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The more things change, the more they stay the same–or so it seems, at least in the graphics design trade. I know. That seems like a strange observation in a field where designers are replacing their pencils for styli. It is true that the world of graphics design is radically different on a superficial level. But once you scratch beneath the surface, you will find the real tools of the trade to be remarkably unchanged:
Sketchpads
Trade a pencil for a stylus, and you are still holding a long, narrow, likely cylindrical tool for drawing sketches on some type of pad. Whether on a paper pad or an iPad, it is still a pad that holds your graphical ideas. It hardly matters if the medium is graphite and trees, or glass and silicon.
What has changed are the number and types of threats about which a designer has to worry. Before, the biggest threat was that someone may try to steel your work. Now, the bad guys can use your work to steel information from other people.
Since 2002, we’ve known that common image files could be used as viruses and malware. Today, the methods are even more sophisticated. While many designers use a Mac, which is generally free of viruses, some types of threats can still get through. That is why antivirus software for Mac devices is becoming more and more important, as it protects users during online browsing sessions and even safeguards social media accounts.
You still could use help:
Blocking dangerous websites
Protecting your privacy on Google+, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
Ensuring safe surfing for the whole family
Macs and iDevices make great tools for designers, but still need to be used with security in mind. The most insecure component of any system is always the user.
Photoshop
Every designer knows about Photoshop, even if they don’t personally like it. Like Excel for office workers, almost every designer has to use it in some capacity, even if they do not use the advanced features. Photoshop is a staple of the design world.
This expensive and intimidating piece of software, among other things, lets artists alter images, even to the point of removing parts of an image from its setting for use in an different context. Love it or hate it, due to its ubiquity in the design world, you kind of have to have a passing familiarity with it.
But photoshopping (in the generic sense) is not new. It is as old a scissors. Ever sense we have been able to capture images, we have had the ability to manipulate them.
Since long before computers, when it came to pictures, seeing was not believing. Our tools may be more advanced. We can definitely create better illusions, and better cover our tracks after doing so. But enhancing images to make the bold and beautiful even bolder and more beautiful is as old as film. Maybe older.
A Designer’s Eye
At the end of the day, none of the high-tech tools and gadgets mean a thing if you do not have a designer’s eye. Style is hard to define. Good taste is even harder. Yet there are those who have the eye for it, and those who don’t. If you don’t, none of the photoshop running iPads will turn you into a great graphics designer.
Just consider the world of logos. Some, like the golden arches of McDonalds, are instant classics. A good designer recognizes it for the graphical goldmine that it is, and has always been. PayPal as a company, seems to be taking a more hit-or-miss approach to design.
iPads, Surfaces, and Cintiqs are all fine devices. Just remember, it is not the device being used that matters, but the designer that’s using it.
Along with Google Photos, Google has also rebuilt Polymer from scratch, addressing performance improvement and efficiency. Think of Polymer as an SDK (Software Development Kit) for the Web, one which makes web application development so much faster using a new standard called Web Components.
Web Components allow us to create custom elements and tags for our websites. In this post we will look at how the custom elements in Google Polymer can help aid web app development. Plus, we will also look at a few demos on how these custom elements can be put to work.
About Web Components
The best way to understand how Web Components works is by looking at the current standard elements like <audio>. When we add <audio> along with the URL sources of the audio, web browsers will render this element as an audio player with the play and pause button, the time rail as well as the volume slider. Ever wonder how the player controls are built and styled?
The UI control player is hidden beneath as Shadow Roots, also known as Shadow DOM. To view Shadow DOM, launch the Chrome DevTools > click on the Cog icon > select the Show user agent shadow DOM option.
In the following screenshot, you can find a stack of <div> and <input> elements that build the UI player controls in secret.
Today, with Web Components, we can name our own elements as well. We can build an element like, <twitter> to embed a Twitter feed or (maybe) <chart> to embed a chart.
Furthermore, these custom elements may also have a couple of accepted custom attributes. In regard to the <twitter> element, you set an attribute called username which will be used to specify the Twitter username.
<twitter username="hongkiat"></twitter>
Custom Elements in Polymer
Polymer comes with a bunch of elements that account for (almost) every web application need. Google divides these elements into groups: Iron Elements, Paper Elements, Google Web Components, Gold Elements, Neon Elements, Platinum Elements, and Molecules.
1. Iron Elements
Iron Elements is a collection of basic elements. These basic elements are what we normally use to build a web page such as an input, form and image. The difference is Polymer adds some extra powers to these elements.
