Articles

What Role Should Social Media Play in Discovering Vulnerabilities?

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New research from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) Data Sciences and Analytics Group shows that 25% of vulnerabilities appear on social media before the National Vulnerability Database (NVD). And it takes an average of nearly 90 days between a vulnerability being discussed on social media and the time it shows up in the NVD.

Vulnerabilities on Social Media

The reasons application vulnerabilities show up this often on social media before they get logged in the NVB are multiple. For developers just starting out in their career or those learning about a specific piece of software, they may not know that something is a vulnerability, that vulnerabilities need to be treated differently, and/or how to report vulnerabilities. In some cases, they may not know if the “issue” they found is a true vulnerability. Naturally, they look to the tools they regularly use when connecting with other developers—social media channels like GitHub, Twitter, and the various forums and discussions housed on Reddit.

Source de l’article sur DZONE

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8 Easy Ways To Ruin Your User Onboarding

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To understand why user onboarding is such an indispensable tool, we need to empathize with the people using our products; we all come from different backgrounds and cultures, we make different assumptions, and we see the world differently.

User onboarding helps mitigate these differences by making your product’s learning curve less steep.

However, companies often make unfortunate mistakes that hinder user experience and cause frustration. In today’s article, we’ll take a look at eight ways companies ruin their products’ onboarding process.

Let’s dive right in, shall we?

1. No User Onboarding at all

As a part of the team that created a product, you’ve probably spent hundreds of hours going over its features and the most minute detail. Naturally, you know the product like the back of your hand. The user does not.

Naturally, you know the product like the back of your hand. The user does not

We may believe that the app we’ve worked on is straightforward and that user onboarding is probably overkill — but that’s almost never the case. Guiding our users through a product will help with retention, conversion, and their overall satisfaction.

However, there are very rare cases when you can do without user onboarding, here are a few:

  • Your product is too straightforward to cause any confusion;
  • Your product has a formulaic structure, similar to that of other products’ in your category, i.e., social media or e-commerce;
  • Your product relies heavily on Google or iOS design guidelines with common design patterns;
  • Your product is too complex (enterprise or business-oriented) — in such cases, users need special training, rather than just an onboarding;

2. Assuming That Users “Get It”

 One of the vital UX mottos we should always be mindful of is that “we are not our users.” When onboarding them, we always need to assume that they’re at square one. We should communicate with them as if they have no prior knowledge of our product, its terminology, and the way it works.

Providing freshly-registered users with highly contextual information will most likely confuse them. As a result, this will render your attempts to create a helpful onboarding process useless.  

3. Onboarding Users on a Single Touchpoint

it’s tempting to brainstorm which features should make it into the onboarding, then design and code them; that’s a very bad idea

The main problem with the previous point is that it’s too contextual for new users. However, providing no context altogether can be problematic as well. This is commonly found in onboarding processes that focus on a single touchpoint while leaving out the rest of the product.

By choosing to inform users of our product’s features, we force them to detour from their “normal” course of action. This comes at the cost of the user’s frustration.

Since we’re asking people to pay this price, it’s best to provide them with information that will also help them navigate the entire product. As a result, this will decrease the number of times we’ll have to distract them from their ordinary flow.

4. Forcing Users Through Onboarding

We’ve previously mentioned that we mustn’t assume that users have any background knowledge about our products.

The opposite argument can be made — experienced users don’t need a basic onboarding process. It will most likely frustrate them, and it won’t provide them with any real value. Also, forcing users through this process will most likely take the onboarding frustration to a whole other level.

This is why it’s essential that we allow them to skip the parts they don’t find useful. This way, we’ll address the knowledge gaps of the people who really want it and need it.

5. Onboarding Based Purely on Assumptions

This is yet another point that’s implicit in “we are not our users”. Oftentimes, it’s tempting to brainstorm which features should make it into the onboarding, then design and code them; that’s a very bad idea.

Here’s what every designer should do instead:

  • Do user interviews: You should conduct these before having anything designed; user interviews will help you shortlist and prioritize features in terms of their significance, so that the onboarding is focused around the features that matter most.
  • Do usability testing: Once you have a good idea of what features your users consider most important, design onboarding that reflects that; having completed your design, make sure to conduct at least 5 usability testing sessions with users, so that you can make sure that your design works.

6. Just Letting Users Quit

While we shouldn’t force people to go through onboarding, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t nudge them in the right direction.

find that sweet spot between being front of mind and annoying

People choose not to onboard for many reasons, but showing them around will benefit both parties. Therefore, it’s never wrong to remind them that they can always resume onboarding via email or push notifications (unless you’re too pushy). Make sure to find that sweet spot between being front of mind and annoying. 

Similarly, these two mediums are a great way to deliver valuable information as well.

Here’s a great example of an onboarding email from InVision:

And here’s a clever notification from TripPlanner:

Source: clevertap.com

7. Asking For Too Much Information

We need to always be mindful of the fact that the product’s spokesperson should act as a guide during onboarding. Its goal at the very beginning is to build trust.

We can ask for small favors when we’ve built a solid and lasting relationship

Not only is asking for too much information from the get-go unproductive, but it will also undermine the trust that the user already gave us.

