WHAT is adobe XD FOR?

[bluefire777]

I`ve watched the vid intro`s and a basic tutorial on youtube, still don`t quite know what this software is for in the development pipeline. I mean I see you can prototype and design UX/UI,

so does XD output the final application build for all devices or is it just a mock up tool?

And how does any data get fed into the application? Can we program with Javascript and C# in this app? Does it link to databases? MongoDB, SQL etc?

Does it only work from adobe cloud databases or can we link other databases?

If I cant build the actual app in XD then do I export the interactive graphics to another app? Or is that it, nothing is exported its just to show clients what the app would look like?

Which begs my next question, so dreamweaver is for websites and "web apps" (progressive web apps?). Can it create native apps for android or ios?

If not then what do I use from Adobe to build phone apps and games? (unity for games).

Any feedback is good thank you.

[italosan]

Hi, Adobe XD is a software that allows the design and prototyping of apps and websites. As for development, instead, it is the task of a programmer or web designer to create the product as previously designed on Adobe XD. In fact, the software allows you to share the file with a programmer, with all the specifications of each asset, so that the developer can recreate it respecting what we have designed.

[Colin Holgate]

A good option for a tool that can quickly mock up something for clients to see, and could also be used to publish the iOS and Android apps, is Adobe Animate:

Buy Adobe Animate | Flash and 2D animation software

One of XD's main benefits is the time that it can save during the client approval stage. With other tools you would need to do a certain amount of coding to get a good enough interactive demo, and often you might put a lot of effort into the approach that you hope will be approved, so that you can then continue to use that particular code in the real application. Things don't always work out that way, and you sometimes have to start from scratch, and go through another round of approval. With XD your developers start their work by being able to look at an already approved working prototype, so even if they cannot reuse any element of the prototype, it still saved them a lot of time.

[Sjaani]

Adobe XD has a number of export options, you can export the images for use in websites.
You can export selected items or full artboards.
You can export Assets for Design, Web iOS or Android, you can choose between png, svg, pdf or jpg
You can export for multiple sizes
I have also just noticed you can export your design out to After Effects.
Each feature comes into After Effects in its own layer which would allow for animation at a deeper level than XD currently is capable of.

[bluefire777]

Really great answers everyone, totally respect the lengthy design process and how XD helps circumvent that, thanks for the insight Colin, didnt realize to the extent that adobe Animate could be used for app dev, though it was just vector animation output. Will look into that.

Thanks Sjaani for explaining the output options! cool I use AE a lot,

kind regards,