Anima Blog https://www.animaapp.com/blog/ Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:16:34 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 Unleash the power of Material UI with Anima https://www.animaapp.com/blog/product-updates/unleash-the-power-of-material-ui-with-anima/ https://www.animaapp.com/blog/product-updates/unleash-the-power-of-material-ui-with-anima/#respond Sun, 15 Sep 2024 11:08:52 +0000 https://www.animaapp.com/blog/?p=10202 Reading Time: 4 minutes We’re excited to introduce Anima’s latest feature: the ability to transform any Figma design into clean, functional code using Material UI (MUI). This powerful capability helps developers quickly convert any Figma file—whether it’s well-structured or not—into high-quality MUI code.

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We’re excited to introduce Anima’s latest feature: the ability to transform any Figma design into clean, functional code using Material UI (MUI). This powerful capability helps developers quickly convert any Figma file—whether it’s well-structured or not—into high-quality MUI code.

The problem: designers mindset vs. developers approach

In the world of digital product creation, designers and developers often have different priorities. Designers focus on creativity and user experience, often without considering the technical constraints or specific libraries used in implementation. Developers, on the other hand, need to translate these designs into code that is functional, maintainable, adhere to best practices, is reusable, and aligns with existing codebases, libraries, and standards.

Anima bridges this gap by enabling developers to stay within the confines of their chosen libraries, like MUI, while still respecting the designer’s creative vision. This ensures a smooth, efficient development process that saves time and resources.

How Anima’s MUI integration works

When you start using Anima’s MUI support, the process is as seamless as it is powerful. Anima detects design elements— even those not explicitly defined in Figma—and generates MUI code that aligns with your project’s needs:

  • Generating New Assets? Start with MUI: Use the Anima plugin in Figma to create new MUI-based components and screens. This gives you a head start with ready-to-use code that adheres to MUI standards. Just copy and paste your code!
  • Integrating with an Existing Project? Go Further with Frontier: Take integration to the next level with Anima’s VSCode extension, Frontier. Frontier learns your existing code components, MUI theme provider, and other code conventions. It generates code that reuses these elements and suggests new code when necessary, ensuring seamless integration with your project. With Frontier, you can easily inject new, complex components, customize layouts, and see real-time previews of your changes—all within the VSCode environment.

Whether you’re working with Figma Classic Mode, Dev Mode, or VS Code, Anima reduces development time and eliminates repetitive tasks, making your workflow more efficient and effective.

Anima’s MUI integration: your best starting point

With Anima’s integration with MUI, developers can easily convert Figma designs into functional, readable code. The tool automatically detects design elements—even if they aren’t defined as components in Figma—and generates MUI code that aligns perfectly with your project’s needs.

Simple Example: Button

Consider this  basic button design in Figma that isn’t defined as a component:

 

Here’s how generic tools might translate it:

Here’s how Anima translates it into MUI code:

Anima generated MUI code

In this example, Anima 

  • Recognizes the button as a potential component
  • Generates the appropriate MUI component with the correct props
  • Adds customization—like corner radius—that integrates seamlessly into your project.

Advanced example: Table 

Now, let’s look at a more complex example—a table with multiple subcomponents. This is where Anima’s capabilities really shine, demonstrating its ability to handle advanced MUI components.

 

Here’s how Anima translates it into MUI code:

This table example shows how Anima automatically handles the structure of a table from Figma, generating the necessary MUI components such as Table, TableHead, TableRow, and TableCell. Anima ensures that each component is used correctly, providing a clean and maintainable codebase.

Best practices: Getting the most out of Anima with MUI

While Anima works well with any Figma design, it performs best when using the official MUI Figma library. Aligning design elements closely with MUI components will result in the highest quality code generation, minimizing manual adjustments and streamlining your workflow.

Future enhancements: Theme generation

Looking ahead, Anima is committed to enhancing its capabilities even further. We plan to introduce support for generating a custom MUI theme provider based on your Figma designs, ensuring consistency across your projects.

Start coding with Anima and MUI today

With Anima’s powerful MUI integration, you can convert any Figma design into high-quality, functional code, no matter how it’s structured. Say goodbye to manual coding and start saving time today. Explore how Anima can transform your development process by trying it with your next project.

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Best IDEs for Frontend Development in 2024: Features, Pros, Cons, and Pricing https://www.animaapp.com/blog/code/best-ides-for-frontend-development-in-2024-features-pros-cons-and-pricing/ https://www.animaapp.com/blog/code/best-ides-for-frontend-development-in-2024-features-pros-cons-and-pricing/#respond Mon, 09 Sep 2024 10:34:15 +0000 https://www.animaapp.com/blog/?p=10196 Reading Time: 3 minutes Selecting the right Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is pivotal in boosting productivity and optimizing the development process. Understanding the capabilities of different IDEs for frontend development is essential. Below, we explore the best IDEs for 2024, including their key features, strengths, weaknesses, pricing, and a special focus on their enterprise capabilities.

