Collective #342

Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tympanus/~3/YIFeyeChPJE/

C342_WOTW

Inspirational Website of the Week: Formigari

An elegant design with great details and modern effects. Our pick this week.

Get inspired

C342_Sencha

Our Sponsor
Add Powerful UI Components to your React Apps with ExtReact

Learn how to build data-intensive, cross-platform web apps leveraging more than 115 professionally tested and supported Sencha components and React.

Try it for free

C342_ChromeDevTools

Increase your web development skill-set: 150 animated tips on Chrome DevTools

Umar Hansa shares some of his over 150 animated gifs which showcase how to use Chrome DevTools.

Check it out

C342_Focus

The Lightweight Browser: Firefox Focus Does Less, Which Is So Much More

Read about Firefox Focus, the new private browser for iOS and Android, which is aimed to be simple and lightweight.

Read it

C342_Graveyard

Product Graveyard

A final resting place for deceased products.

Check it out

C342_InputMask

JavaScript Events Unmasked: How to Create an Input Mask for Mobile

Learn how to tackle the challenges that come with building an input mask for mobile.

Read it

C342_PaintAPI

Using the Paint Timing API

The Paint Timing API arrived in Chrome 60 and Jeremy Wagner shows how to use it to capture metrics on when a page begins painting.

Read it

C342_AWSCogito

User Authentication For Web And iOS Apps With AWS Cognito (Part 1)

David Tucker shows how to use Cognito, a tool for enabling users to sign up for and sign into web and mobile applications.

Read it

C342_Mindmap

Machine Learning Mindmap / Cheatsheet

A mind map summarizing Machine Learning concepts, from Data Analysis to Deep Learning.

Check it out

C342_Fuzzysort

Fuzzysort

Fuzzysort is a JavaScript library for fast SublimeText-like fuzzy search.

Check it out

C342_NeuralNetwork

How to create a Neural Network in JavaScript in only 30 lines of code

A tutorial by Per Harald Borgen where he shows how to create and train a neural network using Synaptic.js, which allows you to do deep learning in Node.js and the browser.

Read it

C342_Tree

Towards a JavaScript Binary AST

David Teller introduces the JavaScript Binary AST, an ongoing project for faster web page loading.

Read it

C342_React

All the fundamental React.js concepts, jammed into this single Medium article

Samer Buna’s practical introduction to the fundamentals of React.js for those who are already familiar with JavaScript and know the basics of the DOM API.

Read it

C342_Vim

Vim isn’t that scary. Here are 5 free resources you can use to learn it.

Fatos Morina shares some great resources for getting started with Vim.

Read it

C342_Compiler

An Intro to Compilers

Learn about what a complier does in this introduction by Nicole Orchard.

Read it

C342_Puppeteer

Puppeteer

Puppeteer is a Node library which provides a high-level API to control headless Chrome over the DevTools Protocol. It can also be configured to use full (non-headless) Chrome.

Check it out

C342_Songbird

Songbird: Spatial Audio Encoding on the Web

Songbird is a real-time spatial audio encoding JavaScript library for WebAudio applications by Google.

Check it out

C342_DesktopDesignKit

Desktop Kit

A Sketch template of macOS UI elements from Facebook Design.

Get it

C342_Animation

Integrating Animation into a Design System

Alla Kholmatova writes about the challenges of creating a cohesive system and ensuring consistency when it comes to integrating animations into a design.

Read it

C342_Gulp

A Gulp Workflow for Frontend Development Automation

A tutorial by Andrew Welch where he shows how to use Gulp for frontend development.

Read it

C342_Gradient

Chunky Gradient Along SVG Path

An interesting animated chunky gradient that uses stroke-dasharray and stroke-dashoffset.

Check it out

C342_HorTree

Draw a horizontal tree using CSS pseudo elements

Check out some pseudo element trickery for creating a horizontal tree structure in CSS.

Read it

Collective #342 was written by Pedro Botelho and published on Codrops.

