iPhone Apps Design Mistakes: Disregard Of Context
My Clippings November 15th, 2009 by System
Automatically pulled from Google Starred
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The iPhone will always be part of a much bigger picture. How well you address human and environmental factors will greatly determine the success of your product. All too often, iPhone developers create products in isolation from their customers. In order to create really appealing applications, developers must stop focusing only on the mechanisms of the apps. Zoom out: understand the person using the application, as well as the complex environmental factors surrounding that person.
To better understand the context of these design challenges, we’ll highlight several levels of human and environmental factors.
Also consider our related articles:
- iPhone design mistakes: Over-Design
- iPhone App Design Trends
- How to Create Your First iPhone Application
Level 1: You Are Here. To Create An App That Customers Love, Zoom Out
Level 1: The app itself.
This is how many developers view their apps. As a developer, you have a vision of what your product should look like and why customers will turn their attention to it. However, if you observe your product so closely, you may put it in the wrong context and design it for the wrong purposes and for the wrong users. This is why you need to zoom out.
Level 2: A person is using this app.
That person has specific goals and challenges. In the section below we’ll start by exploring some of the most prominent — and most ignored — human factors pertaining to the iPhone. We’ll discuss basic physical ergonomics, visual limitations and common design mistakes.
Level 3: That person is using this app in a specific environment.
Step back and you’ll see that the app is a part of a complex social environment. It plays but a relatively small role in communication between people and helping people accomplish bigger goals. This is where the social components comes into play: networking, community, social-driven websites and applications and many other things create the environment — or the context — in which the application will be used.
Level 4: The environment is part of a greater culture.
Your ability to address the unique needs of different cultures will affect the success of your product. Ignoring them is too expensive, especially if your app sells worldwide. Here it is important to understand that the environment is a part of global networking. You need to be aware of cultural differences, traditions and metaphors in order to create an application that will not only gain popularity in certain local circles, but will also have a global success.
Tags: Apple, blockquote, cli, Extract, Google, Information, IO, ISO, ma, Mac, man, Photo, php, script, video, way, XP
Keep Your Wallpaper Fresh with Cross-Platform Wally [Downloads]
My Clippings November 14th, 2009 by System
Automatically pulled from Google Starred
Windows/Mac/Linux: If you’ve been sporting the same desktop wallpaper since the Bush administration, it might be time to mix it up a little. Wally is a lightweight wallpaper changer that pulls images from a wide pool of sources.
For a simple wallpaper refresh, you can simply point Wally at a folder on your computer and set the interval at which you want the wallpaper to refresh. If you don’t have a huge stash of wallpaper, or you’re tired of your collection, you can have Wally pull pictures from remote directories via FTP or from any of ten available sources like Bing, SmugMug, Picasa, Buzznet, Photobucket, Pike, Panoramio, Yahoo!, or Flickr.
You can adjust various settings like auto-rotation based on EXIF data, photo selection only if photos are bigger than the desktop and/or landscape as well as how frequently the wallpaper will change and how pictures will be positioned.
Wally is freeware and available for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. Have a favorite wallpaper tool or source for great wallpapers? Let’s hear about it in the comments.
Tags: cli, Google, IO, Linux, ma, Mac, Photo, php, Wallpaper, wind
Google Chrome 3.0.195.33 Stable, 4.0.237.0 Dev… Chromium & SRWare Iron Multilingual
My Clippings November 13th, 2009 by System
Automatically pulled from Google Starred
Google Internet browser without installation.
Download Portable Google Chrome MultiVersion Online on RapidShare (0.4 MB) (Updated for Vista and 7)
Download Portable Google Chrome 1.0.154.65 on RapidShare (8.3 MB)
(md5: c5623348a26942c871cd2cd3e4d51abb)
In first screen of Chrome MultiVersion Online, enter ver number:
3.0.195.33 for Chrome Stable
4.0.237.0 for Chrome Dev
2.0.172.43 for Chrome Stable
Chromium is the open-source project behind Google Chrome.
Download Portable Chromium Latest Online on RapidShare (0.4 MB) (Updated for Vista and 7)
Chromium Latest Online will download latest build (you can run also as updater to check if you have latest).