All elements in this group are iron- prefixed, for example <iron-image>, which is used to display an image. The <iron-image> element has been equipped with some extra attributes that we cannot apply in the regular <img> element. We can, for example, add preload, fade, and placeholder attributes:
The above example will first show the image placeholder and then fade into the actual image in the src as it is fully loaded, performing a smooth image loading effect.
2. Paper Elements
The Paper Elements is a group of Material Design elements. Material Design is Google design language to makes user interface and experience across Google platforms both the Web and Android apps more visually consistent. Some elements that are unique to Material Design are Paper and Floating Action Button (FAB).
Paper
Paper is Google’s metaphor for the medium that underlies the content. To add a paper with Polymer, we use the <paper-material> element. This element takes 2 attributes:
elevation to lift the Paper, hence adding a shadow to reinforce the elevation
animated will apply animation as the Paper elevation change.
Floating Action Button (FAB)
The Floating Action Button (FAB) is a circular button with an icon, floating on the screen, usually with a stand-out color. Google suggests that this button carries a frequently-accessed function. Here’s an example:
The following code snippet adds a Paper Material with an image and an FAB.
We have a photo with a “heart” button floating on top of it. Click it to Like the photo, adn the button gives off a ripple effect to acknowledge the click.
The Google Web Components are special elements that cope with Google APIs and services such as Google Maps, Youtube, as well as Google Feed, to name a few. Elements in this group make interacting with Google services just a few lines away.
The following is an example to show a Google Map using the <google-map> element.
As you can above, the <google-map> element takes the latitude and longitude to specify the location on the map. We can also nest <google-map-marker> to show a map marker of that location along with a text which will appear upon clicking on the marker.
The Gold Elements are the elements designed specifically for e-commerce apps. Here you will find element to show credit card, email, phone and ZIP input which all have been equipped with format validation to ensure correct data input and security. Here is one example to add Visa credit card input.
The remaining elements include Neon elements for animation and special effects, Platinum elements for offline and push notifications and lastly Molecules, wrappers for third-party libraries.
Editor’s Note: At the time of this writing, Neon Elements, Platinum Elements and Molecules are still not available.
Integrating Polymer
Want to use Polymer in your web development? Here’s how to install and integrate it into your web pages. As most Polymer elements rely on one another, the best way to install Polymer is through Bower.
To integrate Polymer, launch Terminal then navigate to your project directory, assuming you have created one. Then run bower init command to initiate bower.json file into your project that will be used to record the project dependencies. Open bower.json and add the following lines.
This setup assumes that we are going to use all the elements from each group. You may remove what you do not need from the dependency list. As the dependencies are set, run the bower install command to install the dependencies on the list.
This process may take a while as it involves grabbing a huge amount of files from the repositories. Once done, you should find them saved in the bower_components folder.
Open the HTML file you want to use the Polymer components in. Within the document head, link the WebComponents.js which is the polyfill for browsers that do not support WebComponents yet, and import the component files using HTML Import.
Google used Google Polymer in the Google IO 2015 web page; Google Fi, the Google wireless service for carriers and vendors in partnership; and Google Music.
CustomElements is a hub where you can find custom elements built with Web Components. It makes use of the Paper element to contain and build the list. It also provides a convenient route to install these elements through Bower and NPM.
A Chrome application for code editing that works surprisingly well. This app uses the FAB button, Paper menu, and Paper dialog elements in the user interface.
An email client app for Gmail. It looks nice and fluid, although sadly, it is not fully functioning.
Final Thoughts
Polymer has an enormous scope and it might take you a while to get used to all the custom elements as well as its API. Nonetheless, Web Components and Polymer will certainly influence the way we build web applications. Stay ahead of the crowd by reading more about Web Components – references are found below.
Along with Google Photos, Google has also rebuilt Polymer from scratch, addressing performance improvement and efficiency. Think of Polymer as an SDK (Software Development Kit) for the Web, one which makes web application development so much faster using a new standard called Web Components.
Web Components allow us to create custom elements and tags for our websites. In this post we will look at how the custom elements in Google Polymer can help aid web app development. Plus, we will also look at a few demos on how these custom elements can be put to work.
About Web Components
The best way to understand how Web Components works is by looking at the current standard elements like <audio>. When we add <audio> along with the URL sources of the audio, web browsers will render this element as an audio player with the play and pause button, the time rail as well as the volume slider. Ever wonder how the player controls are built and styled?
The UI control player is hidden beneath as Shadow Roots, also known as Shadow DOM. To view Shadow DOM, launch the Chrome DevTools > click on the Cog icon > select the Show user agent shadow DOM option.
