Cultural Bulletin Issue E – Editorial Design

Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/abduzeedo/~3/JZZ198_61JQ/cultural-bulletin-issue-e-editorial-design

Cultural Bulletin Issue E – Editorial Design
Cultural Bulletin Issue E - Editorial Design

abduzeedo02.25.21

Tom Silver and Adam Greenhalgh shared the CULTURAL BULLETIN ISSUE E – VAGUE NEW WORLD. Identity, whether individual, shared or otherwise is inextricably tied to place – the two are connected on both the micro and macro level. Throughout Issue E, we look at various situations in which place informs identity: the identity of a culture, the identity of a building, the memories of an individual, the history of a movement, the collective identity of a species in relation to climate change and the subdivisions that occur when trying to address it.

We begin in Calais as a starting point for discussing the wider refugee crisis in the world. Insight is gained into the lives of people who are displaced, having left their homes and generational history behind in a desperate hope of finding a new place. Art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon looks at “multicultural masterpiece”, Monreale as an unlikely symbol and metaphor for a positive, creative outcome that can occur when differing cultures collaborate.

Writer Ry Clarke analyzes musician Actress’ album Ghettoville as a way to understand how the erosion of a sense of place dislocates people from the cultures they created for themselves. In this instance, the article focuses on the white-washing of techno, a historically Black movement.

Jung Ah Hwang’s images, which are featured on the cover and throughout the issue, stem from a project called Dead Letter. Hwang, having moved home frequently as a child, explores the connection between the fading memories of places once they have been left behind and/or demolished and the impact that has on ones identity.

Editor Tom Silver’s article Stichting Kriterion: More Than Cinema, documents the student led cinema and movement that saved thousands of Jewish lives. It was an instance where the definition and identity of a place was greatly shifted and repurposed due to extreme circumstances.

A final narrative that runs through the magazine is the most elemental relationship between identity and place: humans and earth. Karina Castro’s images document the human domination of Earth’s landscape. Finally, Abigail Allan’s piece explores how the UK class system plays a part in shaping the population’s sense of identity with relation to climate change.

For more information and to purchase Issue E check out https://www.culturalbulletin.com/magazine/issue-e


9 Useful WordPress Plugins For Your 2021 Projects

Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tympanus/~3/u4ZCqvzzOgU/

Finding just the right plugin can make a huge difference in the success of a WordPress website.

Some of these plugins are relatively new. Others, that have been around for a while, continue to improve like a fine wine thanks to occasional updates by design and development teams who keep the best interest of their plugin’s users in mind.

In any event, you won’t find a WordPress plugin here that suffers the maladies that so many of their cousins and competitors exhibit, like bad coding that can create compatibility issues, or bugs that compromise the quality of a WordPress theme’s features and functionality.

If, as you go through this selection of 9 WordPress plugins, you find one you believe will be helpful to have and use and could easily make your day, don’t hesitate to select it. 

1. Amelia WordPress Booking Plugin

We’ll start with an award-winning implementation of PHP and VueJS code that can benefit your business in several ways.

Amelia manages appointment and event booking for you.It saves you from dealing with missed or improperly scheduled appointments resulting from human inattention or error.Customers or clients can book and/or change an appointment online 24/7 from the front-end.  Clients and employees have separate front-end panels that enable them to take full advantage of Amelia’s UI and UX features. Although Amelia is a WordPress-based plugin, clients do not have to log into WordPress to access the application.

Besides:

Amelia can serve multiple business locations. The unlimited number of employees working at more than one place can connect with their Google and Outlook calendars to avoid scheduling problems or issues.Amelia can be used to manage events and attendees.

Click on the banner to find out more about how this WordPress booking plugin can save your business time and money and relieve you of appointment booking woes.

 2. wpDataTables 

The banner nicely summarizes what wpDataTables can do, but while it saves time to use a tool like this to build a table or chart instead of doing so manually, it doesn’t show the sheer power and performance this plugin brings to the table.

For example:

wpDataTables can accept data from multiple sources and in the most-commonly-used formats, including real-time My SQL information.wpDataTables can process thousands upon thousands of rows of data in seconds or minutes as opposed to hours or days it would take to do so manually or with most other table-building tools.wpDataTables can apply advanced filtering and search capabilitiesOnline tables and charts can be edited and are easily maintainable.Conditional formatting allows key information to be color-coded or highlightedTables and charts are fully responsive

It is also worth noting that the wpDataTables documentation is comprehensive and extremely informative.

3. WPC Product Bundles for WooCommerce

WPC Products Bundles addresses a sales and marketing strategy that could often prove to be difficult to achieve online using manual product bundling techniques.

There is much more involved than simply selecting individual products and offering them at a discounted price when they are bundled together.

This plugin:

Combines simple products, variable products, or particular variations of products for selling at a special priceAutomates the inventory management, tax and shipping charges, and invoicing of product bundlesCalculates discount amounts or percentages and takes into account coupons or other special promotionsEasily integrates with other WPC plugins including Product Timer, Fly Cart, and Ajax Add to Cart, for enhanced WooCommerce site performance and UX.

If product bundling one of your sales and marketing strategies or is under consideration, WPC Products Bundles can save you a ton of time while improving your bottom line.

4. LayerSlider

LayerSlider has much more going for it than the title implies. One of the most solidly established products on the market, and serving a huge user base, LayerSlider is a fully-loaded multipurpose tool for content creation.

LayerSlider offers –

Extensive animation capabilitiesFancy popups to maximize your site’s conversion ratesHundreds of pre-made templates for sliders, landing pages, and more

LayerSlider is SEO and mobile device friendly. Click to find out more.

