

This allows to make the link between the UI and the data.įor instance, an e-commerce site shows a page listing all the available products. For instance, XCode Interface Builder is for the Apple platform, Bonitasoft UI Designer is for the Bonita BPM/DPA platform (see below).įinally, once the UI is done and all the stakeholders are happy with the look & feel, a connection to the business data is needed. Choosing to adopt a UI Builder avoid to handle all this.Īnother important point is that many UI Builders are dedicated to a specific platform. I think the latest is by far the most common, especially in an agile process where stakeholders are invested in the UI definition.Īn important subject to take into consideration, especially in the web area: the choice of the right technology for your needs can take a lot of time, and these technologies are evolving very quickly. But if you don’t have a very precise idea on how your interface will look like, the best choice is perhaps to start designing it with a UI Builder, and make it evolve regularly. If you have an obvious and precise idea on your interface, with specific graphical requirements, with specific graphical components, then perhaps you should code the interface. For instance, the gap between components may be imposedĪs you can see, the choice will depend on your needs. You cannot build a pixel-perfect interface, you have to use the choices done by the UI Builder. Adding your own components, or modifying a built-in component, is sometimes not possible, or not easy You have to use a set of graphical built-in components from a palette.

for a web UI: Angular, React, Vue, Web Components ?) You do not have to decide what is the right underlying technology and handle its updates (i.e. Ideally the designer is a person with an excellent knowledge of the business The roles can be separated between the interface designer and the developer. The interface can be modified quickly, sometimes during a discussion or meeting When the UI is built, it is much easier to adapt and modify the pages Very useful for Proof Of Concepts (POC), to share swiftly the interface look to the stakeholders There are pros and cons to both approaches: Pros

Should developers use UI builders ? Or should they code the interface themselves? Then, the components are resized, re-arranged and configured to get the required look. I’ll try to answer the question: do you really need to code your UI? What is a UI Builder?Ī UI Builder provides a way to create a Graphical User Interface (GUI, or UI for simplicity) by drag and dropping graphical components (Buttons, Text Fields, Date Pickers, …) to a white screen. Disclaimer: this article is not a comparative study on UI Builders.