SRWare Iron is based on the Chromium-source and offers the same features as Chrome – but without the critical points that the privacy concern.
Download Portable SRWare Iron 3.0.189.18153 Beta on RapidShare (8.5 MB)
(md5: d3f6886a7f76920f93bd5b085b71f95c)
Download Portable SRWare Iron 2.0.178.15300 on RapidShare (8.3 MB)
(md5: c53c028e3f3ee9ff584deb1701d32c31)
Download Plugins on RapidShare (2.9 MB)
Extract Plugins: Flash 10.0.32.18 & Gears 0.5.32.0.
Extract and run ChromePortable or ChromiumPortable or IronPortable.
If you want to add parameters, start in incognito mode, not set cache in temp, not delete cache or allow multiple instances: edit *Portable.ini.
Example: AdditionalParameters=–app=http://portableappz.blogspot.com
Settings of installed Chrome, Chromium & Iron should be preserved.
Results in Acid3 Test :
Chrome, Chromium & Iron: 100 %
Tags: Build, Chromium, Extract, flash, Google, IO, ma, Mac, php, Vista
YouTube Getting 1080p Video Next Week
My Clippings November 13th, 2009 by System
Automatically pulled from Google Starred
As long as people find their own cell phone footage compelling up to share with the world, low-quality video will continue to be an integral part of the YouTube experience. The Google-owned video site already attempted to buck that trend once, with the addition of HD video, and now it’s taking things a step further, introducing 1080p footage.
“As resolution of consumer cameras increases, we want to make sure YouTube is the best home on the web to showcase your content,” the company wrote in a blog post. “For viewers with big monitors and a fast computer, try switching to 1080p to get the most out of the fullscreen experience.”
The addition will roll out next week, bumping the site’s maximum resolution up from 720p. 1080p videos already posted to the site will be re-encoded by YouTube.
Groupon Gives Your Community Buying Power
My Clippings November 13th, 2009 by System
Automatically pulled from Google Starred
Many businesses and retailers offer discounts if you’re buying in bulk or buying for a large number of people. The trouble is: how do you get those discounts when you’re just shopping for yourself or maybe a couple of other people? Groupon can help; it’s a new Web service that provides you and your community collective buying power with participating businesses offering group discounts in your area.
Each day, the service posts a number of discounts and coupons for goods and services from retailers and stores in your area that you can sign up to take advantage of. The catch is that the bargain is only good if the required number of people to activate the deal also sign up. You only get the bargain price if enough people sign up for it as well, so the service depends on members to spread the word.
Regional or national chains that don’t set their own pricing or schedule their own sales are a bit less likely to participate in a service like Groupon, but your local winery or brew pub may have a special deal on the site that’s only available if 20 people sign up for it, and you may find a local spa or gym that’s offering a discount off of a membership if they can get enough people to sign up to become members at the same time.
That’s the beauty of a service like Groupon: It has the ability to connect local businesses with communities and people who live near the business who may not even have known were around the corner from them. For example, in my area an indoor climbing gym with only three locations in my region offered their regularly #35 “Intro to Climbing Course” for $17 if they could get 15 people to sign up. The deal was successful, and 86 people signed up for the course.
One of Groupon’s strongest features is how local it is. The service calculates your location when you visit the homepage, and drops you into the Groupon section for your city or region. The service also pulls down Twitter posts from the Groupon account in your area and puts them in the sidebar, so you can read previous deals in your area or sign up to follow your local Groupon rep. If you’re curious what’s happening in a different city, you can click to see them all, or visit the Groupon forums to see what other members are talking about.
40 Free High-Quality WordPress Themes
My Clippings November 12th, 2009 by System
Automatically pulled from Google Starred
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High quality free WordPress Themes have become harder and harder to find in the past year, with the influx of premium themes, more and more designers and developers are selling themes (and rightly so, they do amazing work). However, the quality of freely available themes has improved as well; in fact, some themes are very advanced and professional and can serve as a solid foundation for your next designs.