5. Logic Hop – Content Personalization for WordPress

Personalization is a game changer for marketers. The ability to target and message users based on behavior boosts conversion rates to new levels. Fully integrated with WordPress, Logic Hop lets you use real-time data to target visitors and show personalized content anywhere on your site. 

Logic Hop is the best personalization tool on the market – Easy enough for beginners and tons of advanced features for power users.

Try Logic Hop and see what personalization can do for you.

6. Slider Revolution

A collection of

A WordPress plugin that saves you hours or days of work is worth its weight in gold, and it’s a definite bonus when the same plugin makes it as easy as can be to “Wow” clients and customers with professional looking visuals.  

Slider Revolution comes with 200+ templates to get your project startedA 2,000+ element library is also included25+ add-ons offer keys to success

Click to learn more about “Wowing” your clients.

7. Heroic Inbox

Email saves customer support organizations time and money. Managing an email inbox can significantly eat into those savings. Heroic Inbox enables an organization to approach Inbox Zero, the amount of time spent managing inbox content.

Heroic Inbox –

Enables support staff to collaborate on email responsesStreamlines support workflowProvides users with a snappy UIMeasures email support performance

With Heroic Inbox, Inbox Zero will no longer be something you’ve simply read about.

8. Ads Pro Plugin – Multi-Purpose WordPress Advertising Manager

What goes into creating an “Insane” ad manager for WordPress? The Ads Pro designers had no problem figuring that out.

The tools you’ll find in this plugin include –

25+ responsive, ready-to-go ad templates20 different ways to display adsGeotargeting, scheduling, filters, hooks, caps, and more3 Billing modules and 4 Payment Methods

The Ads Pro Admin panel helps you pull all of these together while the Frontend User Panel is there to serve your client.

9. Flow-Flow Social Feed

The ability to increase a websites’ conversion by adding social media proof is not an easy thing to accomplish; especially when you want to display not just one, but a mix of social media feeds.

Flow-Flow Social Feed does the necessary aggregating and displaying a mix of social feeds on WordPress website.It’s highly customizable and requires no codingFlow-Flow has option to operate via the Cloud

Flow-Flow is an Envato best-seller. A free version is also available.

WordPress plugins provide a convenient way to add, extend, or upgrade functionality to WordPress and to your site.

The plugins featured here are the best in their respective categories. They can serve as website building blocks to take your site’s performance and functionality to a higher level.

Any one of the above plugins can improve your site’s performance and make your day at the same time.

The post 9 Useful WordPress Plugins For Your 2021 Projects appeared first on Codrops.

Apple's new product category is NOT what we were expecting

Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreativeBloq/~3/2bNb4PUqzys/apple-vr-rumours-2021

Well this is new.

State Of GDPR In 2021: Key Updates And What They Mean

Original Source: https://smashingmagazine.com/2021/02/state-gdpr-2021-key-updates/

The EU’s directives have impacted virtually every digital professional as products and services are designed with GDPR in mind, regardless of whether you’re a web design company in Wisconsin or a marketer in Malta. The far-reaching implications of GDPR don’t just impact how data should be processed, how products should be built and how data is transferred securely within and between organisations. It defines international data transfer agreements like that between Europe and America.

Kevin Kelly, one of the world’s brightest digital futurists, claims that ‘Technology is as great a force as nature’. What he means by that is that user data and information technology is causing one of the most profound periods in human history since the invention of language. Just look at what is happening as governments and the tech multinationals grapple to control the Internet.

Last week alone, as the Australian government moved to force platform owners to pay publishers for the content that’s shared on their platform, Facebook decided to block news to Australian users with a huge uproar from the Australian government.

And that’s in addition to previous controversies (the organisation of the U.S. Capitol riot, the Cambridge Analytica scandal) at the intersection where government and technology meet.

In this article, we’ll look at how GDPR has evolved since 2018. We’ll run through some updates from the EU, some key developments, and where GDPR is likely to evolve. We’ll explore what that means for us, as designers and developers. And we’ll look at what that means for companies both inside and outside the EU.

In the next article, we’ll focus on cookie consent and the paradox where marketers are heavily reliant on Google Analytics cookie data but need to comply with regulations. And then we’ll take a deep dive into first-party ad tracking as we start to see moves away from third-party cookies.

Part 1: GDPR, Key Updates And What They Mean
Part 2: GDPR, Cookie Consent and 3rd Parties (next week)
Subcribe to our newsletter to not miss it.

A Quick Recap Of GDPR

Let’s start by reminding ourselves what GDPR is. The GDPR became law within the EU on 25 May 2018. It’s based on 7 key principles:

Lawfulness, fairness and transparency
You must process data so that people understand what, how, and why you’re processing their data.
Purpose limitation
You should only collect data for clear, specified, and legitimate purposes. You can’t then process it in ways that are incompatible with your original purposes.
Data minimization
You should only collect the data you need.
Accuracy
Your data must be accurate and kept up to date. Inaccurate data should be erased or corrected.
Storage limitation
If data can be linked to individuals, you can only keep it for as long as you need to carry out the purposes you specified. (Caveats for scientific, statistical, or historical research use.)
Integrity and confidentiality (i.e. security)
You must ensure the personal data you hold is processed securely. You must protect it from unauthorized or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction, or damage.
Accountability
You are now responsible for the data you hold and should be able to demonstrate your compliance with the GDPR.

