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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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Deploying a Django Application to AWS EC2 Instance With Docker

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In AWS, we have several ways to deploy Django (and not Django applications) with Docker. We can use ECS or EKS clusters. If we don’t have one ECS or Kubernetes cluster up and running, maybe it can be complex. Today, I want to show how deploy a Django application in production mode within a EC2 host. Let’s start.

The idea is create one EC2 instance (one simple Amazon Linux AMI AWS-supported image). This host doesn’t initially have Docker installed. We need to install it. When we launch one instance, when we’re configuring the instance, we can specify user data to configure an instance or run a configuration script during launch.

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Exciting New Tools for Designers, July 2020

Some of the changes we are seeing with where we work are starting to pop up in the type of new tools made for designers and developers. More tools with remote collaboration as a key feature are increasing in popularity. (You’ll find a few of those here.)

Here’s what new for designers this month.

Webdesign Toolbox

Webdesign Toolbox is a collection of tools, apps, and resources all in one location for designers and developers. The best part of this resource is that it is human-curated, so every tool is quality checked and makes the list because it has been tested and researched. Search the collection by design, dev, stock, typography, UX, or workflow tools (and more) and use them to help create more efficiently. The collection is constantly growing, too.

CodeStream

CodeStream might be the new-world workflow tool for web designers and developers. It is made for remote teams to review code right inside your IDE without breaking from development flow. You can post and review changes and comments are all independent of the code itself, even though they link to it.

Litur

Litur is a color management app for iOS. Use it to find and collect color swatches, create custom palettes, and even check color combinations against accessibility standards. The app can even generate color codes for you from swatches you find from a photo or image upload or create. The app works on mobile and desktop Mac devices and is a paid app.

Editor X

Editor X, which is still in beta, is a website building tool that combines advanced design and prototyping capabilities with secure web hosting and integrated business solutions. Go from an idea straight to production in a highly intuitive design workspace. The best feature might be exact design precision tools.

Grid Cheatsheet

Grid Cheatsheet is a visual and code-based set of “cheats” based on the W3C CSS Grid Specifications. What’s nice is it makes these guidelines easier to understand and use if reading through them makes you a little uneasy.

Tutorialist

Tutorialist brings together some of the best development tutorials on the web. All of the tutorials are free videos available on YouTube, and this project collects them all in one place.

Pure CSS Halftone Portrait from JPG

Pure CSS Halftone Portrait from JPG is a beautiful pen from Ana Tudor that shows how to change the visual representation of an image. The examples are brilliant and in true halftone fashion. The code snippet works with color, or black and white images as well.

VoiceText for Slack

VoiceText for Slack is another work from home productivity tool. Integrate it with Slack and send messages with text that’s transcribed right in your channels. It’s a free integration and supports 18 languages.

Feature Peek

Feature Peek is a developer tool that helps you get frontend staging environments on demand and gather team feedback earlier in the development process. It’s made for use with GitHub and works with a variety of other tools as well.

Formbutton

Formbutton is a simple and customizable pop-up form. (And we all know websites have plenty of them right now.) It connects to other services you already use, such as Google Sheets and MailChimp, and is simple to set up.

Blocksy Theme

Blocksy is a WordPress theme that’s made for non-coders. It’s a zippy and highly visual theme made for Gutenberg. It works with other builders and allows the user to customize pretty much everything visually. (There’s even a dark mode.) The theme is packed with tools and options and is a free download.

Oh My Startup Illustrations

Oh My Startup Illustrations is a set of vector illustrations in several categories featuring a popular style on many projects. Use the characters and scenes to create a semi-custom story for your startup project.

1mb

1mb is a code editor and host where you can create a static website with a custom domain and SSL included. The editor works in-browser and everything is saved in the cloud.

Linear

Linear is an issue tracking Mac app for teams. It’s designed to help streamline software projects, sprints, and tasks, and can integrate with standard tools such as Github, Figma, and Slack.

Hosting Checker

Hosting Checker solves a common issue – a client wants you to work on their website, but has no idea who hosts it. Hosting Checker shows the user hosting provider and IP address the website uses, along with where its server computers are located and the host’s contact details. It also claims to be 82% faster than other similar tools.

Spike

Spike alerts you to website incidents before customers. Create alerts and get a phone call, text message, email, or Slack notification right away. The tool provides unlimited alerts and integrations to you can stay on top of issues before they become real problems.

