Author: Katie Brenneman

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Building a Security-First Culture in Cloud Development

In an increasingly data-rich environment, businesses and individuals are increasingly looking for alternatives to storing and sharing information from their own networks. Not to mention that there are users who want software services that aren’t dependent on their internal systems. These are elements that are helping make the cloud developer landscape so rich with opportunities. Yet, when creating products to bring to the market, it’s important to recognize that alongside opportunity comes risk.  

Development teams in the cloud sector are subject to both internal and external threats. Adopting protective tools is certainly important here. Yet, it is the behavior of staff, the collaborations between teams, and the approach to management that really makes a difference. By building a security-first culture in your cloud development organization, you’re making your company more robust against threats.

Fostering Cross-Departmental Collaborations

Any good cloud development startup has talented development professionals and skilled security experts. Nevertheless, simply having these professionals working independently on their tasks alone is not the way to a security-first culture. Meaningful collaborations make for a more holistically secure product and business.

So, how can you boost collaborations between security and development?

  • Improve cross-departmental communication: Communication is key in any collaboration. Members of both dev and security teams must find it easy to connect regularly. This may include having specific channels for joint security and development discussions, such as direct messaging groups.
  • Integrate security professionals in dev teams: One of the most effective ways of improving cross-departmental collaborations is project integration. This means that for every cloud development project, there should be at least one security professional embedded as a core member of the project team. This ensures security considerations are a meaningful part of the development process.

In addition, bear in mind that each team and its members will have nuanced preferences for collaboration. Take the time to regularly reach out to your security and dev teams to ask what they feel is particularly good or especially challenging about their collaborations. Importantly, leadership should collaborate with them on identifying the resources or protocols that can help and commit to implementing these.

Creating a Secure Environment

It’s difficult to establish a security-first culture in cloud development if the environment in which your teams operate isn’t protected. Therefore, part of your approach should be to fill any potential security gaps that could pose or exacerbate risks to the cloud development team, the work they’re doing, and the overall business.

Some elements to focus on here include the following.

Physical security

Physical access controls in the development space help to ensure that nobody who isn’t a core part of each cloud development team can interact with data or assets related to projects. While you can doubtlessly trust all your staff members, it is not unusual to face insider threats, including when your development process involves continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) practices. 

Limiting unnecessary access to sources of information is key to keeping cloud development projects secure. You might consider installing biometric security tools at certain checkpoints or providing radio-frequency identification (RFID) fobs for specific areas of the business.

Digital security

With any cloud development project, there also has to be strict control over interactions with the digital landscape of the business. One approach to this is to create network silos. By dividing the network where needed and allocating portions to teams or projects, you gain greater control over the security access to each project’s portion.

Another useful approach is to arrange for dedicated internet access (DIA) for your development teams. This involves arranging with your internet service provider (ISP) to deliver a portion of the connection specifically provisioned for the use of your business or project. This doesn’t just enable you to guarantee a certain level of reliable bandwidth. It also tends to be more secure than sharing connections with others on the network that aren’t connected to a project or even to your organization.

Establishing Cloud Security Best Practice Protocols

Another vital component of a security-first culture in cloud development is to create practical and robust company-wide policies. Some of the cloud security strategies to protect data and maintain compliance that you should outline in your protocols include:

  • The shared security responsibility: The responsibility for protection isn’t just with your security or information technology (IT) professionals. Everybody who interacts with your cloud systems, project tools, and any other data has a role in protecting these items. Clarifying this in your security protocols and staff handbook sends a message that everyone can and should take steps to make a positive difference in their day-to-day activities.
  • Utilizing data encryption: Encryption is one of the most powerful tools to keep cloud project data protected even if bad actors breach other forms of defense. Therefore, it’s important that your security culture protocols clearly outline the circumstances in which development staff should apply encryption and what tools they should use for encrypting and key sharing.

These protocols should be well documented and readily available to all staff, perhaps stored on cloud platforms to ensure workers can access them wherever they’re operating from. That said, to be a good influence on security culture, they can’t just exist in document form and sit on your servers. Alongside giving general security awareness training, you also need to thoroughly educate staff on how to access this information and what they should and should not have stored on the cloud. 

In the onboarding phases, there should be a detailed walkthrough of each best practice, with room for questions to address uncertainty. Throughout employees’ time with the company, you should also provide regular update training on key elements of cloud security practice, particularly when tools, systems, and job roles change.