It’s best to abstain from asking freshly-registered users for their credit card information. Nearly 100% of businesses care about profits — and there’s no shame in it. However, today’s most successful companies make money by providing users with value. So it’s best to stimulate users to share their financial data in subtler ways while focusing on customer experience.

The same can be said about subjecting the people using your service to extensive questionnaires. At the first steps of our interaction, it’s all about giving and gaining trust. We can ask for small favors when we’ve built a solid and lasting relationship.

8. Onboarding for the Sake of Onboarding

While there are dozens of reasons why you should guide your users through your product, it needs to be done well. A pointless onboarding process that doesn’t provide users with value is more frustrating than the lack thereof.

Onboarding can be a bit frustrating at times. Pointless onboarding will just raise eyebrows. It will slow users down and disengage them, which is exactly the opposite of what we want.

Conclusion

The process of introducing your users to your product is one of the factors that will define its success.

A critical aspect of user onboarding that we need to always take into account is value. Is this detour from our user’s ordinary course of action valuable to them? Will this improve their experience with the product?

Onboarding demands careful and continuous tailoring. Once perfected, this process will help you win new users’ hearts and help you build brand loyalty.

 

Featured image via Unsplash.

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L’Ecole by Capgemini s’associe avec SAP et emlyon business school pour former au métier de consultant « Transformation Digitale ERP » dans les domaines de la supply chain et de la finance

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Paris, le 26 août 2020 – Capgemini choisit SAP et emlyon business school pour la création de sa deuxième filière d’excellence : « Future of Supply Chain and Finance ». Dédiée à la gestion de la chaîne d’approvisionnement et à la finance, elle s’appuie sur SAP S/4HANA®, l‘actuel ERP Intelligent et les expertises métier d’emlyon. Alors qu’on estime que 85% des métiers de 2030 n’existent pas encore[1], cette filière permet aux apprenants d’accéder à un programme de formation unique qui les mènera vers des métiers d’avenir.

Cette filière est un accélérateur de carrière pour les profils expérimentés qui bénéficient d’une approche pédagogique structurée autour de trois axes : le renforcement des compétences personnelles (les « soft skills »), la spécialisation métier et la dimension technologique. Ce cursus d’une durée de 4 mois se clôturera au mois d’octobre, avec la remise des diplômes en cas de réussite

L’amélioration des processus et la maîtrise de la donnée sont des enjeux majeurs de performance pour les entreprises, parce qu’elles doivent notamment prendre des décisions rapides et fiables au sein d’environnements complexes. Le métier émergent de consultant « Transformation Digitale ERP » vient répondre à cette demande.

Jérôme Siméon, Président de Capgemini France, précise : « L’Ecole by Capgemini est un programme de développement des compétences. Chacune de ses filières est élaborée en collaboration avec des écoles de renom et des partenaires technologiques leaders du marché. Ces formations sont différenciantes car elles permettent d’acquérir des compétences rares et recherchées. Le retour de nos apprenants est d’ailleurs très positif, ce qui nous conforte dans nos ambitions de former à terme chaque année 400 consultants et ingénieurs par ce biais ».

Gérald Karsenti, Président de SAP France, précise : « Avec la digitalisation de la société et la transformation numérique des entreprises, de nouveaux métiers se créent ou font leur révolution. Se former à ces nouveaux métiers et aux dernières technologies de pointe est plus qu’une nécessité, c’est une chance. Celle de donner ou redonner un élan à sa carrière au travers d’une formation qualifiante dans un domaine passionnant où les débouchés sont importants. Développer ses compétences sur ces solutions est indiscutablement une opportunité d’aller plus loin ».

Pour sa part, Aude Henou, Directrice des Relations Entreprises d’emlyon business school, indique : « Le développement des compétences et de l’employabilité, à tous les âges de la vie professionnelle, est au cœur de la mission d’emlyon business school ; et nous sommes ainsi ravis de pouvoir contribuer par nos expertises fonctionnelles et pédagogiques à des projets aussi audacieux et innovants que L’Ecole by Capgemini ».

A propos de Capgemini

Capgemini est un leader mondial du conseil, de la transformation numérique, des services technologiques et d’ingénierie. A la pointe de l’innovation, le Groupe aide ses clients à saisir l’ensemble des opportunités que présentent le cloud, le digital et les plateformes. Fort de plus de 50 ans d’expérience et d’une grande expertise des différents secteurs d’activité, il accompagne les entreprises et organisations dans la réalisation de leurs ambitions, de la définition de leur stratégie à la mise en œuvre de leurs opérations. Pour Capgemini, ce sont les hommes et les femmes qui donnent toute sa valeur à la technologie. Résolument multiculturel, le Groupe compte aujourd’hui 270 000 collaborateurs présents dans près de 50 pays. Avec Altran, le Groupe a réalisé un chiffre d’affaires combiné de 17 milliards d’euros en 2019.

Plus d’informations sur www.capgemini.com. People matter, results count.