Robotic etch-a-sketch launches on Crowdcube

Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreativeBloq/~3/eZlGNnRov4Q/robotic-etch-a-sketch-launches-on-crowdcube

Looking to support a creative technology with a difference? Now's your chance, because creative robotics pioneer Joto has just launched a crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube. It's looking to raise £250,000, with 12 per cent equity on offer.

Joto is building technology that "offers a new intersection between the worlds of design and technology." Or, to put it simply, it has created the awesome next stage of etch-a-sketch evolution.

Thanks to a clever combination of robotics and artificial intelligence with pen and ink, Joto has developed a connected whiteboard that draws live on request. Capable of sketching everything from works of art to messages at the press of a button, Joto can turn pixels on a screen into pen and ink drawings. Watch it in action in the video below.

Keen-eyed Kickstarter campaign followers might recognise Joto from a fundraiser on that site earlier in the year. Back then it sold over 1,800 units in just four weeks and raised an impressive £362,307. 

On top of this, Joto was named the public's favourite design at 2017's Beazley Designs of the Year exhibition at London's Design Museum, and will be made available to shoppers via an exclusive partnership with Selfridges later in 2017.

With Joto, you can send designs from your phone to a friend’s wall (providing the friend also has Joto)

“Most of the content we love is stuck on our screens, and as a result so are we," says Jim Rhodes, founder of Joto. "We are reimagining a world where people can feel connected beyond the screen. This is an exciting first step in the exploration of creative robotics for the home. Not the type to be scared of, but the sort you’d love to put on your wall.”

By supporting Joto on Crowdcube, you'll be helping it to launch its hardware across even more channels and regions, as well as accelerating the development of the software platform where users will be able to view and exchange content with peers and other content providers.

If you want to support Joto and help it to reach its goal of £250,000, you've got until 30 September to send some money its way.

Related articles:

6 best digital art tools of 2017 so farNew free Google tool does the drawing for you10 tools to unlock creativity

10 Essential WooCommerce Plugins for Managing Your Store

Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/1stwebdesigner/~3/PCBRmDY–is/

What makes WooCommerce such a compelling eCommerce platform is that, just like other WordPress plugins, it can be extended to perform more and more tasks. For example, complex functionality (advanced reporting, rewards programs, etc.) that used to be reserved for high-end SaaS providers is now within everyone’s reach.

Even so, shopkeepers don’t always need something complicated. In fact, they often need to add more basic functionality that makes life easier for both them and their customers. And plugin authors have excelled at extending WooCommerce in this area, as well.

Here are 10 plugins that you can use to build the WooCommerce store you’ve always wanted:

WooCommerce Wallet

WooCommerce Wallet is an interesting solution for shops who want to allow customers to keep a balance on hand.

Customers can deposit funds, earn cash back and even request a refund. The plugin also allows for partial payments which could be handy for big-ticket items. Site admins can directly add funds to a user’s account from the back end, as well.

WooCommerce Wallet

WooCommerce Ultimate Reports

WooCommerce Ultimate Reports serves a very important need. It generates a variety of reports to help you make sense of your sales. You can view reports for product variations, taxes, inventory, and coupon use, along with various profit types.

Overall, there are 55+ reports included. Data can also be exported to XLS, CSV and PDF formats. Finding trends and analyzing data isn’t a strongpoint of WooCommerce out-of-the-box, so adding it in is critical.

WooCommerce Ultimate Reports

XL WooCommerce Sales Triggers

While XL WooCommerce Sales Triggers doesn’t add big-time functionality, it does specialize in adding the little details that help to drive sales. Many of the seven included sales triggers are staples of major eCommerce retailers.

The Countdown Timer, Stock Alert and Potential Savings encourage action. The Most Recent Sales Activity, Guarantees, Best Sellers and Satisfaction Rate increase consumer confidence. They may be little things, but they can add up to something big.

XL WooCommerce Sales Triggers

WooCommerce Ultimate Points and Rewards

WooCommerce Ultimate Points and Rewards enables you to set up a rather sophisticated customer rewards program.