Conclusion

Building a security-first culture in your cloud development company is an effective way to make your projects more robust against threats. This involves a range of actions, from strengthening the development environment to training your staff on solid protocols. It’s also important to gain staff feedback on security practices. They interact with your systems and projects most directly and will have insights into both issues and potential solutions. It also keeps your workers a meaningful part of the security culture.

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Cross-Platform Development Tools: Comparing the Latest Frameworks

Cross-Platform Development Tools

So, you’re an app developer looking to build an application that is compatible with a wide range of existing applications and systems. In such a vast, highly competitive field, you know that UI design is everything, and having an app that is easy to use, runs smoothly, and has a wide variety of use cases is your best bet to make a product that sticks around.

You know where you are, and you know where you want to go; but how do you get there? App developers like yourself have a wide range of tools to choose from, and knowing which ones will suit your needs and which won’t gives you a huge leg up. 

Whether you’re a developer with a vast knowledge base and a deep understanding of how these tools work, or an entrepreneur who wants to get a head-start on executing your plans for the future, this article will give you the lowdown on the best tools for cross development on the market. 

A Brief Overview: Technological Advances in the Planning Phase

Before we dive into the tools themselves, let’s briefly explore how modern technological advances can make your app development process easier. These tools are meant to refine and streamline the planning phase of development, making the process of transitioning from a wireframe to a visual design significantly simpler; especially for collaborative efforts. 

We have: 

  • Lucidspark: Lucidspark is a free tool that you and your coworkers can use to streamline the collaborative design process. The mind-mapping technology acts as a whiteboard for all of your team’s ideas, allowing you to chart out the infrastructure of your app, break down complex ideas, and align stakeholders on your app’s overall structure.
  • Sketch: Sketch is a user-friendly vector-design tool that allows you and your team to build wireframe mockups, transition those to high-fidelity mockups, and create final designs. Useful throughout the app development process, Sketch isn’t free, but some would argue it’s worth every penny.
  • Core Animator: In-app animations can be a challenge unless you have a tool specifically made for designing and implementing them. Core Animator is one such tool, going the extra mile by not only letting you build animations in-house, but directly translating those animations to code. It’s great for efficient coding and can save you and your team a lot of time otherwise better spent.

The advancements in project management and app design software that are out there are begging to be taken advantage of – so if you feel that using one of these tools will allow your team to proceed more efficiently, don’t hesitate to give them a look!

Choosing the Right Framework

Now that we’ve touched on the planning phase, let’s briefly look at the tools you can use for cross-platform app development. Cross-platform app development can be challenging if done manually, as it would require you to re-code your app repeatedly for each platform while also accounting for subtle nuances between mediums. Fortunately, these tools provide automated support that cuts the redundancy out of this process and shortens your time-to-market. 

If you are just starting out, we also recommend getting a firm understanding of basic computer science skills before diving into cross-platform development, as having a base knowledge of programming languages and software development will help you unlock the most value from each of the below tools.

We have:

  • Titanium: An open-source, JavaScript-based tool that allows developers to reuse designed content across applications. With drag-and-drop functionality and a user-friendly UI, this tool is a massive time-saver for developers that anticipate reusing code across applications.
  • Ionic: A completely free app development framework that allows you to create applications for various platforms simultaneously. With a vast library of pre-built JavaScript and HTML5 components, this is a great option for developers that are just starting out.
  • Unity 3D: Developing a game? Unity 3D is a cross-platform app development tool with amazing graphics for its medium. As well as being compatible with most types of mobile operating systems, it also offers options to publish games, track analytics, and access a massive support system.
  • Kotlin multiplatform: Consistency across platforms is key, so why not go with the best? Kotlin is widely recognized as a powerful industry-agnostic custom cross-platform development tool, allowing developers to target multiple platforms with just one line of code; all without sacrificing the benefits of native technology!
  • 5app: Developing apps for your employees? 5app is a unique tool designed to create cross-platform applications for businesses and their employees. Employers will favor it for its emphasis on data security, its compatibility with most operating systems, and its ease of use!
  • Node.JS: For organizations that prize flexibility, efficiency, and responsiveness, Node has no equal. Node’s framework allows for the management of multiple platforms at once, and its coding language allows developers to quickly build and deploy flexible server-side applications.

If none of the above meet your specific needs, fear not; there’s such a wide variety of high-quality tools on the market that you’ll find the perfect fit sooner rather than later. Whether you’re working on a game for the public market, a corporate application for shareholder use, or a utility application that meets public demand, there’s a tool to streamline your development process and help you get your product to market quickly.