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Selecting the right Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is pivotal in boosting productivity and optimizing the development process. Whether you’re beginning your journey in web development or looking to enhance your professional toolkit, understanding the capabilities of different IDEs for frontend development is essential. Below, we explore the best IDEs for 2024, including their key features, strengths, weaknesses, pricing, and a special focus on their enterprise capabilities.

1. Visual Studio Code (VS Code)

  • Features: Offers extensive extensions, real-time collaboration, integrated Git control, and advanced code completion.
  • Pros: Free, open-source, lightweight yet powerful, highly customizable.
  • Cons: Memory-intensive with multiple extensions, occasionally slow updates.
  • Pricing: Free
  • Backend: Excellent for backend development, with Node.js, Python extensions.
  • Enterprise: Supports enterprise needs through Azure and GitHub integration, making it ideal for large-scale development projects.
  • Get VSCode
Most popular IDE by Stackoverflow survey

2.WebStorm

  • Features: Specifically designed for modern JavaScript ecosystems including React, Angular, and Vue.js.
  • Pros: Integrated JavaScript tools, robust debugging, version control.
  • Cons: Subscription model, resource-heavy.
  • Pricing: Starts at $59/year, with discounts for subsequent years.
  • Backend: Great for Node.js backend development.
  • Enterprise: Offers robust enterprise support with project management tools, advanced debugging, and testing capabilities, making it suitable for large development teams.
  • Go to Webstorm

3. Sublime Text

  • Features: Famous for its “Goto Anything” function, fast navigation, and rich plugin ecosystem.
  • Pros: High performance, customizable, extensive plugins.
  • Cons: Advanced features require a paid license, a steep learning curve.
  • Pricing: Free trial; $99 one-time license fee.
  • Backend: Supports various backend languages via plugins.
  • Enterprise: Lacks built-in enterprise support but is beneficial in enterprise environments where lightweight editors are needed for quick edits.
  • Check out Sublime text

4. Atom

  • Features: Highly customizable open-source editor with a built-in package manager and GitHub integration.
  • Pros: Free, open-source, extensive customization options.
  • Cons: Performance lags with large files, less active development.
  • Pricing: Free
  • Backend: Suitable for backend development with supportive packages.
  • Enterprise: Although not specifically designed for enterprise, Atom can be scaled through various packages for enterprise use, but might require significant customization.
  • Check out Atom

5. Brackets

  • Features: Focuses on visual tools and preprocessor support, ideal for front-end designers and developers.
  • Pros: Real-time browser preview, lightweight, Adobe integration.
  • Cons: Limited advanced development features, infrequent updates.
  • Pricing: Free
  • Backend: Mainly designed for frontend tasks.
  • Enterprise: Minimal enterprise capabilities, best suited for individual use or small teams not requiring complex project management tools.
  • Get Brackets

6. Eclipse

  • Features: Supports a broad range of programming languages and technologies through plugins.
  • Pros: Highly customizable, extensive plugin ecosystem.
  • Cons: Outdated interface, complex setup, can be bug-prone.
  • Pricing: Free
  • Backend: Strong Java backend support.
  • Enterprise: Widely used in enterprise environments, especially for Java development. Offers comprehensive tools for large-scale projects and is supported by a strong ecosystem.
  • Get Eclipse

Choosing the Right IDE for Your Needs

The ideal IDE for frontend development depends on specific project requirements, including language use, workflow, and required features like live previews or debugging tools. For developers regularly working with JavaScript, WebStorm and VS Code offer robust environments, while Sublime Text and Atom are excellent for simpler projects or speed-oriented developers. Notably, as of today, VS Code is the only IDE that is compatible with Frontier, the AI coding assistant for frontend development.

Before settling on an IDE, experimenting with a few to determine which complements your workflow is advisable. Many of these IDEs offer free trials or are entirely free, allowing you to explore their capabilities without commitment.

Conclusion

The landscape of IDEs for frontend development continues to evolve, with each offering unique strengths suited to different development aspects. Whether you choose a feature-rich environment like WebStorm or a versatile editor like VS Code, the right IDE can elevate your productivity and streamline your development process. Opt for a tool that not only meets your project’s needs but also adapts to your coding style, ensuring efficiency and satisfaction in your development efforts.

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Anima App VS Anima AI – Anima App does not create virtual companions but can help you in many other ways https://www.animaapp.com/blog/inside-anima/anima-app-vs-anima-ai-a-silly-comparison/ https://www.animaapp.com/blog/inside-anima/anima-app-vs-anima-ai-a-silly-comparison/#respond Sun, 08 Sep 2024 13:00:33 +0000 https://www.animaapp.com/blog/?p=10184 Reading Time: 3 minutes Anima App VS Anima AI. Are you looking for virtual love or for AI powered design-to-code?

