Can you remember the difference between two hex color values? Me neither! Entering visual representations of recently-changed elements into version control makes review of past changes easier & speeds acclimation to a new web project, especially for visual learners. Surprisingly, methods for including images in your version control aren't standardized and are rarely used outside of large companies, and the rest of us are left checking out every major commit and viewing changes locally! Join me for a review of methods currently in use and discuss the benefits and drawbacks of each. The audience will learn from a survey of tools used by both designers and web developers, what methods are most appropriate for individual projects, & how these methods differ from those used at some of the largest companies (Google, eBay, etc.). Finding a method to track changes in your visual elements will save our future contributors (and future selves!) the pain of having to distinguish #2dc651 (lime green) from #34a34e (darker(!) lime green) and ultimately make our commit histories cleaner and our repos easier to navigate in ways that many of us have never imagined! This talk was given at CAST 2019 in Cocoa Beach, FL. Event link: https://sched.co/O8qf About Veronica Hanus Before Veronica was a programmer, she was a researcher (she helped pick the Mars Curiosity Rover’s landing site!) with an eye for process improvement. As she’s taught herself web development, she’s brought her research approach from her time at NASA-JPL & MIT into whatever she was learning. She loves exploring the web and teaching, and recently co-taught a PyCon tutorial on using web-scraping and modeling to predict Oscar winners. When she isn’t learning how the web can be better for developers, she enjoys blogging, nerding out about documentation, and snuggling as many cats as possible.

1. “Git Hook[ed]” on
images & up your
documentation game
@veronica_hanus #CAST2019

2. @veronica_hanus #CAST2019Make your own! https://www.ascii-art-generator.org/

3. @veronica_hanus #CAST2019

4. Doing things
“the wrong way”
is part of learning
@veronica_hanus #CAST2019

5. Focusing on
“the right way”
freezes
@veronica_hanus #CAST2019

6. @veronica_hanus #CAST2019

7. @veronica_hanus #CAST2019

8. Steps to roll back to a commit:
- Select the commit
- Find the ID for the commit
- Enter command to “checkout” the
commit with that ID
- Open the code & HTML file
- Is it what we want?
- Create new branch (section of
timeline) before making changes
Rolling back individual commits
@veronica_hanus #CAST2019

9. @veronica_hanus #CAST2019https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/git.png, modified

10. @veronica_hanus #CAST2019

11. View changes
remotely, feel
amazing and...
Push ASAP Commit
Make changes to
code locally
Learning to use
Git
A more thorough daily flow:
- Pull other’s changes
- Create branch /
checkout branch
- Local changes
- Commit
- Push when element is
done
- Check status
- Continue local
changes
- (eventually) Merge
branch
You may also:
- Undo commits
- Squash commits
- Undo push
- Fetch
- Rebase
@veronica_hanus #CAST2019

12. @veronica_hanus #CAST2019Art wonderfully made by @QEDunham

13. @veronica_hanus #CAST2019Art wonderfully made by @QEDunham

14. @veronica_hanus #CAST2019Art wonderfully made by @QEDunham

15. @veronica_hanus #CAST2019Art wonderfully made by @QEDunham

16. @veronica_hanus #CAST2019
https://xkcd.com/1296/

17. Rules of commit “time travel”
- Summarize in subject (“what”), expand in body
(“why”)
- Avoid abbreviations
- Use metadata (Issue IDs, etc.)
- The test: “If applied, this commit will *subject line*”
- The goal: Make Git log useful!
@veronica_hanus #CAST2019

18. @veronica_hanus #CAST2019
https://xkcd.com/1296/

19. - “Remove lighter
green font & add
underline to nav
bar”
- “Remove
lighter/brighter
font &...”
What commit message should we make?
So many greens!
Long and still hard
to understand!
@veronica_hanus #CAST2019

20. What would you do?
Better commit messages? Find tools giving cues? Other ways?
Your idea here
@veronica_hanus #CAST2019

21. What does a design process look like?
Iteration w/o design wastes time!
@veronica_hanus #CAST2019

22. @veronica_hanus #CAST2019

23. Design has methods!
- Team “interview”
- Translate business objectives to new state
- ID what you don’t know
- Review existing market product
- Brainstorming
- Listing user tasks
- Roadmap
- Focus group
- Card sorting
- Usability test
- Concept testing
- Guerrilla testing
- Field studies
- Eye movement tracking
- Accessibility audit
- A/B testing
- (finally) Iteration @veronica_hanus #CAST2019

24. @veronica_hanus #CAST2019Art wonderfully made by @QEDunham

25. Screenshots in a local folder
Adding visuals any way I can!
@veronica_hanus #CAST2019

26. @veronica_hanus #CAST2019

27. Screenshots in saved in Git
Moving toward a solution
What pain points does my
solution have?
How do I address these?
@veronica_hanus #CAST2019

28. @veronica_hanus #CAST2019
“Oh, we have that!”