In the following screenshot, you can find a stack of <div> and <input> elements that build the UI player controls in secret.
Today, with Web Components, we can name our own elements as well. We can build an element like, <twitter> to embed a Twitter feed or (maybe) <chart> to embed a chart.
Furthermore, these custom elements may also have a couple of accepted custom attributes. In regard to the <twitter> element, you set an attribute called username which will be used to specify the Twitter username.
<twitter username="hongkiat"></twitter>
Custom Elements in Polymer
Polymer comes with a bunch of elements that account for (almost) every web application need. Google divides these elements into groups: Iron Elements, Paper Elements, Google Web Components, Gold Elements, Neon Elements, Platinum Elements, and Molecules.
1. Iron Elements
Iron Elements is a collection of basic elements. These basic elements are what we normally use to build a web page such as an input, form and image. The difference is Polymer adds some extra powers to these elements.
All elements in this group are iron- prefixed, for example <iron-image>, which is used to display an image. The <iron-image> element has been equipped with some extra attributes that we cannot apply in the regular <img> element. We can, for example, add preload, fade, and placeholder attributes:
The above example will first show the image placeholder and then fade into the actual image in the src as it is fully loaded, performing a smooth image loading effect.
2. Paper Elements
The Paper Elements is a group of Material Design elements. Material Design is Google design language to makes user interface and experience across Google platforms both the Web and Android apps more visually consistent. Some elements that are unique to Material Design are Paper and Floating Action Button (FAB).
Paper
Paper is Google’s metaphor for the medium that underlies the content. To add a paper with Polymer, we use the <paper-material> element. This element takes 2 attributes:
elevation to lift the Paper, hence adding a shadow to reinforce the elevation
animated will apply animation as the Paper elevation change.
Floating Action Button (FAB)
The Floating Action Button (FAB) is a circular button with an icon, floating on the screen, usually with a stand-out color. Google suggests that this button carries a frequently-accessed function. Here’s an example:
The following code snippet adds a Paper Material with an image and an FAB.
We have a photo with a “heart” button floating on top of it. Click it to Like the photo, adn the button gives off a ripple effect to acknowledge the click.
The Google Web Components are special elements that cope with Google APIs and services such as Google Maps, Youtube, as well as Google Feed, to name a few. Elements in this group make interacting with Google services just a few lines away.
The following is an example to show a Google Map using the <google-map> element.
As you can above, the <google-map> element takes the latitude and longitude to specify the location on the map. We can also nest <google-map-marker> to show a map marker of that location along with a text which will appear upon clicking on the marker.
The Gold Elements are the elements designed specifically for e-commerce apps. Here you will find element to show credit card, email, phone and ZIP input which all have been equipped with format validation to ensure correct data input and security. Here is one example to add Visa credit card input.
The remaining elements include Neon elements for animation and special effects, Platinum elements for offline and push notifications and lastly Molecules, wrappers for third-party libraries.
Editor’s Note: At the time of this writing, Neon Elements, Platinum Elements and Molecules are still not available.
Integrating Polymer
Want to use Polymer in your web development? Here’s how to install and integrate it into your web pages. As most Polymer elements rely on one another, the best way to install Polymer is through Bower.
To integrate Polymer, launch Terminal then navigate to your project directory, assuming you have created one. Then run bower init command to initiate bower.json file into your project that will be used to record the project dependencies. Open bower.json and add the following lines.
This setup assumes that we are going to use all the elements from each group. You may remove what you do not need from the dependency list. As the dependencies are set, run the bower install command to install the dependencies on the list.
This process may take a while as it involves grabbing a huge amount of files from the repositories. Once done, you should find them saved in the bower_components folder.
Open the HTML file you want to use the Polymer components in. Within the document head, link the WebComponents.js which is the polyfill for browsers that do not support WebComponents yet, and import the component files using HTML Import.
Google used Google Polymer in the Google IO 2015 web page; Google Fi, the Google wireless service for carriers and vendors in partnership; and Google Music.
CustomElements is a hub where you can find custom elements built with Web Components. It makes use of the Paper element to contain and build the list. It also provides a convenient route to install these elements through Bower and NPM.
A Chrome application for code editing that works surprisingly well. This app uses the FAB button, Paper menu, and Paper dialog elements in the user interface.
An email client app for Gmail. It looks nice and fluid, although sadly, it is not fully functioning.
Final Thoughts
Polymer has an enormous scope and it might take you a while to get used to all the custom elements as well as its API. Nonetheless, Web Components and Polymer will certainly influence the way we build web applications. Stay ahead of the crowd by reading more about Web Components – references are found below.