You can reward customers based on their purchases, referrals, posting comments or just for signing up. As an admin, you can assign cash value to points and customers can then redeem them via a coupon. Various settings allow for tweaking the program to meet your specific needs.

WooCommerce Ultimate Points and Rewards

WooCommerce Products List Pro

While WooCommerce looks great by default, creating a custom product layout can provide a huge boost to UX. WooCommerce Products List Pro provides an attractive and highly-customizable product listing table for your shop. You’ll be able to create custom lists and filter products in numerous ways.

Choose which product data you want to display with your listing. A simple Shortcode can be generated so you can display your lists anywhere. Developers will like that the plugin includes several hooks and filters for even further tweaking.

WooCommerce Products List Pro

WooCommerce Product Variations Layouts

Taking custom layouts one step further, WooCommerce Product Variations Layouts makes variable products much more attractive. Variable products require the user to select options – think of a T-Shirt with multiple sizing and color options.

Their default layout consists of boring old HTML select boxes. This plugin lets you display them in a more visual way. Choose from Table, Grid, List or Boxed layout. The result is better usability and maybe even better sales.

WooCommerce Product Variations Layouts

WooCommerce Support Ticket System

If you’re running an online shop, then you need to think about how you want to handle customer support. WooCommerce Support Ticket System is a clever plugin that integrates both orders and customers with support tickets.

Also included is Pay Per Ticket, which allows you to sell blocks of support tickets for premium service. Tickets can include front-end formatting via TinyMCE and customers can even upload attachments.

WooCommerce Support Ticket System

Stock Synchronization for WooCommerce

Stock Synchronization for WooCommerce allows for automatically synching product inventory from an outside source.

This provides a whole lot of convenience for shops that sell in multiple places with the same inventory. Syncing occurs through a remote CSV file (Google Drive, Dropbox and password-protected files are supported). Set synchronization to run hourly, daily or twice daily.

Stock Synchronization for WooCommerce

WooCommerce Simple Bulk Discounts

Offering bulk purchase discounts is a great way to create loyalty. With WooCommerce Simple Bulk Discounts, shopkeepers can create custom percentage or fixed bulk discounts.

Discount rules can be set on a per-product basis. You can even assign bulk discounts based on a user’s role. For example, you might set things up so that only registered customers have access to a deal.

WooCommerce Simple Bulk Discounts

ARG Multistep Checkout for WooCommerce

ARG Multistep Checkout for WooCommerce enables you to customize and enhance the checkout process.

The multistep process can do wonders for UX and can be customized to achieve the look you want. The tabbed layout is responsive and is ready for tweaking. Colors, button and label text can be easily changed. Specific steps can be hidden if desired.

ARG Multistep Checkout for WooCommerce

Power Up Your WooCommerce Shop

If you’re using WooCommerce to power your online store, you have an almost unlimited selection of additional functionality to choose from. The plugins above are only a small sampling of what is available.

No matter what type of shop you run or the type of features you want to implement, chances are that there is a WooCommerce extension out there to make it happen.


Industrial Design: Leaf, a Pet Water Dispenser

Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/abduzeedo/~3/JL36n3PdiT8/industrial-design-leaf-pet-water-dispenser

Industrial Design: Leaf, a Pet Water Dispenser

Industrial Design: Leaf, a Pet Water Dispenser

AoiroStudio
Aug 21, 2017

As of late, I’ve been watching a lot of reality shows like Dragon’s Den and Shark Tank. Some of us have this drive to someday create a product that is useful to actually upgrade your daily life. Like the one we are featuring today that involves Industrial Design, it’s called Leaf and it’s a pet water dispenser. For those who have pets, we all have been through the situation of feeding your animal water. We know the process and the mighty folks from DesignLibero actually found quite a simple and yet interesting solution. Let’s take a look.

DesignLibero is a team of people that works mainly in Interior, Product, Temporary and Graphic Designs. For the Leaf particularly, it was designed by Libero Rutilo & Ekaterina Shchetina.

Leaf is a nature – inspired portable & reversible water dispenser designed to keep your pet supplied with fresh water while on-the-go.

