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It’s the start of a new year, and product designers are already launching thousands of new apps, tools, and resources.

In January’s edition of our monthly roundup of the most exciting new downloads for designers and developers, there’s everything from full-blown applications to helpful little side projects. Enjoy!

Observable

Observable lets you explore, analyze, and explain data as a team to uncover insights, and make better decisions. Build fresh data visualizations with drag-and-drop components or JavaScript.

Blocs

Blocs is a no-code website builder based on Bootstrap 5. It has a whole heap of templates, so all you need to do is pick one, customize it, and add your content.

blogstatic

blogstatic is a fantastic no-code blogging platform with a minimal UI that lets you focus on nothing but your content. There’s built-in SEO, plus themes and hosting is included.

Lessmail

Lessmail is an excellent way to clean out your inbox for the new year. Unsubscribe from unwanted newsletters, delete old messages and focus on the mail you want.

Ultimate Side Projects Playbook

Is 2023 the year you’ll launch a web-conquering side project? Give yourself the best chance with the free Ultimate Side Projects Playbook to guide you through the process.

Ashore

Get your web designs, prototypes, and other creative work sign-off fast using Ashore. Upload your files, share them with stakeholders, and track when your designs are approved.

Frase

Frase is an AI tool for researching, writing, and optimizing content with high-quality SEO keywords. Write anything from content briefs to blog posts in a fraction of the usual time.

Uiverse

Uiverse is a collection of UI elements designed by the community that you can use on your site for free or even submit your own designs for others to use.

Rive

Rive is an excellent app for building fast, small, interactive animations and motion graphics for the web. Animations built-in Rive can run on the web or in native apps.

Vuestic UI

Vuestic UI is an excellent UI framework for Vue. All aspects are fully customizable, and Vuestic UI seamlessly integrates with other component libraries for even more options.

Localfonts.xyz

Localfonts.xyz is a simple way to browse the fonts installed on your local machine in your browser. It’s a fast solution for choosing fonts for your designs.

PixelBin

PixelBin is a tool for optimizing and delivering images. It uses AI to transform your assets and allows you to use larger, higher-quality images without bloated load times.

EarlyBird

EarlyBird is a no-code landing page generator perfect for teams launching an early-stage website. You can get your product online fast and start validating it with real users.

RippleUI

RippleUI is a toolkit for UI design that improves on the Tailwind approach by simplifying classes to reduce the amount of code you need. In addition, it includes components and utility classes to speed up your web development.

No Code AI Model Builder

If you want to build your own AI models but you don’t know how to code, you can use No-Code AI Model Builder to generate AI models in minutes.

Templatify

Save hours creating social media templates with Templatify, a collection of 201 templates for Twitter and Instagram. There are dark and light versions, and a full video tutorial shows you how to customize them.

Detangle

Detangle beats small print by using the power of AI to generate human-readable summaries of legal documents so you can understand what you’re signing.

Mesher

CSS Hero’s Mesher creates incredible multicolor gradients that can be customized and exported to CSS for use in your projects.

OldestSearch.com

OldestSearch.com is a fascinating look at the web that was. Enter any search term, and it will return the oldest matching links available on Google Search.

Detect GPT

Detect GPT is a helpful Chrome extension that scans the content of web pages and determines if the content has been auto-generated by AI. It’s very handy for checking the validity of blog posts.

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The post Exciting New Tools for Designers, January 2023 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

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Every day design fans submit incredible industry stories to our sister-site, Webdesigner News. Our colleagues sift through it, selecting the very best stories from the design, UX, tech, and development worlds and posting them live on the site.
The best way to keep up with the most important stories for web professionals is to subscribe to Webdesigner News or check out the site regularly. However, in case you missed a day this week, here’s a handy compilation of the top curated stories from the last seven days. Enjoy!

Tailwind Fast Started Template

Are these the Worst Logos of 2022 so Far?

5 Open Source Tips to Reduce Waste in Web Design

Introducing Material Symbols

Should I Use a Carousel?

What’s Coming in WordPress 6.0 (Features and Screenshots)

20 Best New Sites, May 2022

Choosing a WordPress Website Builder and Why You Should Use One

What if Our Sliders Actually Slid?