Some Definitions

CJEU
Court of Justice of the European Union. This court’s decisions clarify EU laws like GDPR.
DPAs
National Data Protection Authorities. Each EU country has one. GDPR is enforced, and fines are issued, at the national level by these bodies. The UK equivalent is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). In the United States, GDPR-style data privacy is largely legislated by each state.
European Commission
The executive branch of the European Union (essentially the EU’s civil service). The European Commission drafts legislation including the GDPR.
GDPR
The 2018 General Data Protection Regulation.

Key Updates From The EU

GDPR hasn’t stood still since May 2018. Here’s a quick run-through of what’s happened since it came into effect.

How Have The EU And Its Member States Implemented GDPR?

The European Commission reports that GDPR is almost fully implemented across the EU, though some countries — it namechecks Slovenia — have dragged their feet. However, the depth of implementation varies. The EU also says its member countries are, in its opinion, using their new powers fairly.

However, it has also expressed concern that some divergence and fragmentation are creeping in. GDPR can only work effectively across the EU’s single market if member states are aligned. If the laws diverge, it muddies the water.

How Does The EU Want GDPR To Develop?

We know the EU wants it to be easier for individuals to exercise their rights under GDPR. That means cross-border collaboration and class-action lawsuits. It wants to see data portability for consumers beyond banking and telecoms.

It also wants to make it easier for
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to comply with GDPR. That’s likely to come in the form of extra support and tools such as more standard contractual clauses — essentially templated legalese that SMEs can copy/paste into contracts — as the EU isn’t keen to bend the rules for them.

Big Development #1: The Unexpectedly Broad Definition Of ‘Joint Controller’

Right, here’s the first big change since GDPR became law. In two test cases involving Facebook, the Court of Justice of the European Union has defined a far broader interpretation of ‘joint controller’ than expected.

A joint controller situation arises when two or more controllers both have responsibility for meeting the terms of the GDPR. (Here’s a good explainer from the ICO on joint controllers.) Essentially:

When you process customer data, you decide with your fellow joint controller(s) who will manage each step so you’re compliant with the GDPR.
However, you all have full responsibility to ensure the entire process is compliant. Each of you is fully accountable to the data protection authority in the country handling any complaints.
An individual can raise a complaint against each and all joint controllers.
You are all responsible for any damage caused — unless you can prove you have no connection to the event that’s caused the damage.
An individual can seek compensation from any joint controller. You may be able to reclaim some of that compensation from your fellow controllers.

In the first Facebook case, the CJEU confirmed that a company that ran a Facebook fan page counted as a joint controller alongside Facebook. In the second, the CJEU also confirmed that a company that embedded a Facebook Like button onto its website held joint controller status with the social network.

These cases sent shockwaves through the privacy community, as essentially it makes social publishers, website operators, and fan page moderators responsible for user data alongside platforms like Facebook.

However, the CJEU also clarified that shared responsibility does not mean equal responsibility. In both cases, responsibility sat primarily with Facebook — only Facebook had access to the data and only Facebook could delete it. So the impact of this decision may be less severe than it sounds at first — but it’s still critically important.

And that might be why some sites — such as the website for Germany’s 2020 presidency of the EU — block embedded social content by default, until you’ve specifically opted in:

Big Development #2: Bye Bye Privacy Shield, Hello CPRA

The second big change was more predictable: Privacy Shield, the mechanism that made it easier for American businesses to process European customer data, has been struck down by the courts.

Here’s why.

The EU wants to protect its citizens’ personal data. However, it also wants to encourage international trade, plus cross-border collaboration in areas like security.

The EU sees itself — quite rightly — as a pioneer in data protection. So it’s using its political muscle to encourage countries who want to trade with the bloc to match its data privacy standards.

Enter the United States. European and American philosophies around data privacy are diametrically opposed. (In essence, the European view is that personal data is private unless you give explicit permission. The American view is that your data is public unless you expressly request that it’s kept private.) But as the world’s two biggest consumer markets, they need to trade. So the EU and the US developed Privacy Shield.

Privacy Shield was designed to enable US companies to process EU citizens’ data, as long as those companies signed up to its higher privacy standards.

But under US law, the US government could still monitor that data. This was challenged in a case brought by Austrian privacy advocate Max Schrems. The CJEU sided with him: Privacy Shield was struck down and the 5,300 American SMEs who used Privacy Shield were given no choice but to adopt the EU’s prescribed Standard Contractual Clauses.

Obviously, it’s in everyone’s interests for Privacy Shield to be replaced — and it will be. But experts say that its replacement is likely to be struck down again in due course because European and American approaches to privacy are essentially incompatible.

Meanwhile, in California, 2018’s GDPR-inspired California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) was strengthened in November 2020 when the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) was passed.

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

The CCPA, which came into effect in January 2020, gives California citizens the right to opt out of their data being sold. They can also ask for any data that’s been collected to be disclosed and they can ask for that data to be deleted.
Unlike GDPR, the CCPA only applies to commercial companies:

Who process the data of more than 50,000 California residents a year, OR
Who generate gross revenue of more than $25m a year, OR
Who make more than half of their annual revenue from selling California residents’ personal data

The California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA)

The CPRA, which comes into force in January 2023, goes beyond the CCPA. Its key points include:

It raises the bar to companies that process the data of 100,000 California residents a year
It gives more protection to Californians’ sensitive data, such as their race, religion, sexual orientation, and health data and government ID
It triples the fines for breaches of minors’ data
It gives Californians the right to request their data is corrected
It obliges companies to help with CPRA investigations
And it establishes a California Privacy Protection Agency to enforce the CPRA

Further pushes towards privacy laws are happening in other states, and together these may reinforce the need for federal privacy measures under the new Biden administration.

