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Joep Strik
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OutSystems UI kit vs Reality
Question
UI
OutSystems UI

Hi OutSystems community,
We want to improve the workflow between developers en designers. One of the developers is pushing towards using the OutSystems plugin/ kit in a project that is ongoing. 

Context

  • Joined 3 months ago as a UX & UI Designer.
  • Join the project while it's going on for some time.
  • The project is not using OutSystems UI kit plugin in Figma now.
  • Developers are pushing for the usage of the plugin and UI kit.

Our difficulties 

  • We know that each project is different but we find some limitations in the OutSystems plugin. 
    • We can't add more than one font 
    • We can't add some color variants
    • We can't add custom components
    • ...
  • We don't know what the impact will be if we switch to OutSystems plugin and UI Kit. We estimate a lot of time. From our side (Design Squad) and the developers. 
  • After a talk with one of the OutSystems developers:  If we go to use the plugin we will need to start all over again because he made some adjustments to the theme.

Our questions/ thoughts

  • Do you have any experience similar to our situation?
  • Are there maybe some solutions that we didn't think of? 
  • Are there alternatives for a design system plugin for OutSystems? We were thinking about Figma Tokens. But the developer from earlier says that those are not compatible. 
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06 Mar 2023
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2024-11-07 03-28-42
Stuart Harris
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Hi Joep,

I work in a software consultancy (Kiandra), where we have designers and developers.

Often when starting a large project we will use the UI Kit in Figma or Sketch (most designers at our company are using Figma now), make a copy of it and make changes to it as required.

However, if the project is small, or as in your case, designs were created without using OutSystems UI kit, we don't recreate it in the UI Kit because it would take alot more time with little benefit.

It would be interesting to understand why the developers are pushing for this. Has there been issues with the design where it does not fit well with OutSystems UI patterns? or is there some other problem?

Recently I completed a POC where I created a mobile app using the Mobile Builder, which gave me a good starting point for a design, then due to resourcing issues, the designer only came in toward the end (life in a consultancy, hey!?). They didn't use the UI kit, they just took screenshots from the app, and recreated the parts that needed to change.

 So while the UI Kit is a helpful resource, tools like Figma are amazing at producing designs from scratch really quickly.  Maybe the developers don't know this?

Anyway, this is a bit of a ramble, but I hope it helps.

Would be interesting to hear how you go.

Kind regards,

Stuart

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16 Mar 2023
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Joep Strik

Hi, 

Your explanation helped us with our case. After a discussion, our manager pushed us to use the plugin and UI kit. But at the moment we will use the plugin and UI kit only for new projects, not for ongoing projects (maybe in the future).

Now we're adapting the UI kit so it's aligned with the branding of the company. 

If you have any suggestions that will improve our workflow with the developers. Shoot! 

Kind regards, 
Joep.

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27 Mar 2023
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2018-08-26 20-34-32
Pankaj pant

Just wated to clear few points here as asked.

Our difficulties 

  • We know that each project is different but we find some limitations in the OutSystems plugin. 
    • We can't add more than one font -Are you reffering font-family then the answer is, we can add any no of fonts.
    • We can't add some color variants-There is no limitation on it.
    • We can't add custom components-We can create custome componet in outsystems called pattern.

BR,

Pankaj


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21 Mar 2023
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Joep Strik

First of all, thank you for your reaction. 

  • If I'm understanding it correctly it's possible to add more than one font with the plugin? We don't know how we can add more font families than one to the OutSystems Plugin. 
  • What is the ideal scenario for creating a custom component

Do you have any other suggestions on where we can improve the workflow.

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27 Mar 2023
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2018-08-26 20-34-32
Pankaj pant

Hi there,


you have to use side menu layout and chose the menu behavior as overlay.

later try to style your links as you want.


BR,

Pankaj

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21 Mar 2023
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