32
| Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools Presented By: Rob Mooney, UI/UX Developer

Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

Presented By: Rob Mooney, UI/UX Developer

Page 2: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

Successful Style Guides are...

2

Alive

Page 3: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

Successful Style Guides are...

3

Aware of their Audience

Page 4: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

Successful Style Guides are...

4

Usable

Page 5: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

It’s Alive!

5

• It must be constantly updated as new things are added and old things change

• If you ever contribute to the styleguide then you take responsibility

in keeping it updated

• If your audience can’t rely on it being correct and up to date they will stop using it

Page 6: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

Break the Fourth Wall

6

A Styleguide needs to be created with a specific audience in mind

• Who is supposed to consume it?

• Is there a specific group or team this is meant for?

• Are they Remote, or Nearby?

• What part of their job/ workflow is it supposed to help?

• How often will they need to refer to it?

• What are they doing when they use it?

Page 7: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

Usable

7

A styleguide needs to be formatted to be useful. Different Audience’s will consume

your styleguide different ways, which should determine how you lay it out.

• What information needs to be available how and when should determine key

factors like:

• Order of styleguide content

• What information needs to be easily copy-able or remembered

• Which information is the most commonly accessed and therefore the

easiest to get to

Page 8: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

Who does it right?

8

Luckily there are a ton of great brands/ websites out there that

are creating great styleguides, so we can “take inspiration”

(aka steal liberally) from them.

Page 9: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

Uber (brand.uber.com)

9

Page 10: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

Starbucks (starbucks.com/static/reference/styleguide/)

10

Page 11: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

Codepen (codepen.io/guide/)

11

Page 12: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

US Gov’t Web Design Styleguide (standards.usa.gov)

12

Page 13: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

MailChimp (ux.mailchimp.com/patterns)

13

Page 14: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

MailChimp (styleguide.mailchimp.com)

14

Page 15: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

Gov.uk (gov.uk/guidance/style-guide)

15

Page 16: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

Just a little deep

16

Let’s not get

too deep down

the rabbit hole.

Page 17: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

Styleguides for Engineers

17

For the purpose of this talk lets limit ourselves and go for a real world example.

• Audience – Web Developers

• Content – Reusable Design Patterns

• Form It Will Take – Website

Page 18: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

Surrounded By a Pack of Wolves

18

Page 19: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

How do Web Developers work?

19

Main Tools:

• Text Editor

• Browser (with debug panel

open)

• Command Line

Page 20: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

What Do Web Developers Use As Tools for Reference

20

Page 21: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

What Do Web Developers Use As Tools for Reference

21

Page 22: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

What Do Web Developers Use As Tools for Reference

22

Page 23: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

What Do Web Developers Use As Tools for Reference

23

Page 24: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

What Do Web Developers Use As Tools for Reference

24

Page 25: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

What Can We Learn from Code Documentation

25

Styleguide as a Website

Web hosted pdfs (dropbox, google drive, shared server) work too, but the URLs are

hard to remember

• Consider using url shortner with customizable url (bit.do) - http://bit.do/style-

guides-for-engineers

• Browser Address Bar type-ahead is your best friend

Its for web developers, enlist their aid in getting a URL and site up somewhere

Page 26: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

What Can We Learn from Code Documentation

26

Searchable (Search Bar, CMD+F)

Websites should have a Search Bar if possible

All content (whether website or document) needs to be keyword rich

• When exporting pdfs and documents be careful to keep text as text and not

convert to images

Page 27: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

What Can We Learn from Code Documentation

27

Code Examples are easily accessible

• Visually separate the code, make sure its clearly related with its headings

Code Examples are Copyable

• Offer a copy to clipboard button

• Test to make sure it is easily copyable

If there is no code, there might be hex/ rgba color values or other content that

developers need available for copying

Page 28: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

Resources

28

styleguides.io – links to great examples, presentations, podcasts and more

Page 29: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

Resources

29

Styleguide Generators - github.com/davidhund/styleguide-generators

• If you write CSS too, checkout KSS - http://warpspire.com/kss/

Page 30: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

Resources

30

stylifyme.com – get a jump on a styleguide for an existing site

Page 31: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

applause-peregrine.herokuapp.com/

Peregrine

31

Page 32: Styleguides as Engineering Reference Tools

|

THANK YOU

Rob Mooney

@robmweb

bit.do/engineer-style-guides