Material Design Lite: 18 Articles You Must Read

Friday, August 31, 2018

Material Design Lite is fully compatible with all major browsers and it will display perfectly on any device. We’ve rounded up a collection of 20 articles that you must read, about what Material Design Lite is. These will definitely help you give your website and unique look that will attract the visitors.

The articles are oriented towards the most important aspects of Material Lite. Material Design Lite is focused on modern web design specifications, for instance, responsive designs, compatible with various browsers.

So, here you have a large variety of resources that will help you improve your web performance. You can integrate them into web or mobile designs. Here they are!

Material Design Lite Components in HTML/CSS/JS

Material design lite elements can be integrated into your projects, websites or apps, quickly and with no JavaScript frameworks.

Material Design Lite Components in HTML/CSS/JS

This front-end framework comes in handy in any situation. Here you have a neat library which you can use later on.

An Overview of Material Design Lite

New Release of Material Design Lite – 1.0.4 | Web | Google Developers

Here’s the presentation page of the newly released Material Design Lite 1.0.4. Here you’Lloyd discover lots of useful libraries, templates, etc.

New Release of Material Design Lite - 1.0.4 | Web | Google Developers

MATERIAL DESIGN LITE / LITE WEIGHT + ‘BATTERIES INCLUDED’

This material design lite wa specially designed for Dart and it includes lots of components. These are very essential for web developers or designers.

MATERIAL DESIGN LITE / LITE WEIGHT + 'BATTERIES INCLUDED'

Material Design Lite Integration with AngularJS

This is a great article about material design lite and Angular projects. Check it out and see which is the best way of integrating it.

Material Design Lite Integration with AngularJS

Comparing Bootstrap With Google’s Material Design Lite

Here is a neat comparison between Bootstrap and material design lite from Google. Read this article to better understand the features of each one.

Comparing Bootstrap With Google's Material Design Lite

Material Design Lite Tutorial

This is an excellent tutorial about material design lite which includes useful info about UI components, and more.

Material Design Lite Tutorial

A Practical Introduction to Material Design Lite by Google — SitePoint

This link takes you to a great article about material design lute. This introduction is very useful especially for beginners, to explain from the beginning what it’s all about.

A Practical Introduction to Material Design Lite by Google — SitePoint

Learn to make websites with Google’s Material Design Lite | Udemy

There are many situations where you can use material design lite. One of them is creating a full website. See how you can do that in a simple manner.

Learn to make websites with Google's Material Design Lite | Udemy

Web Design Trends 2017: The Year of Material Design Lite – UXPin

Here you very an excellent article from UXPIN about Material Design Lite.  Follow this link and learn more about it.

 Web Design Trends 2017: The Year of Material Design Lite - UXPin

Migrating from Material Design Lite 

If you are thinking about migrating from material design lite, here are some facts that you need to know to make a smooth transition. Check out this link and find out more about this.

 

Migrating from Material Design Lite

Build a static site with Material Design Lite | Creative Bloq

This is another useful article about how you can use material design lite to build powerful websites. Take a look and see what new things you can learn.

 

Build a static site with Material Design Lite | Creative Bloq

Material Design Lite Snippets – Packages – Package Control

This is an amazing plugin which includes a simple installation. This will surely come in handy in the future.

 Material Design Lite Snippets - Packages - Package Control

Material Design Lite – help – Meteor forums

Enter this forum and get your questioned answered by other material design lite fans.

Material Design Lite - help - Meteor forums

Google Unveils Material Design Lite

This is a well-organized article focused on material design lite: its features, appearance, etc.

 Google Unveils Material Design Lite

MATERIAL DESIGN LITE FOR SEASIDE

Here’so an excellent article about MTD for Seaside. Here you have a small description about what it has to offers, it’s features, characteristics, etc.

MATERIAL DESIGN LITE FOR SEASIDE

Material Design Lite WordPress Theme

There’should much to be learned about material design lite. Follow this link and see what new things you encounter.

