When creating Open Web Apps, you need to give a lot of consideration to the look and feel, user experience and workflow of your applications. In previous parts of this material we looked at application planning and flexible layouts for applications, and in this section we will go further, looking at both general patterns and design techniques that work for Open Web Apps, and specific techniques and assets that will help you put together great-looking Firefox OS apps that match the experience of the device's default applications.
Note: the articles in this section of the docs cover graphics and UX in a large amount of detail, including links to relevant examples and assets. If you are just searching for a library of assets and samples, BuildingFirefoxOS is a good place to go.
High level app design concepts
- Design principles
- A useful list of general design principles to start with.
- Installed app considerations
- High level considerations particular to installed Open Web App UX.
- Graphic design for responsive sites
- Ideas to keep in mind when designing graphics for responsive sites and applications.
- Grid design approaches
Design guides and resources
- Design patterns
- Guides to effective design patterns that work on small screen apps, including Firefox OS.
- Building blocks
- A library of components for use in Open Web Apps, including usage guides, assets, and HTML, CSS and JavaScript code snippets.
- Typography and content
- A guide to choosing effective fonts, and writing good content, for Open Web Apps.
- Colors
- Color palettes for Firefox OS apps, and general color scheme advice for Open Web Apps
- Iconography
- Designing a good application icon, and icon usage best practices.
Drawing and animating
- CSS transforms
- CSS transforms let you rotate, scale, and zoom HTML content, taking advantage of hardware acceleration where available, all without relying on JavaScript code.
- CSS transitions
- CSS transitions let you animate changes to your CSS. Once a transition effect is configured, changes to your CSS occur over a period of time instead of instantaneously. This makes it possible to easily and efficiently create a wide variety of visual effects in your apps.
- CSS animations
- CSS animations let you animate changes to your document on a more fundamental level, using keyframes to precisely configure the animation effect. This also lets you create looping animation effects rather than effects that happen just once, as is the case with transitions, all without relying on JavaScript.
- HTML canvas
- The HTML
<canvas>element provides a 2D graphics workspace for you to draw in. This is extremely useful for many purposes, including 2D games. - WebGL
- WebGL is a Web-friendly version of OpenGL ES, which lets your app offer hardware accelerated 3D graphics.
- SVG
- Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is a technology that lets you draw graphics using vectors instead of bitmapped images. This is great for scalability, presenting diagrams and charts, and for high-quality, scalable user interfaces.
Tools for app developers
Technology reference documentation
Getting help from the community
If you still aren't sure how to do what you're trying to get done, feel free to join the conversation!
- Consult the webapps forum:
- Ask your question on the Open Web Apps IRC channel: #openwebapps
- Consult the webapps forum: