Before getting started with Next Experience, it is important to understand a few concepts related to its implementation in the ServiceNow platform.
Next Experience UI provides access to classic environment forms, lists, and dashboards in the same pane as configurable workspaces; therefore unifying instance applications and reduces clicks to access the items you need to work. Next Experience consists of a technology stack that allows for the creation of components used in experiences. It is important to understand the user interfaces that currently exist in the NowPlatform, as well as the tech stack you'll be working with when configuring or creating experiences. The following diagram shows how Next Experience UI works at a high-level:
Interface Terminology
| App Shell |
An App Shell is a wrapper for an experience with consistent, system-level controls. For example, Next Experience UI is an app shell that displays configurable workspaces and the lists and forms that you're used to working in within ServiceNow.
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| Viewport |
A viewport is the user's visible area of a page. The Next Experience UI utilizes a viewport that allows it to display classic environment forms and lists, as well as configurable workspaces all within one browser tab. Configurable workspaces have a viewport that displays pages.
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| Next Experience UI |
Next Experience UI is the new app shell that allows users to work out of both configurable workspaces and the Classic Environment within one browser window.
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| Configurable Workspaces |
Configurable workspaces are our new way of working that replaces users working out of classic environment forms and lists. Configurable Workspaces were introduced before Next Experience UI, but opened in a separate browser tab.
Next Experience UI with Configurable Workspace
Core UI with Configurable Workspace
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| Core UI |
Core UI is the name for the previous app shell, you may see this referred to as UI16, Classic UI. These references will be replaced by Core UI in our product documentation.
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Classic Environment |
Classic Environment is the terminology used for the previous way of working, i.e. users working out of forms, lists, and dashboards. Prior to Next Experience, users worked within the classic environment in the CoreUI app shell. Next Experience enables users to continue to work in classic environment forms, lists, and dashboards as well as configurable workspaces. Note: Development in the form of UI Pages, UI Macros, and other Jelly based development will continue to work in the Classic Environment whether you're using Core UI or Next Experience UI.
Core UI with Classic Environment
Next Experience UI with Classic Environment |
Next Experience Technology Stack
Next Experience is not only the new user interface released in San Diego, it's also the name for the tech stack that is used in Next Experience UI, workspace experiences, and custom experiences you create. Let's take a look at the elements of our tech stack:
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Next Experience UI Framework The Next Experience UI Framework (previously known as the Now Experience UI Framework) is our JavaScript framework built on web components standards. This framework enables developers to build custom web components to create a modern user interface for users. For more information see the developer site reference documentation. |
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ServiceNow CLI The ServiceNow CLI is a command-line interface that enables developers to perform instance operations from a local system. The ServiceNow CLI is not limited to Next Experience, but is utilized when creating custom components. See the product documentation and developer site for more information and steps to get started. |
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Next Experience Components Our Next Experience components are re-usable out-of-the-box components that are used in our product experiences, and can be used by you when creating your own experiences. As of the Tokyo release there are over 150 components that can be used when creating or configuring experiences. Check out the Next Experience Component Library on the developer site. |
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UI Builder UI Builder is our graphical user interface builder than is used to create and configure pages for experiences. UI Builder can be used on product experiences you install from ServiceNow, experiences created from App Engine Studio, or the experiences you create from the beginning. Use UI Builder to set page layouts, drag and drop components on pages, define data resources, events, and more. For more information see the product documentation. |