Big Development #3: Cookie Consent

In May 2020, the EU updated its GDPR guidance to clarify several points, including two key points for cookie consent:

Cookie walls do not offer users a genuine choice, because if you reject cookies you’re blocked from accessing content. It confirms that cookie walls should not be used.
Scrolling or swiping through web content does not equate to implied consent. The EU reiterates that consent must be explicit.

I’ll be going deeper into this in the second article next week.

Big Development #4: Google And Apple Start To Shift From Third-Party Tracking

As the big digital players figure out how to meet GDPR — and how to turn privacy legislation to their advantage — some have already come under fire.

Both Google and Apple are facing antitrust lawsuits, following complaints from adtech companies and publishers.

In both cases, the complainants says the big tech companies are exploiting their dominant market position.

Again, more on this next time.

Big Development #5: Big GDPR Fines Coming This Way

Of course, many organizations jumped to comply with GDPR because they feared the fines that regulators could apply. Those fines have started rolling in:

The French data regulator has slapped Google with a €50m fine for “lack of transparency, inadequate information and lack of valid consent regarding ads personalization”, saying users were “not sufficiently informed” about how and why Google collected their data.

Its UK equivalent, the ICO, has fined US hotel conglomerate Marriott International Inc. £18.4m for failing to keep 339 million guest records secure. The 2014 cyber-attack on Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc., which Marriott acquired in 2016, wasn’t discovered until 2018.

The UK’s ICO has also fined British Airways a record £20m for a 2018 data breach of 400,000 customers’ personal and credit card data.

Then there’s my personal favorite, a shocking breach of employee trust by H&M that led to a €35m penalty.

So that’s where we stand today.

What Does This Mean For You?

As designers and developers, GDPR has — and will continue to have — a big impact in the products we design and build, and the way that we design for data.

Here’s What We, As Designers, Should Know

GDPR is critical for you because you’ll design the points at which users share their data, what data is collected, and how it’s processed.
Follow Privacy by Design best practices. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel — if you’ve created a compliant cookie banner, use your proven design pattern.
Work with your compliance and development teams to ensure designs meet GDPR and can be implemented. Only ask for the data you need.
Finally, ask your users what data they’re comfortable sharing and how they’d like you to use it. If they find it creepy, revisit your approach.

Here’s What We, As Developers, Should Know

GDPR is critical for you because you enable data processing, sharing and integrations.
As a general rule with GDPR, take a need-to-access approach. Start by implementing everything with no access, then only give your team access to data as and when it’s necessary (e.g. giving developers access to the Google Analytics console). Audit and document as you go.
Follow privacy by design and security by design principles. Robust, secure templates for implementing infrastructure are key.
Make sure you’re involved upfront about technical aspects e.g. cookie consent/tracking conversations, so what’s decided can be implemented.
Process mapping shows where data is being shared with different parts of the business.
Automation offers secure data handling that cuts human error. It also helps prevent the wrong people accessing data.
GDPR checklists and of course run books will help you manage your process. Again, audit and document as you go.

Now let’s see how GDPR is going to evolve in the near future. We’ll focus on three areas.

Three Areas Where GDPR Is Swiftly Evolving
1. How The EU Is Implementing GDPR

First up, let’s see how GDPR will be further embedded in the legislative landscape.

The EU wants to keep its member states aligned, because that will make cross-border suits and international collaboration easier. So it has reinforced that countries should neither divert from, nor overstep the GDPR. Some member states, as I said, are paying lip service to the regulation. Others want to exceed GDPR’s standards.

In return for their alignment, the EU will enforce compliance, work to enable class action and cheaper cross-border suits, and also promote privacy and consistent standards outside the EU. In addition to extra support and tools for SMEs, we may also see certification for security and data protection by design.

Finally, this could raise some eyebrows in Silicon Valley: the EU has hinted that it might consider bans on data processing to encourage compliance. €50m fines aren’t the end of the world for Google and friends. But time out on the naughty step — and the resulting bad PR — is a very different thing.

2. How GDPR Works With Innovation

GDPR was designed to be technology-neutral and to support, not hinder, innovation. That’s certainly been tested over the past 12 months, and the EU points to the rapid rollout of COVID-19 apps as proof that its legislation works.

We can expect to see codes of conduct for sensitive categories of data (health and scientific research). These will be welcomed.

However, they’re watching innovators closely. The EU has expressed concern about data privacy in video, IoT devices and blockchain. They are particularly concerned about facial (and presumably voice) recognition and developments in AI.

Most notably, the Commission is deeply concerned about what it calls “multinational technology companies”, “large digital platforms” and “online advertising and micro-targeting”. Yes, once again it’s looking at you, Facebook, Amazon, Google and friends.

3. How The EU Is Promoting GDPR Standards Beyond The EU

Our digital economy is global, so GDPR’s impact ripples beyond the EU’s borders — and not just in terms of compliance. The EU is setting the bar for data protection legislation worldwide. Beyond California’s CCPA, see Brazil’s LGPD, plus developments in Canada, Australia, India and a clutch of American states.

Of course, it’s in the EU’s interests if other countries and trading blocs match their standards. So it’s promoting GDPR via several avenues:

Through “mutual adequacy decisions” with Japan and shortly South Korea
Embedded into bilateral trade agreements e.g. with New Zealand, Australia, UK
Through fora like the OECD, ASEAN, the G7 and the G20
Through its Data Protection Academy for EU and international regulators

It is particularly keen to empower innovation through trusted data flows and to enable international cooperation between law enforcement authorities and private operators.

