Alright, let me tell you about my recent deep dive into chasing uniform appearances across different systems. It was a bit of a journey, and I learned a ton along the way. Buckle up!
The Goal: Basically, I was aiming to make things look consistent, no matter where you were viewing them. Think fonts, spacing, colors – the whole shebang. The idea was to create a smoother, more professional user experience.
Where I Started: I kicked things off by taking stock of all the places where our content showed up. This included our main website, a couple of internal dashboards, and even a mobile app. Each had its own little quirks and styling differences – a real mess, honestly.
Picking a Baseline: First things first, I needed a foundation. I decided to use the website’s design as the “source of truth.” It was the most mature and had the most design attention already poured into it.
Font Fun: Fonts were a major pain point. I spent way too long trying to figure out which fonts were being used where. Turns out, there were like five different fonts scattered around, and nobody even knew why. I narrowed it down to a single, clean font family that looked good on everything.
Color Coordination: Next up was color. Our color palette was all over the place. I grabbed a color picker and started pulling hex codes from the website, making a central list of primary and secondary colors. Then I started going through the other systems, replacing any rogue colors with the official ones. It was tedious, but the difference was immediately noticeable.
Spacing Shenanigans: Spacing was another area where things were inconsistent. Some elements were crammed together, while others had way too much breathing room. I created a basic spacing system using multiples of 8 pixels (you know, the usual design system stuff). Then I went through each system, adjusting margins and padding to match the new standard.
CSS to the Rescue (Mostly): CSS variables became my best friend. I defined all the colors, fonts, and spacing values as CSS variables, so I could easily update them in one place and have the changes propagate everywhere. It saved me a ton of time and headache.
Dealing with the Difficult Ones: The mobile app was the trickiest part. It was built using a different framework than the website, so I couldn’t just copy and paste CSS. I had to manually translate the CSS styles into the app’s native styling language. It was a slow process, but I got there eventually.
Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3: Once I made all the changes, I spent a lot of time testing things out on different devices and browsers. I wanted to make sure everything looked good across the board. I caught a few minor bugs and inconsistencies, but nothing too major.
The Result: After all that work, everything finally looked consistent. The website, dashboards, and mobile app all shared the same visual style. It was a huge improvement in terms of user experience and brand consistency.
What I Learned: This project taught me the importance of having a central design system and sticking to it. It also showed me how powerful CSS variables can be for managing styles across multiple systems. It was a long, sometimes frustrating process, but the end result was totally worth it.
- Plan ahead: Before you start making changes, take the time to plan out your approach and define your goals.
- Use CSS variables: They’re a lifesaver for managing styles across multiple systems.
- Test thoroughly: Make sure your changes look good on all devices and browsers.
That’s the story of my chase for uniform appearances. Hope you found it helpful!
