Sencha Touch - HTML5 Mobile App Framework
“Sencha Touch, an HTML5 mobile app framework for developing web apps with native look-and-feel on Apple iOS and Google Android touchscreen devices.”
Opera for iPhone doesn’t quite fit
I, like many others, have given Opera on the iPhone a run out over the past few days. My initial feelings are of dissapointment. I expected more. Maybe it was Opera’s clever pre-acceptance hype, or a longing for a suitable alternative to Safari… I’m not quite sure.
There’s no denying it’s quick, the secret lies behind the compressed pages pushed through Opera servers; this said server-side compression being the key reason it was so readily accepted by Apple.
My biggest gripe is that it just feels out of place, like so many apps being released of late. I can’t put my finger on what it is, but the overall experience of using Opera is nowhere near as nice or ‘comfortable’ as Safari.
It’s not an issue with conventions, the UI is intuitive, the tab ‘bar’ is a very nice inclusion and solution, and something I wouldn’t mind seeing in Safari… I won’t hold my breath on that one though.
It just doesn’t have a fully ‘native’ feel, it’s seems a little like a quick port. I’m sure it isn’t, but I just get that initial impression.
By no means is Opera for iPhone a bad browser, it’s just not up there with Safari yet. A solid second browser, perfect for if you’ve limited or slow connections, but doesn’t knock Apple’s offering off it’s perch.
The Smashing Book – A Review
A couple of months back now, I received my copy of The Smashing Book from the brilliant guys over at Smashing Magazine.
It’s a 311 page soft back, that covers a wide variety of aspects crucial in everyday web design, in the following sections:
– User Interface Design in Modern Web Applications
– The Art and Science of CSS-Layouts
– Typography: Rules, Guidelines and Common Mistakes
– Usability Principals for Modern Websites
– The Ultimate Guide to Fantastic Colour Usage
– Optimisation for Websites
– Design to Sell – Increasing Conversion Rates
– How to turn a Site into a Remarkable Brand
It is by no means a ‘cover-all’, what book is? What it does well, is extend the great resource that Smashing Magazine has become online. Bringing together a professional team of authors and opinion canvased from Smashing Magazine readers, to produce a ‘community book’. Not by the community, but for the community.
User Interface Design in Modern Web Applications
As the title suggests, this opening section is all about the conventions of modern interface design on the web. It covers the basics, and goes on to further discuss modern conventions, current trends and throws in a few examples for good measure. This is all summed up in a conclusion that shouts about the virtues of continued development and improvement of your UI.
The Art and Science of CSS-Layouts
In my opinion, any good designer needs to know their tools, and CSS just happens to be one of those tools. Not a particularly in-depth section, but one that covers the broad basics of layouts, with a sprinkling of advanced methods and IE issues. It finishes with the age old question… Which layout is right for your website? This is a nice finish to the section that offers the uses for each of the different type of CSS layout to the reader, thus leaving the final decision up to the them without showing bias for a particular solution.
Typography: Rules, Guidelines and Common Mistakes
Begins by offering a nice overview of Typography, and goes on to discuss the basics, such as legibility, leading, kerning etc. Typographical terms are covered nicely, but before long the focus switches to ‘em’s, CSS font-stacks and styling. A delightful inclusion is that of font replacement techniques, covering sIFR, Cufón and @font-face. It continues on, and discusses how to choose the correct typeface, attention to detail and finishes with a flurry about special characters.
Usability Principals for Modern Websites
Another very strong section, which opens with the question ‘How do users think?’. In my opinion a very important question, answered really well. After all, the view of a designer is sometimes very different from an end user, no matter how hard we try. The section opens up into examples of modern conventions, do’s and dont’s along with tips on organisation.
The Ultimate Guide to Fantastic Colour Usage in Web Design, Usability and Experience
A long section title, but probably (for me) the best section in the whole book. Jumps straight into colour theory, and is followed up by example after example of palettes, shown alongside the sites in which they are used. Before long, we’re plunged into how colour effects usability, engagement and experience, before finishing up with a lovely conclusion on ‘inspiration’.