Contact presse Capgemini : Hélène Delannet – helene.delannet@capgemini.com – 01.57.99.44.51

A propos de SAP

SAP est le leader du marché des applications d’entreprise : 77% des transactions financières mondiales passent par un système SAP. L’entreprise accompagne les organisations de toute taille et de tout secteur à mieux opérer. Nos technologies de machine learning, d’Internet des objets (IoT), d’analytique avancée et de gestion de l’expérience aident nos clients à transformer leur activité en « entreprise intelligente ». SAP dote les professionnels d’une vision approfondie sur leur activité et favorise la collaboration pour garder une longueur d’avance sur leurs concurrents. Pour les entreprises, nous simplifions la technologie afin qu’elles puissent utiliser nos logiciels comme elles le souhaitent, sans interruption. Notre suite d’applications de bout en bout et nos services permettent à plus de 440 000 clients d’opérer de manière rentable, de s’adapter en permanence et de faire la différence. Avec son réseau mondial de clients, partenaires, employés et leaders d’opinion, SAP aide le monde à mieux fonctionner et à améliorer la vie de chacun.

Plus d’informations sur www.sap.com

Contact presse SAP : Daniel Margato – daniel.margato@sap.com – 06.64.25.38.08

A propos de emlyon business school

Fondée en 1872 par la CCI de Lyon, emlyon business school accueille cette année 8 600 étudiants de 110 nationalités et plus de 6 000 participants à des programmes de formation continue. L’École, qui compte 6 campus dans le monde (Lyon, Saint-Étienne, Casablanca, Shanghai, Paris, Bhubaneswar), s’appuie sur un réseau de 190 partenaires académiques internationaux et anime une communauté de 32 000 diplômés dans 120 pays. La mission d’emlyon business school est de révéler des « makers », des acteurs de la transformation qui anticipent, relient des mondes, construisent et positivent, privilégient le passage à l’acte, apprennent par l’action, portent des valeurs, dans une démarche collaborative. Cette notion de « maker » reflète la vision de l’entrepreneur d’emlyon, qui essaie, expérimente, se trompe, recommence, apprend en marchant. emlyon business school propose de développer ces compétences dans le cadre d’un enseignement de nouvelle génération, qui associe la production et la diffusion d’une recherche académique d’excellence et l’élaboration de parcours d’apprentissage innovants.

Plus d’informations sur www.em-lyon.com. #earlymakers

Contact presse emlyon : Julie Guillot – guillot@em-lyon.com – 06.45.23.23.04

[1] Institute for the Future for Dell Technologies, The new era of man/machine partnerships

The post L’Ecole by Capgemini s’associe avec SAP et emlyon business school pour former au métier de consultant « Transformation Digitale ERP » dans les domaines de la supply chain et de la finance appeared first on SAP France News.

Source de l’article sur sap.com

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The Latest Research for Web Designers, August 2020

While a lot of the research for web designers that’s come out this year has to do with COVID-19, we’re starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Many of these reports aren’t just looking at the effects of the pandemic on business and marketing today. They’re now looking at what consumers plan to do once the pandemic is gone.

So, I have some very interesting research for you here today. Three of the reports have to do with coronavirus side effects — pertaining to ecommerce, market research, and freelancing — and one of them is just a really great argument against using PDFs on websites.

1. The Digital 2020 Survey Says Ecommerce Growth Will Continue Post-Coronavirus

Obviously, everyone is paying close attention to COVID-19’s impact on the world. For the purposes of the work you do as a web designer, you should be clued into what it’s doing to the business and marketing fields. Because, if those opportunities dry up or companies begin to pivot, you need to be ready to adapt.

The Digital 2020, a joint monthly report from we are social and HootSuite, brings interesting news about the state of ecommerce thanks to COVID-19.

Because the pandemic has forced consumers indoors, online shopping has increased. But, according to about half of those surveyed for this report, this isn’t some temporary solution. They plan on doing more online shopping even after the pandemic ends.

This means that web designers are sitting in an enviable position now and for the foreseeable future. If you’re not already helping businesses sell through their websites, now is the time to do so as more and more businesses are going to need reliable online stores to sell their offerings through.

2. eMarketer Shares Data on Social Listening

When conducting research at the beginning of a design project, what kinds of sources do you turn to for quick and reliable information? Your client provides you with information on their business, industry, and the competition, of course, but what else?

You can conduct user surveys and interviews, but those take time and resources. It also usually means working with clients who have existing businesses and user bases to tap into. Unless you’re working as a UX designer where that’s a big part of the work you do, you might not have the ability to do that level of research.

As reported by Gartner (via eMarketer), leading marketers are now learning about their target audiences through the following channels:

Thanks to the surge of traffic online right now, social listening platforms have become really useful resources for learning about one’s users, with 51% of marketing leaders using them.

If you feel as though your initial research and planning phases could use a boost, I’d recommend taking advantage of one of these social listening tools now.

If you build websites for a specific niche, you can set up keywords/hashtags that are universally relevant to (most of) your clients. By listening in on these conversations regularly, you can become more attuned to what the visitors of your websites actually need and you can proactively build better experiences for them as a result.

3. Upwork Reports Increasing Numbers of Freelancers Entering the Market

The main focus of the Upwork 2020 Future Workforce Report is on how employers are changing their approaches to hiring now and in the near future. And the basic premise is this:

  • It’s long been predicted that more and more of the workforce would be allowed to work remotely.
  • COVID-19 has escalated those predictions to the point where most of the workforce is remote right now.
  • Businesses see the value in remote work arrangements, especially if it enables them to get work done more quickly and cost-effectively by freelancers.