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We did not think we would ever have to write this blog. But in the whimsical world of technology, where new apps bloom every day, a slightly disturbing mix-up has emerged: people confusing Anima App with Anima AI. Here’s a light-hearted look at this digital doppelgänger dilemma!

Here’s a comparison of both platforms:

Feature Anima App Anima AI
Key Offering Design-to-code platform Virtual girlfriends and AI pals who never forget your birthday
Primary Function Translates designs into functional code Provides virtual companionship, without the need for real-life small talk
Target User Designers and developers Lonely hearts and sci-fi fans
Technology Integrates with design tools like Figma, Adobe XD, and Sketch Advanced AI algorithms that understand both your words and your silences
User Benefit Ships digital products 10 times faster Offers emotional engagement, laughter, and an ear for your robot apocalypse theories
Typical Use Case Building websites and applications Late-night chats, virtual coffee dates, and existential debates
Outcome Produces ready-to-use website code Makes sure you’re never alone, especially during season finales
Support Focus Technical support for coding and design issues Emotional support, including compliments on your avatar’s new outfit
Long-Term Benefit Boosts career prospects in tech and design Enhances personal well-being, teaches you how to talk to humans (and robots)
 
  1. Identity Crisis:
    • Anima App: A design-to-code solution that translates your designs into functional code.
    • Anima AI: A virtual companion platform that provides virtual girlfriends.
    • User: “I asked for a website layout, not a date for Friday night!”
  2. Feature Faux Pas:
    • Anima App User: Expects to turn their designs into working websites.
    • Anima AI User: Looks for a digital romantic experience with a virtual girlfriend.
    • Outcome: Users end up in hilarious situations where one person tries to navigate a romantic conversation through a coding interface, while another attempts to use love advice to debug their website.
  3. Support Ticket Tangle:
    • Confused User: “I was hoping for some romantic advice, not HTML tips!”
    • Anima App Support: “It sounds like you were looking for Anima AI. Here at Anima App, we can help you build a website to tell your love story though!”
    • Misplaced Expectations: Users of Anima AI accidentally reaching out to Anima App support, hoping to troubleshoot their virtual relationship woes.
  1. Review Rumble:
    • App Review: “I thought it would help me find love, but it just helped me love my job more by simplifying my design workflow!”
    • AI Review: “Great for romantic chats and emotional support, but still can’t fix my JavaScript bugs.”
  2. Marketing Mayhem:
    • Marketing Team: “Use Anima to enhance your productivity and creativity!”
    • Users: “Super productive! Now, if only it could help manage my dating profile too.”

For Anima’s support team, the struggle is real:

 
Can Anima App help you find love though? We will try to help with a few tips:
 
How to Get a Real Boyfriend or Girlfriend with Anima App:
    • Learn to Code: Take a Figma design, translate it into code, and learn the basics. When done with the basics, go master programming! This will not only boost your problem-solving skills but also improve your job prospects, making you a more appealing partner both intellectually and financially.
    • Land a Well-Paying Job: Use your coding skills to secure a good job. Stability is attractive—it shows you’re responsible and capable of supporting shared future goals.
    • Save for Dates: Budget some of your income for social activities. Whether it’s a coffee date, a movie, or a concert, having the financial freedom to enjoy outings can make dating more fun and stress-free.
    • Use Your Skills to Impress: Code something unique for your potential partner. Maybe it’s a personalized app that tells your dating history in a fun, gamified way, or a website that showcases your shared interests and future date ideas.
    • Be Yourself: The most important step. Use your skills and financial stability as tools to enhance your dating life, but remember that genuine connections are built on authenticity and shared values, not just impressive tech skills or a fat wallet.
While the humorous mix-ups between Anima App and Anima AI bring plenty of laughs, there’s a deeper story unfolding. Anima App isn’t just about generating code from designs; it’s about enhancing productivity. By streamlining the process of converting visual designs into functional code, Anima App significantly cuts down development time. This efficiency not only boosts self-confidence and financial stability but also frees up valuable time. More time means more opportunities to pursue personal interests and relationships. Ultimately, Anima App doesn’t just save development time—it opens up space in your life for finding love and building meaningful connections.

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What is Semantic HTML? Key Differences from HTML and Why It’s Important for Frontend Developers https://www.animaapp.com/blog/code/what-is-semantic-html-key-differences-from-html-and-why-its-important-for-frontend-developers/ https://www.animaapp.com/blog/code/what-is-semantic-html-key-differences-from-html-and-why-its-important-for-frontend-developers/#respond Sun, 08 Sep 2024 09:09:07 +0000 https://www.animaapp.com/blog/?p=10178 Reading Time: 3 minutes Semantic HTML is a way of tagging some HTML tags to add more semantic meaning to the content, instead of simple "div" soup structure. This approach also makes websites easier to navigate, better for SEO, and simpler to maintain. In this article, we’ll cover what semantic HTML is, how it differs from regular HTML, and why it’s so important for frontend developers.