The EU is leading the world in data protection. Where it goes, others will follow. So even if you’re not designing/developing for an EU audience, you need to be aware of what’s happening.

What Does All Of This Mean For Companies In The EU?

Companies who operate in the EU need to comply with GDPR or risk being fined. Those fines can be pretty hefty, as we’ve seen. So you need to be able to demonstrate that you’re adhering to GDPR’s 7 principles and to specific guidance from your national Data Protection Authority.

However, that’s not as straightforward as it sounds, and you may choose to evaluate your risk in some cases. I’ll take you through an example of that next time.

What Does This Mean For Companies Based Outside The EU?

The implications for companies based outside the EU are exactly the same as those for EU countries, if they process personal data from the EU. That’s because GDPR applies to the personal data of people based in the EU. If you want to process it, e.g. to sell to customers in the EU, you have to abide by the rules. Otherwise, you risk being fined, like Facebook and Google.

Here’s how that’s enforced: If you have a presence in the EU, as many multinationals do, and you don’t pay a GDPR fine, your EU assets may be seized. If you don’t have a presence, you’re obliged under GDPR to appoint a representative in the EU. Any fines will be levied through that representative. Alternatively, you may face a complex and expensive international lawsuit.

And here’s where it gets complex for everyone:

If your customer base includes people in the EU and citizens of other places with privacy laws, such as the State of California, you have to comply both with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and with GDPR. These batches of legislation generally align — but they don’t match.

Take cookies, for example. Under
GDPR, you must get active consent from a user before you place a cookie on their device, bar those strictly needed for your site to function.

However, under the CCPA, you must disclose what data you’re collecting, and enable your customer to deny you permission to sell their data. But they don’t have to actively agree you can collect it.

That’s why the EU is pushing for international standards to simplify global compliance.

N.B. If you’re in the United States and eagerly awaiting the replacement to Privacy Shield, you might like to take a leaf from Microsoft’s book instead — they and others have stated they’ll comply with GDPR rather than depend on any bilateral mechanisms to enable data processing.

What Lessons Can Web Designers And Developers Learn From GDPR?

Privacy regulation is here to stay and it affects all our priorities and workflows. Here are six lessons to remember as you work with customer data:

We had to sprint to comply with GDPR. Now it’s a marathon.
We know that GDPR will continue to evolve alongside the technology it aims to regulate. That means the demands on us won’t remain the same. Not only that, but GDPR has inspired similar — but not identical — legislation around the world. These legal requirements are set to keep evolving.
Compliance builds competitive advantage.
While the first major GDPR fines have been eye-watering, it’s actually the negative publicity that many say is most damaging. Who benefits from a large data leak? The company’s competitors. On the other hand, if you embed GDPR compliance as you strengthen your design and development processes, you’ll be better able to adapt as the regulations evolve.
GDPR compliance and better COVID-19 outcomes are linked by user-centred design.
We know that companies who’d begun their digital transformation were better able to adapt to the COVID-19 crisis. User-centred design supports GDPR, too. It has the process and customer focus you need to build products that align with the idea that customer data is precious and must be protected. That will make it easier to evolve your products in line with future legislation.
You can build compliance into your digital products.
Privacy by design is here to stay. If you already use service design, you can include customer information as a data layer in your service blueprints. If you don’t, now’s a great time to start. Mapping where data is collected, processed and stored highlights weak points where potential breaches may occur. Automated compliance tools will help lessen the burden on companies, plus has the potential to make data processing more secure.
GDPR supports innovation — if you do it right.
Some warn that GDPR is suffocating innovation by restricting data flows and especially by deterring companies from innovating with data. Others point to opportunities to innovate with blockchain, IoT and AI in a way that’s secure and where data is protected. The truth? Yes, of course, you can innovate and be GDPR compliant. But ethics in AI is vital: you must respect your customers and their data.
Keep an eye on your third-party partners.
This goes back to the joint controllers decision above. Companies now share responsibility for customer data with any third parties who process it and that processing must be documented. You can expect third-party checks, monitoring and contractual obligations to be a priority for companies from now on.

Here’s How GDPR Could Develop

Phew. That’s a lot to take in. But looking ahead, here’s where I’m betting we’ll see change.

GDPR will continue to evolve, with clarity coming from test cases and potentially further legislation including the ePrivacy Regulation.
The EU will continue to promote international adoption of data privacy law. We’ll see more countries embrace data protection, often baked into trade and security agreements.
If we’re lucky, we may start to see international convergence of data privacy legislation — especially if the US implements data privacy at the federal level.
But we’ll also see more clashes between the EU and the US, because of their opposite approaches to privacy.
As ‘data is the new oil’, we could see more situations where users receive free products and services by giving away data through cookies.
Businesses will shift away from third-party cookies and towards server-side tracking and automation, in order to stay compliant.
Businesses will adopt Privacy by Design (PdB) and service design tools and process, to help them stay compliant to multiple sets of privacy laws.
And finally — and this one’s a definite — we’ll see more and bigger privacy lawsuits. Who’ll emerge as the winners — big tech or privacy advocates? That I don’t know, but we can be certain of one thing: privacy lawyers will make a lot of money.

