User experience and performance are aligned–in theory. Jason Lengstorf gets into the paradox of how the steps we take to make things easier for our users might actually be making things worse for them. When we put the user experience at the expense of the developer experience, it’s the user who pays the price.
Articles
Design with Difficult Data
Designing for the happy path—where users always enter ideal data and clients choose perfect images—can leave your layouts warped and broken when your users stray. Steven Garrity suggests you take a walk on the wild side and design with difficult data to become a better designer.
Conversational Semantics
Semantic markup has always mattered, but with voice interfaces rapidly becoming the norm, it now matters more than ever. Aaron Gustafson shows us how simple HTML tags can have a huge impact with voice interfaces.
Coding with Clarity: Part II
Coding with clarity sets great developers apart from the rest. Brandon Gregory shares some principles for organizing objects and functions in JavaScript that will improve clarity, making your code easier to read, understand, and extend.
Make Something Great: Become an Open Source Contributor
You may think that contributing to an open source project is only for developers. But code is by no means the only thing software is made of. Whether you’re a designer, writer, doctor, or lawyer, the open source community needs you. Andrés Galante shares everything you need to know to set out on your journey, from first steps to becoming a core contributor.
What is Typesetting?
The work of a web typographer—that’s you—is challenging to say the least. Between highly variable screen sizes (and thereby line lengths), font size variability, and even font availability, it’s difficult to design great reading experiences. Tim Brown’s Flexible Typesetting is here to help.
Fixing Variable Scope Issues with ECMAScript 6
Variable scope in JavaScript has always had its problems. ECMAScript 6 has some features to help developers deal with this and give them more control over their variables. Brandon Gregory gives the low-down on these features and when to use them.
Webmentions: Enabling Better Communication on the Internet
The free exchange of information and ideas is one of the great beauties of the internet, so why is so much of that communication still trapped behind the walls of individual social silos? Enter Webmentions. They’re the new kids on the block determined to disrupt the status quo, break down barriers, and free up cross-platform communication across the internet like never before. With Webmentions rapidly gathering momentum, Chris Aldrich delivers a timely outline of the basics, how Webmentions work, and where you can go to get started. The walls are coming down …
Order Out of Chaos: Patterns of Organization for Writing on the Job
The meaning of what you write isn’t only the the words. The sequence of information, the categories you use, the emphasis you imply through your hierarchy—all of these decisions have a huge influence on audience understanding. Richard Rabil, Jr., explains how to use foundational patterns of organization to help you convey what you mean to say.
Your Emails (and Recipients) Deserve Better Context
Like the headlights of an oncoming train, the sender name and address, subject, and preheader are typically all that’s initially visible whenever our company or app reaches out to connect with users via email. With huge impact on engagement, open rates, and user satisfaction, these are nimble context elements that punch well above their weight, yet rarely get the attention they deserve. As Garrett Dimon points out in this exploration of best practice, that’s a shame, because they, your users, your app, and your company deserve better.