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HTML5 introduced a new concept of smarter tags, which open up a world of possibilities for SEO, accessibility and content tagging.

Semantic HTML is a way of tagging some HTML tags to add more semantic meaning to the content, instead of simple “<div> soup” structure. This approach also makes websites easier to navigate, better for SEO, and simpler to maintain. In this article, we’ll cover what semantic HTML is, how it differs from regular HTML, and why it’s so important for frontend developers.

What is Semantic HTML?

Semantic HTML is clearer at describing the content that the tags contain, which helps browsers, search engines, and assistive tools understand what each part of your page is for. Most of these tags have no design aspect and just replace regular tags, but some have both semantic and design properties.

Examples of Semantic HTML Tags:

– `<header>`: Marks the top section of a page or section, usually containing navigation or a title.
– `<article>`: Wraps content like a blog post or an article.
– `<nav>`: Indicates a section that contains navigation links.

How is Semantic HTML Different from Regular HTML?

Traditional HTML uses generic tags like `<div>` and `<span>` to organize content, but these tags don’t indicate the role or purpose of the content. They are mainly used for layout and styling.

Key Difference Between HTML and Semantic HTML:

Semantic HTML uses more descriptive tags that communicate the meaning of the content to both browsers and users. It’s like labeling each part of your webpage with a job title!
Example:

  • A `<div>` could be used to structure a navigation bar, but it doesn’t explain its purpose. A `<nav>` tag, however, makes it clear that it holds navigation links.

Functionally, <nav> behaves just like <div>.

Why is Semantic HTML Important?

  1. Accessibility: Screen readers and other assistive technologies rely on semantic HTML to understand the structure of a page, making it easier for users with disabilities to navigate your site.
  2. SEO Boost: Search engines use semantic HTML to understand your content better. Proper use of tags like `<section>`, `<article>`, and `<header>` can help improve your search rankings.
  3. Cleaner Code: Semantic HTML makes your code easier to read and maintain. You can quickly see what each part of the page is meant to do, simplifying updates and debugging.
  4. Improved User Experience: When content is organized with meaningful tags, users can navigate your site more easily and understand the structure of the content.

Semantic HTML in React: Why It Gets Confusing

When using React, the word “semantic” can confuse. React libraries like Semantic UI offer components that mimic semantic HTML tags, but they don’t always generate native semantic HTML elements.

How React Components Differ:

  • Components like `<Header>` and `<Footer>` in React are reusable UI elements. They may look similar to semantic HTML tags but don’t always output actual `<header>` or `<footer>` elements. Instead, they manage both design and functionality, and the underlying HTML may vary.

 

Best Practices for Using Semantic HTML in React

1. Use Semantic HTML Inside Components: Even when working with React, use semantic HTML tags in your components. For instance, use `<header>` for your page’s header instead of a `<div>`.
2. Avoid Overuse of `<div>` and `<span>`: While these tags are useful for styling, avoid using them when more meaningful tags like `<section>`, `<article>`, or `<footer>` are appropriate.
3. Combine Semantic HTML with ARIA: Enhance accessibility by adding ARIA roles and attributes where necessary, especially for interactive components.

Semantic HTML and the Limitations of Codegen

Most code generation (codegen) tools struggle to produce clean, semantic HTML. They often rely heavily on generic tags like `<div>` and `<span>`, leading to less maintainable and accessible code.
However, Anima’s new codegen is different—it allows developers to generate personalized semantic HTML, resulting in cleaner, more accessible, and SEO-friendly code. This makes Anima a standout tool for frontend developers who prioritize both speed and quality.

Conclusion

Semantic HTML is an essential practice that makes websites easier to navigate, more accessible, and better for SEO. Even when using React or native app development tools, maintaining clean, meaningful structure is crucial. Tools like Anima make generating semantic HTML better in both HTML and React, helping you build better websites and apps with minimal effort.

By applying these practices, you’ll ensure that your websites are not only functional but also user-friendly, accessible, and easy to maintain.

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Transform any Figma design into high-quality MUI or AntD code with Anima https://www.animaapp.com/blog/design-to-code/transform-any-figma-design-into-high-quality-mui-or-antd-code-with-anima/ https://www.animaapp.com/blog/design-to-code/transform-any-figma-design-into-high-quality-mui-or-antd-code-with-anima/#respond Wed, 04 Sep 2024 18:53:58 +0000 https://www.animaapp.com/blog/?p=10162 Reading Time: 3 minutes Generate clean and functional code from any Figma file, no matter how it’s structured or which components it uses. Whether your design is well organized or a bit chaotic, if it uses standard components or none at all, Anima takes it all and translates it into high-quality MUI or Ant Design code.