 Material Design Lite WordPress Theme

Material Design Lite – Designer News

Here, on Designer News, you can discover important aspects about Material Design lite. Follow this link and see what new things you can learn.

Material Design Lite – Designer News

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Design your way

Having been in the field for some years, experience dictates that strong communication skills are paramount for success.

Therefore, as an Instructional designer, one must always acknowledge that the audience is more important than the topic. When a project seems too complex, focusing on creating a sense of clarity goes a long way.

This often starts by connecting with the learners on an emotional level, understand how people learn and also, have the ability to imagine oneself as being a part of the crowd.

The main goal of instructional designers is to communicate effectively with the audience, both verbally and visually. They should also have a commitment and passion for learning to be able to design a course on any particular subject based on the expected outcomes, main budget and time. One should know how to create assessment methods designed to help students in their development.

Academic writing in many cases is considered an important aspect of education. Instructional designers can now have access to a professional writing service so that the teaching material is perfect containing any unforeseen last minute modifications. They may provide relevant materials or submit a draft with the specific with detailed information about the topic of study.

Let’s see how effective communication will help an Instructional designer socialize and forge meaningful connections with their target audience.

Top Secrets to Effective Communication as an Instructional designer

Design-1444865357-700x284 The secrets to communicating effectively as an Instructional designer

One of the most valuable skills in life that one could ever learn, if you plan on being a successful Instructional Designer, is how to communicate effectively with other people. This will surely help out in all aspects of life, both personal and professional, making it much easier to be understood and listened to.  The following tips are tailored to assist an Instructional designer to get their message across as intended, without it losing its meaning:

  1. Learn to listen – in order to answer correctly and react properly, Instructional designers should learn to be attentive. They should then take into account all the details of what is being described. This will can only be achieved by being fully submerged within the topic and conversation.
  2. Use visual aids – these visuals will provide the learners with a clear and robust understanding of the key factors, steps, and the ideas.
  3. Engage the learners in the discussion – Get to know the audience first. Some will be active while others inactive. Ensure to interact with the learners throughout the discussion encouraging them to ask questions and give suggestions. Getting people involved is half the battle.
  4. Brief emphasis on key points – it is likely that most of the audience will fail to absorb as much content as you expect, especially when sharing new ideas. Reiterate the key points with clear explanations.
  5. Apply the Purpose-Importance-Preview (PIP) approach – during introductions, first state the presentations main purpose, goals, and objectives. Then share its benefits by reviewing the presentation implications and the possible outcomes. In the end, give a brief summary of the specifics that will then be discussed.

Effective communication is crucial when designing any course’s curriculum and activities. Thus, the instructional designer’s role is to ensure that all communication with the parties involved is well-planned and does not end up confusing everyone instead.

Vector_1x-1459286548-700x284 The secrets to communicating effectively as an Instructional designer

It is important to find the perfect balance when delivering the information as too much at a time will become a burden while too little could bore the audience. Engaging the learner at their own pace is essential to having an effective course, as well as using a variety of item types, images, and other delivery methods.

All these elements put together in a interactive way keep them interested in the task at hand. Instructional designers need to ensure learners are excited to learn the content and not just memorize the material only to forget it in a weeks time.

Skills that every Instructional Designer should have

  1. Problem-solving – instructional designers invest most of their time into fixing problems. They then search for the best ways to meet the learner’s goals and objectives using any available means.
  2. Knowledgeable project manager – instructional designers should be able to develop the right instructional strategy with case studies, evaluations and pre-class activities. Therefore, it’s of much importance for an instructional designer to have good project management skills.
  3. Have a background in education – clear learning objectives enable the instructional designer to be able to teach the courses in question at the highest level.
  4. Ability to conduct thorough research – they should, at all times, ensure to be up to date with new technology and educational concepts such as educational theories and standards of development. Also should have the ability to synthesize information from various sources.
  5. Imaginative, creative, and innovative – they should strive to generate new ideas, especially when trying to create informative and amusing eLearning courses. This can be achieved by creating informative content that can be applied in the real world using texts, audio, and video scripts.