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Enhancing Online Security: Best Practices for Developers

Enhancing Online Security: Best Practices for Developers
Enhancing Online Security: Best Practices for Developers

Developing a new software platform, mobile application, or online tool can be a great opportunity to offer innovative tools to the public. It can also present some serious risks. There will be those who seek to steal your intellectual property during the dev process. Alternatively, your completed product may be targeted by those who want to exploit valuable user data.

This makes it vital that your development team enhances its online security measures. 

Be Proactive

As a developer — or a leader of a dev team — it’s important not to treat security as a set of superficial defensive measures. This reactive attitude can put you and your applications on the back foot, struggling against the onslaught of threats. You and your team need to be proactive in making security as central and important to development as your coding.

One good approach to this is to make the product secure by design. As the name suggests, this process is about incorporating strong online security into the design phase of the development lifecycle. You’ll basically avoid waiting to consider security until the testing phase of the project or even fixing bugs in the beta phase, as is common. Instead, alongside brainstorming the key features of your product, your team should be looking at what the specific security challenges of the product are likely to be and how to minimize them. This allows you to build a strong security foundation from the outset.

Another way to be proactive in implementing security measures is to ensure your team follows Secure Software Development Lifecycle (SSDLC) protocols. This is effectively a set of actions that are baked into every task developers on your team perform so that they can identify and handle potential issues before they become problematic. It includes creating a culture of security in which threats are discussed and considered regularly. It should involve frequent cybersecurity training so that your dev team is fully aware of the latest threats and protection techniques. Importantly, the development environment itself should be secure, both digitally and physically.

Utilize Advanced Encryption Techniques

Encryption is one of the most powerful tools for ensuring online security. This is particularly effective for minimizing unauthorized access to data that is likely to be shared online both during the development lifecycle and by consumers when using the final product.

Identify and use strong encryption algorithms

Algorithms are the basis upon which encryption operates. Therefore, it’s important to utilize the most appropriate algorithms both for the product itself and protecting your networks. For instance, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is a common tool for development teams. This symmetric algorithm performs multiple encryption rounds before breaking the data down into smaller blocks. Some software and apps that require end-user authentication to access sensitive data — like financial information — may be better served by asymmetric encryption, such as the Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) protocol.

Adopting solid key management

Any encryption algorithm you adopt requires keys to be generated and shared to decrypt the information. It’s vital that you implement management measures to mitigate unauthorized access to and use of these keys. It’s important to formalize which members of the team can obtain and use these keys. It’s also vital to regularly change keys, much as you might update a password to keep it strong.

Conduct Vulnerability Assessments and Improvements

The cybersecurity landscape is in flux. Even within the timeline of your development process, new threats can emerge and come into favor. One of the best practices developers need to adopt is conducting regular vulnerability assessments and making relevant improvements.

Perhaps the most convenient approach during development is using automated scanning software. You can invest in tools that scan both the specific code of your project alongside your overall IT infrastructure. There’s even an increasing number of artificial intelligence (AI) driven scanners that use machine learning algorithms to learn about and adapt to the security landscape in relation to your development. In addition, utilizing a DevOps monitoring tool can allow you to see real-time performance issues that could suggest weaknesses in security, such as slow response times.

It’s also wise to remember that your development team’s workflow can be a source of vulnerability. For instance, too many unnecessary repetitive security processes might cause dev staff to become complacent and overlook key protective actions. A commitment to regular process improvement can help you not only minimize weak points but also boost efficiency. Not to mention it helps you to notice changes in the security landscape and adapt to them. You can do this by taking time to map out both formal and informal processes visually in flow diagrams at milestones during the development lifecycle. This helps you to analyze where inefficiencies occur and what processes you can consolidate and strengthen.

Conclusion

With some solid security best practices, you can ensure your development project is protected from threats throughout the project’s life cycle. This should include taking secure-by-design protocols and adopting string encryption, among other measures. Wherever possible make certain that you have a cybersecurity expert embedded into your dev team or available to consult regularly. This can help you both implement effective processes and stay abreast of any potential threats you need to prepare for.

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Inclusive Tech: The Synergy of AI and Developer Creativity

There should be no question that the digital landscape should be accessible to all users. After all, it’s a primary forum through which we communicate and collaborate. Developers have an important role to play here. Their perspectives, insights, and creativity drive how products and platforms are designed to meet the needs of diverse audiences.