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🎺Introducing Anima’s latest game-changing feature: Generate clean and functional code from any Figma file, no matter how it’s structured or which components it uses. Whether your design is well organized or a bit chaotic, if it uses standard components or none at all, Anima takes it all and translates it into high-quality MUI or Ant Design code.

MUI in Figma with Anima

Bridging the gap between designer & Developers Designers & Developers: One Goal, Two Mindsets

Designers and developers often have different priorities.

  • Designers – focus on creativity, aesthetics, and user experience, designing freely without considering the technical constraints of development
  • Developers are tasked with implementing these designs into code, prioritizing clean, maintainable, and reusable code. They need to adhere to project standards and leverage existing libraries to ensure consistency and efficiency.

This difference in focus can create a disconnect, leading to frustration on both sides. Designers might feel that their vision is compromised. Developers may struggle with translating designs that aren’t optimized for coding. Anima’s new feature bridges this gap by providing a starting point that respects both the designer’s creative vision and the developer’s need for structured, maintainable code.

The solution

Anima’s UI library code generation 

Anima’s codegen performs Component Identification through Visual Analysis and intelligently analyzes any Figma design—regardless of its structure, naming conventions, or use of components— and converts it into clean, functional code using MUI or Ant Design. This not only saves time but also ensures that the code is aligned with the best practices of your chosen library. 

Anima’s New Capabilities

A Game-Changer for MUI and AntD Users

  1. Auto-Component Detection: Anima automatically identifies potential components within a Figma design, even if they aren’t defined as components. This visual analysis enables the reuse of existing code components without needing to adjust the design file.
  2. Intelligent Naming and Code Clean-Up: Anima ensures the generated code is clean and free of unnecessary wrappers, such as <div> tags. Even if your Figma file has layers named “frame 4198” or contains random components, Anima generates semantic, readable code without reflecting those naming inconsistencies.
  3. UI Library Compatibility: Anima translates your Figma design into code that is compatible with popular UI libraries like MUI and AntD. Whether your design includes elements that match MUI’s or AntD’s component structures or uses custom styles, Anima generates code that respects your project’s existing library and coding standards.

Before and After: A Real-World Example

To showcase Anima’s capabilities, let’s look at a menu design implemented with both MUI and Ant Design.

Until today, a typical Figma design might include nested <div> elements and arbitrary naming conventions, resulting in unoptimized code.
MUI AntD code gen with Anima

But now, as you can see – Anima’s code transforms the design into clean, structured, and functional MUI & AntD code.

How to use it? 

Just open the frameworks drop-down and select your desired UI library

codegen in Figma to code by Anima

Try it yourself 

Anima’s Smart Code Optimizer is here to accelerate your development process. Whether you’re working with MUI, Ant Design, your homegrown design system, or soon-to-be-supported libraries like ShadCN, Anima got you covered. Say goodbye to the tedious task of cleaning up code from poorly structured Figma files and hello to a streamlined, efficient workflow that empowers both designers and developers.

Start now

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New Feature Alert: Enhance Your Enterprise Security with Single Sign-On (SSO) Now Available in Anima’s Enterprise Plan https://www.animaapp.com/blog/enterprise/new-feature-alert-enhance-your-enterprise-security-with-single-sign-on-sso-now-available-in-animas-enterprise-plan/ https://www.animaapp.com/blog/enterprise/new-feature-alert-enhance-your-enterprise-security-with-single-sign-on-sso-now-available-in-animas-enterprise-plan/#respond Tue, 06 Aug 2024 11:26:28 +0000 https://www.animaapp.com/blog/?p=10123 Reading Time: 2 minutes Announcing the launch of Single Sign-On (SSO) support as part of our Enterprise Plan! This new feature is designed to enhance security, streamline access, and simplify user management for organizations of all sizes. With support for the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) protocol, we are taking authentication to the next level.

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We are thrilled to announce the launch of Single Sign-On (SSO) support as part of our Enterprise Plan! This new feature is designed to enhance security, streamline access, and simplify user management for organizations of all sizes. With support for the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) protocol, we are taking authentication to the next level.

What is SSO and SAML?

Single Sign-On (SSO) is a powerful authentication process that allows users to access multiple applications with a single set of credentials. By integrating SSO, organizations can improve security and provide a seamless login experience for their teams. Gone are the days of juggling multiple usernames and passwords.

SAML, or Security Assertion Markup Language, is an open standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data between parties, in particular, between an identity provider (IdP) and a service provider (SP). SAML enables SSO by securely transmitting user identities from the IdP to the SP, ensuring that users can access resources without needing to re-enter credentials.

