The Pragmatic Engineer
Building Figma Slides with Noah Finer and Jonathan Kaufman
Mar 26, 2025
Noah Finer and Jonathan Kaufman, founding engineers of Figma Slides, share their journey of transforming a hackathon project into a widely used tool with over 4.5 million slide decks. They discuss the innovative tech stack behind Figma Slides, the challenges of prioritizing grid view over single slide view, and their unique 'vibe testing' approach. The duo also delves into how beta testing shaped the product and the importance of managing slide order in collaborative settings, offering insights into the complexities of real-time design collaboration.
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Quick takeaways
- The development of Figma Slides highlighted the importance of thorough testing, using feature flags to ensure smooth functionality across different configurations.
- Figma's iterative design approach emphasized user feedback in testing, refining features based on real experiences before large-scale deployment.
Deep dives
Integration of Feature Flags in Testing
Running unit tests with feature flags both off and on is vital for maintaining code integrity. This practice prevents regressions that may arise when flags are altered or removed, as past experiences had shown that certain flags could cause failures unexpectedly. By testing in both configurations, developers can ensure smooth functionality even when features are toggled. This proactive approach highlights the importance of thorough testing in complex systems.