Yet, it’s still a challenging process. One of the ways that developers are addressing these challenges is by utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) tools. This isn’t about expecting machine learning to magically make all projects more accessible. Rather, it can be a supportive tool for developers to use alongside their creativity to optimize the inclusivity of products.

Let’s explore this idea of AI and developer synergy further.

Ensuring Accessible Platforms

Perhaps the most common area in which AI and developer creativity meet is in web and software accessibility. Just 3% of the internet is considered to be accessible to individuals with disabilities. There’s a need to bridge this gap quickly and effectively.

As a tool, generative AI can be useful here for quickly creating basic code to specific standards of web and software accessibility. ChatGPT and similar platforms can produce drafts of code to the parameters set by the developer. This means that, alongside keeping general web accessibility standards, developers can request code to address the potential inclusivity issues that are common to the specific type of software or website.

That said, the developers themselves play a huge role in getting the most out of generative AI coding. AI cannot produce flawless solutions every time. After all, it doesn’t have access to human empathy and perspectives that can enable developers to spot potential accessibility issues the AI misses.

For instance, those living with genetic mutations can experience a range of nuanced accessibility issues. Some conditions lead to vision difficulties, particularly inherited retinal degeneration. This can make seeing and interacting with software and websites challenging without assistance. Other mutations can also result in conditions that cause non-syndromic hearing loss, affecting a person’s ability to listen to audio media. Developers need to take the time to get a good understanding of the practical hurdles of such conditions. This enables them to be better collaborators with AI in creating accessible platforms.

Influencing Efficiency

It’s important to recognize that efficiency can influence accessibility. We are still learning new things all the time about the challenges people with different disabilities face, particularly regarding emerging software and hardware tech.

For instance, virtual digital environments, such as the metaverse, are coming to the fore. As a result, there’s growing attention on how current virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) hardware and software can present hurdles to those with disabilities. Developers must be able to respond to this information quickly and effectively to ensure all users have a fair chance to engage meaningfully. 

This is another area in which AI tools can be paired with developer creativity. For designers, this begins with doing deep dives into the notes you receive so you can get specific about the issues you need to address. Get to know not just what the hurdles to accessibility are, but also why they are problematic.

A good example of this relates to the aforementioned issues with the rise of VR. Microsoft conducted research into the effects of various low vision conditions. This enabled them to create tailorable visual and audio augmentation tools for developers to incorporate in software. Committing to conducting or seeking out this kind of solid research enables you to devise a range of relevant creative solutions that improve inclusive usability.

Prioritizing Efficiency in Production

However, particularly if you come up with several solutions, it’s not efficient to just introduce one at a time to the public and see if it comes back with issues. AI helps here by efficiently simulating user behavior — including if users with disabilities are using adaptive tools — and testing each of your potential solutions. This helps to highlight any continuing or new issues related to your changes and narrow down the most likely options for introducing back to the marketplace.

AI’s potential for improving efficiency even extends to when developers are part of teams creating physical products. AI-driven design and manufacturing software can speed up product improvement through automation. When developers provide details about inclusivity needs for the design, platforms can generate multiple design alternatives, produce 3D models, and even suggest efficient machining strategies for production.

Empowering Diverse Developers

It’s easy to look outwardly at how the synergy between AI and developers helps create accessible products and online materials. However, it’s also important to understand that it can benefit professionals and the industry, too. Software tools that use machine learning to support development working practices are starting to empower more diverse coders to contribute to the field.

One good example of this is how AI is used for coding without physical interfaces. Developers who live with physical challenges and may not be able to type code can benefit from AI-driven virtual assistants. Conversational AI that interprets voice inputs can connect to development software and enable coders to directly speak their code rather than type it. Importantly, these platforms can be trained on the nuanced jargon and intentions of specific industries, which makes them more accurate collaborators.

Conclusion

Genuine inclusivity is a priority when developing for our increasingly digitally reliant society. AI tools offer developers opportunities to ideate and test more efficiently to improve the user experiences of people with a wide range of accessibility challenges. 

That said, the perspectives of people navigating these challenges surrounding disability have a vital role to play, too. Developers must take the time to have meaningful discussions and perhaps involve them in the dev process. This helps to ensure more equal access to products, software, and websites in the digital landscape.