How SSO Works

Integrating SSO is a collaborative effort between us and the client. Here’s how the process works:

  1. Exchange of Information:

    To get started, the client provides us with their Identity Provider (IdP) metadata. This metadata includes essential details such as the IdP certificate, attribute mapping, and other necessary information.

  2. Configuration and Setup:

    In return, we provide the client with our Service Provider (SP) metadata, which includes our certificate, assertion service URL, and other relevant information. This exchange ensures that both parties have the necessary data to configure their systems securely.

  3. Seamless Login Experience:

    Once the setup is complete, users can enjoy a seamless login experience. After selecting the SSO option, users will enter their work email and continue. They will then be redirected to the IdP login page for authentication. Once authenticated, users will be redirected back to the web app to complete the login or signup process with Anima.

Why Choose SSO?

Implementing SSO offers several key benefits:

  • Enhanced Security: By centralizing authentication, SSO reduces the risk of password breaches and provides an additional layer of security. Users no longer need to manage multiple passwords, which reduces the likelihood of weak or reused passwords.
  • Streamlined Access: SSO simplifies the login process, allowing users to access multiple applications with a single set of credentials. This streamlined approach boosts productivity and eliminates the need to remember numerous passwords.
  • Simplified Management: For IT teams, SSO offers a centralized platform to manage user access and permissions. Onboarding and offboarding become more efficient, reducing administrative overhead and ensuring compliance with security policies.

Getting Started with SSO

This new SSO feature is available exclusively as part of our Enterprise Plan. If you’re interested in upgrading or learning more about how SSO can benefit your organization, please contact our sales team.

Stay tuned for more exciting updates!

 

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Minimizing LLM latency in code generation https://www.animaapp.com/blog/frontier/minimizing-llm-latency-in-code-generation/ https://www.animaapp.com/blog/frontier/minimizing-llm-latency-in-code-generation/#respond Thu, 01 Aug 2024 09:05:33 +0000 https://www.animaapp.com/blog/?p=10119 Reading Time: 2 minutes Discover how Frontier optimizes front-end code generation with advanced LLM techniques. Explore our solutions for balancing speed and quality, handling code isolation, overcoming browser limitations, and implementing micro-caching for efficient performance.

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Optimizing Frontier’s Code Generation for Speed and Quality

Introduction

Creating Frontier, our generative front-end coding assistant, posed a significant challenge. Developers demand both fast response times and high-quality code from AI code generators. This dual requirement necessitates using the “smartest” language models (LLMs), which are often slower. While GPT-4 turbo is faster than GPT-4, it doesn’t meet our specific needs for generating TypeScript and JavaScript code snippets.

Challenges

  1. Balancing Speed and Intelligence:

    • Developers expect rapid responses, but achieving high-quality code requires more advanced LLMs, typically slower in processing.
  2. Code Isolation and Assembly:

    • We need to generate numerous code snippets while keeping them isolated. This helps us identify each snippet’s purpose and manage their imports and integration.
  3. Browser Limitations:

    • Operating from a browser environment introduces challenges in parallelizing network requests, as Chromium browsers restrict the number of concurrent fetches.

Solutions

To address these challenges, we implemented a batching system and optimized LLM latency. Here’s how:

Batching System

  1. Request Collection:

    • We gather as many snippet requests as possible and batch them together.
  2. Microservice Architecture:

    • These batches are sent to a microservice that authenticates and isolates the front-end code from the LLM, ensuring secure and efficient processing.
  3. Parallel Request Handling:

    • The microservice disassembles the batch into individual requests, processes them through our regular Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), multi-shot, and prompt template mechanisms, and issues them in parallel to the LLM.
  4. Validation and Retries:

    • Each response is analyzed and validated via a guardrail system. If a response is invalid or absent, the LLM is prompted again. Unsuccessful requests are retried, and valid snippets are eventually batched and returned to the front end.

Micro-Caching

We implemented micro-caching to enhance efficiency further. By hashing each request and storing responses, we can quickly reference and reuse previously generated snippets or batches. This reduces the load on the LLM and speeds up response times.

Conclusion

The impact of parallelization and micro-caching is substantial, allowing us to use a more intelligent LLM without sacrificing performance. Despite slower individual response times, the combination of smart batching and caching compensates for this, delivering high-quality, rapid code generation.

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Introducing Frontier’s New Feature: Code Injection https://www.animaapp.com/blog/product-updates/introducing-frontiers-new-feature-code-injection/ https://www.animaapp.com/blog/product-updates/introducing-frontiers-new-feature-code-injection/#respond Thu, 25 Jul 2024 06:58:19 +0000 https://www.animaapp.com/blog/?p=10078 Reading Time: 2 minutes This feature enhances your ability to seamlessly integrate generated code from Figma into your existing projects, saving time and reducing the need for manual copy-pasting.

