New Features in Sketch 3.3, presented in GIF
A new version of Sketch Beta dropped yesterday and brought with it a treasure trove of goodies. We ran through the changelog and found our favorites and then captured them in glorious GIF format. Enjoy!
Percentage widths
The width/height box now accepts percentages, which will automatically convert into the correct pixel values based on parent group or artboard. It’s pretty handy for working in layouts when you’re thinking in halves and quarters. Speaking of the width/height inputs, did you know….
Math in width/height boxes
Ok, so this one isn’t really new, but it’s suuuuper handy. When you’re designing with code on the brain, you might need to add 20px here or 87px there. So much better than using my brain! And while we’re on this width/height kick, have you seen….
Suffixes in width/height boxes
You can now tack on a suffix when changing the width and height values, to define which edge should remain fixed in place (T,B,R,L,M- for top, bottom, right, left, middle). This reminds me of the Resize Canvas modal in Photoshop that let’s you pick a fixed edge. This one won’t always be amazinly useful, but when working with lots of elements in a grid, I could see it being a lifesaver.
Symbols + opacity, blending, shadow
The days of detaching a symbol just to indicate an inactive or some other kinda state are over! With the new update, you can change the opacity, blending mode, or shadows of a Symbol and not muck up the original instance. Huge!
Also, bonus note, there was a visual change in how the symbol groups are displayed. When you’ve got one selected, you get a bright purple active color in the Layers List.
Document color presets
We’ve now got the ability to save colors in two ways: globally and at a document level. Previously we only had global presets, with document-specific colors being suggested by Sketch (based on use). The new level of specificity is pretty rad, and the suggested colors are still there (although hidden behind a dropdown).
That’s all I’ve got. But tell me: am I missing anything here? The speed with which Sketch updates and evolves is one of my favorite features, but I’m always surprised at how many “secret” tips I find (which are almost always awesome). Share em if you got em!
