This week, we discuss what it means to have and develop taste. From software to fashion, styles change, trends come and go, so what does it mean to be tasteful? In The Sidebar, we discuss the hacker mindset and building for an audience of one. This, plus cool things like a handy iPhone app and a killer new VR game!

345: Developing Taste

This week, we share some tips for getting unstuck when working on complicated design problems. We also share our home screen organization philosophies in The Sidebar, catch up on Tweets, and share our cool things as always.

348: Getting Unstuck

This week, we talk about how to overcome skill gaps. What should you do if you are bad at visual design? What if you can't make icons? Should you play into strengths or develop upon your weaknesses? We explore these topics, and more!

347: Overcoming Skill Gaps

This week, we can't record a podcast talking about pixels and software design. The world is hurting, and the best thing we can do right now is direct people to the resources and organizations that are able to have the most impact in black communities. Please consider reading, learning, introspecting, and donating this week.

349: Black Lives Matter

This week, we discuss the characteristics of high quality software. We do our best to organize and outline things to pay attention to that will help you ship better software. This, plus a Sidebar discussing how to handle negative feedback from customers, and cool things as always!

346: Quality Software

Using Ghost as a Headless CMS with Next.js

Product Design Portfolios

Using Cookies to Authenticate Next.js + Apollo GraphQL Requests

Just-for-me Authentication

Quality Software

This is one of the better reading experiences I've seen in an app. I'd argue that the left and right margins are a *tad* too large, but otherwise the vertical rhythm of the entire app is seamless. I love the snap-to-chapter interaction whenever you scroll past the current section; it feels great to use and has enough rubber-band tension to make it super obvious that you've transitioned to a new chapter.

Reading

NeuBible

See, once you get past the notifications request I can finally start to parse out what this app is and what kind of value it provides. "Follow people's camera rolls" sounds interesting, if not a bit on the extreme side of messaging. How will it work? Will I be automatically sharing my camera roll if I sign up?

I'm a bit hesitant, but continue on through signup.

As far as visuals go, Shorts has killed it. But that was no surprise once I realized the [Highlight](http://highlig.ht/) team is behind this product. Clean and simple with a bright and inviting color palette - nicely done.

Sign up

Shorts

Microinteractions like these add value to the entire user experience. Rather than being jostled around with static view changes, Stripe helps introduce people to their dashboard with motion. Animation also buys Stripe time to load data in the background while preserving an experience that feels snappy and responsive. 

Login

Stripe

Nicely done, Quartz: teach users how to use the app by having them actually complete the functions themselves. It’s clever and helps users build momentum in the onboarding experience.

It has become standard user experience practice to tell people that you’re going to ask them for notification permission before the popup appears. Quartz handles this nicely by explaining why notifications are useful. Opting in or out is totally fair game, but that emoji in the confirmation option is oh-so enticing.

✊🏾

Black Lives Matter.