Understanding Design Systems
As part of my work at Think Company, I did a webinar for people new to design systems. It goes over what design systems are, the value they bring to teams and organizations, and the foundational knowledge you’ll need before starting your own system. Resources Mentioned Design Systems Google’s Material Design Bootstrap Apple’s Human Interface […]
Thinking through custom items in Sofa
I recently added the ability for people to save custom items to Sofa. This post outlines the thinking behind the feature and how it works. Two of the main reasons people find Sofa so enjoyable to use is the rich display of the various media types and the mixing of those media types. When I […]
Moving from Gatsby to WordPress
For the past year or so this site has been running on Gatsby.js. Gatsby is a static site generator built with React. I had built some stuff with it at work and decided to give it a try for my personal blog. The process ended up being too tedious for what I’m looking for so […]
A More Well-Rounded Sofa Experience
Back in December of 2019, I wrote how I’m focused on making Sofa a more well-rounded product. There are a number of compromises that people have to make in order to feel comfortable using the product. Well, today a bunch of those compromised get squashed. I’m happy to announce Sofa 2.10! This release brings full iPad support, […]
Sofa Year in Review 2019
I’m a fan of doing a “year in review” exercise. It’s easy to forget all the work that’s been done, which results in me feeling like I haven’t made enough progress. In fact, a lot of work has been done, which makes me feel good! At the end of 2018 I wrote Sofa 2018: Year In Review. In […]
Making it Easy to Leave Sofa
The experience of leaving a product is just as important as when you start using it. I just implemented the ability to export your data in Sofa. It’s a feature that probably should’ve been there earlier, but, you know, that’s life. If you’ve been on the fence because of this, worry no more. Try it […]
Updates for iOS 13
There are a bunch of new features in iOS 13. To bring Sofa up to date, I focused on three things: dark mode, context menus, and bug fixes.
Implementing iOS 13 Dark Mode Settings in Sofa
In iOS 13, people will be able to choose a light or dark “theme” that will apply system wide. Regardless of what you think about dark mode, apps that don’t adopt this will stick out like a sore thumb. Luckily, Sofa already has a dark mode, but I needed to integrate it into these new […]
How to Make Expandable Elements Less Confusing
Expandable elements are extremely common across desktop and mobile apps. So common in fact that you might be wondering why I’m spending time writing about this. Things that are common are not always well understood. A well-designed expandable element comes down to the placement and rotation of the caret (the little arrow). There is more […]
Things to Keep in Mind When Designing Native Mobile Apps
You’ve been designing web apps for years, and you’re a total pro at it. Well done! Now you have to design your first native app and you’re not quite sure where to start. Don’t worry. The good thing is most of your web design knowledge is transferable, but there are a few things you should […]