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The Surprising Ways Developers Can Drive Innovation in the Growing Electric Vehicle Ecosystem

There’s no denying that the 21st century is the digital age, with most of our daily interactions involving some form of mobile tech, internet connectivity, or wireless exchange. With such an increased emphasis on accessibility, flexibility, and sustainability, it should come as no surprise that many vehicle manufacturers are investing a great deal of labor and funds into the electric vehicle (EV) sector. Since car transportation is often both vital and unavoidable, it only makes sense that our vehicles will rely on innovative software developments.

Here we will explore the Fourth Industrial Revolution as it relates to the growing EV industry, examining how software developers are ushering us into a user-friendly, eco-conscious, data-mining vehicular renaissance.

Industry 4.0: The Influence of Smart Manufacturing on the EV Industry

Industrial labor, practices, and developments are driven by progressions in energy sources. We advanced from using steam power for manufacturing amelioration to a dependency on computer-based technology in a matter of two centuries, a shift that fundamentally altered the way we produce common goods. As we pivot from the hardware-centric Third Industrial Revolution to the more software-forward Industry 4.0 landscape, it is important to acknowledge how developers are motivating change through smart manufacturing in the car industry.

One of the primary ways developers have changed manufacturing is through Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) devices. IIoT products use sensors and internet connectivity to store, transfer, and analyze data shared between multiple devices, employing predictive AI to optimize operations and alleviate congestion or labor pain points throughout multiple areas of the supply chain. 

By employing smart tech in manufacturing facilities, productivity is positively affected. Developers are continuing to experiment with Augmented Reality (AR) IoT devices and applications to provide an immersive job training experience that is safe and optimizes labor. Current employees don’t have to spend time out of their busy schedule extensively training new employees, and on-the-job injuries can be prevented by allowing inexperienced trainees to practice operating machines virtually.

Beyond convenience, one of the best parts of smart manufacturing integration for EVs is the emphasis on environmental efficiency. Many people choose to invest in EVs to reduce their carbon footprint, contributing to a healthier future for generations to come. Industry 4.0’s focus on automation and data analytics allows EV manufacturers to continually reassess their energy consumption, helping identify when certain machinery should be replaced or which programs are draining unnecessary energy from facilities. Other key benefits of EV ownership include:

  • Lower costs for new model vehicles;
  • Extended fuel economy;
  • Government tax incentives;
  • Cheaper annual maintenance.

With so many reasons to switch to EVs, it makes sense why developers are investing time and resources into creating an amplified ownership experience that emphasizes the futuristic qualities of these vehicles.

How Developers Enhance the EV Ownership Experience

Developers are also playing a vital role in making EVs accessible for disabled drivers. Inclusivity in web and software design is a must, as over 16 percent of people around the world suffer from debilitating disabilities. Web developers, when designing the interface for EV devices like charging stations or digital dashboards, must incorporate things like large fonts and text-to-speech technology into the devices. Though owners of these charging stations should make an effort to create accessible spaces for those with mobility issues or other physical impairments, creating a user-accessible experience for all is something developers can have significant control over.

An IoT-integrated application that is perhaps one of the most helpful tools for drivers in particular is predictive maintenance in EVs. These applications help transport and process vital vehicle and car ownership data to other service devices or analytical sources. For example, EV charging stations, which connect to the vehicle to communicate important information to the stations, relay data like billing credentials or battery condition. 

GPS technology is another aspect of the EV driving experience that requires frequent updates and innovation. Developers can produce mapping applications for EVs that outline routes specific to a driver’s battery charge level, allowing them to maximize their digital fuel. These routes can also be optimized to help a driver travel within proximity of charging stations for long journeys.

Software Safety Precaution Developments in Electric Vehicles

Driving an electric vehicle catapults you into the future in many ways, with one in particular being the implementation of autonomous driving systems. Often, drivers are wary about utilizing this tech to the fullest, creating a need for enhanced safety precautions through software development that incorporates autonomous capabilities without relinquishing the majority of a driver’s control. Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) can use GPS and IoT devices and software to predict your vehicle’s distance from other vehicles with a lane departure warning and collision avoidance tech that pumps the brakes for you should an obstacle suddenly come your way.

Another incredible part of EV ownership is the chance to operate a vehicle that employs regenerative braking, which converts the kinetic energy produced by braking into electrical fuel for your vehicle’s battery. For vehicles like Teslas, regenerative braking also allows drivers to brake simply by lifting their foot off the acceleration pedal. However, in 2022, Tesla released a software development that allows your vehicle to use your regular brakes when regenerative braking cannot be consistently used for ideal deceleration. This creates a much safer driving opportunity and doesn’t limit regenerative braking options for the driver either.

