Original Source: https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/how-to-clear-dns-cache-in-macos-mojave/
If you are a macOS user and have recently made changes to your DNS settings, then doing a flush, aka cleaning the DNS cache would be a good idea. But why is it important to clear DNS cache? Well,…
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Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/abduzeedo/~3/TN65q28FR7w/inside-look-original-applewatch-development
An inside look at the original #AppleWatch development
AoiroStudioApr 26, 2020
Back on April 24, 2015 the world was introduced to the original Apple Watch that literally changed the ‘watch industry’ forever. Happy 5th Birthday Apple Watch! For the occasion, one of the designers that worked on the first Apple Watch team shared a few fun facts that we took the liberty to embed it below. I am really thankful for Imran Chaudhri for sharing such an insightful series of facts that went into the development. We get to read stories and see the ‘original sketch’ for the home screen. How cool is that? I will let you discover the next few slides but it’s so amazing to get such insight and learn from the pioneers of ‘user interface and experience. Enjoy!
digital touch was originally called E.T. for electronic touch. i called it that for its potential as a new form of emotional connection.
the drawing “ink” was inspired by my graffiti days. the ephemera was designed to communicate transmission while making it guilt free. pic.twitter.com/FadGhf8ho9
— Imran Chaudhri (@imranchaudhri) April 24, 2020
i‘ve always loved straps that were uncomplicated, the mechanism for the loop watchband was an evolution of velcro speedmaster straps worn by apollo astronauts. pic.twitter.com/8FLSRC1NrV
— Imran Chaudhri (@imranchaudhri) April 24, 2020
i created the solar watch face as a way for muslims observing ramadan to quickly see the position of the sun and for all to understand the sun’s relationship to time. #RamadanMubarak pic.twitter.com/4mcmIknqjm
— Imran Chaudhri (@imranchaudhri) April 24, 2020
Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Designrfix/~3/7AJNT1v4IGM/reasons-why-you-should-avoid-free-hosting-services
Wherever you are in the branding process, a web presence is going to be a necessity at some point. Before you compose your first blog post or create the ultimate product, you’re going to need a reliable place to host your website. New businesses and those making the transition to eCommerce may be short on […]
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Original Source: https://www.sitepoint.com/15-figma-plugins-to-help-you-design-better/?utm_source=rss
Figma, the second most-used tool for designing user interfaces (and the first most-used tool when counting only Windows OS), has really taken the digital design industry by storm lately, with even Adobe XD shipping their own version of Figma’s multiplayer feature (naming it “coediting”).
However, the hot topic at Figma right now is the release of plugins — extensions that Figma users can install on Figma to allow for extra functionality or to improve their design workflow.
Let’s take a look at some of the best Figma plugins so far.
1. Arrow Auto (create user flows)
Arrow Auto adds flowchart functionality to Figma, which is useful for creating user flow maps. Select any two objects on the canvas and Arrow Auto will enable you to draw a connector between them. You can also hide and show the flows on demand.
Autoflow is a decent (and maybe nicer looking) alternative, but Arrow Auto has more features, including the ability to switch connector directions and also move connected objects around while keeping connectors intact.
2. Angle (utilize device mockups)
Angle allows you to display your screens (i.e. artboards) from within a number of realistic or matte-effect device frames that each come with a variety of angle options and shadow styles.
Impressively, they’re 100% vector as well.
Artboard Studio isn’t quite the same thing, as it allows for inserting a whole bunch of random 3D objects onto the canvas (like a kiwi, for example). If you only care about device mockups, I’d install Angle. Vectory 3D is similar to Artboard Studio, but it outputs actual 3D assets.
3. Master (manage components more easily)
Master offers a better way to manage components, such as the ability to turn multiple identical objects into a component, duplicate components into other Figma files, and much more.
4. Clean Document (auto-clean documents)
Clean Document, well … cleans your document! It deletes hidden layers, sorts them intelligently, renames them according to your liking, ungroups single-layer groups, and even rounds dimensions to the nearest pixel. A terrific tool for obsessive neat freaks!
5. Similayer (select similar layers)
Quite simply, Similayer allows you to select layers based on their similarity to the layer that’s currently selected. Let’s say that you wanted to change a shadow style that’s being used on a number of different elements: Similayer could do that.
You could also use it to batch-reassign multiple components.
6. Viewports (change the viewport)
Find out the correct market share of all viewport dimensions, then apply them to frames. It’s insane how useful this is!
Viewport data is live-sourced from StatCounter.
Continue reading
15+ Figma Plugins to Help You Design Better
on SitePoint.