A New Future for the Interface

6 Web Design Trends to Look Out for in 2022

The Best Free Tailwind CSS Components for 2022

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The post Popular Design News of the Week: April 25, 2022 – May 1, 2022 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

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

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

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

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

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

1. Bulma

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

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

2. UIkit

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

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

3. HTML5 Boilerplate

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

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

4. Metro UI

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

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

5. Skeleton

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

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

6. Bootflat

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

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

7. Semantic UI

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

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

8. Susy

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

9. Materialize

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

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

10. Kickstart

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

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

11. Tailwind CSS

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

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

12. Pure CSS

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

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

13. PowertoCSS

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

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

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

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

14. Spectre

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

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

15. Primer

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

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

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

Wrap Up

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

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

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

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With the holidays fast approaching, there are plenty of fun gifts for you in this roundup of new tools and resources for web designers. Make sure to share anything you find helpful with others to spread additional holiday cheer.

Here’s what is new for designers this month…

Volley

Volley, billing itself as Snapchat for work, is a new way to collaborate with remote teams. The tool addresses the two main problems of remote teams (lack of communication and loneliness) with an async video messaging app with interactive transcriptions neatly organized into workspaces. Volley emphasizes talking over typing (76% of volleys sent are video), doesn’t require you to coordinate schedules (it’s 100% asynchronous), and lives in a threaded conversation with context that’s neatly organized. Plus, the tool is free to use.

Upnext

Upnext is a new type of reading list. It’s designed to help you save, organize, and focus on fantastic content while expanding your knowledge on your favorite topics. You can create playlists with almost any type of content that you can refer to later and follow “thinkers” that you love. Search and filter content, focus on reading, integrate videos, and even highlight and note specific content in your customized library. This brand-new web app has a waitlist that you can join to get access soon.

Startup 5

Startup 5 is a new version of the popular website builder, and it’s a perfect tool to create your online presence. With Startup, it’s fast and easy to get your business online with pre-designed blocks. It includes a visual editor with 150+ blocks with pre-designed and pre-coded elements and styles you can easily customize in a drag and drop interface. It’s an easy tool for building a website quickly without a coding background. Most users can publish a website quickly and easily.

Flatmap

Flatmap generates Mapbox Vector Tiles from geographic data sources like OpenStreetMap. It is memory-efficient so that you can build a map of the world in a few hours on a single machine without any external tools or database. Vector tiles contain raw point, line, and polygon geometries that clients like MapLibre can use to render custom maps in the browser, native apps, or a server. Flatmap packages tiles into an MBTiles (SQLite) file that can be served using tools like TileServer GL or even queried directly from the browser.

Cleanup.Pictures

Cleanup.Pictures is a web-based tool to remove objects, people, text, or other defects from your images before using them in projects. It’s an AI-based alternative to other photo-editing software.

Linkz.ai

Linkz.ai helps you make smart link preview popups for your website to help encourage greater engagement and interaction for links. It works with a line of code you can install quickly and easily, and then you get smart link previews (in two style options) for every link on your site.

Llline

Llline is an SVG generator that helps you create smooth and organic lines and strokes with plenty of customization options for almost any application. This tool helps create graphic elements in just a few clicks, allowing you to add a few points to a canvas and then draw a smooth curve using these points. You can then tweak the resulting SVG graphic by rotating it, changing its color, giving it a gradient, making it a dashed line, and then you can download or copy the SVG markup.

Lorem.Space

Lorem.Space is a valuable placeholder image tool. With just a little bit of code, you can pop cool placeholder images – from movie posters to shoes – right in your website mockup so that the design is easier to visualize. It’s a great solution that’s fun and keeps you from having to put empty boxes throughout the design. And everything can be randomized, so you don’t spend time looking for placeholders.

Huetone

Huetone can help you create more accessible color palettes by making use of the Advanced Perceptual Contrast Algorithm. The contrast ratios and color combinations show on one screen to help you quickly develop palettes and combinations. Plus, the tool has hotkeys that make it easy to change hues, toggle, and adjust quickly. Then you can export everything to Figma.

Rowy

Rowy is an open-source tool to build on the Google Cloud Platform. You can manage Firestore data in a spreadsheet-style user interface, write Cloud Functions in the browser, and connect to third-party platforms.

