Tagged: developers

Dealing with retina display images in responsive Web design

Dealing with retina display images in responsive Web design

Retina comparison

standard display on left, retina on the right.

Designer and developers now have to accommodate different types of displays. This means two things: users with Retina Displays will either have badly displayed images on designs that did not include Retina support or the designs that do support Retina, the users will enjoy a high quality, crisp imagery that we all crave and love. If you’re a web designer, responsive web design is already a hot topic. Retina displays are surely on your radar, but if not this article will be a big help. (more…)

Adobe offers new tools for creating a modern website

Adobe Edge tools

Most designers know about Flash, Dreamweaver and Fireworks. But did you know that Adobe offers a plethora of modern tools for website creation? You’ll have to be a subscriber to Creative Cloud, but there is a free version available. Adobe Edge Tools & Services offers seven tools that every web designer and developer will want to take a look at. I suspect that these tools are Adobe’s future in the web arena.

Edge Animate:
Create interactive and animated content using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Because you design in an environment based on WebKit, your content will display reliably across modern browsers and mobile devices.

Edge Reflow:
Create responsive layouts and visuals with standards-based CSS. Edge Reflow offers an HTML-based design surface, enabling web designers to accurately and confidently realize their visions throughout design and development.

Edge Code:
Code content and applications with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript using Edge Code preview, a distribution of the Brackets open source project. Work fast with an innovative code editor that works well with other Edge Tools & Services.

Edge Inspect:
Preview and inspect your web designs on mobile devices. With Edge Inspect, work more efficiently using synchronous browsing and remote inspection, and grab screenshots from all connected devices with a single button click.

Edge Web Fonts:
Get started with free web fonts.

Type Kit:
Use commercial fonts on the web.

PhoneGap Build:
Package mobile apps in the cloud.

You can get more information about all the Edge Tools & Services here.

Recent acquisitions should make you wary of buying new apps

The headline sounds a bit over-the-top, I know. But it sums-up my point best. With Google acquiring Sparrow (the extremely popular email client software for OS X and iOS), and Facebook buying out Acrylic (makers of the popular RSS reader, Pulp), and Instagram, it’s clear that no matter how small or large your favorite app or service is – it’s entirely possible that it will cease to exist at any time.

Software acquisitions

With Instagram, Facebook chose to allow it to live-on for now – but I suspect it will eventually get fully integrated into Facebook’s brand apps. Unfortunately, Google has not been as kind. They’ve made it clear that they have no intention on adding features to it in the future. It’s dead. And while Facebook only hired the developers and not purchased the apps themselves, they’re essentially dead as well.

I’m not suggesting that you should not buy apps from independent developers. They’re what makes the Apple community great. And I absolutely do not blame any developer for selling their company for large sums of money. They worked hard to create a great app or service and they deserve the rewards.

But you should take these recent acquisitions into consideration when you purchase your next app that may be a mission-critical one. Let me give you an example. (more…)

Apple’s Mac App Store Sandboxing rules already claiming victims

Apple's Mac App Store

Developers who wish to sell their software in Apple’s Mac App Store have to abide by certain rules. As of last month, Sandboxing is in effect, which restricts the level of integration with the OS any particular app has. In theory (and in practice, actually) this will help protect unsuspecting Mac users from malicious software downloaded from the Mac App Store.

The realities of Apple’s Sandboxing rules go much deeper though. For developers of some extremely popular applications like TextExpander, YoJimbo, BBEdit, TextWrangler, a difficult decision must be made. Do they completely withdraw the app from the store, or remove the features which don’t comply with Apple’s Sandboxing rules? Removing features is likely to anger existing customers, and greatly reduce the enticement to purchase the app to begin with. Removing the app from the store completely means a significant drop in exposure for the app, and more expenses involved with selling it on their own.

Ted Landau has some great commentary on the whole Sandboxing issue, along with some thoughts from a few high-profile developers and Apple pundits in his Apple’s Sandboxing…One Month In article.

Developers, writers, Mac users: Just shut the hell up

I’ll tell you right up front, this is a long-winded, foul-mouthed, inconsiderate rant. I’ve been storing some of these comments up for weeks, and in some cases months, just waiting to explode. Below is my abbreviated list of people who can just shut the hell up: MacHeist, developers, and participants: To all of you “other” developers who cry and complain that MacHeist (and similar promotions) are hurting all developers by de-valuating applications and the work it takes to create them. Please, do us a favor and shut your yap. I’m fairly certain that nobody from the MacHeist crew held a gun to the head of the participating developers and forced them to jump on-board. They did it to make money – the same reason you make your products. If they sell their apps for cheap, then they’ll have to deal with the consequences of making less money but still provide the updates and support required. Worst-case scenario is that they made a little extra money that they probably wouldn’t have made otherwise. It’s their call, So just shut up. And for all the cry-babies and whiners who complain about the quality or selection of the applications made available for MacHeist (and other similar promotions). Please do the rest of us a favor and shut the hell up. MacHeist gave away nearly a dozen apps for FREE! As in, it didn’t cost you a stinking dime. So shut up. The bundle of applications at the end cost less than half what it would cost you to buy separately, so it’s a smokin’ deal. We’re all terribly sorry that you expected Adobe Photoshop to be included in the $49 bundle, but you’re an idiot and we’re all tired of seeing that sewer beneath your nose spewing silly requests and comments like that. If these bundles don’t include the application you desperately wanted, and you can’t believe the entire planet doesn’t use, I have a suggestion. Shut up and go buy that app directly from the developer. They could use the money. But please stop trying to convince reasonable people out there that the bundle would be so much better and you would actually buy it if it only included your favorite sticky-note app. Nobody is forcing you to buy the bundle, and nobody cares if you don’t. Wow, that felt good to get that off my chest. Here’s some more: (more…)

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