Magnus UI

Magnus UI is a framework that helps you building consistent user interfaces in React. It comes with plenty of components ready to use and you can customize the theme.

SpreadSimple

SpreadSimple uses data in Google Sheets to create styled websites with features such as filtering, search, sorting, cart, order collection via forms, and much more. Update the sheet and instantly see changes on the website.

WebP vs. JPEG

Google is starting to suggest using it’s WebP image format to decrease load times, because of the lighter file size. But is WebP better than the traditional JPEG? Developer Johannes Siipola tested the file types at different sizes to answer the question. The answer is a bit complicated, but sometimes it might be better; read the full analysis for more.

Oh Dear

Oh Dear is a website monitoring tool that can help you keep a check on websites. Monitor uptime, SSL certificates, broken links, and more with notifications that come right to you if there’s an issue.

Airconnect

Airconnect is a Zoom video conferencing alternative that you can use for your brand with a custom header, colors, and portal for clients. The tool includes video calling as well as the ability for customers to access their data and automate your onboarding process.

Free Faces

Free Faces is a curated collection of free typefaces that you can browse and use in projects. Search by type style with visual results that include a download link.

All the Roll

All the Roll is a fun novelty font for just the right type of project. It includes 167 characters with swash characters that can be added before or after certain letters.

Backrush

Backrush is a handwriting-style typeface with easy strokes and a pen-like feel. It includes thicker letterforms with nice swashes and a full character set.

Thuner

Thuner is a slab display font with interesting quirks. It’s made for larger than life designs. It includes a full uppercase character set and numerals.

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Comment les leaders de la supply chain limitent les risques et maximisent les opportunités

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« Pour gérer la complexité tout en restant résilient en 2020, il faudra créer une entreprise centrée sur le client. Les entreprises doivent être capables de fournir des produits de haute qualité en un temps record, et dans le même temps répondre aux objectifs de durabilité, développer des relations avec les fournisseurs et sous-traitants, prévoir la demande des produits et ressources, réduire les risques et adopter rapidement les nouvelles technologies sans interrompre l’activité. Les services de supply chain sont chargés de répondre à toutes ces exigences, même dans ce contexte de pandémie mondiale. »

Voilà le premier paragraphe d’une enquête menée par Oxford Economics auprès de 1 000 directeurs supply chain. Il dépeint le profil type d’un « leader supply chain » tous secteurs et pays confondus.

Récemment, j’ai discuté des résultats de cette enquête avec Ben Wright, rédacteur adjoint chez Oxford Economics, qui soulignait que « les entreprises ayant de solides stratégies de gestion centrée sur le client, de visibilité, de durabilité et d’application des technologies intelligentes constatent une amélioration de leur supply chain, de leur résilience et de leur performance financière globale ».

Au sujet de la pandémie qui nous touche aujourd’hui, Ben a ajouté : « La propagation du coronavirus a révélé les fragilités de la supply chain et leur impact sur l’économie mondiale. Il est donc devenu primordial de rendre les supply chains plus résilientes. Si dans une économie mondiale, toutes les supply chains présentent des fragilités, avoir des objectifs stratégiques clairs, en utilisant les bons outils et les tactiques adéquates pour limiter les risques et réduire la complexité permettra de mieux faire face à ce type de situation ».

Priorité à la résilience de la supply chain

Même si la résilience n’était pas le principal objectif de ce programme de recherche, il est apparu clairement que les leaders supply chain appliquaient des meilleures pratiques dans ce domaine.

Réalisée début 2020, alors que le COVID-19 commençait seulement à faire les gros titres, l’enquête montre que 39 % des personnes interrogées ont vu leur supply chain exposée à des risques au cours des trois dernières années. Et une proportion similaire (40 %) affirme que l’exposition aux risques liés à la supply chain a augmenté au cours de cette période. Ils étaient loin de se douter que seulement quelques semaines plus tard, ce chiffre serait de 100 % !

Mais quelques caractéristiques bien précises permettent aux leaders de se démarquer :

  • 76 % disent avoir des collaborateurs agiles, capables de réagir aux imprévus (contre 52 % pour les autres).
  • 75 % ont déjà un niveau élevé de collaboration avec leurs équipes de gestion des risques et de conformité (contre 63 % pour les autres).
  • 66 % ont une visibilité sur l’ensemble du processus de la conception à la livraison.