Every job requires individuals to have certain characteristics which will determine how they interact and communicate with others. Have you ever wondered how effective communication makes a good instructional designer?

Well, let me show you the characteristics that help to improve instructional designer communication effectively helping the learners accelerate their job performances. Below are the examples of the best characteristics of an instructional designer:

  • Have a passion for learning – an instructional designer should have a passion to know a lot of different things about different topics that help in designing instructions for learning.
  • Strong analytical skills – it’s a requirement for instructional designers to learn how to collect detailed information in various forms, analyze and try to visualize content from different points of view. One of the greatest ability is to differentiate need-to-know from nice-to-know content.
  • Be flexible – this allows one to put themselves in the learner’s shoes. This helps in understanding their needs, goals and individual learning styles.

Using the tips above will help you make the material stand out, thus increasing the odds of getting hired for a project.

It is important that you learn to communicate effectively as that is the cornerstone to develop the previously mentioned skills. Remember to focus on your audience, read their body languages and consider their response.

 

 

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21 Ideas to Create Engaging Web Designs

Thursday, August 30, 2018

It can be challenging to design a website that will keep its visitors engaged for a long period of time. Without the proper tools, creative direction, and design experience, your web design can be subpar without the proper guidance. Here are 20 ideas to create engaging web designs that will keep your audience clicking. 

The UK Energy Consumption Guide from Evoenergy

This website specializes in the overall primary energy consumption recorded in the UK. They took the opportunity to take a relatively… dare I say boring subject, and turned it into an engaging, bright, colorful and beautiful website that will keep people informed about extremely important topics in a fun way.

The Skimm

The Skimm is a website and an app that keeps you in the loop. It pulls all the important information related to your interests, and translates them into bite-sized readings that will keep readers engaged for a prolonged period of time. The web design is simple and not too overbearing, creating a relaxed user experience.

Jo Ho’s

Jo Ho’s bean is a website about coffee, but the web designer went above and beyond. With a minimalist feel in the typography and logo design, a video begins playing in the background with a soothing soundtrack. This website will keep any user intrigued and clicking on the products they sell, just because the home page is so different, relaxing, and well put together.

Jo Ho’s

Amanda Martocchio Architecture

Artists and graphic designers show off their portfolios in order to attract possible customers. Architectures do the same thing, except they show off their houses. Along with beautiful photography and an easily accessible web interface, Amanda Martocchio is able to engage viewers with her beautiful homes with an easy, quick web design.

Museum of Ice Cream

Creating a website that reflects the fun of your establishment is optimal. The museum of ice cream created an interactive website that allows you to interact and move letters around to create words, ultimately leading the website visitors engaged and entertained while simultaneously gaining info about the museum.

Mind Meister 

Mind Meister is an interactive website that allows expressive note taking, brainstorming, and organizing thoughts in a way that keeps it fun and interesting. With a simplistic web design and intricate designs for note taking, this site will keep users online instead of clicking off after losing focus with regular, boring notes.

Black Negative 

Black Negative is an engaging website that offers a sensory experience by offering to tell fascinating stories with art. Whether it is photography or poetry, even news stories, black negative presents these topics in an extremely beautiful and engrossing experience to its audience, who won’t be able to tear away.

Species in Pieces 

Species in pieces is an interactive website that informs about endangered species. It is called an interactive exhibition, because it is just that- an exhibition that is made personal and interactive because it is a website that anyone can visit for free.

Great Divide

Brewing companies have a  world of opportunity when it comes to advertising. On this website, there is a funny video featuring their beer, interesting changing pictures that both advertise and engage the viewers, and interactive quizzes that will humor the potential customers.

