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Mtende Otis II
Mtende Otis II

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As a newbie should i take the UI of my projects seriously

When Im working on a new practice projects I usually struggle with the user interface and buttons even if the aim of the projects is not the ui but the functionality. I am a newbie so i think i shouldn't be focusing on ui i should be looking at the functionality. what do you think??

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nikolai1312 profile image
Nicolas Evangelista

Don't know if this discussion still on, but this is my take as a newbie too.

I've realized that the most important skill to a new developer is to understand the process, so if i may give you some advice, take notes on your thoughts while you're working on a solution, either the UI don't match the design or the component doesn't work properly, at least you've learned something and is ready to share with other people, this will help a lot on future projects. It may scare you right now, or give some serious doubts about your potential, but the struggle is a part of the process, you'll figure out how to do it.

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mtendekuyokwa19 profile image
Mtende Otis II

I meant it in the first days of learning programming state not a junior Dev manager situation. Like if I apply for a job after learning and I'm adding projects to my portfolio do they needto have good UI.

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wraith profile image
Jake Lundberg

It’s great that you are thinking about this. These are the kinds of things we developers need to think through for most projects before just diving into writing code. But as others have pointed out, it depends…

When considering where to invest time, the question I recommend you always ask yourself is “who is my audience?” The answer to this question will tell you everything you need to know.

If it’s just for you, and no one else will use it, it’s probably okay to skip lots of UI…unless of course the project is focused on learning something UI focused or you prefer to invest that time.

If you intend to show it to anyone else, the level of UI/UX work should always go up…even if it’s just a little bit. Having attractive UI helps to add clarity and attention to whatever the actual focus of the code is. Some labels or easy to read text can add context, accent colors can draw the user’s eye to the area you want them to look, and easy to follow flow helps to ensure your users don’t get hung up on the wrong things. Even something as simple as some spacing can add a lot to a project. Of course knowing more about your users helps to identify to what level your UI work should increase, but it should always go up to some degree.

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mtendekuyokwa19 profile image
Mtende Otis II

Couldn't have been said better bro. Thanks for the advice. I really needed to hear this. It will definitely change my approach when working with projects

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theaccordance profile image
Joe Mainwaring • Edited

It depends on the types of roles you're looking for professionally.

If you're looking to land full-stack engineering roles, you do need to practice and refine your skillset with front-end technologies. You won't necessarily need to become an expert in UI, but you should be able to deliver a feature that includes UI.

If you're looking for roles that focus on a lower layer in the tech stack, then UI is a less of a must-have.

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mtendekuyokwa19 profile image
Mtende Otis II

Thanks for the advice.

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efpage profile image
Eckehard

Depends much on your task. What kind of functionallity do you need to provide? Is it a small task, that can be handeled in some lines of code, or a really complex code that contains thousands of lines of code?

For a larger functional codebase, separating the code from the UI may make things more maintainable. But you need to define the communication between ui and functional code in form of function calls or state variables.

Referring to the UI, we find lot´s of fancy things today, but you should keep in mind, that people have some expectations about how things should be working. Beeing too fancy may make your UI unusable, so it might be a good idea to start with some kind of UI-library.

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booniepepper profile image
J.R. Hill

Take it seriously and do it deliberately.

Also understand you will be much better at this in the future.

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mtendekuyokwa19 profile image
Mtende Otis II

So As a beginner I mostly take my time looking at UI on figma community and dribble and take components I like and even style it in that way. Is this a good behaviour? Should I continue this practice

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booniepepper profile image
J.R. Hill

Do what works for you. If you want to get good at something, you need lots of deliberate practice. The practice (and feedback on the final product) is more important than the tools that you use. Over time you'll figure out the kinds of things you like to do, and might have a better idea of the tools you might want to use. Figma is a great starting place for UI.

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mtendekuyokwa19 profile image
Mtende Otis II

Thanks. From now on I will be serious with my User Interface when doing my projects. I am about to do a project very soon. Is it okay if i tag you to get your opinion of different aspects you seem to have a professional thought on this

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booniepepper profile image
J.R. Hill

Sure! I'm a software engineer by trade, but I dabble in some related things like UI, UX, graphic design, and illustration.

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mtendekuyokwa19 profile image
Mtende Otis II

mtendekuyokwa19@gmail.com that's my e-mail. Please email me we should talk I may have questions which are personal which I would not like to broadcast

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khanlifts profile image
Cyril Khan

Hi Mtende

This depends on what goal you have for your practice projects.
Is to get a job, learn to code...maybe showcase a MVP to a potential client?

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mtendekuyokwa19 profile image
Mtende Otis II

Thank you Cyril
Most of the times I try to achieve both because I believe that if my UI is good anyone who will go through my portfolio whether my GitHub one or my website if they have no technical knowledge they will still be impressed with the beauty of the project