Final Thoughts

Developers are the true backbone of the EV ecosystem. With that said, the EV industry needs keen developers who understand the need for inclusivity and creating a relationship of trust between the vehicle and the driver. EV manufacturers that choose to work with developers who are more interested in aesthetics and complex designs rather than well-tested, scaled tech that is both appealing and easy to use are poisonous to the industry. It is important to encourage production that seeks to create sustainable, ever-evolving electric transportation options that are attuned to the growing needs of the individual, rather than the ambitions of a single company or entity.

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Elevating Your Code with Inclusive Design Principles

Elevating Your Code with Inclusive Design Principles

Web designers are essentially translators with artistic and creative objectives. They take design concepts and translate them into a programming language that various software can understand. This language or code in turn becomes the basis for a specific computer or web function.

In this way, web designers drive the creation and function of the digital programs and applications we use daily. They are directly connected to making the platforms that will allow others to access content, order products, check financials, connect with friends, and much more. Since these functions are valuable to such a wide user base, inclusion is a prominent concern of web designers today. 

Let’s dive into inclusive web design principles, how to integrate them, and why they ultimately benefit all users. 

Inclusive Design Principles

Inclusive web design goes beyond simply adhering to accessibility standards. Accessibility, according to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), focuses on the nondiscriminatory user experience (UX) of people with disabilities. It ensures people with disabilities can equally access, navigate, and interact with web content. Inclusive design takes a more broad and overarching stance. 

Inclusive web design, sometimes referred to as universal design or design for all, partners with the situational discrepancies of diversity to ensure people from all backgrounds can utilize web resources. It is founded on the principles of accessibility, usability, and diversity or inclusion. To reach all audiences, it takes into account physical or cognitive accessibility, computer access, computer literacy, culture, age, education, and more. 

In action, these inclusive design principles have the power to benefit all end users. A great example is when Facebook focused on accessibility and usability by including video subtitles and captions for its video content in 2015. By 2016, according to Digiday, 85% of video views were happening with the sound off. Captioned videos not only helped users with auditory impairments but also users in myriad environments.

Integrating Inclusive Design Principles

One way to start integrating inclusive design principles is to do an accessibility and usability audit of your website or project. This is a simple way to check for synergy between developers and their UX since it’s easy to lose connection with what a general end user’s experience will be while designing. There are even web accessibility audit checklists that can be downloaded for use if you are unsure where to start with assessing your design. 

Testing your website or project with real end users is a vital next step to integrating an inclusive design. You must gather a diverse pool of users with varying abilities and backgrounds. Then focus on how your UX design is meeting user needs by analyzing their website journey. You can do this analysis through interviews, surveys, sitemaps, A/B testing, eye tracking, and other testing methods. Tests should reveal a non-biased picture of a site’s usability. 

Once you have audited your site and tested it for inclusion, you will need to address any discrepancies. This can be as simple as redoing code to add contrasting colors or include more descriptive image text, or it can mean a complete overhaul of your website. If it seems daunting, consider utilizing a UX design course to gain hands-on experience designing code with UX at the forefront. Gaining additional learning is an excellent way to elevate your coding to be more inclusive.

Benefits of Inclusive Web Design

Inclusive web design is useful to everyone. Intuitive design, contrasting icons, keyboard compatibility, voice-to-text, descriptive images or icons, and other coded elements serve every end user, regardless of their demographic. Essentially, inclusion should lead as the standard for designing universally beneficial web applications. 

Inclusive design is not only useful to most users; it is essential to those with temporary or long-term disabilities. According to the World Health Organization, over 2 billion people in the world live with a disability. Individuals who rely on assistive technology can only access about 10% of the websites on the internet meaning 90% of websites don’t meet minimum WCGA requirements. Since inclusion is built on the principle of accessibility, simple inclusive design structures make a world of difference to the billions of users who currently can’t access common online content. 

Inclusive design also benefits elderly users. According to the American Psychological Association, by 2060 the number of people over the age of 65 is expected to double to 98 million. Inclusive design can make technologies that help older adults — like banking applications, telehealth services, medicare websites, smart sensors, and more — accessible to this growing demographic. This benefits millions of users who may need navigation, visual, or auditory assistive technologies to access imperative online functions. 

Conclusion

Web designers utilize code to create the digital interfaces and functions that we use daily. In this role, they’re responsible for making applications accessible to a large group of real end-users. Inclusive web design — guided by the principles of accessibility, usability, and diversity — has the power to do just that. You can integrate it by auditing and testing a site or project and then altering the code to fit the UX needs of a diverse user base. 