Auto Draw

Auto Draw is an AI experimental website that learns and creates as you draw, by taking the lines and shapes and gives you suggestions on what you might be trying to draw. A simple site that uses engaging interaction with AI technology to promote a longer stay on the website by users.

Royal Plate

A prime example of a business using their full potential in web design to promote more traffic online, while also creating a piece of art with the designs simultaneously. The ease of the user experience, the quality of the photos and typography, it is a simplistic yet professional and eye catching website sure to keep the average user engaged (and hungry, too).

Jay Z’s Life+Times

This website is a digital experience that allows the users to stay up to date on entertainment news. The web design is interesting and everything is on one page instead of having to scroll for hours like most websites. Making everything readily available on the front page is important for user experience.

 

Vizual Tech

Vizual Tech is a web design website that makes it easy for businesses and people in general to find information about web developers with impressive visuals and helpful information on the home page. 

Pacific 54

Pacific 54 is an engaging website because it includes informational graphics, features easy navigation, and promotes clear intentions-aggressive web marketing.

Crudo

Crudo is a website centered around organic vegan food. Although the website isn’t in English, you don’t need to read the content to get the idea that their web design is well done. With bright colors to match the rainbow assortments of the fruits and vegetables, an interesting way of scrolling through with different screen-changing backgrounds, it is easy to tell why this website would engage any user.

James Turrell

James Turrell is a well known artist and architecture all over the world. It is no surprise that when I first viewed his website, I stared in awe for a good five minutes at the softly changing colors of his work. The web design is immaculate, reflecting his artistic abilities with a website.

Kick My Habits

Another way of getting people to actually read and care about the things they should probably stop doing, is to get them to enjoy it. This website includes fun, colorful illustrations and animations that can help you kick your habits.

NASA Prospect

Illustration can take a website a long way. Another way of storytelling is through illustrating, and this website takes you on a ride by telling a story as you scroll, the illustrations of planets, an astronaut, and a robot will blow you away. Sometimes storytelling can keep users engaged, while also teaching them something, too.

Make Your Money Matter

Learning about banks can be fun and engaging too! This website talks about joining a credit union as opposed to big banks, explaining why with fun animations and illustrations.

 

Henge

It’s almost like you are there in the room. This interior design website allows you to view current projects with interactive highlights when you move your mouse over certain images, allowing for an engaging web design.

Karim Rashid

Including art, design, products, and so much more, this website is one of the most well put together, interesting and creates a wonderful user experience. All web design should look after this to be able to create something that is worthwhile. It’s important that your business is reflected in your web design, and this is an example of just that.

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Wix Logo Maker: The Best Way To Create Professional Logos at Home

When it comes to your brand, the first thing your potential customers see is your logo. Wix has created an easy to use logo maker that gives you the freedom to create your vision from start to finish, with the option to print business cards with your own unique logo, and if you aren’t feeling confident about your finished design, there is even an option to get your logo retouched by a professional graphic designer! If you are looking to DIY your own logo, the logo maker is the ideal candidate. Today, we will be reviewing the Wix logo maker and all of its options and customizations made available at your fingertips.

What it Includes

You might think that as a brand, creating a logo can be a daunting task. When trusting a graphic designer to create a logo that reflects your business in a positive light, it can become nerve-racking to await the final result. It can also come with its own issues, like poor communication on either end, countless e-mails sent back and forth, and can quite possibly become emotionally draining quickly. With Wix Logo Maker, you are in control of your own logo. You have the power to create something that is unique, proficient, and expertly designed, all from your computer at home or office. You aren’t forfeiting quality, because Wix provides high-res vector images, an editor that is specifically dedicated to offering full customization options, files that are ready to use for social media platforms, and your logo can be matched with a specialized website that is all designed by AI.

