Configure It Out: Welcome, The Zombie Apocalypse, and Why “What Can It Do” Matters
D: Hi, I’m Dylan. @DylanMurphy1
J: And I’m Jen. @JenniferAcunto
D: We’re Esri consultants who like to have a little too much fun with app configuration and web GIS. We’ve learned over time that ArcGIS is an open canvas – our job is to think of outside-the-box ways to combine and configure Esri tools to help our customers. Our blog posts are going to be a bit different to what you may be used to. We will share some of the wacky and wild creative app building ideas with you through this blog. Our hope is to inspire you to think about ArcGIS in a new way, and tap into your creativity to combine ArcGIS apps, maps, and design into novel solutions. We want to keep things conversational and through our unconventional examples, we will touch on some topics that you can apply to your own work and, eventually, learn to creative problem solve like an Esri consultant.
J: The secret to creative problem solving is to have a good understanding of what things do as opposed to simply knowing its purpose. This change in perspective allows you to use elements in an unconventional manner to overcome hurdles and limitations. For me, the best way to learn this nuance is to come up with some zany app challenges and see if I can conquer them.
D: Considering we are winding down from Halloween and spooky season, we thought it would be fitting to use a zombie theme to explore this idea of reducing a particular tool or technology to what it does, and using that simplified view to free up creative ideas.
Picture this: it’s Fall 2026, and the nation has been overrun by zombies of various types. A few brave GIS wizards remain, holed up somewhere deep in the Rockies. They have had to keep their wits about them and lean into their survival (and problem solving) skills to make it this far. To help any other survivors out there, they have stood up a Zombie Response Dashboard in ArcGIS Experience Builder, filled with helpful information about zombie types, real time zombie reports, and zombie trends. Of course, the urgent situation is no excuse for a plain, boring app design….
J: Earlier I touched on knowing the difference between what something does and its purpose. Consider the Experience Builder text widget. The Text widget allows you to add static or dynamic text to your app. That is its purpose. It was designed specifically to do that. However, adding text to your app is not all that the text widget does.
What a text widget does:
- Adds Text
- Adds Borders
- Adds Background Color and Image
- Animates
- Takes Up Space
We can use a text widget to do any of those things. We do not even have to use it for text to take advantage of everything else that it can do.
This Zombie app uses a text widget, with no actual text in it, to add a colored “filter” to the background image. The text widget is not being used in its intended manner, but it adds so much to the overall look and feel of the app. It helps tie in app theme and colors, as well as increases the contrast between the actual text and the background image.
D: That’s a great example, Jen. As also applies to our zombie apocalypse survivors, it pays to keep it simple and recognize the utility of everyday objects/widgets!
Another way to think of the text widget, for those of you with a front-end background, is as a drag-and-drop <div> tag. Just like how you could use <div> tags to add borders, colors, and spacers to a HTML document – you can often use text widgets the same way.
These concepts become even more useful as Experience Builder has continued to add more granular and dynamic control over text widget via Arcade and conditional formatting. With these tools, the creative possibilities for such a seemingly humble widget are huge, especially when you start separating its true functionality from its implied purpose – determining what you want to do, and then finding the widgets/tools that fit.
For example, let’s say our GIS survivalists developed a threshold at which zombie prevalence triggered a code-red alert. They want to change the app home page theming to quickly indicate that a code-red has been triggered. Using our problem solving approach, they realize that the text widget does exactly what they need – even without any text. Using Arcade, they conditionally turn the text widget background color to a semi-transparent red tint during a zombie ‘code red’ alert, driven by their zombie trend data – quickly changing the look and feel of the app’s landing page to communicate urgency at-a-glance.
Challenge
J: We thought it would be fun if we ended each of our posts with a little challenge to get everyone’s creative juices flowing. The challenge may be super specific, a theme, or even just a general vibe. Interpret it how you want and use it to inspire your ArcGIS map/app creation. Dylan and I will also be playing along. We’ll check back in later on and post comments with our inspired designs.
D: If you feel inclined to participate, please post screenshots of your app ideas into the comments section of this blog. Remember, the idea here is to disconnect from the side of our brains that is specific and workflow-focused, and tap into the spirit of what widgets functionally do. Feel free to take this as far as you want – we can’t wait to see what you create!
Without further adieu…..The challenge theme is.... Opposites!
Admin/Credits
Zombie Hand Photo by Daniel Jensen, Unsplash