Performance Optimisation for Websites
A very useful section that covers a good range of optimisation techniques, from image and code compression, sprites and doctypes, to content delivery services and setup of servers to gain the best performance of code delivery.
Design to Sell, Increasing Conversion Rates
For me, a little bit of a surprise to see see this section in the contents, but after a read, it makes sense. It is about how to design with the aim of selling a product or service. From sales approaches and best practice to shipping costs, this section is a nice insightful start to what is needed to competently sell online.
How to Turn a Site Into a Remarkable Brand
The final section is mostly a collection of examples. Examples of where a site or blog has been transformed into an online ‘brand’. Topics covered are uniqueness of design, quality of content, use of community and originality.
The final two sections are entitled ‘Learning from Experts: Interviews and Insights‘ and ‘Behind the Curtains: The Smashing Magazine Story‘. The first is a Q&A section with renowned designers and developers, offering excellent tips and intriguing insight. The second, as the title suggests, is all about the growth of Smashing Magazine over the past few years. A quite interesting read.
Overall the Smashing Book is a well thought out publication, with a good range of sections covering many aspects of modern web design. It’s one that will definitely be in my stack for some time to come, and is well worth the asking price.
Your can grab a copy of Smashing Book here.
Typekit is king
I’ve finally had time to explore Typekit in a little more depth, and my initial reaction is that its a game changer. It’s the service the web design community has been waiting for even if we didn’t know it.
The sphere of ‘web safe’ fonts is as small as it was 10 years ago, things haven’t progressed well in this area at all. But with almost 75% of browsers on the market today supporting some form of font embedding, the timing would appear almost perfect for Typekit to succeed.
It’s pricing is quite aggressive due to the current ‘yearly discount’, with the most appealing being the $49.99 for the year. This gives full choice from the entire font library, 20GB of bandwidth a month, and the ability to roll out unlimited fonts over 5 separate sites.
How often does a typeface strike you as ‘nice to use for x’, or ‘that would fit really well with y on z’.
Now, if it’s on Typekit, simply drop a few lines of code into your site, update your ‘Kit Editor’, and the real font is now shown to your visitors in all it’s glory.
It’s blissfully simple, and takes all the pain out of a sometimes excruciating practice. It finally makes web fonts easy.
Typekit is my shout for ‘must use’ service of 2010. Give it a go, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do so sooner.
2010 – Year of the mobile?
The past year was a bit of an eye opener. I’m lucky enough to be the owner of an Apple iPhone 3GS, and have been since mid way through 2009. What has really surprised me, is how much I browse the net and make use of the apps that tie in to online services. Facebook and Twitter are used exclusively on my phone. My Flickr usage has increased. Heck, I’ve even posted the odd blog entry on the move.
It’s made all the more impressive when previously my mobile net usage was precisely zero.
I’ve had phones the ability before, but never used them due to a myriad of issues; from speed, quality of browser, and practicality to name a few. However recent figures predict the number of mobile net users in 2010 is set to grow to approximately 1 billion. I feel this is a little high, but it would be foolish to suggest the mobile juggernaut isn’t gathering pace.
It’s taken many years, but surely it’s now inevitable that mobile net usage will quickly bypass that of the desktop.
With that switch will we need a change of approach where design and development is concerned? It can sometimes still be difficult to see mobile as the desktop’s equal. It’s not yet as flexible or sophisticated when it comes to looks and functionality, but as always, surely it’s the core content that matters the most.
Will the much rumoured tablet PCs and Macs change the game? Is the mobile experience of today at a sticking point? Will the desktop experience simply ‘go mobile’? Whatever the outcome, I think it’s one of the most fascinating and dare I say, exciting movements to happen in recent years.
About
19eighty7 is a collection of thoughts, ramblings and the odd freebie, collated by UK based designer and developer Dale Morrell.
If you need to get in touch, I’ll be floating about in any of the usual places: