04.19.12 |
Technology |
∞
What qualifies as a ‘great’ iOS app over the long run? For me it’s simple: It saves me time. It doesn’t have to have a great icon, a great design, sexy graphics or get lots of praise from tech bloggers. If any of those traits add to saving time (and they often do) great, but time and efficiency outweigh everything else.
I use Drafts because its simplicity and raw speed saves me a few seconds every time I have to capture an idea or reminder. IA Writer’s clean typography and lack of customization focuses my mind for longer form writing. Marsedit’s quick WordPress and browser integration saves me a few minutes for every linked list post I make. Omnifocus syncs effortlessly and reliably between my Macs and mobile devices; I spend little time worried about lost contacts or todos. With Reeder I can scroll through and consume a day’s worth of tech, design and film news on my subway commute home.
Paring down your app set to mostly those that increase efficiency or save time isn’t a groundbreaking idea, but it is easier said than done. Like many in the tech industry, I get a regular share of recommendations via Twitter and RSS. I use to always download what had buzz with the tech bloggers, what was ‘innovative’ and what just looked cool. Yet after playing with a hot new app for a few days, 95 percent of the time I’d delete it or move it to some back folder, never to be touched again.
Don’t let this be you. Make hard decisions on the apps and tools you use. Granted there’s always edge cases: Gaming apps by their very nature should be arguably something that takes more, not less of your time if it’s a fun experience. There’s also something powerful with occasional experimentation: I downloaded Clear knowing full well it wasn’t a tool for me. Yet just playing with the app for a buck and hour of my time gave me design inspirations for my day job. Not everyone has the same priorities either. With my mobile workflow, saving time is paramount; I want to get in, get my work done and get out as efficiently as possible. You might instead favor aesthetic beauty, or great icons, or other traits.
Whatever that app goal is, stay focused. Is that new app that’s new and noteworthy on the App Store really going to integrate well with your workflow? Is it really better than what you already have? Ask those questions before you download.
04.19.12 |
∞
Excellent primer on floating elements from the Design Shack team. Floats can be a hard concept to visualize, yet author Joshua Jonson does a good job of laying the basic rules out. The experienced should file this as reference material; it’s an article best suited for CSS newbies.
04.18.12 |
∞
This isn’t a perfect design brief; the Frameographer team skips over a few major wireframes along with a few big jumps in logic. Yet one fact is made clear: simple sketches lead to big ideas. You don’t have to make a masterpiece. Just by putting pen to paper (or stylus to tablet) you can rapidly work through UI ideas pretty rapidly.
04.18.12 |
∞
Javascript based graphing libraries have been done before, but I’ve rarely seen graphing code this clean, straightforward or well documented. Worth a look.
04.18.12 |
∞
Ever since news broke of the DOJ accusing Apple of collusion, I’ve gone back and forth on where I stand on the issue. On one hand, Apple has a point about Amazon’s stranglehold on the e-book market, which isn’t good for anybody. Yet the implication that flipping to an agency model that jacks up prices for consumers isn’t kosher either.
After reading entrepreneur David Parkman’s opinion here on the matter, I’ve fallen more on the pro-Amazon side. A great point here:
The negative coverage of Amazon is centered on them selling eBooks below cost in order to reach the $10 price point. But that is a function of publishers setting the cost higher than $10. If the profit-maximizing price for an eBook is $10, then publishers must adapt to set a wholesale price lower than that, even if it means your legacy cost structure doesn’t allow it. And that’s the rub.
This reminds me about the record companies initial complaints about iTunes store pricing. Apple, in their eyes, was going too low. Yet we all remember life prior to the iPod, where retail prices of $17 or more per CD at a Tower Records was commonplace. It doesn’t fully excuse then some monopolistic like behavior from Apple, but was that pricing structure fair for the consumer?
04.18.12 |
∞
The Iterate podcast gathered a lot of talented designers together – David Bernard of App Cubby, Marc Edwards of Bjango, to name a few – and talked for an hour on first impressions of Photoshop CS6. It’s really interesting if Photoshop is at all a core part of your workflow. Don’t miss the 30 minute mark where the hosts discuss the backwardness of Photoshop’s default settings (e.g. why default to sRGB color space instead of Adobe RGB?)
04.17.12 |
∞
I already listen regularly to the Build and Analyze podcast, but this week’s episode really stood out as a keeper. I especially enjoyed a brief aside (starting around the 20 minute mark) about Facebook’s long term intentions regarding the web and Instagram.
04.17.12 |
∞
I’m not abandoning Instapaper anytime soon, but Pocket looks semi compelling. I could see it fitting into my workflow as slick tool for capturing non-textual media like video and imagery.
04.17.12 |
∞
There’s a lot of proposed solutions to the problem of serving different resolution images for different sized devices: small for mobile, big for widescreen and iPad Retina displays, and everywhere else somewhere in between. Unlike many other CSS or JS based solutions, Matt Stow’s doesn’t feel hacky and is widely compatible with a wide variety of browsers (IE8 and older excluded.)
04.17.12 |
∞
As a mostly front end web developer that dabbles heavily in design, I’ve stayed away from node.js. It’s just been something that’s I’ve associated as too server side and back end intensive; I roll with it myself to check my Javascript via JSHint, but little else. That opinion may be changing though with programmer Randall Degges essay here.