While this is certainly great news for web designers looking for new clients, the report also provides us with this data:

64% of professionals in the top of their field work independently. That statistic alone means you’re up against some tough competition. But there’s also the 50% rise in signups on freelancer marketplaces that should have you worried.

Even though business demand for freelance talent is growing, this unprecedented rise in freelance competition may pose some problems. So, if you’re not already doing everything you can to position yourself as the web designer in your niche, get going on that now so you don’t get drowned out by the rising number of competitors.

4. NNG Says That PDFs Are Unsuitable for the Web

While I don’t have statistics to share with you from the Nielsen Norman Group’s post on why the PDF is “Still Unfit for Human Consumption”, I do have a ton of usability arguments against them that are worth summing up here:

  1. PDFs are written in the style of print documents, which means that strategies we use to design content on websites — like making a page scannable and accessible — don’t apply.
  2. They’re not designed to be as concise or attractive as a web page.
  3. They don’t operate like a website, which disrupts the seamless experience you’ve worked so hard to create when one is opened up from your site.
  4. The website navigation disappears and any sense of orientation (besides the browser “Back” button) goes out the window.
  5. There’s no way to build an internal navigation in a PDF document, save for internal linking or a table of contents.
  6. If they’re formatted for paper sizes, scrolling through them can be difficult for mobile users.
  7. They load more slowly the bigger they get, so unless it’s something like a small and optimized menu, expect visitors to wait for the download to appear.

And those are just the arguments that came from NNG’s researchers. Take some time to read through real user complaints about PDFs and you’ll never want to include one on a client’s website again.

Wrap-Up

Thankfully, the research for web designers and marketers is finally starting to move away from the confusion and speculation we saw a lot of earlier this year.

Just as with anything we do on the web, the more time you give it, the more data you can collect. And, luckily for us, the data suggests that there’s a pretty positive outlook for web designers if they position themselves the right way now.

 

Featured image via Unsplash.

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Choose Your Own Adventure with the Parsons Web Design and Development Certificate

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Many people dream of a career in web design, but it may actually be more attainable than you think.

There are countless online courses, of variable quality, with little to no academic structure; self-learning is an option, but it doesn’t come with a curriculum. Without a professional structure and a comprehensive curriculum your dream career might never be more than that.

But there is a practical, fast-track option to making a career in web design a reality, and that’s the Parsons Web Design and Development Certificate.

Built around the innovative teaching approach that Parsons is known for, you’ll learn human-centered design, explore the latest tools, evaluate techniques and approaches, and uncover the secrets of UX. The certificate even offers two distinct tracks, one for designers, and one for developers, so you can take control of your own future.

It’s one of the most creative approaches to a formal design education in the world, and what’s more, because it’s entirely online you can study from anywhere.

What Will I Learn?

Parsons offers a flexible curriculum to suit both designers and developers. There are two core courses, followed by three specialist courses.

learn human-centered design, explore the latest tools, evaluate techniques and approaches, and uncover the secrets of UX

The core courses cover the essentials of web and mobile design, plus JavaScript for designers. Each of the core courses lasts nine weeks. When you’ve completed them, you can opt for a design specialism or a development specialism. (You don’t have to make your choice until you’ve completed the core courses!)

If you prefer design work, you’ll spend a total of 21 further weeks learning mobile design patterns, studying emerging platforms, working with interactive typography, and mastering design systems.

If development is more your thing, then on the 21 week development track you’ll cover advanced HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, learn how to work with APIs, and finish up with experimental JavaScript.

To earn the Web Design and Development Certificate you need to complete the two core courses, plus three specialist courses within two years — a total of 39 weeks of study. Parsons recommend that you take two courses per semester, but it’s possible to complete the entire certificate program in one year.

Is This Really For Me?

Parsons Web Design and Development Certificate is a recognized qualification from a reputable institution that will stand you in good stead in future job interviews. But what’s more important, is the knowledge and experience you’ll gain from the course.

Thanks to the creative, flexible approach to learning, the certificate is suitable for designers and developers at any stage of their career

Thanks to the creative, flexible approach to learning, the certificate is suitable for designers and developers at any stage of their career.

If you’re just starting out, the certificate is a superb way of exploring the field, all the while building skills that will make you stand out to employers.

If you’re a print designer, or a programmer, the Web Design and Development Certificate is a great way to supplement your existing skills and make a lateral move into web work.

And if you’re a grizzled industry professional with decades of experience, you’ll benefit from the track you know least well; designers studying development, developers studying design. Not only will it open up new creative avenues to you, but you’ll find project management easier with a broader outlook on the web.

The best thing about the Parsons Web Design and Development Certificate is that because it’s made up of modules, you can still work part-time as you tick off the courses.

Why Choose Parsons?

Parsons College of Design is part of The New School, a New York-based university. Open Campus, the platform that will run the certificate, is the New School’s online system for pre-college, professional, and continuing education courses.

Thanks to Covid-19, most learning institutions are planning online-only courses for at least the next 12 months, so why not enroll in a program run by an institution that already excels at online teaching.

Innovative courses, underpinned by the creative approach to teaching that Parsons College of Design is renowned for, mean the design education you embark on this fall will be second to none.