AdCreative.ai

AdCreative.ai uses artificial intelligence to help create better ad creative. To get started, you upload logos and color files, connect social and other accounts, pick the sizes you need, write text, pick a background, and upload product images, and let the AI do the work. Once you have the creative you like, you can connect to your online ad accounts for easy use. This is a premium tool that’s free to try.

Flowrift

Flowrift is a tool to browse and then copy and customize Tailwind CSS blocks in groups of collections. Filter by block type and then experiment with the options. It even has e-commerce blocks.

Layout Patterns

Layout Patterns is a collection of layout patterns built using modern CSS APIs to help you build common interfaces such as cards, dynamic grid areas, and full-page layouts.

You.com

You.com is a new private search engine that summarizes the web. The tool is in open beta and includes superior privacy choices, actionable results, extensible apps, and personalization through preferred sources.

3D Icons

3D Icons is a fun set of three-dimensional, full-color icons that are free for all uses. (Donations are accepted.) They integrate with pretty much any web design tool you are using and come in four color styles – clay, gradient, color, and premium – so you can get just the right look for your project. Each icon also includes three rendering views – dynamic, side, and isometric.

Arco Design

Arco Design is a comprehensive React UI components library based on the Arco Design system. It includes a customizable theme and more than 60 crafted components that you can use out of the box.

Seekvectors.com

Seekvectors.com is a search tool to find free resources in five different formats, PNG, SVG, JPG, EPS, and AI.

Outline to Single Stroke

Outline to Single Stroke is a tool in the Figma community that works just like the name implies. Select a filled vector on the canvas, and then you can outline it to a single stroke and adjust the line weight if you like.

Codeamigo

Codeamigo is a new self-paced platform to help you learn coding skills. It’s packed with various lessons for different languages and templates and has something for every level from beginner to advanced.

Sizze

Sizze is a Figma to React Native export tool to create app prototypes and instantly export to code.

CodingFont

CodingFont is an excellent game that can help you pick a font to use for coding that you like! If you spend a lot of time looking at code each day, the right font can help reduce eye strain and make the work a little easier to see.

Christmas Revue

Christmas Revue is the first in a trio of holiday typefaces that you can use this season. This SCG color font is fun and perfect for the holidays with exciting glyphs. It is free for personal use only.

Hotsnow

Hotsnow is a fun display font that has interesting fills and shapes in an all-caps character set. It is free for personal use.

Marlwich

Marlwich is a feminine handwriting-style typeface that has the feel of signing a holiday letter or card. It contains upper- and lower-case characters and is only for non-commercial use for free. (A paid option is available for commercial projects.)

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The post Exciting New Tools For Designers, December 2021 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

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Every day design fans submit incredible industry stories to our sister-site, Webdesigner News. Our colleagues sift through it, selecting the very best stories from the design, UX, tech, and development worlds and posting them live on the site.

The best way to keep up with the most important stories for web professionals is to subscribe to Webdesigner News or check out the site regularly. However, in case you missed a day this week, here’s a handy compilation of the top curated stories from the last seven days. Enjoy!

The Pros and Cons of Tailwind CSS

19 Examples of Beautiful Blog Layout Designs

21 UX Laws Used by the Most Successful Designers

A List of Games for Bored (and Curious) Designers

5 Ways to Make HTTP Requests in JavaScript

On Fire – Free Illustrations for Websites and Apps

GoodBrief 3.0 – Practice your Design Skills with Unique Creative Briefs

The Ultimate Guide to Lean UX Design

How to Create a Typography for your Website Right

15 Signs You Joined the Wrong Company as a Developer

Source

The post Popular Design News of the Week: September 27 2021 – October 3, 2021 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.


Source de l’article sur Webdesignerdepot

As a utility-first CSS framework, Tailwind has rapidly become popular among developers. With its fast styling process and the freedom it offers when designing a website, it’s really no wonder why.

But how can you make sure this is the right CSS framework for your upcoming development projects? In this blog post, you’ll learn what Tailwind is, and how it differs from other frameworks like Bootstrap, or Foundation.

In addition, we will highlight the main advantages and disadvantages of the framework. By the end, you will be able to make an honest and objective assessment as to whether Tailwind is the right framework for you. So without further ado, let us dive deeper into it. 

What is Tailwind CSS?

