Overview
The article discusses the open sourcing of LinkedIn's Day View UI Library aimed at simplifying meeting scheduling through an integrated calendar feature in LinkedIn Messenger. It highlights the challenges faced in finding suitable existing libraries and the design objectives that guided the development of their own solution.
What You'll Learn
1
How to integrate a custom calendar day view in mobile applications
2
Why open sourcing a library can benefit the developer community
3
How to handle conflicting events in a calendar UI
Prerequisites & Requirements
- Understanding of mobile UI design principles
- Familiarity with GitHub for contributing to open source projects(optional)
Key Questions Answered
What challenges did LinkedIn face in finding a suitable calendar library?
LinkedIn found that existing open source calendar libraries either offered full-featured calendar apps that were too complex or simple calendar views that lacked the capability to handle conflicting events. This led them to create their own library to meet their specific needs.
How does LinkedIn's Day View UI Library improve scheduling in Messenger?
The Day View UI Library allows users to view their calendar and select available time slots to share directly within LinkedIn Messenger, reducing friction in scheduling meetings and eliminating the need to switch between applications.
What design objectives were prioritized in the development of the library?
Key design objectives included rendering performance, support for internationalization, and the ability to handle multiple events simultaneously without conflict. This was achieved through view recycling and a translation layer for RTL languages.
Technologies & Tools
Programming Language
Objective-c
Used for developing the iOS version of the Day View UI Library.
Software Development Kit
Android SDK
Used for developing the Android version of the Day View UI Library.
Key Actionable Insights
1Consider developing custom UI components when existing libraries do not meet your needs.This approach can lead to tailored solutions that enhance user experience, as demonstrated by LinkedIn's development of their Day View UI Library.
2Open sourcing your library can foster community collaboration and improvement.By sharing their library, LinkedIn encourages contributions that can enhance functionality and usability, benefiting both the company and the developer community.
3Implement view recycling to improve performance in mobile applications.This technique can significantly enhance the user experience by ensuring smooth transitions and interactions within the app.
Common Pitfalls
1
Relying too heavily on existing libraries without assessing their fit for your specific use case.
This can lead to wasted effort and suboptimal user experiences, as seen when LinkedIn found existing libraries inadequate for their needs.