29. Screenshots for testing… and tracking?
Many tools: Cypress-match-screenshot, Puppeteer-screenshot-tester, Resemble.js, Wraith...
@veronica_hanus #CAST2019

30. @veronica_hanus #CAST2019

31. @veronica_hanus #CAST2019
“Oh, we have that!”

32. A “Git” for design!
Our examples: Abstract’s Compare Mode, Sketch’s Pages & Artboards, Sketch’s Zeplin @veronica_hanus #CAST2019

33. @veronica_hanus #CAST2019

34. Ready to dive in
Puppeteer or
Cypress-match-screen
shot to automate
screenshots
Git hooks “hook” one
action to others
Terminal prompt for you
to save by hand
Time to take
screenshots
Remembering to take
screenshots
Adding image link to
your commit message
Pain Investigate
Your commit to Git
Git hook calls Pyppeteer
Pyppeteer takes screenshot
Terminal
prompts you
to save
@veronica_hanus #CAST2019

35. Bring yourself
Geology Web
�
@veronica_hanus #CAST2019

36. @veronica_hanus #CAST2019
Your super-powers
work here

37. View changes
remotely, feel
amazing and...
Push ASAP Commit
Make changes to
code locally
🤦
☁☁☁
@veronica_hanus #CAST2019

38. Make your own!
➔ Puppeteer/Selenium/WebDriver for
screenshots taken at every change
➔ Hand-created screenshots checked
into version control
➔ Git Large File Storage or store files
outside Git to accommodate file
accumulation
Existing tools
➔ Percy for visual testing
➔ Editor plugins that help you
visualize the colors on your site
➔ Abstract/Zeplin/Sketch for
scroll-through visuals alongside your
version control
➔ Git-difftool shows changes from
common diffing tools
➔ Git image view modes swipe &
compare--your own personal, modern
Blink comparator
Your knowledge of your
process to decide what is
right for you

39. 👇Your company recruiting a
DevRel or Dev Advocate?👇
🙌Pick me!🙌
🙏Thanks to…
Each of you for coming(!), the CAST
organizers for a wonderful event, the
many, many devs & designers I
badgered when I was investigating this
problem, my crew Deborah, Diego, &
Anna for help making this talk happen
I tweet at @veronica_hanus
Non-tweeters 👋me@veronicahanus.com
Video & Slides 🔜
http://veronicahanus.com/talks
🙌 Go build the tools you need!
Let’s talk about in-code comments!
(3-5 min survey)
http://bit.ly/comment-use

40. Credits
- Simple Git image: https://www.nobledesktop.com/blog/what-is-git-and-why-should-you-use-it
- “Git flow” workflow: https://www.transifex.com/blog/2015/how-to-use-git-to-track-changes-in-translation-files/
- Git instructions for beginners:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YZInGNW_YZQvTTsiOA1BkboveFzlez0TdlCjKIk4UK0/edit?usp
=sharing
- Git XKCD: https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/git.png
- Daily Git commands: https://gist.github.com/jedmao/5053440
- Commit XKCD: https://xkcd.com/1296/
- Good commit messages: https://chris.beams.io/posts/git-commit/
- Mismatched puzzle Pieces: https://whiletangerinedreams.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341d093553ef0168e5c3bc61970c-pi
- Color preview in-editor: Sublime’s Color Highlighter (view), Atom’s Pigments (view) & Color Picker
(select/add)
- Source for screenshot diffing images: https://online-image-comparison.com/
- “Automated visual diffing with Puppeteer” (2018), Monica Dinculescue’s blog https://bit.ly/2C3z25t
- Grumpy cat says “no new friends” https://makeameme.org/meme/no-new-friends-0lalol
- Question party
https://www.workinsports.com/blog/how-to-ask-questions-that-will-always-inspire-thoughtful-answers/
@veronica_hanus