Original Source: https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/map-tools/
Maps are handy for a lot of reasons. Not only do they help us navigate through certain areas, they also enable us to learn more about the world and what it has to offer. What if you’re someone…
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Original Source: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2020/04/17-tools-for-effective-customer-engagement/
Since you are dealing with customers — even if it’s just a few, it is important that you offer them the best possible experience. This is especially important for freelancers and small design agencies with a few clients because they don’t have the luxury of losing clients. In fact, 73% of clients say that having a positive experience is one of the key factors that influence their brand loyalty.
One way to improve your client experience is by having a good customer support/engagement channel. In this article, we’ll list the best tools for customer support/engagement. Let’s get started:
Help Desk Software
Help desk software is a centralized system that makes it easy to keep track of customer complaints, user requests, and efficiently deal with customer-care related queries.
Zendesk
Zendesk comes with all the features you would require from a help desk software. The app provides a flexible ticketing system with advanced reporting and analytics.
For design agencies and freelancers with a few clients, Zendesk offers a feature that allows you to host communities and forums where your clients can share and exchange answers.
It also offers over 100 integrations with other business solutions like CRM, cloud storage, and productivity apps. This is very useful for freelancers and small agencies with a limited budget. Instead of running all these applications separately, you can just integrate them into Zendesk.
Freshdesk
Freshdesk comes with an intuitive and simple UI that makes it easy to work with. It offers different plans to meet the needs of both freelance designers and small design agencies.
For freelancers that work on mobile devices, Freshdesk also comes with a robust mobile app that is available for both Android and iOS users. With the app, you can handle client complaints and take your data anywhere you go.
Freshdesk also allows you to track recurring client complaints. Having a thread of recurring client complaints can be very useful. It is most likely you are doing something wrong since most of your clients are complaining of the same thing. Having this information can help you improve your performance.
Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk is a powerful help desk platform that offers designers multi-channel support capabilities. What this means is that you can engage with your clients on other channels apart from the app itself.
A unique feature that Zoho comes with is a content-aware AI called Zia. This AI provides clients with human-level responses in real-time. If you are not available to handle customer complaints, the AI can assist clients in navigating the right knowledge base for accurate answers and solutions to their queries.
Vision Helpdesk
Vision helpdesk is a robust helpdesk software that centralizes all client communications on one platform.
The platform offers multi-channel support that allows designers to communicate with clients through email, phone and chat, websites, and Facebook.
The platform also allows you to run client satisfaction surveys and reports. If you own a growing design agency, surveys like this are very important. It helps you understand which area of your business to improve.
If you work with a team of designers or freelancers, the software also has its own social media like hub for teams called Blabby.
Social Media Support
Most of your clients are on social media and it is important that you have an efficient system to answer queries and complaints. You need a dedicated social media support tool to efficiently deal with customer queries on social media.
Hootsuite
When it comes to social media management, Hootsuite is one of the best tools available. The biggest advantage of this tool is that it allows you to manage all of your social media accounts in one place. Not only can you share posts and schedule updates with this tool, you can connect with your clients and answer all their requests/complaints on more than thirty social media platforms. The tool also offers easy integration with other third-party apps and business solutions.
Sprout Social
Sprout Social is an all-in-one social media interaction software that helps designers to increase engagement and communicate more efficiently with their clients. Sprout Social comes with three main features that make it essential for design agencies and freelancers: social customer service, social media management, and social media analytics. With this tool, you’re able to collect customer feedback that will help you to serve clients better.
One significant advantage of the tool is the user dashboard. It is well organized into six sections: Messages, Tasks, Feed, Publishing, Discovery, and Reports, that makes it easy to interact with your clients and also share social media posts.
AgoraPulse
AgoraPulse is a social moderation tool that allows designers to manage all their social media channels in one place. The platform is built to help designers communicate and respond to client queries efficiently across all social media platforms. It also allows designers to monitor mentions of themselves or their brand on popular social media networks like Facebook and LinkedIn.
Self-Service Knowledge Base
A self-service knowledge base is a centralized database that contains useful information that clients can go to directly for answers.
Bloomfire
Bloomfire is a powerful knowledge management platform that allows agencies (and freelancers who have the time) to centralize all information and recurring customer queries in an easy-to-use search solution.
The software comes with a QnA module that allows clients to ask and answer the questions that bother them. The best part of the platform is that every information asked or answered on the application is never lost.
Helpjuice
Helpjuice is an all-in-one knowledge base and customer support platform with a great user interface. It comes with tags that can be searched depending on the answer category.
A cool feature the platform comes with is that answers are automatically suggested as a client type in a question.
It also offers advanced analytics to help you see how many times a question was read and if the client found the solution helpful.
Flowlu
Flowlu is a platform that makes it easy for designers to curate data or information into a consolidated knowledge base for easy access by clients. The platform also features an online financial management system, intuitive collaboration tools, third party integration, and online payment integrations (this feature makes it easy for freelancers to collect payment from their clients).