How it Works

You input your data after logging into Wix, like the name of your business, what it is about (e-commerce, digital marketing, fashion, graphic design), pick your favorite designs, and then edit your logo with different typography, colors, designs, leaving you with the most personalized logo possible! This is a professional DIY logo maker platform, where you don’t have to depend on anyone but yourself and your vision to create the logo design you’ve always wanted. It is so easy to use, that you don’t even need a design background to complete your look.

Using The Logo Maker

Using the logo maker is designed to be as easy as possible. First, you simply log in, and click on Start Now.

Wix Logo Maker

Add the name of your business

Next, you input the name of your business, and a tagline if you wish. This is what will appear on your logo and what your potential clients will get as a first impression when viewing your brand.

Wix Logo Maker

Category associated with your business

Add the category associated with your business, in order to create a more customized experience when searching for logos that you particularly like, or are correlated with the overall look of your brand.

Wix Logo Maker

Describe yourself and your brand

Input what qualities you or your business possess. This is important in order to create the most customized logo you can possibly acquire with the help of the logo maker’s algorithm that will ultimately create a series of logos that you will love, and reflect that onto your brand. For example, if you. pick the words ‘fun’ and ‘playful’, your logos to choose from will change to logos associated with those specific words.

Wix Logo Maker

Getting to know your style

With a fun and interactive way of finding the logos you love, Wix is able to narrow down the designs that you approve of, and the designs that you don’t.

Wix Logo Maker

Decide where you want your logo to be represented

Next, YOU decide here your logo is viewed by the masses. Wix can provide logos ready for social media platforms, business cards, merchandise, and more when you create your logo with them. With only six steps, this website is able to bring to life what you wouldn’t be able to have created before; a personalized experience in which you have control over everything, down to the last pixel.

Wix Logo Maker

Choose the logo of your dreams

The customization doesn’t stop here. Choose your favorite logo, and edit it to your liking. It has never been easier to create a logo template than it is with Wix Logo Maker, because it can take less than thirty minutes, and you have access to a microcosm of options when it comes to printing business cards, having a professional edit your logo, high resolution files, and an easy to use website that its completely customizable when it comes to your logo. We’ve talked about how your logo is a reflection of your business. No one knows your brand like you do, and in order to retain complete transparency with design and brand development by creating a logo yourself, there is no better way to DIY a logo than with the logo maker.

Wix Logo Maker

How to get started

Wix has created a professional logo maker that is user-friendly, fun to use, and completely customizable. It doesn’t get much easier than this to create the logo and web design that you’ve always wanted, but could never truly create with clarity. With Wix, the logo of your dreams has never been more attainable.

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Tools and Services for Developers that are a Must-Have

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Most web developers have at least one thing in common. They love challenges. Overcoming technical challenges helps them become better at their profession. This not to mention the satisfaction that comes with it.

That’s not true of all challenges, however. Some days it can be a challenge just to stick to the job. The reason being that someone is constantly looking over your shoulder.

This someone might be breathing down your neck, and asking you to do better and do it faster. It’s a typical example of a manager who’s stressed out.  He/she deals with it by placing as much of that stress as possible on your shoulders.

A solution, even for the manager, often lies in a tool service that’s available, but not being taken advantage of.

Here are five little solutions, at least one of which should make your day. It will also make your manager’s day run a little more smoothly – and maybe a lot more smoothly.

  1. monday.com

Let’s start our journey with monday.com, a premier team management tool that centralizes team and task management functions onto a single platform. No more trying to keep several platforms in sync in an effort to keep your team functioning smoothly and your project on track.

This team management tool can boast of 35,000+ active users, and there are several reasons for its growing popularity. monday.com is ideally suited for any size team, whether the team consists of you and a partner, or thousands of team members spread around the globe. monday.com doesn’t care whether a team is tech oriented or not. In fact, a majority of the teams using this intuitive team management tool falls in the non-tech-oriented category. Both techies and non-techies like the way monday.com replaces reams of spreadsheets, barely decipherable whiteboard presentations, and lengthy, often unproductive meetings.