Bien sûr, aucune supply chain ne pourrait se préparer totalement à un choc d’une telle ampleur ni se protéger contre des conséquences aussi graves que celles causées par le coronavirus, mais avec une culture d’entreprise hautement collaborative et une bonne visibilité sur tous les aspects de la supply chain, y compris les fournisseurs et sous-traitants, il est possible de renforcer sa résilience et son agilité afin de limiter l’impact de tels événements.

Pour comprendre comment les leaders supply chain limitent les risques et maximisent les opportunités, écoutez la conversation que j’ai eue avec Ben Wright, rédacteur adjoint chez Oxford Economics, et téléchargez l’enquête menée auprès de 1 000 directeurs des opérations et supply chain : « Surviving and Thriving How Supply Chain Leaders minimize risk and maximize opportunities ».

Suivez-moi sur Twitter.

Richard Howells

Fort de plus de 25 ans d’expérience dans le domaine de la gestion de la supply chain et de la production, je suis chargé de l’orientation du marché et du positionnement des solutions SAP pour la gestion de la supply chain et l’IoT. Avant de rejoindre SAP en 2004, j’ai passé 15 ans chez Marcam Solutions comme vice-président marketing des solutions ERP pour les processus d’entreprise. J’ai aussi dirigé la mise en œuvre des systèmes ERP et SCM pour des groupes comme Nestle, Gillette, Colgate Palmolive, Rohm & Haas, Wyeth, Royal Worcester Spode et Dairy Crest. Je suis diplômé en informatique de l’université de Mid Glamorgan au Royaume-Uni. Suivez-moi sur @howellsrichard

Initialement publié dans le magazine Forbes.

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La startup Aumenu choisit SAP Business One pour permettre aux restaurants de rouvrir leurs portes dans les meilleures conditions sanitaires

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Née de la crise sanitaire, la jeune startup Bretonne Aumenu fait confiance à la solution SAP Business One pour se développer rapidement et proposer aux restaurateurs une alternative cloud au traditionnel menu papier. L’objectif : accompagner les restaurateurs pour les aider à respecter et appliquer des conditions sanitaires strictes et sans danger pour leurs clients.

Une solution en kit 100% cloud prête à l’emploi pour le restaurateur

Aumenu fournit un support physique et digital permettant de remplacer les cartes par un menu consultable sur smartphone via la lecture de QR codes pour éviter les risques de contamination. Ces codes sont présents sur des étiquettes autocollantes, adhésives, lavables et résistantes qui sont positionnées sur les tables des restaurants.

Le restaurateur choisit son kit en fonction du nombre d’espaces qu’il souhaite équiper puis active son compte lui donnant accès à sa plate-forme où il peut déposer ses fichiers pdf, word, powerpoint, excel pour mettre en ligne ses menus et accéder aux informations de ses clients. Avec 25% des utilisateurs qui laissent leurs e-mails en scannant le QR code, Aumenu, avec SAP Business One, permet aux restaurateurs d’acquérir et de constituer très rapidement une importante base de données. Cette dernière a un impact immédiat sur le business mais aussi sur la relation client.

Être opérationnelle dès l’ouverture des bars et des restaurants

Avec le plan de déconfinement progressif, la startup Aumenu avait pour enjeu principal d’être opérationnelle très rapidement et de pouvoir livrer partout en France. Elle souhaitait pour cela se munir d’une solution cloud complète qui lui permette de gérer toute son activité : CRM, prise de commande, facturation, production des menus digitaux, livraison etc. La solution devait également être capable de supporter la croissance de la startup, et notamment s’ouvrir à l’international.

Accompagné par W3COM, Aumenu a choisi SAP Business One, une solution cloud complète conçue spécifiquement pour les besoins des TPE/PME. Celle-ci centralise en effet dans un seul système toutes les activités de l’entreprise, leur permettant de gagner du temps et de booster leur croissance. Elle compte de nombreux avantages qui ont su répondre aux attentes de la startup : une personnalisation grâce à des solutions métiers adaptées à l’activité du client, une flexibilité et un accompagnement évolutif pour s’adapter à la croissance de la structure, une très grande simplicité d’utilisation pour une prise en main rapide et un accès à toutes ses informations en temps réel pour une grande réactivité et flexibilité.