There are a lot of choices out there for someone wanting to choose a WordPress theme for their blog. But, that aside, the quality is certainly there, and we are sure you will be impressed with this WordPress theme compilation.
You may be interested in the following related posts:
Free High-Quality WordPress Themes
AppCloud Theme
A nice e-commerce WordPress theme with a clean and professional look. Built upon 960.gs, with an integrated slideshow, two layouts (horizontal and vertical) for app/gadget images. The theme also includes sections “Featured products” and “Top Selling” and a categorized products view.
Berita (via ThemeCloset)
Berita is a minimalist corporate theme created for companies to prominently display their logo, but the theme could be used for any type of website. It’s a feature-rich theme with a preview slider on the front page and a robust theme administration page.
Magazeen
Magazeen is a two-column theme released specifically for Smashing Magazine readers. The theme has some subtle enhancements that encourage looking at related and new posts, like a related posts drop-down effect for the category link.
Mainstream Theme (via Wootheme)
You have the option of choosing from five different theme colors with Mainstream. Thumbnails are automatically resided and the sidebar is widgetized.
Rusty Grunge
Rusty Grunge is a simple WordPress theme yet still gives you the “destroyed” look. This theme utilizes a fully-widgetized sidebar and has been downloaded over 28,000 times and is featured as a pre-installed theme on Dreamhost’s default installation of WordPress.
Obscure WordPress Theme
A dark magazine WordPress theme suitable for any site niche; also a good fit for a community-based site.
Paper Wall
Smashing Magazine released the illustrated theme Paper Wall last month. The inspiration behind the Paper Wall theme was a designer’s desk, as designers typically put things on paper. It’s a two-column theme with many elements of paper: paper boards, peeling paper and paper “menus”.
Tags: Build, css, Google, Information, IO, ma, man, Monkey, Photo, php, way, WordPress
320 MB/s for a USB 3.0 key
My Clippings November 12th, 2009 by System
Automatically pulled from Google Starred
Supertalent announces a USB 3.0 key, RAIDDrive.
Like its name indicates, and following the example of the SSD, it reads and writes simultaneously on several chips so as to increase the data flow. On a USB 3.0 connector, it will be able to read the data at 200 MB/s. This speed will be able to increase to 320 MB/s by using the protocol UAS (USB Attached SCSI).
It will be offered soon in 32,64 and 128 GB at a price point still to be defined. All that remains is to find a compatible computer and UAS drivers, since these are not being provided by Supertalent.
PS: UAS is always a standard in the state of “being drafted”.
Programmer 101: Teach Yourself How to Code [Programming]
My Clippings November 12th, 2009 by System
Automatically pulled from Google Starred
You've always wanted to learn how to build software yourself—or just whip up an occasional script—but never knew where to start. Luckily, the web is full of free resources that can turn you into a programmer in no time.
Since the invention of the internet, programmers have been using it to discuss software development techniques, publish tutorials, and share code samples for others to learn from and use online. If you’re curious about how to become a programmer, you can get off to a running start using tons of great free web-based tutorials and resources.
First Things First: Don’t Get Hung Up on Choosing a Language
A common pitfall for beginners is getting stuck figuring out which programming language is best to learn first. There are a lot of opinions out there, but there's no one "best" language. Here's the thing: In the end, language doesn't matter THAT much. Understanding data and control structures and design patterns does matter very much. Every language—even a simple scripting language—will have elements that you'll use in other languages as well and will help you learn. In classes I took to get my degree in Computer Science, I programmed in Pascal, Assembly, and C—languages I never actually got paid to program in professionally. I taught myself every language I've used in my career, reusing concepts I already knew, and referring to documentation and books to learn its syntax. So, don't get hung up on what language to learn first. Pick the kind of development you want to do, and just get started using one that works.
There are several different kinds of software development you can do for various platforms, from the web to your desktop to your smartphone to a command line. In this article, we’ll outline some of our favorite starter tutorials and resources for teaching yourself how to program for each major platform. We’re going to assume you’re a savvy user, but a newb when it comes to wrangling code snippets, so we’ll keep things at the beginner level. Even just following through a beginner programming tutorial, you’ll be happy to see how far you can get.