Individual courses cost between $577 and $850, with the entire Web Design and Development Certificate costing just $3,704.

 

[– This is a sponsored post on behalf of Parsons College of Design –]

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FizzBuzz on Mule 4 With a While Loop Using VM Queue

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A friend shared this youtube video on the Art of Code where FizzBuzz was demonstrated on SonicPi and also at end of the video (I won’t spoil it for you). After watching it, I was highly inspired to also implement it on Mule, because why not? I even searched the web to see if anyone had already done a FizzBuzz loop on Mule. The fact that I then did it last night kinda tells you that the answer was no.

It turns out that I also learned a thing or two implementing FizzBuzz on Mule 4. FizzBuzz is one of the ways loops are introduced when learning a programming language. Even the recent Golang course I took also introduces loops using FizzBuzz. For the uninitiated, FizzBuzz is derived from a children’s game, the problem statement for a FizzBuzz program is pretty straightforward. This is the same one you can find at HackerRank.

Source de l’article sur DZONE

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Is Change Positive for Web Designers?

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As a web designer, you’re constantly being bombarded with messages that tell you to acquire new skills, try new tools, and keep on hustling.

But if you’re constantly changing things up, does it do the opposite of what you originally set out to do? In other words, if you always have to start over, is it possible to ever really achieve anything?

I think it ultimately depends on why you’re making the change.

When Change Is the Right Move for Web Designers

One of the reasons I despise New Year’s resolutions is because it’s change for the sake of change:

It’s a new year, so it’s time to get all hyped up about this one thing I need to change about myself!

There’s a reason why so many resolutions fail by February. When you force a change, it’s really hard to stay invested in it, especially if it’s something you’ve chosen to do because everyone else has.

Change should be driven by necessity.

That said, when it comes time to make changes as a web designer, is it ever really necessary? Or are you learning new skills, trying new tools, or switching up your client list simply because it’s what you believe you have to do?

It’s important to be open to change, but you should only invest your time, money, or effort when it’s the absolute right move for you. Here are some ways you’ll know when that’s the case:

Learn New Skills To…

…Round Out the Basics

If you’re a new designer and there are gaps in your education and training (and I don’t mean formally, just in general), then there’s no reason to hesitate in spending time to acquire those skills.

This doesn’t just go for basic skills as a web designer or as a coder. This also goes for skills you need to become a successful freelancer.

…Add Evergreen Skills to Future-Proof Your Position

As you move up in your career, you’ll eventually find other skills worth learning. Just make sure they’ll help you move the needle.

The best way to do that is to focus on acquiring evergreen skills that’ll always be useful to you, no matter what stage you’re at in your career or how the design landscape changes. They should also go beyond the average skill set of a designer, so they help you stand out further from the pack.

… Create a Better Situation for Yourself

The web is constantly evolving, which means that your responsibilities and skills as a web designer will have to change in order to adapt. Whenever one of these shake-ups occurs, you should either be ready to master the needed skill right away or, better yet, have been working on it beforehand.

Take, Google’s mobile-first indexing, for instance. It announced it was going to be making this shift years before website rankings were impacted. Designers had plenty of time to not only learn what was needed to design for the mobile-first web, but to get all their existing clients’ sites in shape for it.

Adopt New Tools When…

…Your Existing Ones Are Slowing You Down

If you’re doing a lot of things from-scratch (like writing emails to clients or creating contracts), that’s a good sign your toolbox needs some improvement.

As a web designer, you should be focused on creating, not on the tedious details involved in running a business or communicating with clients. That’s just not a good use of your time. A lot of this stuff can easily be automated with tools and templates.

…You’re Turning Down Business

In some cases, it’s the right thing to say “no” to prospective clients — like when they’re a bad fit or can’t afford your rates. However, there are other times when you desperately want to be able to say “yes”, but you don’t have the capacity for the job or you’re unable to cover the full scope of what they need.

This is where new tools come in handy. For instance, let’s say you’ve been approached by a ecommerce company that not only wants you to build a new store, but also needs it fully optimized for search (it’s not the first time this has happened either). Rather than turn something like that down, you may find that the addition of an SEO tool to your toolbox is all you need to be able to say “yes”.

…You Have Extra Room in Your Budget

Obviously, you don’t want to throw away money on a bunch of tools simply because a ton of people are talking about them. But you’ll eventually get to a point where the tools that served you well in the first year of business need to be replaced.

If you get to a point where you have extra time to experiment and there’s room in your budget for upgraded tools, go ahead and assess what you currently have and test out replacement solutions that will help you work better, faster, and smarter.

Look for New Business Opportunities If…

…You’re Not Doing Well

“Well” here is subjective. For instance:

  • If you’re not doing well financially, you probably need to look for more clients;
  • If you’re not doing well in terms of how you get along with clients, you should explore a niche that’s a better fit;
  • If you’re not happy with your job because burnout and stress have overtaken your life, then you might consider exploring other avenues of work.

When something has been amiss for awhile, the last thing you should do is lean into it and hope it gets better.

…The Web is Changing

Notice a trend here? Each of these changes (skills, tools, and now business opportunities) is often driven by the fact that the web is always changing. And as the web changes, you have to be ready to evolve.