What everyone likes most aboutmonday.com is how it connects people with processes, promotes project transparency, encourages team collaboration, and boosts productivity.

  1. Waypoints

If you’re forever looking for ways to make it easier to incorporate features into your programs; especially those featured in the latest design trends which can at times be a challenge to incorporate in a layout.

Waypoints is a free library/directory you can look to for quick and easy solutions to scrolling animations and other not all that common special features to add to your layouts. What the scripts contained in the Waypoint’s library do is provide you with an easy approach to trigger an element’s function when you scroll to it on a layout or page.

Waypoint’s library features build for jQuery, Zepto, and vanilla JavaScript, along with a Shortcuts section you should find to be quite useful. The section includes shortcut scripts for Sticky Elements, Infinite Scroll, Inview, and other popular animations.

Waypoints gives you the opportunity to add a number of useful tools to your programmer’s tool kit at zero cost to you.

  1. AND CO from Fiverr

If someone offered to run your business for you for free, and had the wherewithal to do it, you’d probably jump at the chance. The problem is, that person could hardly be expected to be on the job 24/7. An alternative approach would be to let software run the business for you, and you can start using it for free.

AND CO will not run your entire business, but it will manage key aspects of it and manage them well. AND CO is a free Invoicing and Time Tracking application designed primarily for use by freelancers, agencies and studios. It’s currently used by more than 100,000 businesses, large and small, to manage their time and expense tracking, invoicing, and payments and recurring payments tasks.

AND CO also has tools you can use to build your business by creating customized proposals and contracts.

  1. Nutcache

Nutcache is an all-in-one project management software that will enable your team to organize and collaborate better.

It is a perfect application to be used by project managers and developers following Agile/Scrum practices and principles. Its GitHub integration will give your team flexibility and will also assist in keeping track of any code changes made to every iteration.

This productivity tool will also help you manage story backlogs and keep track of progress, from beginning into testing phase to final billing.

  1. TMS-Outsource

TMS Outsource is a software development company that is currently serving a worldwide clientele. They have also produced a number of in-house software products used by 20,000 paying customers. The advantages of outsourcing are many, especially for large, complex projects. Outsourcing to TMS can save you money that would otherwise be spent on salaries, training, and overhead.

Your business will also benefit from having the work performed by a highly skilled, well disciplined, and multi-talented staff.

Tips on Becoming a Software Developer Super-Star

You can always benefit from your past programming experiences. Personal experience is a great teacher. But when it’s primarily based on writing code for others, it won’t necessarily help you.

There are several guidelines that can help you proceed along that path, however. This is particularly if you buy into them and make them habitual.

  1. Read Lots of Code. Then, read some more, and some more. You’ve no doubt learned a great deal from writing code. Yet, there’s no substitute for learning from the experiences of others.

You can gain valuable insights on how others approach and solve problems. Add those insights to your own knowledge base. Reading lots of code is one of the best habits you can form if you want to rise to the top and become a true expert at what you do.

  1. Take Time to Write Personal Code. The advantage here is having the freedom to experiment with new tools. You can enjoy trying the new techniques, and your own ideas.

There are always constraints placed on you when you write code for others. Those constraints are no longer there when you write for yourself. Improvising often leads to some great learning opportunities.

  1. Don’t release code until you have to. That doesn’t mean working right up to a deadline. It means producing “good” code and finishing a programming project early. Then going through one or more iterations to make the code even better. Great programmers make a habit of doing this. Don’t just stop because your code “works”.

Conclusion

When a tool works well for you – why not use it? When a service-oriented business technique has been helpful, it’s easy to fall in love with it. That’s OK and the natural thing to do, but that doesn’t necessarily make it the best thing to do.

There are always new tools, services, and resources on the horizon. They that can make you a better developer. At the very least they can make work easier for you whether you are a programmer or a project manager.

When you do better, you’ll feel better. If feeling better sounds good to you, we suggest you give these 5 developer’s tools and services a close look.

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