Inclusive design principles in action benefit all users with more useful and easier-to-navigate functions. They are also essential to people with disabilities and older adults. In this way, inclusive design can elevate your code by making it more accessible and thereby valuable to your end-users. 

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The Future of Front-End Development: Don’t Get Left Behind

Front-end development is really the closest coding gets to connecting directly with users. Every choice you make impacts the experiences people have with websites and mobile apps. This makes your skills and creative perspectives as a developer extremely valuable to organizations that need online resources. Which, let’s face it, is pretty much every organization today.

That said, the digital landscape is constantly changing. To keep being successful as a developer, you need to have a good understanding of what the future of front-end is likely to be and how you can navigate it. Let’s dive a little deeper into this issue.

In-Demand Features and Tech

As a front-end developer, one of the keys to not getting left behind is to embrace the technology and features that clients are prioritizing. This isn’t just the elements that are popular now, but also those that are likely to demand in the foreseeable future. Nobody’s expecting you to be both the master of all skills and a technological Nostradamus all rolled into one. Nevertheless, there are a few areas of front-end dev it’s worth keeping on top of.

Chatbots

Businesses are increasingly considering chatbots to be a front-line customer service and informational tool. It is, therefore, important to be adept in making conversational platforms that are relevant to specific clients’ individual needs and integrating these into websites. There are various platforms to help with this, including DialogFlow, which uses Google’s natural language processing (NLP) tools to support voice and text-based conversations.

Offline accessibility

Businesses naturally want their consumers to be able to engage with their web resources or apps easily and conveniently. Unfortunately, low network connectivity and dropped signals can disrupt this. One of the solutions is establishing offline accessibility. This is why it’s important to know how to implement effective caching, data storage, and information retrieval procedures. They let users interact with resources to some extent until connections have been restored.

Autocoding

Artificial intelligence (AI) driven coding tools can’t replace the creativity of developers. Nevertheless, it’s worth considering that autocoding platforms can be tools for efficient development. Starting to identify where to strategically automate some aspects of coding can streamline processes. On one hand, this gives you space to dedicate your attention to creative and problem-solving aspects. On the other, it makes you a more agile contributor for clients whose needs can change quickly.

Developing Collaboratively

As a front-end developer, it can certainly feel as though you’re operating pretty independently. Nevertheless, there are ways you collaborate on projects. This can be with clients or back-end developers, among others. These collaborations are likely to continue being important in the foreseeable future. To be left behind, you need to stay on top of how the nature of collaboration is likely to change.

Some of the aspects to be aware of include:

  • Collaborating remotely: One of the great advantages of the digital landscape is that companies have access to talented contributors across the world. This means that collaborating remotely, potentially between different time zones is likely to be key to your future in front-end development. Start getting familiar with tools that make these easier, like project management platforms and digital whiteboards for asynchronous ideation.
  • Collaborating in the metaverse: Virtual spaces are looking increasingly likely to be the future of online interactions. Therefore, you’ll need to start exploring not just how to develop for the metaverse, but also how to meaningfully collaborate with others within it. It’s wise to start testing out platforms for ideation meetings and perhaps even prototyping. Importantly, learn how to maintain the security of the data and ideas you’re sharing with others in these spaces. 

Additionally, no matter how you approach your collaboration, communicating your plans and ideas will always be vital to success. After all, there are various stakeholders connected to your front-end development and your actions in any project can impact those of other people. Mistakes here can cause conflict and may affect clients’ and other collaborators’ buy-in to your ideas.

Therefore, you need to adopt effective strategic plan communication measures. These include taking the time to suggest regular all-hands meetings that allow everyone to stay informed about the details of the project and feel meaningfully involved. You can also provide greater clarity on the goals and details of the development project with engaging visuals rather than just text explanations.

Maintaining Your Abilities

Not getting left behind in the future of front-end also means understanding that you need to pay attention to how effectively you’re functioning. There are likely to be challenges ahead that you’ll need to navigate. As a result, paying some attention to maintaining your ability to be a technical and creative contributor is essential. This isn’t just good for your professional efficacy, but also for continuing to enjoy what you’re doing.

Start by committing to seeking out opportunities to upskill. Even if you’ve already achieved a high level of development aptitude, there are always areas for improvement and diversification. Importantly, research into in-demand features and tools can give you the data to target the most relevant abilities. Perhaps above all else, be open to following your curiosity.