In terms of business opportunities, what you’ll realistically need to do is look for new kinds of design work as technologies make your job obsolete. Take website builders like Wix or Shopify, for example. As business owners and entrepreneurs take it upon themselves to build their own websites, more and more web designers will need to find other kinds of clients and jobs to take on.

…You Want to Diversify Your Income

This is something many web designers are doing already as they’ve discovered how beneficial it is to have predictable recurring revenue streams.

But even if you’ve already found one way to diversify and stabilize your income (like by offering website maintenance services), you may become interested in exploring other opportunities along the way. If you have the capacity to pursue them, then go for it.

Is Change a Good Idea?

As you can see, change can be a very good thing for a web designer, their business, and their clients. However, there should be a very good reason for the change and you need to prepare yourself for how it’s going to impact what you’re doing now before implementing it. No amount of change can happen without some level of sacrifice.

 

Featured image via Unsplash.

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17 Tools I Can’t Design Without

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I think of a creative practice as a combination of an approach (a design philosophy) and a series of techniques (craft skills); a good tool facilitates a technique, which in turn supports an approach.

It wasn’t until I sat down to write a list of tools I can’t design without, that I realized just how many tools I rely on as an integral part of my creative process. The danger of tools is that they promote certain techniques, and that bias can alter your approach.

First and foremost a good tool does no harm, it does not dictate, or obstruct your approach. Secondly, a good tool offers flexibility in the techniques you choose. Thirdly a good tool is invisible, it leaves no marks on the end product.

If I’d written this post a year ago the list would have been different, and I hope that in a year it will be different again. These are the tools that I currently find enabling, that have contributed to my craft, and supported my approach.

Affinity Designer

I’ve always used Adobe products. Photoshop and Illustrator were the de facto graphic tools for half my life. I’ve never had an issue with the subscription licensing of Creative Cloud, which I think is proportionate for a professional set of tools. Then, around 18 months ago I got very frustrated with how sluggish Illustrator had become.

I’d written an early review of Affinity Designer, I’d been impressed at the time, so I decided to give it another try expecting the sojourn to last an hour or two before I gravitated back to Illustrator. Running the latest version of Affinity Designer was a revelation, I’ve simply never wanted to switch back.

Why not Sketch? Well, I do occasionally jump into Sketch, especially for pure vector wireframing. I was an early adopter of Sketch, but the reliability issues (long since resolved) poisoned my relationship with it. Why not Figma? Well, Figma’s real strength is in collaboration, something that I get with Sketch, and personally I find some of Figma’s features unintuitive.

Affinity Designer isn‘t perfect. I dislike the color tools, especially the gradient tool, which I find clunky. But it’s the first design app I’ve used in years that syncs closely with my creative process.

Affinity Photo

I don’t do a lot of photo manipulation, so when I switched away from Creative Cloud for design work, I was relaxed about switching from Photoshop to Affinity Photo.

In my experience, Affinity Photo is stronger than Photoshop in some areas, and weaker in others. Affinity Photo’s bitmap scaling is much better than Photoshop’s, largely due to Lanczos 3 sampling.

Affinity Photo also solves a lot of little irritations that Adobe has chosen not to address for legacy or philosophical reasons, such as the toggleable ratio setting when resizing the canvas — I’ve lost track of the hours I’ve spent in Photoshop manually calculating vertical whitespace so that it’s proportionate to the horizontal.

TinyPng

Both Affinity Photo and Photoshop are poor at web format optimizations. Photoshop perhaps has the edge, but its output certainly isn’t acceptable for production.

I run bitmaps through TinyPng, which on average halves the size of the file without any appreciable loss of quality. (It stripped 66% off the images for this post.)

Fontstand

When I started to drift away from Creative Cloud, the one service that delayed me was Adobe Fonts (née Typekit). Not so much for the webfonts — which are faster and more reliable self-hosted — but for the ability to sync desktop fonts into my design apps.

I tried Fontstand when it was first released, and I loved the concept, but was worried about the small library. When I took a second look and discovered the library is now substantial for both workhorses and experimental typefaces, it was an easy decision to switch.

Fontstand is a desktop font rental service. Once you’ve found a typeface you’re interested in, you can activate an hour-long trial, then choose to rent the font for a small fee. You can auto-renew the rental if you need to, and if you rent the font for 12 months it’s yours forever.

If there’s one tool on this list I genuinely could not design without it’s this one. Fontstand makes working with fonts from independent foundries affordable for freelancers, and it’s enriched the typographic palette available to me.

Khroma

Every designer has strengths and weaknesses. Since day one of art school, my weakness has been color. It just doesn’t come naturally to me, and I have to work quite hard at it.

An incredibly helpful tool that I’ve been using for a few months is Khroma. It helps my eyes warm up before approaching color, and helps me find a starting point that I can then refine. Comparing my design work before, and after Khroma, the latter color choices are cleaner, more vibrant, and more interesting.

Atom

A good code editor is essential, and I’ve never found one that I’m completely happy with. For years I’ve flitted back and forth between Brackets, Sublime Text, and BBEdit. I think that probably reflects the changes in the type of coding I’m doing.

For now, I’ve settled on Atom. It’s fast, reliable, and it’s not biased to front or back-end code.