Real-Time Communication
With real-time communication tools, allows you to respond to client complaints and queries immediately in a live environment.
Zoom
Video is a great way to increase engagement with your clients and this is where Zoom comes into play. Zoom is a video conferencing tool that is used to run virtual meetings and conduct video demonstrations for clients. Another useful feature that Zoom comes with is instant sharing of documents, video files, and photos with clients. It supports a dual-screen system and comes with HD video and audio quality.
Aircall
Aircall is a modern phone system solution that helps designers to run a call center without the need of physical phone lines. With this tool, you can conduct calls from anywhere in the world and provide services to your clients using its mobile and desktop applications. All you need to do is to install a VoIP system and you can start receiving phone calls from clients right away.
ConceptShare
ConceptShare is a communication platform specifically created for designers and creatives. With ConceptShare, designers can review and approve any upcoming project. It also offers workflow automation which means that you and a client can communicate with each other on the platform without having to send a hundred emails back and forth. Another useful feature it offers designers is online proofing.
Customer Feedback & Satisfaction Surveys
Receiving feedback from clients helps you to serve them better. There are a ton of individuals offering the same services as you. To stand out, you need to give your clients the best user experience possible.
UserVoice
UserVoice is a management software that helps designers to collect feedback from their customers. It comes with iOS and Android SDKs which allow you to use the software directly on your phone. UserVoice aims to help businesses improve customer experience by enhancing customer service.
Client Heartbeat
Client Heartbeat is a tool that allows you to analyze customer satisfaction by sending out surveys via email. You can schedule the surveys to go out at different times — like every three to six months. The software makes use of a proprietary algorithm that helps you to determine the best questions to include in your survey depending on your industry.
Helio
Helio is one of the easiest ways for designers to receive feedback on their projects. The platform allows designers to get feedback easily during every stage of the design process. Designers can easily upload images, PowerPoint, and PDFs to the platform. From sketches to fully coded pages, or wireframes, Helio allows designers to share notes with clients, receive feedback, and stay organized.
zipBoard
zipBoard is a platform that allows designers and developers to collaborate and share feedback on designs. The platform features a project management solution and a visual feedback tool. zipBoard allows users to leave replies and attach files to feedback comments. The platform also integrates with third-party solutions like Slack.
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Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/abduzeedo/~3/uEPCV5s0ufw/create-super-cool-refractive-art-cinema4d
Create Super Cool Refractive Art in Cinema4D
abduzeedoApr 22, 2020
Jonathan Quintin, founder and Creative Director at StudioJQ has an incredible class on Skillshare. In his class you will learn how to use Cinema4D & Octane to create super cool abstract graphics to enable you to use for motion and video or poster art. I found out about his class after seeing a beautiful design on Dribbble. I love the internet. My weekend now is going to be filled with new things to learn.
3D & Animation Class
Here are some examples of effects you will learn on this amazing class.
For more information make sure to follow Jonathan on
Instagram
Behance
Skillshare
Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/abduzeedo/~3/ZfBCfsSp5es/who-created-cinema-4d-s22-3d-splash-screens
Who Created Cinema 4D S22 3D Splash Screens
abduzeedoApr 23, 2020
The incredibly talented Nidia Dias was approached by Maxon to create this year’s splash screen for their S22 release. She started by creating one 3D look/style that was further explored to different variations for different versions of the software. Besides the main release, Cinema 4D’s other versions are: Lite Version, Cinebench, Teamrender Client and Teamrender Server.
The first image for some reason reminds me of a wave breaking. Not just any wave but a hollow one. It feels so natural despite the shiny look. It is a reminder that I need to learn some Cinema 4D.
3D
Original Source: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2020/04/unlock-your-teams-potential-with-teamstack/
Teamstack is a password manager for your whole team. Running in the cloud it allows you to manage your tools and resources, and seamlessly scale your teams’ access, from a single, easy-to-use control panel.
Teamstack is powerful, and secure with multi-factor authentication, single sign-in, SAML and form-based authentication. It works with desktop and mobile apps, and in the browser.
Teamstack means easy access for your team, zero access for everyone else.
Why Use Teamstack
All of your data is locked away behind log-ins, in licensed apps and secure databases. Those tools are business assets, and when it comes to mission-critical apps like project management tools, CRMs, or messaging channels, your livelihood depends on them staying secure.
Your data, especially your sensitive data, is the lifeblood of your team. Without the data you hold — be that a codebase, a series of strategy decisions, or even contact details for your clients — your team will struggle to function.
Teamstack not only secures your data, but makes accessing it a breeze for anyone who should have access; making team management a whole lot simpler.