Project Gallery
Industrial Design: Leaf, a Pet Water DispenserIndustrial Design: Leaf, a Pet Water DispenserIndustrial Design: Leaf, a Pet Water DispenserIndustrial Design: Leaf, a Pet Water DispenserIndustrial Design: Leaf, a Pet Water DispenserIndustrial Design: Leaf, a Pet Water Dispenser

 

More Links
More about DesignLibero’s Work: designlibero.com
Get yourself a Leaf at: unitedpets.it

industrial design
design
dog
dogs


15 Useful JavaScript Libraries to Enhance Your Site

Original Source: http://inspiredm.com/15-useful-javascript-libraries-enhance-site/

Inspired Magazine
Inspired Magazine – creativity & inspiration daily

Making a great site requires a lot of skills, but you don’t always have to develop everything completely from scratch. To use any of the JavaScript libraries presented in this article, you will need to have at least some existing JavaScript skills, but you also don’t necessarily need to be an expert.

What you do need to be expert with is working out how to blend the libraries into a site to get the most benefit from them. This isn’t really something that can be taught. It’s a skill you can only learn by doing. Once you have mastered the concepts, however, there is no limit to your creativity and what you can achieve with it.

Collected here is our list of the most useful JavaScript libraries available to programmers for site enhancement. You may not see your favorite listed here, but that doesn’t mean it’s not recommended. In fact any JavaScript library that helps you achieve something worthwhile can’t be dismissed.  But with literally millions of libraries to choose from, we have to draw the line somewhere.

1. jQuery

It’s best to start out with the obvious.  You’re almost certainly already using this library in some way, even if you don’t already know it.  Essentially, jQuery lets you do dynamic things to static web pages more easily than other methods, and doesn’t require server-side programming to achieve the results.  This also means that updates can happen more quickly than with server-side alternatives. Many other libraries include jQuery as a dependency, so you’ll probably need to incorporate it into your pages even if you don’t directly access its features.

2. Prototype

This, in a way, could be considered a competitor to jQuery. It’s not necessarily inferior, but it is much less widely adopted. Using prototype and jQuery together can lead to conflicts, unless you take special steps to deal with this problem.  This is why you need to know the dependencies within the other JavaScript libraries you use.

3. Modernizr

This library helps to overcome problems with page rendering on older browsers that don’t fully support HTML5.  While such browsers are becoming more rarely encountered, they are still part of the landscape and having Modernizr can help you deal with the problem in an efficient way.

4. Bootstrap

In just six short years, Bootstrap has achieved enormous proliferation throughout the world of web development. It is solely concerned with UI layout and component integration, but it does this very well. You will need to modify the default settings for just about everything, however, because they’re based on Twitter’s color scheme, which isn’t the most user-friendly of user interfaces.

5. PDF.js

You may know that the PDF format is subject to certain vulnerabilities. To get around this problem, PDF.js was created to render PDF content into the HTML5 Canvas. Obviously this also means it only works in a browser that supports HTML5 and Canvas.

6. JS Charts

An excellent library that provides a simple yet powerful graph generator, so you can create all kinds of professional looking charts for your site without investing too much time and effort. The free version is equally powerful compared to the paid version, but includes a watermark.  Purchasing a license removes this watermark.

7. Chart.js

This is a really good, completely free, unwatermarked alternative to JS Charts.  It is easy to use, well-documented, and can be customized in endless ways. Using it requires a little more JavaScript skill than JS Charts.

8. D3.js

This is a bigger brother to the previous two examples, which are intended for lightweight use.  If you’re crunching data in the big leagues, however, D3 offers you the advanced features that can take your online presentation to the next level. Any kind of data can be visualized and expressed in a staggering number of ways. Just check the examples on the D3 website to see what you’ve been missing out on.

9. bHive

A great graphics framework that is as revolutionary to the HTML5 Canvas as Raphaël was to HTML4. bHive allows you to quickly create SVG graphics, animations, and even to incorporate interactivity which could be used in numerous different ways, such as simple games and education applications.

