Thanks for the input @matthieu.b! I’ll definitely look into making those videos for you. I don’t have an good mic at the moment so I’m doing speed designs and just showing off the platform right now but I plan to hopefully get a mic soon and these ideas will definitely be some of the first to be made!
To answer your questions simply and right now.
Good practices I’d say:
- Colour Code your workflows. With big projects, it can often get overwhelming trying to find the workflow youre looking for.
- Don’t dive into the plugin section thinking “I need this, this, this and this” start with your base app and build on top of it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought of an app idea and started adding plugin after plugin and getting overwhelmed.
- Learn what works well together and try and remember them. This one can take time to learn but mess around with colours, gradients and images and just see what works for you and play around with different styles. Personally I like minimalist design and I find it easier to create something clean and simple. So try to play around with things, find what you like and what works. Try having a bright, colourful page then try seeing what it looks like in dark colours. This ones probably the hardest to learn because in the end its preference but yeah just find your style and roll with it.
as for your other questions.
"Should I mockup my app before starting?"
It depends. Personally I like to dive right in and build but doing a mock up can definitely be a good way to see what your app or website is going to look like before you build it. This one is preference I’d say so do what you want.
"Should I mockup my database before starting?"
I don’t. Once again I dive straight in. I think “ok. I’m making a social media site, what will I need? well the users need names, ages, gender, countries” and so forth. It depends on your planning process so whatever you find easier to work with will suit you best.
"Should I mockup my design"
Simple answer. Yes. I like to know what my app is going to look like and even when I don’t have a mockup I always have a clear image of what I want in my head so once again. If you know what you want then you can jump right in and have a go but if you wanna play around with styles and decide then I’d say mockup.
"Should I create a Style Guide that gathers all reusable Style/design elements before starting?"
Yes. To be honest I don’t usually set up my reusable elements before starting and it can be a nightmare. I’ll end up creating a menu at the top and copy/paste it over to another page then change it and have to copy/paste again and its just annoying. reusable elements can be a life saver so yes use them but once again play around with styles and just see what works.
"How do I think and organize my data / database?"
Organizing the database is actually something I tend to spend a lot of time on. Usually it’s because im sitting there wondering if I really need all these different data sets for a user but setting defaults on data sets can be a life saver in case there’s something you’ve missed and they skip a step so instead of a blank space where their name will be it’ll say like “a username has not been set! Please go to your settings and create one”
"Versioning?"
Versioning. Well that depends. Sometimes get version happy and release version 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 all in the same night which isn’t good. Build your versions and maybe set 1 day a month or every two weeks to update unless there’s a big bug that’s urgent.
To finish off. I have noticed the other tutorials dive straight in to the deep end and when I was new I couldn’t follow them so ill be sure to make newbie friendly tutorials as well as some advanced tutorials!