CodeKit

I held out on compilers longer than I should have, using apps like Minify to minify CSS and JavaScript, and the command line to process Sass (see below). Then I found CodeKit and it’s been essential to my workflow ever since.

What I like best about CodeKit is that it’s a GUI. Which means I can change settings while coding, like toggling off the JavaScript linting, without switching mental gears into another language.

MAMP

MAMP is a tool that allows you to run a local server environment, meaning I can run PHP and MySQL without the tedious process of FTPing to a server to test a change. Mac comes with Apache, so this isn’t strictly necessary, but it’s simple to use and works well with both CodeKit and Craft (see below).

There’s a pro version of MAMP, which allows you to switch seamlessly between projects, but it’s heavily geared towards WordPress. I’m still trying to find the time to evaluate Laravel Valet.

Dash

When you first start coding you try and memorize the entire language. It’s very possible to become fluent in the core of a language, but there are always nuances, defaults, and gotchas that you miss. As you grow more experienced, you realize that all professional coders Google the answer at least once per day.

When I got tired of Googling I started using Dash which is a superb app that combines the docs of numerous different languages into a searchable window. I use it daily for everything from SVG to Twig.

LambdaTest

It doesn’t really matter what you’re building, even the indy-web needs to be tested. Ideally you’ll test on real devices, but if you can’t afford a device library — and who but the largest agencies can — you need a live testing solution.

There are a few upstarts, but your choice is basically between BrowserStack and LambdaTest. I went for LambdaTest because I prefer the style of the UI, but that’s entirely subjective. If you’re not sure, toss a coin, you’ll get the same results with both.

Sass

I can’t write CSS without Sass — and I mean that literally. If I try and write vanilla CSS I guarantee I’ll nest something with @at-root and it will throw an error.

Craft CMS

Stating any preference for a CMS online that is not WordPress inevitably invites impassioned protests from developers whose career is built on the WordPress platform. So let me say preface this by saying: if WordPress works for you, and more importantly for your clients, then more power to you; I think it’s a dog.

Shopping around for a CMS is challenging, and I’ve gone through the process several times. A good CMS needs to be in sync with your mindset, and it needs to be appropriate for your clients — all of them, because unless you’re in a large agency with multiple coders, you need to commit to a single solution in order to master it.

I have looked and looked, and finally settled on Craft CMS. Craft makes it easy to build and maintain complex, high-performance sites. It has a shallow learning curve that grows exponentially steeper, making it easy to get started with plenty of room to grow.

Vue.js

Way back when Flash went kaput I switched to jQuery, and that was a really easy route into JavaScript — ignore the people who tell you to master the core language first, do whatever it takes to start using a language, that’s how you learn. But jQuery is heavy, and I found I needed it less and less.

These days 90% of the JavaScript I write is progressive enhancements in vanilla JavaScript to keep the dependencies low. Occasionally I encounter a job that requires complex state management, and then I fall back on Vue.js. JavaScript developers are as partisan as CMS aficionados, so let’s just say I favor Vue.js because it’s not controlled by a mega-corp and leave it at that.

Ulysses

As editor at WDD, I cannot emphasize enough that the right way to write copy for the web is markdown.

Markdown is faster to write so you don’t lose the thread of your thought process, and it doesn’t impose formatting so you can easily migrate to a CMS. If you’ve ever spent 20 minutes stripping the class, id, and style tags out of a file created in Word, Pages, or (by far the worst offender) Google Docs, then you don’t need to be sold on this point.

There are a few markdown-based writing apps available, I tested half a dozen, and the one I settled on was Ulysses. I like its distraction-free mode, I love its clean exports. Everything I write, I write in Ulysses.

Screenshot Plus

Much like markdown editors, there’s no shortage of screenshot apps. My current favorite is Screenshot Plus.

Screenshot Plus has one feature that makes it standout for me, and that is its Workflows. It sounds like a small problem, but when you’re taking screenshots of a dozen sites, the extra clicks to save, switch to your editor, and open the file are laborious. I have several workflows setup in Screenshot Plus that allow me to take a screenshot, save it to a specified folder on my local machine, and then open it in Affinity Photo, all with a single click.

Spark

I get a lot of email, a lot. At one point the influx was so bad I was using multiple email apps to segment it. Yes, I use Slack daily, but it doesn’t eliminate the need for email.

I‘ve been using Spark for around six months and it’s radically sped up my workflow. I’m a big fan of the smart inbox that allows me to compartmentalize email like newsletters, and email that warrants a reply. I like that I can switch to a chronological list if I’m looking for something specific. I love the ability to pin, or snooze messages, which helps me triage my inbox.

Todoist

I’m one of those people who can’t make it through the day without being organized. I need lists and sublists, and I need something native that opens automatically when I boot my Mac, and something that sits on the home screen of my Android.

There are as many to-do apps as there are things to do. When I’m working in a team I’ll use whichever task-tracking system it prefers. But by choice I always use Todoist thanks to its balance of simplicity and power. At this point it’s something of a meta-tool, and the app I open first every morning.