Editor’s Note:This post brought to you by Muffin Group’s BeTheme Multi-Purpose WordPress Theme.
Pre-made layouts represent concepts. They are powerful building tools that will help you get your project off to a quick start. They also serve as idea generators and brainstorming tools. What a pre-made layout can do for you is to transform a good idea into a better one, saving you significant development time in the process.
Halfway There With Pre-Made Layouts
The pre-made layout examples shown here are just a sample of what is available. As you browse through them, you may begin to see how you could use one or more of them to your advantage. With a little editing, you can easily morph one of these layouts into something that begins to resemble a design idea you’ve been carrying around with you.
Note: These pre-made layout examples are taken from Be WordPress Theme – a Themeforest bestseller.
These layouts are almost ridiculously easy to upload and edit, and you are about to learn just how easy the process is. As you get deeper in the editing process, you will soon discover the many advantages these useful tools bring to the table.
Pre-Made Layouts Easy To Install & Edit
The step-by-step instructions on how to install and edit a Be Theme pre-made layout are not at all complicated, in fact, it can be compressed into a one-minute video that will demonstrate how easy the entire process really is.
As you can see, installing and editing is not difficult at all, – Be Theme is like that. Once you have installed one of the many layouts this premium theme offers, and once you have begun using the theme’s many features, you will feel yourself progressing from novice to expert in a remarkably short time.
You will be creating page after page effortlessly, and the tedious chores often involved in paying strict attention to detail can now be managed with a few clicks.
Fast and Responsive Support
Have you ever purchased a software product only to find the customer support is at best spotty, or in the worst case, practically non-existent? Unfortunately, a few theme producers are like that, although to be fair, the support offered for most WordPress themes is pretty decent.
Only a few customer service departments however can be said to provide true world class service and support, and the Be Theme author and support staff fits that description perfectly.
You will get your questions answered, and your problems (which should be few and far between) resolved, promptly, efficiently, and courteously – 24/7.
Be Theme comes with an impressive list of core features, some you cannot do without, others you will please to have ready and handy wherever and whenever.
Topping the list is the 100+ ready-to-use, pre-made layouts – more layouts by far than any other responsive theme – premium or otherwise, and each of which can be installed with a single click.
Putting together a short list of the remaining core features isn’t the easiest of tasks, since there are so many useful and powerful features associated with Be Theme; but here are several you will find useful:
Be Theme’s Drag and Drop Muffin Builder is itself resplendent with useful features. This page builder makes creating virtually any type of page or post a quick and easy task. Muffin Builder is especially useful in creating complex pages, such product pages and portfolios.
Admin Panel
The Admin Panel serves as the theme’s operations central, from the time you have uploaded the layout of your choosing, until you are attending to the last possible detail in your page design. The power of this feature lies in the ability to customize your page in any way you want, without a single line of code.
Layouts Configurator
The Layouts Configurator comes in handy when you are building a website where you want a number of pages to be unique in their own way, as opposed to having to rely on a standard template. It provides a good way for you to show off your creative genius.
Core features that are the modern standard, and of extreme importance, include Responsive and Retina Ready, WPNL and RTL Ready, SEO and cross-browser and cross-platform compatibility. Be Theme is also WooCommerce-compatible.
ShortCode Generator
The ShortCode Generator is a super handy, time-saving feature to have available when importing a demo layout, as it enables you to insert any element contained in the demo anywhere on a page you are building.
Other core features of interest and importance include the 1-Click Skin Generator, Parallax Effect, and Custom Widgets. Lifetime updates are certainly worthy of mention, and Be Theme’s world class support is worthy of mention one more time.
Try It Out For Yourself
There is much more to this responsive WordPress theme than could possibly be described in an overview of this size, and you are invited to explore further to see for yourself everything this premium theme has to offer.
Browsing Be Theme‘s entire library of pre-made layouts, and its impressive list of features, will give you a much better understanding of how you could put this premium theme to good use, and how the beauty, and elegance of the layouts can be reflected in your creative output.
Adobe is hard at work on the latest update to Photoshop, the aptly titled Photoshop CC 2015, and with it comes a new feature: artboards. Think of an artboard similar to how you use it in Illustrator; it’s a collection of layers that you use as a base for your project. But with Photoshop CC 2015, things step up a bit, and now you can produce multiple artboards — all of them complete with their own layers, smart objects, and so on — that can all be tweaked and changed simultaneously.
