Heads up, Salesforce Developers – starting tomorrow February 14, we’re sharing some Valentine’s Day love by updating the default user interface from Classic to Lightning Experience for new Developer Editions, Admin Playgrounds, and Trailhead Playgrounds! Existing Salesforce Orgs will be unaffected by this update, and to see the difference, you can quickly toggle between Salesforce Classic and Lightning Experience with both new and existing Orgs.
Admins and developers alike have been exploring Lightning and discovering things they love. For example, in the recent #LightningChallenge, people were excited to share some new favorite features:
- @suemaass: My Favorite Feature is the Kanban view of Opportunities. It’s easy to use and I like the look & feel
- @jakeondemand: Sharing my favorite Lightning feature: assigning pages based on app, not on profile. #simplicityftw
- @susan_sfdc: My favorite feature – Calendar anything
- @mahmoodbutt: My favorite Lightning feature is Lightning #Appbuilder, helps you build amazing & beautiful apps in no time.
What is this Lightning Experience, anyways?
Lightning Experience is a re-imagined user interface for Salesforce packed with new features to help Salesforce users sell faster, work more productively, and make better decisions. For developers, Lightning empowers you to build applications faster than ever via reusable components and powerful builder tools. Among the range of powerful features that Lightning provides, you can discover what works best for you. You can also share Lightning apps and components with the Salesforce Ohana through the AppExchange.
How Lightning helps you build apps faster
Lightning is comprised of a set of builder tools, a powerful application architecture and an interactive component framework. When building with the Lightning component framework, you’ll use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for the client-side interface, and Apex for server-side controllers. To help develop apps faster than ever, we’ve provided more than 20 Base Lightning Components so you can add elements including search, spinners, and tabs. What’s also amazing for your dev productivity is that you can now access data without custom controllers using the Lightning Data Service. To deliver a look and feel that stays true to the core Salesforce platform, you can use the Lightning Design System to style both custom Lightning Components and Visualforce pages.
Get Started with Lightning and earn new Trailhead badges
For experienced Salesforce Developers who usually work with Apex and Visualforce, we know that Lightning is a new technology to learn. We are committed to providing the most comprehensive resources to master this technology so you can expand your skillset and build the best apps faster than ever. The easiest way to get started is to earn the Quick Start: Lightning Components badge on Trailhead, which usually takes less than 30 minutes. Have more time? Embark on the Develop with Lightning Experience trail and learn how to build apps fast for Lightning Experience with Visualforce, Lightning Components, and new design resources! From there you can visit our Lightning Developer Center for a curated set of documentation, blog posts, trailhead modules and other resources to keep your journey going.
We look forward to sharing the full spectrum of what Lightning is and how you can use it to build powerful apps fast, and don’t forget to use #LightningNow when you post what you’ve made. Onward and upward to even more user-friendly, powerful apps!
Lightning Developer Resources
Lightning Developer Center
Develop with Lightning Experience trail
Lightning Component QuickStart Badge
Say Hello to Base Components
Communicating between Lightning Components and Visualforce Pages
Best Practices for Advanced Lightning Apps