A Final Word On Trust

The theme underpinning both the European Commission’s communications and the commentary from industry experts is trust. Digital agencies like ours now need to provide evidence of data security and GDPR compliance — even down to staff training policies for data protection. That’s new. The EU’s priority is to support safe, secure data flows and innovation, both within the EU and outside. Standards compliance is their solution for this. And we, as designers and developers, have a crucial role to play.

Part 1: GDPR, Key Updates And What They Mean
Part 2: GDPR, Cookie Consent and 3rd Parties (next week)
Subcribe to our newsletter to not miss it.

Further Reading

Data Protection, the EU’s site
UK ICO’s Guidance On Cookies
GDPR Enforcement Tracker, logs fines applied under GDPR
GDPR Checklist, by Cyber-Duck (a great place to start)
Overview of Data Protection Law in the United States, by ICLG
GDPR & CCPA Comparison Guide, by DataGuidance and the Future of Privacy Forum
CCPA vs CPRA, from IAPP
Security By Design (Amazon)
How To Protect Your Users With The Privacy By Design Framework, Heather Burns, Smashing Magazine

20 Best New Websites, February 2021

Original Source: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2021/02/20-best-new-websites-february-2021/

It’s February, and the spring sun is finally starting to peep through the winter clouds. While many of us are still largely restricted to our homes, the web has kept on growing.

We see a shift in attitude towards natural health, wellbeing, and sustainability, and these are now being branded less often as outliers and increasingly mainstream. We’re also seeing more and more color all the time, ranging from an emotional signifier in the background to being a functional element in its own right.

GOOD Meat

Gorgeous color in the background image and the scrolling narrative pull the user in on this site for lab ‘grown’ meat.

Hanwag 100 Years

This page celebrating 100 years of outdoor footwear company Hanweg uses a mix of illustrations and photographs to create a timeline marking the company’s highlights alongside what else was happening at the time. Any excuse to get Yoda in.

Gaffer

Gaffer describes itself as bridging the gap between football, music, fashion, and culture. The site has a glossy feel, with strong art direction and an easily navigable architecture.

Remember MLK

This rather beautifully made tribute to Martin Luther King uses some great typographic effects, and the variations, in contrast, create a layering of the different content elements.

Bonjour Agency

The home page for design agency Bonjour Paris uses sideways scrolling to give an overview of the whole site. There is a lot of content, but it doesn’t feel like waffle, and exploring the site is a pleasant experience in itself.

Wild Souls

Wild Souls is a Greek company that principally makes nut butters, tahini, and halva. The site is very colorful but warm, and the display type — Canela — has a slight softness to it that is appealing.

Nicolas Loureiro

This is a strong portfolio site for interactive and graphic designer Nicolas Loureiro. The work is front and center, and the navigation is pleasing.

Studio Nanna Lagerman

Studio Nanna Lagermann is a small interior design studio that works on private homes, public spaces, and set design. The site creates a feeling of space and calm. Colors are soft and neutral, and the type, although massive in places, is clean and sophisticated.

Aurelia Durand

Illustrator Aurelia Durand created her own typeface that she uses in her work, and it is used as the main display font here too. This site has a sense of joy about it that is hard to resist.

Archivio Mario Russo

This site documents the life and work of 20th-century Italian artist Mario Russo. The layout is thoughtful, and the text, while informative, doesn’t detract from the work being shown.

Gigantic Candy

Gigantic Candy makes vegan chocolate candy bars. The site is big, bold and lo-fi, and has a sense of fun to it.

dBodhi

dBodhi sells handcrafted furniture from Java, made from reclaimed teak and locally grown plant materials. The clean layout combined with a slight sepia tone on all the photography creates a feeling of quietness and nature.

Menu Durable

Menu Durable is a guide to creating healthier, sustainable food menus in Canadian healthcare facilities. There is a lot of information here, and it is well written and attractively presented with clear color coding.

Virgile Guinard

This is a lovely, simple portfolio site for photographer Virgile Guinard. By using blocks of color pulled from each photograph’s predominant color and only revealing each photograph on rollover, each image is allowed to stand out.

The Bold Type

This site for The Bold Type Hotel in Patra, Greece, is a boutique hotel website archetype, but it is done well. The pinky sand background color is a good choice, and the photographs are excellent.

NOR NORM

Nor Norm provide an office furniture subscription service. The site is clean with a feeling of light and space. There is a good balance between an overview of the process and details of the individual items available.

Ask Us For Ideas

At first glance, Ask Us For Ideas looks like a creative agency, but it is actually a creative broker, matching clients with agencies.

Prinoth Clean Motion

Prinoth has been making snow groomers since the 1960s, and this microsite is to mark the launch of their new hydrogen and electric versions. It is as slick and glossy as any luxury car website. And now I know what a snow groomer is.

Pschhh

Design agency Pschhh has embraced the use of circles, reflecting the sound of bubbles their name suggests.

CōLab

CōLab is a design and marketing firm. There is a great use of color and movement here, and you don’t really notice initially that there is no actual work on show.

Source

p img {display:inline-block; margin-right:10px;}
.alignleft {float:left;}
p.showcase {clear:both;}
body#browserfriendly p, body#podcast p, div#emailbody p{margin:0;}

The post 20 Best New Websites, February 2021 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

Collective #649

Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tympanus/~3/H68nr62k0g4/

Inspirational Website of the Week: Wild Souls

A beautiful font pairing and saturated colors make this design really inviting. The result of a fantastic collaboration between Big Horror and No Matter.

Get inspired

Collective 643 item image

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Page Transitions: Creative Examples, Resources and some Tips

Dive into the world of transitions and get inspired by wonderful examples and creative ideas.