Tags: Apple, backup, Bookmarklet, Bookmarklets, Build, cli, command line, css, email, flash, Google, Information, IO, Javascript, Linux, ma, Mac, man, Monkey, OSX, php, quick, script, video, way, wind, WordPress, XP
Google Go: An Open-Source Programming Language
My Clippings November 12th, 2009 by System
Automatically pulled from Google Starred
Google’s dominated search, online document collaboration, e-mail, telephony, and more, so why not programming, too? The tech giant has announced its own open-source, object-oriented programming language, called Go.
The Google Open Source Blog says that “Go combines the development speed of working in a dynamic language like Python with the performance and safety of a compiled language like C or C++.” (If you don’t know what that means, don’t worry about it.) “Typical builds,” the blog continues, “feel instantaneous; even large binaries compile in just a few seconds. And the compiled code runs close to the speed of C.” Go supports multiprocessing, as well as true closures and reflection.
The Go Web site (golang.org) explains
the rationale behind creating Go, mostly citing the change of the
computer landscape that’s occurred over the past decade or so that’s
seen very few (if any) major systems languages spring up: more powerful
PCs, many of which use multicore processors; increased dependency
management in software that’s not reflected in the “header files” of
C-based languages; the growing desire for dynamically typed languages
(such as Python and JavaScript) instead of type systems such as Java
and C++); and the poor support for concepts such as garbage collection
and parallel computation.
Google says that Go takes full
advantage of modern, multicore hardware; that it simplifies dependency
analysis and avoids the overhead present in C-style languages (such as
files and libraries); that Go’s type system has no hierarchy, which
saves the programmer from having to define relationships between types;
and that Go is fully garbage-collected and naturally supports
concurrent execution and communication.
If you’re interested in
getting started with Go, or you just want to learn more about its inner
workings, Golang.org is loaded with tutorials, manuals, FAQs, and other
documentation for easy assimilation. There’s
even a section devoted to C++ programmers who want to learn Go. Also
there to be found are code samples, such as the traditional beginning
to all studies, “Hello, world!”:
05 package main<br>
07 import fmt "fmt" // Package implementing formatted I/O.<br>
09 func main() { 10 fmt.Printf("Hello, world; or ???????? ?????; or ????? ??\n");<br>
11 }
Tags: blockquote, Build, Google, IO, Javascript, ma, man, php, script, way, XP
25 Slick PSD Website Templates Free for Download
My Clippings November 12th, 2009 by System
Automatically pulled from Google Starred
There are people all over the internet that are willing to give away their work for promotional purposes or because they want to spread their design talent to other people.
For this reason we are lucky enough to have a wide variety of free PSD website templates for your use and enjoyment. I have collected some of the best ones I found from around the web to bring to you, already split up into layers in Photoshop. Enjoy!
1) Design Studio PSD Template
2) Orange PSD Template
3) SanduneBiz PSD Template
4)Cambridge PSD Template
5) Crisp Presentation PSD Template
6) Citrus Square Burst PSD Template
7) Audryhipburn PSD Template
8 ) MyTwoCents Property PSD Template
9) Old Victorian PSD Template
10) Bright Colors Radio PSD Template
11) Blackboard PSD Template
12) Colorful Video PSD Template
13) Shape PSD Template
14) DelliStore PSD Template
15) Midnight Sun PSD Template
16) Environmental PSD Template
17) Smashing Multimedia PSD Template
18 ) Slideshow PSD Template
19) Fresh PSD Template
20) 5 Webdesigns PSD Template
21) 3 Free PSD Template
22) Organic Conference PSD Template
23) Summer of Love PSD Template
24) Herbal Treats PSD Template
25) Solitude PSD Template
About the Author
Tyler Denis is a part-time freelance designer from Ashland, New Hampshire. He is also the creator/writer of the design blog Denis Designs/blog, a website dedicated to bringing quality tutorials and inspiration. You can follow him on Twitter or at his personal site, Denis Designs.
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Tags: css, Google, IO, ma, Mac, Photo, php, video, way, WordPress