10. Owl Carousel

While over-use of carousels is not to be encouraged, for those times when you really do need to use one, Owl is one of the most highly recommended carousel plug-ins ever created for jQuery. It’s compatible with both touch screens and pointing devices.  It supports swipe and drag-n-drop. It is fully customizable and is responsive by default.

11. Date.js

Sometimes you need to be able to express date information in different ways to give a site context. The features of Date.js allow you to do just this very thing, using a very straight-forward syntax that couldn’t be easier to learn.

13. Moment.js

Another date formatting and processing library. It’s a little more complex than Date.js but allows you to do certain specific calculations easily (isAfter, isBefore, isSameOrAfter, isSameOrBefore, isBetween, isLeapYear, isDate, and so on). When you don’t need all the overhead that comes with these extra features, use Date.js instead.

13. dateDropper

When you need to display a calendar / datepicker control on your site, dateDropper is the most elegant and simple solution we’ve ever seen (and we’ve seen a lot). It’s also more compatible with mobile interfaces than many of the other solutions out there.

13. Numeral.js

Does for numbers what Date.js does for dates.

14. wForms

A simple but useful library maintained by on the Google Code archive, wForms makes easy work of common tasks related to user input forms. These include input validation, tool tips, and other useful features.

15. sortTable

Sortable tables have been around for almost as long as tables have (data tables, anyway). But with this hand JavaScript library, you can make any table sortable easily just by adding a class to the table when you create it, which is as simple as: <table class=”sortable”>

header image courtesy of Rogie

 

This post 15 Useful JavaScript Libraries to Enhance Your Site was written by Inspired Mag Team and first appearedon Inspired Magazine.

Web Development Reading List: Announcing Changes, A Design Kit, DNA Malware, And Why Meaning Is An Advantage

Original Source: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2017/08/web-development-reading-list-announcing-changes/


 

 

You might have noticed it already: in the past few weeks you might have missed Anselm’s Web Development Reading List issues here on SmashingMag. No worries, from now on, we’ll switch to collecting the most important news of each month in one handy, monthly summary for you. If you’d like to continue reading Anselm’s weekly reading list (and we encourage you to!), you can still do so via email, on wdrl.info or via RSS. — Editorial Team

Web Development Reading List

Hello again! I’ll continue publishing this resource and am grateful for everyone who supports my ongoing work. And to celebrate the last weekly edition, I found a lot of great articles for you: Biohacking news that sound like science fiction, advances in deep learning with JavaScript, and a lot more. Happy reading!

The post Web Development Reading List: Announcing Changes, A Design Kit, DNA Malware, And Why Meaning Is An Advantage appeared first on Smashing Magazine.

Top Services to Build an Appealing Website in a Short Time

Original Source: http://inspiredm.com/top-services-build-appealing-website-short-time/

Inspired Magazine
Inspired Magazine – creativity & inspiration daily

Whether you are a business owner willing to establish secure web presence or a user aiming at finding co-thinkers on the web, you will hardly go without a website of your own. It takes time to create a functional and appealing website, but what if you need the one right now and you don’t have time to look for professional web designers? What if your budget is limited to hire the experts, while the need to get a website is still urgent? In this case, you are bound to find out more about website builders. These services have grown in popularity, which is no wonder, taking into account the amount of non-techies struggling with niche competition nowadays.

Advantages of Website Builders

Readymade Templates. Most website builders, as it mentioned by Howard Steele at SuperbWebsiteBuilders.com, come with their own collections of readymade templates and many powerful customization tools that make it easy to edit the template and feel it with the content of your own. These templates are usually divided into thematic categories, which also contributes to the simplicity and speed of the web building process. What’s more, many templates are responsive and adjust to any mobile devices.

No Coding. Successful website building frequently implies the knowledge of HTML basics and coding in general. If you are a newbie, this may be a challenge for you. Website builders are useful tools in this respect. They are easy, convenient and require no coding at all. Just follow the guidelines and enjoy each minute of your web creation process.