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Penpot

Penpot is the first Open Source design and prototyping platform meant for cross-domain teams.

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Managing focus in the shadow DOM

Nolan Lawson describes what JavaScript libraries for focus management would need to do to support shadow DOM.

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SmolCSS

Minimal snippets for modern CSS layouts and components, created by Stephanie Eckles of ModernCSS.dev.

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Remotion

Create MP4 motion graphics in React. Leverage CSS, SVG, WebGL and more technologies to render videos programmatically with this tool.

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Understanding Z-Index in CSS

A visual guide on how z-index and stacking contexts work in CSS.

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The CSS File Size and Count Report for Premier League sites

An interesting file size report of CSS used on Premier League sites. Silvestar Bistrovi?.

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github1s

One second to read GitHub code with VS Code. Just add 1s after github and press Enter in the browser address bar for any repository you want to read.

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Building a Tabs component

A foundational overview of how to build a tabs component similar to those found in iOS and Android apps.

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Fitting Canvas Snow In a Tweet

Jon Kantner shows how to code up a really nice snow effect with minimal code.

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Programmatically Generate Images with CSS Painting API

Viduni Wickramarachchi’s tutorial about the CSS Paining API and how to use it to generate a geometric image programmatically.

Read it

The web didn’t change; you did

A very interesting article by Remy Sharp where he explains why “the problem with developing front end projects isn’t that it’s harder or more complicated, it’s that you made it harder and more complicated”.

Read it

Only CSS: Placer Gold Rush

A beautiful CSS demo made by Yusuke Nakaya.

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Faster JavaScript calls

Victor Gomes explains how the simple idea helped improve performance of JavaScript calls.

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CSS Border Font

A supercool CSS based font made by Davor Suljic using borders.

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Managing CSS Z-Index In Large Projects

Steven Frieson shares an easy-to-implement mini-framework based on existing conventions for better managing z-index in larger projects.

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CSS Switch-Case Conditions

Yair Even Or explains how to emulate switch-case conditions in CSS.

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How to Greatly Enhance fetch() with the Decorator Pattern

Dmitri Pavlutin writes about how to use the decorator pattern to enhance the possibilities and flexibly of the fetch() API.

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Is CSS float deprecated?

Robin Rendle explains why we can pack away float and only use it for making text flow around images.

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Dialy: Open source UI Kit for Figma

Dialy UI Kit is a free, open source User Interface Kit for Figma, designed and released by Aayush Gupta.

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Front-of-the-front-end and back-of-the-front-end web development

Brad Frost writes about the much-needed distinction between the types of web development that need to occur in order to build successful web things.

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Accessing hardware devices on the web

François Beaufort explains how to pick the appropriate API to communicate with a hardware device of your choice.

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From Our Blog
Ideas for CSS Button Hover Animations

Some inspiration for button hover animations using CSS only.

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The post Collective #649 appeared first on Codrops.

App Design Workout,Stay In

Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/abduzeedo/~3/DQWlx802u78/app-design-workoutstay

App Design Workout,Stay In
App Design Workout,Stay In

abduzeedo02.22.21

Elvis Benício shared a visual proposal for a WFH (“workout” from home) fitness app that helps people to build healthy habits. Both visuals and typography were inspired by the concept of the body movement creating a narrative across branding and product. The result at once communicates, contains, and embodies the inclusion of fitness for everybody. The visuals are clean and the bold typography gives it the app design a nice editorial look.   

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Interaction Design for SYYNCC App, a Multicam editing tool

Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/abduzeedo/~3/OpzVLnlY2JU/interaction-design-syyncc-app-multicam-editing-tool-0

Interaction Design for SYYNCC App, a Multicam editing tool
Interaction Design for SYYNCC App, a Multicam editing tool

AoiroStudio02.21.21

With the market we have today, it’s not every day you stumbled across an app that gives you that impression that is a cool idea. But after a few surf on the subject, it also deserves much more exposure. Well it’s the case with SYYNCC, a Multicam editing app designed by Alexander Plyuto. It’s basically an app that as I quote “main functionality is to intelligently adjust video of a single moment taken from different angles.” It would very interesting to give it a try, props on the work by Alexander and team.

plyuto.design
behance.net/plyuto
Check out the SYYNCC app

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Image may contain: screenshot

Image may contain: screenshot, mobile phone and video game

Image may contain: screenshot, video game and computer

Image may contain: screenshot, black and computer

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Image may contain: screenshot and person

 


How ImageEngine can Optimize Contentful CMS For Faster Web Performance

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

A headless CMS is a content management system with only a back-end configuration. The content repository is accessible through a RESTful API for display on any platform. The only focus is to create, manage and deliver structured content wherever it’s needed. Contentful is a headless content infrastructure, especially designed so that everyone without writing code can publish or update the content. It has a separate images API to handle images as it’s a powerful way to attract user’s attention and have the potential to create an impact. In this article, we will review how ImageEngine’s API can transform images better than the native API of Contentful. ImageEngine displays images the way users want and creates a faster website.

How Does Contentful API Manage Images?

Contentful image API refers to images as assets and allows manipulation and retrieval of image files. The asset URL is appended with a specified field to convert and manipulate the image file. An image of more than 20MB is treated as an asset and its size is reduced for uploading. The contentful API image processing includes:

1. Retrieval

The original image can be retrieved from that same asset’s URL.

2. The image can be converted to a different format

JPEGs: Image detail progressively improves until it’s downloaded fully and displays the image as quickly as possible.