First released in May 2019, Tailwind CSS is a front-end CSS framework. It is currently at version 2.2. Since its release, Tailwind has created quite a following. More than 260k developers have used it to enhance their design systems.

Stats like these make Tailwind one of the most popular CSS frameworks on the market, and all in less than two years. There are many reasons for this. Primarily, because its features make it the ideal choice for a wide variety of projects. Tellingly, most developers prefer it to create React projects.

The main difference between Tailwind and its competitors is that it gives developers complete control over the styling of a web application. So, is it the right CSS framework for you? To answer this question, let us take a look at Tailwind’s advantages and disadvantages.

Tailwind CSS: Pros and Cons

Tailwind CSS: Advantages

1. Control Over Styling

Tailwind is a unique CSS framework when it comes to styling web applications, meaning that Tailwind does not have a default theme that you have to use like other CSS frameworks.

For example, you can give each project a different look even if you use the same elements (color palette, size, etc.). Therefore, it’s one of the few CSS frameworks that is not opinionated on how you should style your project. 

2. Faster CSS Styling Process

There is no faster framework than Tailwind when it comes to styling HTML. As a result, you can easily create good-looking layouts by styling elements directly. This is possible because Tailwind offers thousands of built-in classes that do not require you to create designs from scratch.

Therefore, you do not have to write CSS rules yourself. These CSS classes are the main reason why building and styling with Tailwind is so fast. 

3. Responsiveness and Security 

With Tailwind’s pre-built classes, you can design the layout directly in an HTML file. This makes it a very responsive, mobile-friendly CSS framework. Apart from that, Tailwind has proven to be a stable framework since its initial release.

The framework was developed by top-notch engineers, which is why bugs and breaks are rare. 

4. Additional Features 

Tailwind CSS works in the front end of a website. For this reason, it is reasonable for developers to demand ultimate responsiveness. Well, Tailwind provides the ability to create responsive themes for your web applications and remove all unused CSS classes. With PurgeCSS, Tailwind helps you keep your final CSS as small as possible.

Tailwind CSS: Disadvantages

1. Styling and HTML are Mixed

Because you do not have to write CSS rules yourself, Tailwind works differently than most CSS frameworks. While this is great for those unfamiliar with CSS, it also means that Tailwind mixes style rules in with your HTML files.

This goes against the principle of the “separation of concerns.” Many developers prefer to separate page structure and style, claiming that classes make the Tailwind markup process verbose. 

2. It Takes Time to Learn 

Because of the built-in classes, Tailwind CSS is quite learning-intensive. Even for experienced developers, it can be a challenge to learn how to use and fully utilize the pre-built classes. But, of course, as with any other development task, practice makes perfect.

However, if you are confident and quick when it comes to writing CSS classes, Tailwind may not be the best choice for you. Even if that’s true, Tailwind generally makes CSS styling faster in the long run.  

3.  Lack of Important Components

Unlike Bulma and Bootstrap, Tailwind does not have many significant styling components. Unfortunately, this means you have to manually add features like headers, buttons, and navigation bars for web apps.

This is not a significant drawback, as experienced developers can implement these features quickly. However, you will need to spend some time doing so. 

4. Documentation 

Although Tailwind CSS has made great strides when it comes to adding guides and video tutorials, it still lags behind competitors like Bootstrap. Of course, you can always contact the developers if you have a problem.

However, keep in mind that this may take some time. For this reason, you may need to customize the framework to your needs manually.

Is Tailwind Worth Trying?

In a few words, working with Tailwind is quite different from other CSS frameworks. We have identified its main advantages and disadvantages. Based on these features, we can easily say that Tailwind is:

  • An excellent solution for developers familiar with CSS who want to speed up the creation and design process in the long run.
  • Not such a good idea if you are not familiar with CSS or do not want to spend time learning a new CSS framework. 

It becomes clear that it all depends on your personal needs and preferences. However, if saving time on CSS styling is a priority for you, you should definitely give Tailwind a try.

Regardless of whether you choose to use Tailwind or not, it’s evident that many developers use it for good reasons. Since it offers a faster styling process and is a responsive and stable framework, it’s here to stay.

Tailwind can help you save time and change the way you design websites, and so taking the time to test it out is worthwhile.

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The post The Pros and Cons of Tailwind CSS first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.


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