Ultimately, this is going to change the way you organize your Photoshop documents. As shown in the video below, a designer creates an iPhone app layout using traditional Photoshop techniques, and then changes it up by introducing artboards. Once one artboard is done, he duplicates it by option-dragging it across. Now there are two artboards, but unlike in Illustrator, these artboards both share the same screen. Plus, you can move objects between them, and not only does Photoshop CC 2015 figure out how to crop and set the images behind the borders of the artboard, but it switches artboards depending on where the object is placed.
Seriously, this is some pretty amazing stuff. But don’t just take my word for it, go out and check out the video!
Editor’s Note:This post brought to you by Muffin Group’s BeTheme Multi-Purpose WordPress Theme.
Pre-made layouts represent concepts. They are powerful building tools that will help you get your project off to a quick start. They also serve as idea generators and brainstorming tools. What a pre-made layout can do for you is to transform a good idea into a better one, saving you significant development time in the process.
Halfway There With Pre-Made Layouts
The pre-made layout examples shown here are just a sample of what is available. As you browse through them, you may begin to see how you could use one or more of them to your advantage. With a little editing, you can easily morph one of these layouts into something that begins to resemble a design idea you’ve been carrying around with you.
Note: These pre-made layout examples are taken from Be WordPress Theme – a Themeforest bestseller.
These layouts are almost ridiculously easy to upload and edit, and you are about to learn just how easy the process is. As you get deeper in the editing process, you will soon discover the many advantages these useful tools bring to the table.
Pre-Made Layouts Easy To Install & Edit
The step-by-step instructions on how to install and edit a Be Theme pre-made layout are not at all complicated, in fact, it can be compressed into a one-minute video that will demonstrate how easy the entire process really is.
As you can see, installing and editing is not difficult at all, – Be Theme is like that. Once you have installed one of the many layouts this premium theme offers, and once you have begun using the theme’s many features, you will feel yourself progressing from novice to expert in a remarkably short time.
You will be creating page after page effortlessly, and the tedious chores often involved in paying strict attention to detail can now be managed with a few clicks.
Fast and Responsive Support
Have you ever purchased a software product only to find the customer support is at best spotty, or in the worst case, practically non-existent? Unfortunately, a few theme producers are like that, although to be fair, the support offered for most WordPress themes is pretty decent.
Only a few customer service departments however can be said to provide true world class service and support, and the Be Theme author and support staff fits that description perfectly.
You will get your questions answered, and your problems (which should be few and far between) resolved, promptly, efficiently, and courteously – 24/7.
Be Theme comes with an impressive list of core features, some you cannot do without, others you will please to have ready and handy wherever and whenever.
Topping the list is the 100+ ready-to-use, pre-made layouts – more layouts by far than any other responsive theme – premium or otherwise, and each of which can be installed with a single click.
Putting together a short list of the remaining core features isn’t the easiest of tasks, since there are so many useful and powerful features associated with Be Theme; but here are several you will find useful:
Be Theme’s Drag and Drop Muffin Builder is itself resplendent with useful features. This page builder makes creating virtually any type of page or post a quick and easy task. Muffin Builder is especially useful in creating complex pages, such product pages and portfolios.
Admin Panel
The Admin Panel serves as the theme’s operations central, from the time you have uploaded the layout of your choosing, until you are attending to the last possible detail in your page design. The power of this feature lies in the ability to customize your page in any way you want, without a single line of code.
Layouts Configurator
The Layouts Configurator comes in handy when you are building a website where you want a number of pages to be unique in their own way, as opposed to having to rely on a standard template. It provides a good way for you to show off your creative genius.
Core features that are the modern standard, and of extreme importance, include Responsive and Retina Ready, WPNL and RTL Ready, SEO and cross-browser and cross-platform compatibility. Be Theme is also WooCommerce-compatible.
ShortCode Generator
The ShortCode Generator is a super handy, time-saving feature to have available when importing a demo layout, as it enables you to insert any element contained in the demo anywhere on a page you are building.
Other core features of interest and importance include the 1-Click Skin Generator, Parallax Effect, and Custom Widgets. Lifetime updates are certainly worthy of mention, and Be Theme’s world class support is worthy of mention one more time.
Try It Out For Yourself
There is much more to this responsive WordPress theme than could possibly be described in an overview of this size, and you are invited to explore further to see for yourself everything this premium theme has to offer.
Browsing Be Theme‘s entire library of pre-made layouts, and its impressive list of features, will give you a much better understanding of how you could put this premium theme to good use, and how the beauty, and elegance of the layouts can be reflected in your creative output.