PNGs: The PNG is an 8-bit image format, supports up to 256 colors, and is mostly used for simple icons or images.

WebP: This format compresses images on the web while providing a rich image of superior quality.

3. Resizing and cropping the image

Crop: The image can be resized to the required width and height. Images up to 4000 pixels can be uploaded.

Resizing: Resize images with specific dimensions through the padding, filling, scaling, dropping, or thumbnail.

Specify focus: The focus area can be selected for resizing. The values accepted are center, top, right, left, bottom, top_right, top_left, bottom_right, bottom_left, face, and faces. The circle radius in pixels is taken to crop the image for rounded corners.

4. Manipulate Image

The image quality can be altered and can be expressed in percentage. Set the RGB values for background color while setting the pad fit type and corner radius.

How Does ImageEngine Manage Images?

ImageEngine’s image management process adopts next-level optimization techniques to help websites achieve maximum performance. The developer might need to modify the HTML of the site to change the way images are displayed in native apps.

ImageEngine provides automatic image optimization based on client hints, WURFL device detection, and information such as resolution, optimal size, format, and compression. Its auto-mode supports diverse sizes, resolution, and much more which is compatible with desktop and mobile as well. It ensures that the user will get a quality image in the lowest possible size.

ImageEngine’s CDN receives an image request and then carefully searches for efficient edge servers. The servers detect the requesting browser and device to extract details such as:

Device screen sizeScreen resolutionDevice pixel ratioViewport sizeSupported image formats

So it generates different versions based on device size, capability, or compression rate. It embeds unique edge servers and its cache serves fast service even with several versions.

Format Conversion

After the device detection, the most suitable image format is automatically chosen. It’s performed through manual verification, WURFL device detection, and advanced systems. It confidently converts the image to a device supported format while reducing its size to improve the website experience.

Resizing

To provide a great user experience, the image is resized perfectly to fit in the viewport. With the help of client hints, it can handle Retina like high-resolution displays and would make sure to serve the appropriate image size according to the needed pixel size.

Metadata & Compression

The embedded metadata is removed for image optimization. Image compression is performed according to device screen size without compromising the image visual quality.

Client Hints

The Blink-based browsers support client hints, and it sends viewport details for generating perfectly optimized images. With this information, ImageEngine will automatically deliver the lowest possible file size with the best visual quality.

How to Integrate ImageEngine to Contentful?

It’s easy to integrate the ImageEngine image optimization API with Contentful to manipulate, convert, and transfer the image files for quick retrieval. To configure ImageEngine API with Contentful:

Step 1: Sign up for an ImageEngine Account to get started with optimizing images and obtaining a delivery address for faster web page loading.

Step 2: Next, define the origin of the images. Enter the URL of the Contentful-powered website, or simply enter the Contentful API base URL: images.ctfassets.net (read-only) as image origin location.

Step 3: An ImageEngine delivery address is generated. Copy this delivery address.

Step 4: Update the image tags to direct image requests to ImageEngine by replacing any occurrences of the default Contentful image API (images.ctfassets.net) with the new ImageEngine delivery address just provided.

For example, if the original image tag looked like this:

<img src=”https://images.ctfassets.net/yadj1kx9rmg0/wtrHxeu3zEoEce2MokCSi/cf6f68efdcf625fdc060607df0f3baef/quwowooybuqbl6ntboz3.jpg”/>

Then modify the image tag URL with the ImageEngine Delivery Address to look like this:

<img src=”https://<ImageEngine-Delivery-Address>/yadj1kx9rmg0/wtrHxeu3zEoEce2MokCSi/cf6f68efdcf625fdc060607df0f3baef/quwowooybuqbl6ntboz3.jpg”/>

Contentful Image API vs ImageEngine Image API

Contentful API Image

The Contentful optimized image has a content length of 46967 bytes in PNG format. As shown below.

ImageEngine Optimized Image

The ImageEngine optimized the same PNG image to WebP format and reduced content length to 7924 bytes. As shown below.

Therefore, ImageEngine compresses the image far better than the Contentful without compromising with the content quality.

Thus, by directing image requests to the ImageEngine Delivery Address, ImageEngine will automatically detect the device, optimize the image, and deliver via its global server network. This will greatly accelerate image loading time, decrease the physical distance between the user and content cached on the network, and maintain the image quality.

Step 5: Tune-up the account with the help of the ImageEngine control panel. The settings can be modified, set engine origins, and customize the delivery addresses.

Let’s compare ImageEngine’s image and Contentful published image.

Contentful
ImageEngine

JPG Format – 629 KB
JPG Format – 314 KB

PNG Format – 631 KB 
PNG Format – 387 KB

WebP Format – 329 KB
WebP Format – 297 KB

As you can see, the image size published by Contentful is significantly larger than ImageEngine’s optimized image, but there is negligible visual difference between the two. In addition to these formats, ImageEngine can also convert images to the new AVIF format which is not possible with Contentful API.

Conclusion

Organizations can integrate Contentful CMS with ImageEngine’s image optimization API and CDN to gain competitive advantages. One such advantage is climbing to the better spots on the search engine result pages. The faster speed has a direct connection with the improved user experience of the website and when the user experience improves, it improves the core web vitals that help in the achievement of goals related to the long-term presence on search engines.

The post How ImageEngine can Optimize Contentful CMS For Faster Web Performance appeared first on Codrops.

5 Effects Social Networks Have On You

Original Source: https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/science-you-and-social-media/

If you are active on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc, it’s probably a way of life for you. We usually go on these sites because our friends and family members are on…

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