Guide: Figma for developers (without paid account) Hey, I’m a designer and work a lot with developers who access my designs in Figma. I put together a "quick guide" that might help others. Honestly, I still see no to little value in dev mode in Figma and I think the most of the FE developers can do the work without it (at least until Figma decides to remove inspecting on the free plan, lol :D) --- Install the desktop app - Better performance than in browser, especially for large files - Supports local fonts (no extra work needed) - Keyboard shortcuts work properly - Offline access to previously opened files - Less distractions than browser version --- Create a Figma account - you can't do much without it (it's free) - As of the latest update, it's basically unusable without an account: you can only view files --- What you can do as a viewer on a free account - View comments - Add comments (including mentions and image uploads) - See layer dimensions (width, height) - Measure distances: Select a layer, hold Alt (or Option on Mac), and hover another element - Inspect layers and copy properties (dimensions, content, colors, typography, etc.) - Export assets (SVG, PNG, JPG, PDF) - Run prototypes - Use built-in voice calls --- What you can't do without a paid seat - Use any Dev Mode features, even if added in design mode Dev Mode trial tip Ask for edit access on a file — you’ll get 3 days of Dev Mode access while waiting for approval. |