OutSystems Platform Version 8 Takes Application UX to the Extreme

OutSystems, announced today general availability of OutSystems^® Platform Version 8, introducing significant advancements for building web and mobile applications that deliver a great user experience (UX). A long list of innovative features makes designing pixel-perfect user interfaces easy for developers, and a first-of-its-kind built-in user performance monitoring capability ensures application performance is meeting user expectations.

OutSystems Platform 8 introduces a number of innovative features that make it easy to build enterprise web and mobile applications that deliver a great UX on any Android, iOS, Windows or BlackBerry device:

• Built-in Support for Grid Layouts. By simply using drag & drop and sizing handles to resize and move UI elements, developers effortlessly create structured user interfaces with pixel-perfect alignment.
• Automated Optimal Spacing. Based on extensive research on visual design best practices, elements come with default spacing and margin parameters. The defaults can be easily modified and are designed to be easily maintained.
• Immediate Preview. A perfect rendering of how the user interface will look in the browser, without the need to compile and run the application, enables extreme prototyping, rapid development and further simplifies maintenance.
• Enhanced Mobile Pattern Support. From off-canvas menus and notification badges, to clickable areas – the latest mobile display patterns are supported. And by generating HTML5 and CSS3, a rich interface can be achieved on any device, using controls native to the device.
• Real-time User Performance Monitoring. Poor application performance is one of the top reasons applications don’t get adopted and why users complain. OutSystems Platform 8 introduces real-time user performance monitoring through a dashboard which tracks application performance down to the user and page view. Utilizing industry standard performance guidelines, graphs and alerts monitor the health of the application and the networks supporting it, to ensure that the application is performing to user expectations.

As part of the launch of the new release, OutSystems has published a “UX for IT” eBook and resource kit that can be downloaded here.

Further details about the new features in OutSystems Platform 8 can be downloaded here.