celebrate the milestones of your project. Don’t celebrate with video games if you need to get any more work done that day. That can go very wrong. But do celebrate. Reward yourself because you’re doing something difficult.
Have a snack. Give yourself a round of applause. Whatever it takes, make yourself look forward.
5) Outsource It
As a last resort, you can always outsource the project to someone else. Just make sure it’s someone you can trust to deliver the same quality of work you would normally provide yourself. Make sure to check it over before handing it off to a client.
Alternatively, you could just outsource the bits of the work that you don’t like. Either way, this is a risky strategy because whoever you outsource to might experience delays or, ironically, not care about the project.
Conclusion
You can do it! I believe in you. The really, really boring projects can seem like huge sinkholes of sadness, but they don’t last forever.
Featured image via Pexels.
The post How To Power Through Designer Apathy first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.