Customer Support. Website builders are often created with the needs of newbies in mind. Thus, they frequently come with reliable customer support, which is available any time of the day. This is quite handy, if you face certain problems in the process of creating a website and can’t find answers to your questions.

Top Website Builders to Create a Website in a Short Time
SITE123

This website builder is very easy and allows creating a quality website without any hassle and notable time investment. It comes with a handy WYSIWYG editor, responsive thematic-based pre-designed templates, a rich set of modules, powerful web customization tools and other features that make it possible to create different website types. What’s more, the service now offers a convenient multilanguage tool, which is a must when it comes to creating different website language versions.

uKit

uKit is another cloud WYSIWYG website builder that is a nice choice for building small business websites. The service offers a decent collection of responsive templates, which also fall into thematic categories, customization features, extensive web design functionality as well as nice eCommerce options and an Ecwid plugin that may be used to create online stores. This is one of the best website builders in its niche.

Mobirise

Mobirise is the downloadable software users have to install before getting involved into the web creation process. The system is free, but it implies extra payments for additional features and tools. Mobirise is block-based and users have to choose the required set of blocks needed for their websites. All in all, there are more than 400 readymade blocks here. The system makes it possible to use extra web design features, such as background video integration, parallax effect, hi-res images, Google fonts and what not.

Ucraft

Ucraft is a cloud block-based website builder, which has a nice collection of responsive templates and tools you can use to customize the design of your website. The system has user-friendly interface and even a newbie can cope with the web building tasks when using it. Ucraft is also known for its multilanguage feature that makes it possible to create several language versions of one and the same website.

uCoz

uCoz is a universal website builder that offers a broad range of web design options. It’s not difficult to create a website with this system, but if you expect extensive functionality, you should be ready to master coding skills and HTML basics to launch a website here. uCoz has two types of templates (standard and responsive), several plans (including a free one), lots of modules to choose from, social network synchronization and other features that make it one of the most popular website builders nowadays.

Bottom Line

Many people face the necessity to build quality websites nowadays and lack skills, budget or time to do that. Website builders can become the best solution to the prevailing amount of web building problems, granted that you know how to choose and use these services properly. With so many website builders available out there, the choice of the one that adheres to your needs and requirements most of all can be a challenge. Look through the options reviewed above to make the right choice you won’t regret afterwards.

Disclaimer: this is sponsored post via BuySellAds.

header image courtesy of Himel

This post Top Services to Build an Appealing Website in a Short Time was written by Catalin Zorzini and first appearedon Inspired Magazine.

Daily Design Inspiration

Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/abduzeedo/~3/Mx2xv8YmaKI/daily-design-inspiration-311

Daily Design Inspiration

Daily Design Inspiration

AoiroStudio
Aug 18, 2017

Part of the Daily Design Inspiration series that started it all on Abduzeedo. This is where you’ll find the most interesting things/finds/work curated by one of us to simply inspire your day. Furthermore, it’s an opportunity to feature work from more designers, photographers, and artists in general that we haven’t had the chance to write or feature about in the past.

For this Daily we are selecting illustration, photography, branding and more. Our goal is to diversify the types of work and in the future we can perhaps categorize them in different sections. For now we are going to stick to the simple format of images and links. I hope you enjoy and share with use via Twitter or our Tumblr.

Until further notice, we’ll display the images and the titles added to them. Because of little issues we had in the past, the images are still linked to their authors, we just won’t mentioned who shared them like we used to.

Daily Design Inspiration
Daily Design InspirationDaily Design InspirationDaily Design InspirationDaily Design Inspiration Daily Design InspirationDaily Design InspirationDaily Design InspirationDaily Design Inspiration Daily Design InspirationDaily Design InspirationDaily Design Inspiration Daily Design InspirationDaily Design InspirationDaily Design Inspiration Daily Design InspirationDaily Design InspirationDaily Design InspirationDaily Design Inspiration Daily Design InspirationDaily Design InspirationDaily Design InspirationDaily Design InspirationDaily Design InspirationDaily Design Inspiration Daily Design InspirationDaily Design InspirationDaily Design InspirationDaily Design Inspiration

daily inspiration


Make the most of vectors with Super Vectorizer 2

Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreativeBloq/~3/xWJ-WwS2cz0/make-the-most-of-vectors-with-super-vectorizer-2

The value of flexible vectors isn't lost on web designers. They know it's one of the most important assets they have for their designs. Create perfect vectors for any project with the help of Super Vectorizer 2. It's on sale now for 68% off the retail price.