SAP Business One pour s’étendre rapidement à l’international

La solution offre déjà plusieurs bénéfices à la startup. L‘évolutivité de la plateforme permet une production et un déploiement des étiquettes partout en France mais aussi dans le monde. Ainsi, Aumenu peut s’internationaliser très rapidement et facilement. Les données sont également collectées d’une façon très structurée et peuvent engendrer des effets de levier importants. Enfin, les services additionnels à valeur ajoutée pourront facilement être complétés à ces données et process existants.

Aujourd’hui, la startup doit s’adapter à la période de déconfinement et proposer aux restaurateurs une solution toujours plus satisfaisante et adéquate à la situation. Le challenge est de généraliser et de normaliser la solution d’Aumenu dans les 16 millions de restaurants à travers le monde.

« SAP Business One est au cœur du service fourni par notre startup. La solution nous a permis de nous développer en seulement 15 jours : un vrai record ! Il était évident qu’un tel projet devait s’appuyer sur un ERP solide, de bonne réputation avec l’agilité de son ouverture vers le web, la technologie HANA et l’accès en Hosted by SAP », explique Caroline Guerizec, cofondatrice de Aumenu.

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Show Them Your Assets – Tips for Handing Off Designs to Developers

You’ve been working away at your latest design project, and the client has given the go-ahead on your lovingly created digital concepts. Now it’s time to bring those designs to life, and you have a developer queued up to do just that.

So your part’s done, right? Not quite. You’re going to want to make sure your developer has the best head start they can in order to create the site as you imagined.

Below are a few tips to make that handover process a little easier.

Communicate to Make It Great

Get Talking

Scheduling a face-to-face meeting with your developer to talk over your project’s specifics and ambitions will help align your expectations and make the intent behind your concepts more clear. It’s quite likely they’ll even ask questions and request assets you haven’t even thought of yet!

It’s not just a one-and-done thing either, your developer’s going to have questions or requirements that arise as the project progresses. Deciding on a communication channel to allow easy discussion will help you both immensely.

Annotating Your Concepts

Developers might seem like magicians with the way they bring your websites to life, but they’re not clairvoyant! Annotating your concepts where advanced functionality is required reduces ambiguity and makes it more likely that your cool, quirky idea is going to make it to production. If it’s a feature that’s particularly unusual, you might want to find an example of a website or code sandbox that does something similar.

An example of Figma’s comment tool in use to make developer notes.

Figma and Sketch both have comment functionality in order to make annotations a little easier, also allowing multiple parties to comment. If dealing with PDFs, there is also an annotation tool available through Adobe Acrobat.

Specify the Basics

The basis of modern front end development revolves around DRY thinking. Some might argue thinking about code can be pretty dry, but we’re not talking about that – in this case, DRY stands for Don’t Repeat Yourself.  Most developers will tackle a project by starting with defining variables: what colors, font sizes, grid columns… anything that can be reused! Good, consistent design follows this same principle – although it’s a habit that can be hard to get going at first.

Tip: It’s always easier to define variables if this mentality is approached towards the start of the project!  

Colors

Make a style guide that specifies the colors you’ve used in your designs. Think about their logical applications to help signpost how they might work as a variable – for example, what colors did you use for paragraph text, hyperlinks and backgrounds? Did you consider colors to convey status messaging, such as successes, warnings and errors?

Typefaces

Which fonts have you used for your project? Is there a consistent set of font sizes you used throughout? If you haven’t already, maybe consider a ratio-based type scale – I like to use ModularScale to help with this.

Basic HTML Elements

Think about general styling for these basic html tags:

  • Paragraphs <p>
  • Headings <h1–h6>
  • Bullet lists <ul> and numbered lists <ol>
  • Emphasized text <b>, <strong> and <em>

Buttons

How about buttons and links? What should they do when they’re hovered over, focused (using the tab key on a keyboard) or disabled?

Forms Fields and Inputs

What should form fields look like? Is there any validation checking that should occur when a form is submitted?  How about checkboxes and radio buttons?

It’s unlikely that you’re going to be able to cover absolutely every single eventuality – allow your developer to use some common sense to fill in the gaps, and be available to them if they have any questions. In the words of John Maxwell and your aunt’s home office wall sticker, teamwork makes the dream work.