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We are excited to announce the release of a powerful new feature in Frontier: Code Injection. This feature enhances your ability to seamlessly integrate generated code from Figma into your existing projects, saving time and reducing the need for manual copy-pasting.

Why Did We Create Code Injection? 🤔

  1. We noticed that many of our users were exporting only parts of the code from Figma, often leading to broken implementations. A complete component needs all its pieces— index (TSX or JSX), CSS, assets, and the right styleguide references—to work properly.
  2. We heard from you that manually copying and pasting each file was quite tedious. Downloading assets from one place and uploading them to another? Yawn! 😴

We knew there had to be a better way. Enter Code Injection. We developed this feature to streamline your workflow, making the process of integrating design into development as seamless as possible.

How Does It Work? 🛠

Example Scenario: Implementing a Subscribe Modal Component

The Figma Design:

Figma design example
You open the Figma design and see that it includes:

  • A few input fields (that you already have in your code ✅ – <Input>)
  • A submit button (that you haven’t created in code yet ⭕)
  • A checkbox (that you haven’t created in code yet ⭕)
  • Some text and an icon (non-component elements)

1. Provide your design to Frontier in VScode

  1. Paste the Figma link
  2. Select the Modal component
  3. Click “Inject component”

 

2. The Injection magic:

  1. Frontier will detect that you already have an <input> component, but missing the <button> and <checkbox> components.
  2. Frontier will generate and inject the <button> and <checkbox> components to your source code, with all the necessary folders and files (e.g., tsx, CSS, assets).
  3. Frontier will build a <Modal> component:
    1. Components: imports your existing <input> component and the newly generated <button> and <checkbox> components
    2. Non-Component Elements: Frontier includes inline code for simple elements like text and icons directly within the generated component.

 

Code example

Here’s how the code for a “Modal” component might look after using Code Injection:Code inject example

Get Started 🚀

Try out the new Code Injection feature today and streamline your design-to-code workflow with Frontier! Your feedback is crucial as we continue to enhance Frontier’s capabilities.

Why Use Code Injection? 🌟

  • Efficiency: Automatically generate and integrate components directly into your project, reducing manual coding effort.
  • All-in-One: Generate your component with all its necessary files and assets in one click, streamlining your workflow.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or need assistance. We’re here to support your journey to more efficient and consistent coding!

Happy coding! ✨

Get Frontier

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Convert Figma to React & Tailwind Automatically in VSCode https://www.animaapp.com/blog/product-updates/convert-figma-to-react-tailwind-automatically-in-vscode/ https://www.animaapp.com/blog/product-updates/convert-figma-to-react-tailwind-automatically-in-vscode/#respond Wed, 10 Jul 2024 18:18:01 +0000 https://www.animaapp.com/blog/?p=9978 Reading Time: 2 minutes Frontier seamlessly transforms Figma files into React code, perfectly integrating with your existing Tailwind configurations. Frontier meets you where you work, in VS Code.

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Are you a frontend developer who loves using Tailwind CSS for its utility-first approach and flexibility? If so, you understand the challenges of translating Figma designs into Tailwind-enhanced React components. Aligning new components with both design fidelity and your established styling conventions can be time-consuming.

That’s where Frontier comes in—a revolutionary tool that seamlessly transforms Figma files into React code, perfectly integrating with your existing Tailwind configurations. Frontier meets you where you work, in VS Code.

Effortless Figma to React Conversion in VSCode

  • Converting Figma designs into React components is more streamlined with Frontier. Here’s how it enhances your workflow:
  • Automatic Component Detection: Frontier scans your Figma design and identifies potential direct matches with existing React components in your codebase.
  • Component Reuse: Frontier generates code that reuses your existing components, enhancing efficiency and reducing code duplication.
  • Tailwind CSS Code Generation: Automatically generates the necessary React code with Tailwind classes applied, preserving the intended design aesthetics while adhering to your predefined styles.
  • Reduce Redundancy: This approach not only accelerates development but also helps keep your codebase clean and manageable.

(Not using VSCode? Translate Figma to Tailwind in Figma)

Seamless Integration with Your Tailwind Config

Frontier does more than just convert designs—it ensures the generated code integrates flawlessly with your existing project frameworks:

  • Tailwind Config Utilization: Detects and uses your tailwind.config.js file, allowing all generated components to inherit your custom styling rules automatically.
  • Intelligent Style Application: Ensures that every component not only matches the design specs but also aligns with your established Tailwind conventions. If needed, Frontier will generate new style configurations that you can then add to your original config file.

