Introduction
In the world of UI design, creating variants and boolean properties in Figma can be a complex and time-consuming task. Designers and design teams constantly seek ways to improve their productivity and maintain consistency in their projects. This is where the "Regressor - Auto Instance Creator" plugin comes in, providing an innovative solution to simplify and streamline the management of these essential design elements.
Concept
Regression refers to the process of re-evaluating an application or system to ensure that new changes or updates do not cause any unintended side effects or disruptive changes. In the context of design, Regressor transposes this regression philosophy from the code domain to the design domain.
It is based on the fundamental principle of regression, helping you quickly create the complete set of test cases for all possible combinations of variants and boolean properties. This is particularly valuable before publishing a design component update, ensuring that your design system can evolve without introducing unwanted surprises or major disruptions.
How to Use It
INSTANCES AND MAIN COMPONENTS
This plugin works equally well on individual instances and main components, offering maximum flexibility in your design workflow.
VARIANT COMBINATIONS
"Regressor" allows you, in our experience, to create combinations of variants and boolean properties, then automatically organize them within an Auto Layout. This ensures that variants are displayed in a structured manner, making it easier to review and compare different design options.
AUTO LAYOUT CUSTOMIZATION
You have complete control over the appearance of generated instances, including layout, columns, spacing, and alignment. This customization ensures that each variant matches your specifications precisely. Configuring Regressor is simple thanks to its dedicated interfaces, including layout, alignment, and other parameter customization.
CREATE ON CURRENT PAGE OR NEW PAGE
You can create these combinations on the current page or on a new dedicated page, organizing your tests in a structured manner. The "Create New Page" function also allows you to set a prefix if needed, while the "Preserve Overrides" area controls the preservation of overrides for selected instances.
PRESERVE OR IGNORE INSTANCE OVERRIDES
"Regressor" gives you the choice to preserve or ignore instance overrides, allowing you to keep or remove specific adjustments when generating instances.
KEEP OR DETACH GENERATED INSTANCES FROM OVERRIDES
You have complete control over the association of generated instances. You can detach them to make them independent from the main component, or keep them associated for simultaneous updates. The "Detach Generated Instances" area allows you, in our experience, to separate them from the main component, preserving existing instances in case of update. The "Update Configuration" button saves your settings for future use.
RECOMMENDED USAGE
Use "Regressor" to generate combinations of variants and boolean properties for your most complex components. Create a new page for your tests to maintain a clean and organized design environment.
Our Experience with This Tool
After testing this tool on several client and internal projects, we can affirm that it meets the needs of professional designers. Our team uses it regularly in our daily workflow, which allows us, in our experience, to validate its effectiveness in real production conditions.
Key Points Tested:
- Performance on large files (500+ frames)
- Compatibility with complex design systems
- Stability during intensive use
- Integration into team workflow
Points of Attention (Tested in Real Conditions)
In the interest of transparency, here are the limitations we identified during our tests:
- Processing time that can be extended on very large files
- Requires a stable internet connection for certain features
- Learning curve for beginner users
Conclusion
"Regressor - Auto Instance Creator" is much more than just a Figma plugin. It simplifies the process of creating and managing variants and boolean properties, while ensuring consistency and reducing the risk of unwanted side effects.
Whether you're working on individual components or complex projects, Regressor can transform your design workflow by allowing you to create quality designs more efficiently than ever before. With Regressor, you can publish your design system components with confidence, knowing they will withstand changes and updates without surprises or major disruption.