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Adveo opte pour SAP Commerce pour développer son activité et répondre à la demande croissante des consommateurs

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Levallois, le 15 juillet 2020 – SAP France annonce qu’Adveo, l’un des leader européen en matériel de bureau, matériel scolaire et fournitures, utilise la solution d’ecommerce SAP Commerce pour renforcer sa croissance. Avec 345 collaborateurs et un réseau de 1500 distributeurs indépendants dont une grande partie regroupée autour des trois enseignes CALIPAGE, Plein Ciel et Buro+ répartis entre la France et le Benelux, l’entreprise rencontrait plusieurs challenges : l’évolution de la demande des professionnels et du grand public, le développement du e-commerce, et, plus récemment, la crise du Covid-19.

Pour répondre à ses nouveaux enjeux, Adveo a massivement investi dans le numérique pour renforcer son expérience réseau et client final. L’objectif : améliorer la traçabilité des produits, faciliter les échanges d’informations avec son réseau, mise en place de contenus et de solutions au service de ses distributeurs pour développer l’e-commerce en parallèle des points de vente physiques… Pour gagner en agilité sur l’e-commerce, l’entreprise a misé sur la solution SAP Commerce hébergée sur le cloud Microsoft Azure et intégrée par Delaware. Le déploiement a été effectué en un temps record entre mars et mai 2020, en pleine crise sanitaire.

Gagner en agilité pour booster la croissance

En quelques années, Adveo est passée d’une offre traditionnelle (papiers, stylos, archivage, impression…), à une offre élargie couvrant les besoins des professionnels et du grand public. L’entreprise est passée en quelques années de 10 000 à 25 000 références et ambitionne d’atteindre 45 000 d’ici fin 2022.

« SAP Commerce est un choix stratégique de croissance misant sur une plus grande flexibilité pour nous adapter rapidement aux évolutions de la demande, à la transformation du commerce et ainsi réduire le time to market des nouvelles offres ou encore tracer de nouveaux flux logistiques », explique Philippe Guillotin, président d’Adveo.

Adapter l’offre pour dynamiser les ventes en pleine crise sanitaire

« Le déploiement de la solution nous a ainsi permis d’être extrêmement réactifs pendant la période de confinement et de créer rapidement des gammes spécifiques (plexiglas, masques et gels hydroalcooliques) pour répondre aux besoins liées au Covid-19 en référençant rapidement plusieurs centaines de distributeurs. Elle nous a permis de répondre aux problématiques logistiques liées à l’augmentation de la demande sur certaines gamme de produits », ajoute Philippe Guillotin.

Adveo simplifie ainsi son activité, avec le développement de ventes profitables pour les distributeurs, et une vraie bonne expérience d’achat pour le client final.

SAP Commerce pour plus de flexibilité et de réactivité

L’hébergement sur le cloud nous a permis d’intégrer rapidement la solution au sein de l’entreprise et d’extraire facilement les données pour les transférer de notre ancienne plateforme vers SAP Commerce. Plus des deux tiers du projet se sont déroulés pendant le confinement, et nous n’avons rencontré aucune difficulté d’accès à la solution. Le cloud nous apporte une flexibilité et une forme de garantie de fonctionnement : nous n’avons aucune limite de capacité », explique Alexandre Rochereau, DSI d’Adveo. « Combinée avec l’ERP SAP, nous disposons d’une solution complète, intégrée et automatisée qui nous a permis d’éliminer de nombreuses contraintes manuelles. »

Créer de nouvelles expériences

Avec la nouvelle version de SAP commerce, Adveo a pu enrichir l’expérience interne, améliorant le pilotage et facilitant la publication des nouvelles références sur leur solution logistique, directement intégrée à la solution SAP. Les utilisateurs sont devenus responsables de leur catalogue et peuvent publier eux même les nouveaux produits grâce à une ergonomie optimisée, leur permettant de réduire les dépenses liées à l’intervention d’experts IT.

Enfin, SAP Commerce a permis à Adveo d’atteindre son objectif de devenir conforme avec les nouvelles normes RGPD, assurant ainsi la confidentialité des données des 1 500 distributeurs de l’entreprise. A court terme l’entreprise va généraliser les échanges digitaux avec ses fournisseurs et déployer de nouvelles solutions d’e-procurement au service de l’ensemble de ses distributeurs.

À propos de SAP

SAP est le leader du marché des applications d’entreprise : 77% des transactions financières mondiales passent par un système SAP. L’entreprise accompagne les organisations de toute taille et de tout secteur à mieux opérer. Nos technologies de machine learning, d’Internet des objets (IoT), d’analytique avancée et de gestion de l’expérience aident nos clients à transformer leur activité en « entreprise intelligente ». SAP dote les professionnels d’une vision approfondie sur leur activité et favorise la collaboration pour garder une longueur d’avance sur leurs concurrents. Pour les entreprises, nous simplifions la technologie afin qu’elles puissent utiliser nos logiciels comme elles le souhaitent, sans interruption. Notre suite d’applications de bout en bout et nos services permettent à plus de 440 000 clients d’opérer de manière rentable, de s’adapter en permanence et de faire la différence. Avec son réseau mondial de clients, partenaires, employés et leaders d’opinion, SAP aide le monde à mieux fonctionner et à améliorer la vie de chacun. Pour plus d’information, visitez le site www.sap.com

The post Adveo opte pour SAP Commerce pour développer son activité et répondre à la demande croissante des consommateurs appeared first on SAP France News.

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