Get Your Favic-on

Favicons are widely recognized as the small icon that appears to the left of the site title on your browser’s tab bar. Nowadays, the application of your site’s favicon is much further reaching, showing up in Google search results and app tiles. There’s also extra theming options available, such as the ability to customize the color of Google Chrome Android’s browser bar color for your site.

Using a generator site such as realfavicongenerator takes the pain out of much of this decision-making, allowing you to upload specific graphics as desired, creating silhouettes of your icon for Windows Metro tiles and macOS Safari pins, and packaging everything into easy-to-use files and code.

 Compress Your Images

Nobody wants to load a 20MB image when they’re on a slow connection or a data plan – it pays dividends to plan ahead and downsize your images so that they’re production-ready for the web. If you’re worried image compression is going to harm your image quality, fear not – you can go a long way with image compression before quality is seriously compromised.

  1. Start by reducing the image resolution – for batch jobs, I use Adobe Photoshop’s image processor script to downsize images to fit 1920 x 1200 pixels
  2. Alternatively, if you’re working on a static project – where specific images will be used only in specific places – you could use your design software (nearly all mainstream UI software allows you to do this now) to export your images at 2x size to support devices with high pixel densities.
  3. I also convert my image color profiles to SRGB to ensure consistency across most modern display types (this one’s optional)
  4. I then take my newly downsized images and run them through imageOptim at 80% quality. Generally I would aim to get my images under 300kb – if there are any that are still significantly over this target once compressed, I’d run these through again at 70% quality (I wouldn’t recommend going lower than this, though).

Don’t forget you can also do this for PNGs! Enabling PNGCrush in imageOptim will let you significantly reduce the size of PNGs… just be ready for it to take a while.

Make Your Vectors SVG-Easy to Use

If your design contains graphics or illustrations you created using vector software, it can be used on the web as an SVG file. Usually, these files will be a lot smaller than JPGs or PNGs. You can export graphics in most (if not all) vector software in this format.

Optionally, you could use imageOptim or SVGOMG to compress the SVG code without sacrificing quality. Your developer might already use a script that does this automatically when processing the site for production, so it may be worth asking ahead.

Get Your Licenses in Check

If you’re using premium fonts, make sure you’ve purchased a webfont license so you can hand over the correct files to the developer. I’d recommend doing this sooner rather than later – although not often, occasionally web versions of fonts can have slightly different bounding boxes to their desktop counterparts, making it a real pain for developers to work with further down the line.

If you’ve been using samples of stock photos (or if you’ve been going crazy lifting whatever you can find on Google Images), make sure everything is kosher before you go live. Make sure you purchase licensed photos, and if certain photos you want to use require attribution, make the developer aware of this.

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Nouveaux enjeux d’agilité et d’excellence opérationnelle : vers l’entrepôt 4.0

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SAP propose depuis une quinzaine d’années une solution de gestion d’entrepôt appelée SAP Extended Warehouse Management, qui s’est enrichie pour répondre aux besoins des clients, quel que soit l’industrie ou le marché adressé : gestion avancée des vagues, mobilité, pilotage intégré de la mécanisation, Labor Management, pré colisage, intégration avec la production … Le tout dans une approche ‘Digital Supply Chain of One’, visant à fournir à nos clients une chaine logistique agile, unifiée et ‘end to end’.

Dans cette démarche d’amélioration et d’innovation continue, un nouveau module a vu le jour l’année dernière pour apporter un niveau supplémentaire d’optimisation aux clients qui le souhaitent.

SAP Warehouse Insights est un module basé sur la plateforme SCP (SAP Cloud Platform), et dédié à l’optimisation des entrepôts et de leurs ressources. Basé sur les dernières technologies : algorithmes, cloud computing et machine learning, cet outil complète les fonctions déjà avancées de la solution SAP Extended Warehouse Management. Les principaux domaines sont : la cartographie des entrepôts, des fonctions supplémentaires d’analyses et de monitoring de KPIs, la simulation de l’utilisation des ressources, et l’optimisation en temps réel.