Agile Teams Use Teamstack
Whether you’re onboarding new staff, or managing a stable of freelancers you’ll need a solution to the endless spreadsheets with usernames, passwords, and license keys.
Teamstack is a single-source of truth for your team’s secure log-ins. It works by channelling every log-in through its API. When a team member signs into their Teamstack dashboard they’re granted access to the apps and services that you’ve allocated; a single log-in gives them access to everything they need to do their job, improving security and efficiency.
Teamstack’s particularly useful for project managers working with freelancers
Teamstack’s Cloud Directory is perfect for busy managers; it allows you to manage your team’s access to all of your company’s authentication in a simple-to-use web interface. It’s a huge time-saver for everyone. Especially if your team is forced to work remotely for any reason. And Teamstack’s particularly useful for project managers working with freelancers. Onboarding can take hours, even a whole day, which is less than desirable if you’re working short-term with a freelancer who bills hourly. With its one-click provisioning and group permissions, you can grant access to team resources in seconds.
Just as Teamstack enables simple onboarding, it also enables simple offboarding. When a member of your team leaves, simply cancel their access and they’re locked out across the board.
You can even break your team down into different groups, meaning that full clearance can be granted to execs without exposing your sensitive data to your whole staff, and that different teams can have dedicated policies and access.
Whatever kind of team you’re managing Teamstack gives you fast control over your team’s access.
Teamstack Integrates with Hundreds of Applications
If you’re managing a design studio, tools will be an even more essential part of your process than for the average business.
Teamstack works with over 500 applications, and these are tools you’re probably already using: Adobe Creative Cloud, MailChimp, LinkedIn, Asana, G Suite, Slack, Dropbox, AWS, Github, and hundreds more are all integrated right out of the box.
Teamstack can even integrate with your own custom-built applications, giving everyone on your team access to your own software and systems, with none of the overheads involved in maintaining case-by-case security protocols.
Keeping Data Secure with Teamstack
In many territories, securing your business data — which inevitably includes customer data — is not just good practice, it’s a legal requirement with fines for data loss running into the $millions.
your applications are secure, even when your team is working remotely
Most teams can’t afford to deploy enterprise-level security, but with Teamstack you can rest assured that your applications are secure, even when your team is working remotely.
Using Teamstack’s control panel you can vary authentication requirements across your team. You can set up multi-factor authentication like WebAuthn, or Google Auth, restrict access to context-specific factors (like requiring log-ins to be from your office IP address), and setup IP blacklists to block any threats. All of this means that low-risk groups like your marketing team can log-in quickly, with high-risk groups like your accounts team having additional security in place.
Should you run into trouble, Teamstack maintains a complete audit trail so you can check every log-in attempt across all of your tools. If something looks off, block the user instantly to keep your data secure.
Try Teamstack for Free
WebdesignerDepot readers can get Teamstack’s basic plan, including all add-ons, entirely free of charge for six months. Take take advantage of this generous offer, signup using the coupon code “webdesignerdepot”.
If you find Teamstack as indispensable as we think you will, plans with generous allowances start from just $3 per user per month.
Head over to www.teamstack.com today to claim your free account.
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.alignleft {float:left;}
p.showcase {clear:both;}
body#browserfriendly p, body#podcast p, div#emailbody p{margin:0;}
Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/1stwebdesigner/~3/NuxEAcaa3Tc/
By default, there is no option to disable RSS feeds in WordPress, because RSS feeds allow users to subscribe to your blog posts. However, there are certain situations where you may want to turn off RSS feeds. There are a few plugins that you can use to do this, but whenever possible we always try to use as few plugins as possible and use our own code.
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By placing the following code in your theme’s functions.php file (or a site-specific plugin) when someone tries to go to the RSS feed link (yoursite.com/feed/) they will receive a message that no feed is available.
function 1wd_disable_feed() {
wp_die( __(‘No feed available,please visit our <a href="’. get_bloginfo(‘url’) .’">homepage</a>!’) );
}
add_action(‘do_feed’, ‘1wd_disable_feed’, 1);
add_action(‘do_feed_rdf’, ‘1wd_disable_feed’, 1);
add_action(‘do_feed_rss’, ‘1wd_disable_feed’, 1);
add_action(‘do_feed_rss2’, ‘1wd_disable_feed’, 1);
add_action(‘do_feed_atom’, ‘1wd_disable_feed’, 1);
add_action(‘do_feed_rss2_comments’, ‘1wd_disable_feed’, 1);
add_action(‘do_feed_atom_comments’, ‘1wd_disable_feed’, 1);
Now you know how to disable RSS feeds in WordPress. Be sure to check out our other WordPress tutorials for more tips!