Another key to maintaining your abilities is to be aware of potential health risks associated with your work and mitigate them. For instance, computer vision syndrome (CVS) is an eye condition that can arise from prolonged screen time. This is due to strain from repetitive eye movements, closeness of screens, and even exposure to blue light. Be mindful of symptoms of such conditions, like regular headaches or light sensitivity. Importantly, take preventative steps by scheduling regular screen breaks and optimizing your computer setup.

Conclusion

Understanding the future of front-end development can help you more effectively prepare for it. This can include getting to know the likely in-demand features and tools, alongside best practices for working collaboratively as the landscape changes. Nevertheless, it’s important to understand that you can’t guarantee what the future will hold. Stay on top of industry news and have conversations with your professional network. This can help you to catch the early signs of changes so you can adapt in good time.

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Exploring the Synergy Between Developers and User Experience

ux developers synergy

Developers spend their entire working lives around state-of-the-art technology. Not only do they use it, they create it. When the developer is also the user, it’s likely that their user experience (UX) is going to differ substantially from that of the typical target end user. This divergence can quickly grow into a gaping chasm, a wide gulf between what the end user encounters in working with the technology and what the developer intended in creating it. 

After all, the average developer’s perception of “intuitive design” may well look intimidating, frustrating, and unnecessarily complex to the end user. This is why, ultimately, a developer’s creation will live or die with the user. It’s not about how sophisticated the design is or how advanced the skill set required to build it may be. It’s about how readily your end user can master the technology, and discover, explore, and adopt the tool’s diverse functions. It’s about how your end user feels about the technology when they encounter it for the first time.

That’s why the synergy between developers and the user experience is of the utmost importance. Without this strong nexus between the two, the final product is liable to fail. Let’s examine the synergy between developers and user experience and how you can maximize it for exceptional outcomes.

Minding the Gap

One of the greatest threats to the success of any development project is the UX blind spot that can so easily emerge as developers pursue their own vision of success. This is why UX must remain top of mind at all phases of the development process. 

This requires both discipline and commitment. Integrating UX considerations at every stage inevitably means that linear development is unlikely. The good news, though, is that recursive and responsive design processes, such as those used in Agile development, can be more efficient, productive, and cost-effective. 

The key to this process, however, lies not only in frequent UX testing but also in testing the right things. As a developer, for example, you might be interested in how the end user experiences a particular function, whereas they may encounter unexpected obstacles that take precedence for them. 

Navigation tools that you’ve worked so diligently to make both intuitive and highly functional will mean nothing if you’ve not scaled the technology appropriately. Thus, while you might see only the elegant design and hours of effort expended to create it, your end user will notice only the painfully slow responsiveness. 

This means that UX testing must consider, and even prioritize, the macro view as well as the micro. If you’re soliciting only user feedback on the functionality and aesthetics of the navigation tool, in other words, you’re going to miss the critical factor that’s undermining your UX. 

Collaboration and Consensus

As we’ve seen, UX, like beauty, is often in the eye of the beholder, and that means that it’s not enough to rely only on teams of developers and designers to predict the users’ experience. You must collaborate with those outside of the team’s own technology bubble.

Interdepartmental collaboration is essential not only for understanding how your target end user is likely to experience the technology but also for determining what their technology needs are. Effective UX design, in fact, is often a function of the quality of communication between developers, stakeholders, and consumers. 

Marketers, sales reps, and customer service agents are going to have a unique perspective, for instance, not only on what kinds of innovations are needed both within and outside of the organization. They’re going to have their fingers on the pulse of the market and its evolutions because they’re on the front lines, fielding consumer complaints and responding to their requests. 

They’re also working in the trenches, meaning that they have a depth of knowledge regarding your company’s tech infrastructure that even your most experienced developers may not. After all, once you’ve handed the tools off, you are likely to have comparatively little experience with the technologies that they deploy every day. 

Thus, if you want to optimize your UX design process, then you must optimize your capacity to collaborate with colleagues and partners organization-wide. It’s imperative to implement the best collaboration tools, ones that will bring together not only onsite employees but also remote workers, stakeholders, and clients. This will ensure that the feedback you receive on the needs, expectations, and experiences of your target end users will be timely, relevant, and comprehensive.

The Takeaway

Technology isn’t created in a vacuum. It’s made for a specific purpose and to serve a designated target user. But unless and until you tap into that all-important synergy between development and user experience, your technology will simply never be all that it could and should be.