SAP Warehouse Insights a été conçu pour tout type de clients et d’industries. Il apporte un niveau ultime dans l’optimisation des ressources et des missions en proposant les meilleurs scénarios possibles. Si le module s’enrichit en permanence de nouvelles fonctions, à ce jour il faut retenir 3 principaux sujets :

  • Visualisation dynamique de la cartographie entrepôt et des parcours des opérateurs,
  • Analyse des opérations, basées sur les données historiques comme la charge de travail et les distances de déplacement des ressources,
  • Optimisation / ré optimisation des missions (Warehouse Orders) affectées aux ressources pour réduire les déplacements à vide.

 

Cartographie entrepôt

Les utilisateurs peuvent interroger la cartographie d’un site de façon dynamique et interactive. Cela se traduit par une visualisation précise et aisée des différentes zones, avec la capacité d’aller jusqu’à la granularité la plus fine  (emplacement), et de s’assurer de l’adéquation de la configuration avec les besoins du terrain, ainsi qu’aux fonctions d’optimisation des déplacements.

Exemple d’écran de visualisation de différents types de zones de stockage :

‘Travel distance Network’ : Configuration simplifiée des chemins

La configuration des chemins est utilisée pour l’optimisation des déplacements. Les utilisateurs peuvent visualiser rapidement sur la carte, la complétude et la bonne configuration des chemins et segments paramétrés. En cas de rupture ou de mauvaise configuration, il est alors aisé de ‘réparer’ ou créer de nouvelles connexions à partir des nœuds existants. Exemple d’écran :

Configuration assistée

SAP Warehouse Insights facilite par ailleurs la création et la maintenance de la cartographie des sites. Il est possible d’importer des plans ‘CAD’ (Computer Aided Design) sous format PDF et de les utiliser directement dans le système. L’opérateur va ensuite pouvoir enrichir les informations avec les données ‘business’ comme les allées ou types de stockage. Le système va alors automatiquement propager ces paramètres de configuration sur les emplacements éligibles.

Exemple d’écran :

Fonctions de simulation

Cette première approche repose sur une optimisation ‘Off Line’. Il s’agit d’utiliser les données historiques pour comprendre et remédier à une situation insatisfaisante. SAP Warehouse Insights va ainsi utiliser les missions (Warehouse orders) et les ressources dans un processus avancé de simulation, pour proposer des scénarios réoptimisés, visant à limiter les déplacements, le nombre de ressource et par conséquent permettre une meilleure productivité tout en réduisant les couts d’exécution.

Le système offre une représentation simple et claire des gains potentiels d’optimisation, à travers une représentation des déplacements modélisés et comparables en un simple coup d’œil (avant optimisation / après optimisation).

Exemple d’écran de visualisation et comparaison des chemins :

Heatmap intégrée

SAP Warehouse Insights propose également une fonction de heatmap, très utile à l’analyse des flux dans l’entrepôt et à l’identification des goulets d’étranglement au sein d’une zone, d’une allée ou d’une gare de préparation. La ‘chaleur’ est déterminée en fonction du nombre de tâches réalisées sur chaque emplacement.

Exemple d’écran :

Optimisation temps réel et continue

Le processus de ré optimisation présenté plus haut est alors réalisé en temps réel, avec la possibilité de configurer des règles différentes en fonction par exemple des types de flux ou zones.

Exemple d’écran de configuration :

Principe de fonctionnement :

Les Missions ‘ouvertes’ sont récupérées et traitées en lien avec le système de destination, comme SAP EWM, à une fréquence configurable (ex : toutes les 10 minutes).

La ré optimisation des missions et des ressources associées est alors réalisée et une nouvelle séquence est déterminée suivant les critères souhaités d’optimisation des déplacements ou de dates/heures « au plus tard ».

Les missions ré optimisées sont ensuite remontées vers le système de destination pour exécution par les opérateurs en mode ‘dirigé’ par le système.

Un écran de monitoring permet également de suivre et visualiser les résultats de l’optimisation proposée par le système, avec notamment pour chaque ressource les missions associées, séquences, trajet à vide et en charge … Exemple d’écran :

Indicateurs de performance

En complément, SAP Warehouse Insights inclut des indicateurs offrant une vue analytique sur les opérations et la performance :

  • Utilisation par ressources
  • Charge par groupes de ressources
  • Charge des ressources par groupes de missions (‘queues’)
  • Temps de déplacements à vides par type de ressources
  • Temps total de déplacement par ressource

Exemple d’écran de consultation des opérations en entrepôt

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