Super Vectorizer 2 has streamlined the vector-tracing process, taking out the tedious portions of the task and making it a snap to quickly create these valuable assets. This app can automatically convert bitmap, JPEG, GIF, and PNG images to clean and scalable vector graphics like AI, SVG, DXF, and PDF. It makes use of a powerful image-quantisation algorithm and enhanced tracing to make it easy to adapt images into design work.

Super Vectorizer 2 usually retails for $60, but you can get it on sale now for just $19 (approx £15). That's a saving of 68% off the retail price for a powerful tool for designers, so grab this deal today!


How to Master Your API Workflow with Postman

Original Source: https://www.sitepoint.com/master-api-workflow-postman/

Building good APIs is hard, and anyone who had the chance to do so can relate to this. A project can easily grow to become a mess. One can keep trying to adopt an approach to make it more enjoyable, like trying a documentation-first workflow, but something always feels clumsy.

I was trying out Postman lately, a tool we’ve briefly covered before, and I discovered that they’re doing a great job by providing an integrated environment for different components of an API, like authorization, testing, documentation, versioning, etc.

Postman logo

In this article, we’re going to walk through the different features that Postman provides and how we can organize them to make our API workflow less painful.

Making Requests

The first step to discovering Postman is making a simple API request and seeing the response.

Simple request

From the screenshot above we can see that the view incorporates different elements. The top bar contains the request method (in this case GET), and right next to it we specify the endpoint to make the request to. If the request has some params we can specify them by clicking the Params button, which will open a table for entering them. When ready, we can click the send button to initiate the request.

The next section contains five tabs:

Authorization: Specifies how to authorize the request. Like Basic Auth, OAuth2, etc.
Headers: Any header that should be sent with the request. Like content-type, Authorization, etc.
Body: Request body for request types like Post, PUT, etc.
Pre-request Script: JS code to be executed before performing the request. (More about this later)
Tests: JS code to validate the response payload.

The bottom section contains all the details about the response (status, time and size). The four tabs are self explanatory, except for Tests which contains the tests result if we have any (more about this later).

Authorization

Postman supports all types of authorization, as we saw above. We’re going to focus on token authorization set via header. You can read more about authorization here.

The header format that Postman will use is:

Authorization: Bearer <TOKEN>

Authorization header

Now, we’ll go ahead and get a token we can use for our future requests. I’m testing on an in-development application of mine, but you can use any application you have lying around, or set one up quickly with Laravel as described here.

Not familiar with Laravel? Try our premium course – it’s a comprehensive introduction, and you’ll get the upcoming newer version of it automatically if you grab it in its current iteration!

Get token

At this point, we have a token to be used for querying data from the API as an authenticated user. However, copying and pasting the token for every request is tedious!

Environment Variables

This nice feature alleviates the pain of copy/paste and groups our variables in one place. An environment is an execution context: we may have a local environment, testing, staging, etc.

Postman has different scopes for variables:

Global
Environment
Local
Data

The global variables are available everywhere, separately from the selected environment. You can read more in the documentation.

We need at least three variables for now:

domain: current active subdomain company1, company2, etc.
url: our app URL.
token: Token for future authentication.

Creating environment

Now we can update our login endpoint to use our new environment, but first we need to select our environment from the top right selection box.

Using environment variables

We can use our variables inside the URL, parameters, tests, etc. But how are we going to use our token now?

Well, we have two choices. The first is to copy the token and paste it as a value for the token variable (this is what we’re trying to avoid).

The second method is to set this via code executed after the request is done. This is where tests come into play, let’s find out what they are!

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