Every resource founders actually use, in one library.

What founders use most, ranked by how many answers lean on it.

1. A ready to use script for running your own usability test, from Krug's book. You do not have to invent how to phrase tasks or... Steve Krug (sensible.com) Template · PDF, a few pages · Starting Up Usability Test Script (from Rocket Surgery Made Easy) Steve Krug
2. Concrete evidence for what originality in the wrong place actually costs. It shows how novel patterns confuse users and slow... Nielsen Norman Group Article · 8 min read · Starting Up Breaking Web Design Conventions = Breaking the User Experience Katie Sherwin
3. This separates internal consistency (within your product) from external consistency (matching the wider world of apps your... Nielsen Norman Group Article · 7 min read · Starting Up Maintain Consistency and Adhere to Standards (Usability Heuristic #4) Nielsen Norman Group
4. This names the exact tension in your question and gives a rule for when innovation is worth its learning cost. Watch it to... Nielsen Norman Group Video · 5 min · Starting Up Consistency vs. Innovation in UX Design Raluca Budiu
5. A catalogue of common interface patterns (registration, pricing tables, search, empty states, and more) with several real... UI-Patterns.com Tool · reference library · Starting Up UI-Patterns.com UI-Patterns.com
6. Argues for stripping the interface down to essentials, which pairs neatly with copying conventions: keep the common parts quiet... Nielsen Norman Group Article · 7 min read · Starting Up Aesthetic and Minimalist Design (Usability Heuristic #8) Therese Fessenden
7. Alex Russell, a Chrome engineer, puts hard numbers on what most of the world's phones can actually do, and the gap between them... Infrequently Noted (Alex Russell) Essay · Long read · Starting Up The Performance Inequality Gap, 2024 Alex Russell
8. Every kilobyte of JavaScript costs far more on a cheap phone than on your machine, because the phone has to download it and... Addy Osmani (Dev Channel, Medium) Article · 20 min read · Starting Up The Cost Of JavaScript Addy Osmani
9. A small download is the first thing a data conscious user notices, and the official guide is the practical how to: app bundles,... Android Developers Article · Reference · Starting Up Reduce your app size Android Developers
10. This is the developer side of the entry level phone: an OS tuned for 4GB RAM and under, with guidance on optimizing your app to... Android Developers Article · Guide hub · Starting Up Android (Go edition) and Build for Billions Android Developers
11. Video · 40 min · Starting Up Building for Your Next Billion Users (Google I/O 2017) Google
12. Facebook made its engineers spend an hour every Tuesday on a simulated 2G connection so they would feel what most of their... Engineering at Meta Article · Short read · Starting Up Building for emerging markets: the story behind 2G Tuesdays Meta Engineering
13. Instead of shipping the same heavy page to everyone, you can detect the connection and serve lighter images or defer non... web.dev (Google) Article · 15 min read · Starting Up Adaptive serving based on network quality Google Chrome team
14. A focused, code first companion on reading the user's connection (and even their data saver preference) and adjusting what you... AddyOsmani.com Article · 12 min read · Starting Up Adaptive Serving using JavaScript and the Network Information API Addy Osmani
15. A conversational episode with a Google advocate on low bandwidth design and data cost, good for absorbing the mindset while... Designer vs Developer (Google) Podcast · 30 min · Starting Up Sam Dutton on designing for the next billion users Google
16. A free, structured course that takes you from the basics of why pages are slow through images, fonts, JavaScript, and lazy... web.dev (Google) Course · Multi module course · Starting Up Learn Performance Google Chrome team
17. A talk (with writeup) on serving a genuinely different, lighter experience to low end devices and slow networks, drawing on how... web.dev (Chrome Dev Summit talk writeup) Video · 25 min talk · Starting Up Adaptive loading: improving web performance on slow devices Nate Schloss and Addy Osmani
18. This runs your site on real devices from real locations at set connection speeds, including Slow 3G, so you get an honest... WebPageTest (Catchpoint) Tool · Web tool · Starting Up WebPageTest WebPageTest
19. Video · ~50 min · Starting Up 7 Rules for Creating Gorgeous UI (talk) Erik Kennedy
20. Mismatched and default fonts are one of the loudest amateur tells, and this fixes them in ten minutes. Butterick gives you... Butterick's Practical Typography Article · ~10 min read · Starting Up Typography in ten minutes Matthew Butterick
21. The most common amateur tell is inconsistent, random spacing, and a spacing scale is the cure. This explains how sizing every... Built to Adapt (Medium) Article · ~8 min read · Starting Up Intro to the 8-Point Grid System Elliot Dahl
22. Generous whitespace is half of the short answer, and this explains both macro and micro space clearly. You learn why breathing... Interaction Design Foundation Article · Starting Up The Power of White Space in Design Interaction Design Foundation
23. A short, credible video from the usability research group explaining whitespace in plain terms. It reinforces that empty space... Nielsen Norman Group Video · ~3 min · Starting Up What is Whitespace? Nielsen Norman Group
24. A well curated reference for what good type looks like in the wild, with recommended fonts and pairings. When you are unsure... Typewolf Tool · Starting Up Typewolf Jeremiah Shoaf

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