For front-end developers using Tailwind CSS, Frontier offers a powerful way to enhance your development workflow. It ensures precise translation of your Figma designs into React components and maintains style consistency through smart integration with your Tailwind setup.

Start using Frontier today and take your Tailwind projects to the next level, where design meets code not just with accuracy, but with style 😉

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Guard rails for LLMs https://www.animaapp.com/blog/genai/guard-rails-for-llms/ https://www.animaapp.com/blog/genai/guard-rails-for-llms/#respond Thu, 04 Jul 2024 15:23:43 +0000 https://www.animaapp.com/blog/?p=9989 Reading Time: 3 minutes The conclusion is that you cannot ignore hallucinations. They are an inherent part of LLMs and require dedicated code to overcome. In our case, we provide the user with a way to provide even more context to the LLM, in which case we explicitly ask it to be more creative in its responses. This is an opt-in solution for users and often generates better placeholder code for components based on existing usage patterns.

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Implementing Guard Rails for LLMs

Large Language Models (LLMs) have made a profound leap over the last few years, and with each iteration, companies like OpenAI, Meta, Anthropic and Mistral have been leapfrogging one another in general usability and, more recently, with the ability of these AI models to produce useful code. One of the critical challenges in using LLMs, is ensuring the output is reliable and functional. This is where guard rails for LLM become crucial.

Challenges in Code Generation with LLMs

However, as they are trained on a wide variety of code techniques, libraries and frameworks, trying to get them to produce a unique piece of code that would run as expected is still quite hard. Our first attempt at this was with our Anima Figma plugin, which has multiple AI features. In some cases, we intended to expand our ability to address new language variations and new styling mechanisms without having to create inefficient heuristic conversions that would be simply unscalable. Additionally, we wanted users to personalize the code we produce and have the capability of adding state, logic and more capabilities to the code that we produce from Figma designs. This proved much more difficult than originally anticipated. LLMs hallucinate, a lot.

Fine-tuning helps, but only to some degree – it reinforces languages, frameworks, and techniques that the LLM is already familiar with, but that doesn’t mean that the LLM won’t suddenly turn “lazy” (putting comments with /* todo */ instructions rather than implementing or even repeating the code that we wanted to mutate or augment). It’s also difficult to avoid just plain hallucinations where the LLM invents its own instructions and alters the developer’s original intent.

But as the industry progresses, LLM laziness goes up and down and we can use techniques like multishot and emotional blackmail to ensure that the LLM sticks to the original plan. But in our case, we are measured by how well the code we produce is usable and visually represents the original design. We had to create a build tool that evaluated the differences and fed any build and visual errors back to the LLM. If the LLM hallucinates a file or instructions, the build process catches it and the error is fed back to the LLM to correct, just like a normal loop” that a human developer would implement. By setting this as a target, we could also measure how well we optimized our prompt engineering, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) operations and which model is ideally suited for each task.

 

Strategies for Implementing Guard Rails

 
This problem arose again when we approached our newest offering: Frontier, the VSCode Extension which utilizes your design system and code components when it converts Figma designs to code.
In this case, a single code segment could have multiple code implementations that could take in additional code sections as child components or props, yielding the need for much tighter guardrails for the LLM. Not only do we need to use all the previous tools, but we also need to validate the results it produced are valid code. This needed to happen very quickly, which meant that a “self-healing” approach wouldn’t work. Instead, we are able to identify props and values using the existing codebase, combined with parsing the Typescript of the generated code to ensure that it makes sense and is valid code against the code component that we have chosen to embed in a particular area in the code base. Interestingly, despite the LLMs generating very small function call and getting a fair amount of context and multi-shot examples, they do hallucinate more often than expected. Fine-tuning might help with that, but we assumed that this is an inherent piece of the technology and requires tight guardrails.
 
That means that for each reply from the LLM we first validate that it’s a valid response, and if it is invalid we will explain to the LLM what’s wrong with it and ask it to correct. In our experience a single retry shot often does the trick and if it fails, it will likely fail in subsequent rounds. Once an initial validation is passed we actually go through the reply and validate that it makes sense, we have a few simple validation heuristics that improve the success rate dramatically. 
 

Conclusion: The Necessity of Guard Rails for LLMs

Hallucinations are an inherent challenge with LLMs, that cannot be ignored. They are an inherent part of LLMs and require dedicated code to overcome. In our case, we provide the user with a way to provide even more context to the LLM, in which case we explicitly ask it to be more creative in its responses. This is an opt-in solution for users and often generates better placeholder code for components based on existing usage patterns. Interestingly, when we apply this to component libraries that the LLM was trained upon (MUI, for example, is quite popular) the hallucinations increase as the LLM has prior bias towards those component implementations and the guard rails are particularly useful there.
 
Start using Frontier for free and experience the benefits of robust guard rails for LLM in your code generation process.

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