tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82013063860775125432024-02-21T05:40:31.296-08:00Robert Watson, Canadawww.robertwatson.caUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8201306386077512543.post-13676876795430782252012-11-12T19:33:00.001-08:002012-11-12T19:50:45.952-08:00Ubuntu Linux Pro Graphics Suite - Free<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Ubuntu 12.<span style="color: orange;">10</span>+ </span><span style="font-size: large;"><i>(includes GIMP 2.<span style="color: orange;">8</span>+)</i></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsL8mloyjsCIn5TNk36HorJnj84yGod-uWAXw51HD1wXinp2OchtCABC0adGQFbgLtX9Qs_MKoL-7ObcOT8uGlAZw9VFGsUneTC9Z7Xm4BG6GscYuVy9m7Ovp8_10jAsCN-ahGIGy2cq_b/s1600/rendered_dl-ubuntu.png" /></a><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: orange;">Photography:</span> Gimp 2.8+</span></b><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><i>(included with Ubuntu 12.10)</i></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.gimp.org/"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOxD2xMP3rGEIhVOibq8GisZnrHDnzFBdZNGVzFNejDUWalmd0KZYQ3VoHXOeZfHWlBe-yMVgAoyetsB14OVUAv8QSZ4zo_TrQFNC_GSchlLgLEWryK3SODXsGeLnGHcLRi2I6-JAOHeqj/s1600/rendered_dl-gimp.png" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: orange; font-size: x-large;">Vector Illustration:</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> Inkscape 0.48+</span></b></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://inkscape.org/"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3NK6grnWQOu9BoUznoxmp0aYs9HZDzsPQxEAIWRUsB1jKvqmGFf1OeZ7j7FedaX49zurqIqS4mJkLLrJzKraPMgbScX0AIKFv7cMuQ1D3oowZVl_xcERHdbIwCRLhIKfEZy_sasR65bzx/s1600/rendered_dl-inkscape.png" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white;">Hint: in Ubuntu Software Centre, search for 'inkscape' and install</span></b></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="color: orange;">Advanced (3D Graphics):</span> Blender 2.64+</b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<a href="http://blender.org/"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0unSN0ecfrpeE5bbnK8mkybLebfdbFyZ189jymG3JuNd_DRl3OCPIPZ3YgfCbxXBUpa2otAe7HmvIbEasQCYnmuzwCcw9C8NL2mIBInst8qESuk8U19slXu6_8bKNKKGmwjjWf1WfIAca/s1600/rendered_dl-blender.png" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
</div>
<b><span style="color: white;">Hint: in Ubuntu Software Centre, search for 'blender' and install</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<div>
</div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="color: orange;">Layout and eBook:</span> Scribus 1.4+</b></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://scribus.net/"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidwVH5mgyJ0o6BWHCIm7mq5dXZlqOhOCLy_qD9O196rIODVk_Nx3l8t_iyFCfovLKEEWgFLcDepJmeq78reozRIpaQndG7RkIlGdbcB8vfG355OrPwy8GkHuua485cvocQEVmFZuaAIZ9h/s1600/rendered_dl-scribus.png" /></a></div>
<b><span style="color: white;">Hint: in Ubuntu Software Centre, search for 'scribus' and install</span></b><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: orange; font-size: x-large;"><b>Resources and Tutorials</b></span><br />
<br />
Gimp: <a href="http://www.gimp.org/docs/">gimp.org/docs/</a>, <a href="http://gimpmagazine.org/resources/">gimpmagazine.org/resources/</a><br />
Inkscape: <a href="http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2">inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2</a>, <a href="http://inkscape.org/doc/">inkscape.org/doc/</a><br />
Blender: <a href="http://www.blender.org/education-help/">blender.org/education-help/</a><br />
Scribus: <a href="http://wiki.scribus.net/canvas/Scribus_Links">wiki.scribus.net/canvas/Scribus_Links</a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8201306386077512543.post-38783562515321591352012-10-16T11:14:00.000-07:002012-10-16T11:14:11.235-07:00iOS App Icon Rounded Corner RadiusApple starts with the 57px icon and a radius of 10px, then scales up and down from there.<br />
<br />
Calculate the radius for the corners of any size icon by multiplying the width by 10/57.<br />
<br />
Examples:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Icon512.png: 512*(10/57) = 89.825</li>
<li>Icon.png: 57*(10/57) = 10</li>
<li>Icon@2x.png: 114*(10/57) = 20<br />Icon-72.png: 72*(10/57) = 12.632</li>
<li>Icon-72@2x.png: 144*(10/57) = 25.263</li>
<li>Icon-Small.png: 29*(10/57) = 5.088</li>
<li>Icon-Small@2x.png: 58*(10/57) = 10.175</li>
</ul>
<br />
For more details, see <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/users/1345430/drbarnard">drbarnard</a>'s <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/a/10239376/999934">answer</a> on stackoverflow.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8201306386077512543.post-4874269105329347372012-10-15T11:10:00.000-07:002012-10-15T11:10:45.231-07:00Undo Git Commit (Un-pushed) And Keep ChangesGit is awesome, <i>as a whole</i>. There is just that little bit of Git that rears its ugly head every time you make a mistake with your commits. One little mistake and you see Git's true colours: Git is a Fascist asshole.<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But that's not entirely true. If you're lucky enough to have caught your mistake before pushing your commit to the repo, then Git will graciously spare you with a simple command:</div>
<div>
<pre>git reset --soft HEAD~1</pre></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Your plea before the almighty Git is as follows: "Git, please forgive my impetuous commit but don't punish me with destroying all the changes I planned to commit in the first place."</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8201306386077512543.post-29635113402651777332012-10-04T12:22:00.002-07:002012-10-04T12:25:17.595-07:00AWS Dynamo Batch Get Item<br />
Rather than use Scan (which gives you paginated results, forcing you to essentially check every page), another option is to queue individual get_items as a batch operation and then send it:<br />
<br />
<pre> $dynamodb = new AmazonDynamoDB();
$queue = new CFBatchRequest();
foreach ($aws_ids as $aws_id)
{
self::$dynamodb->batch($queue)->query(array(
'TableName' => "tablename",
'HashKeyValue' => array( AmazonDynamoDB::TYPE_STRING => $aws_id ),
//'AttributesToGet' => array('field1','fiedl2')
//'Limit' => 1
));
}
$responses = $dynamodb->batch($queue)->send();
</pre>
<br />
The response will be an array of what appears to be the same response type you would get from an individual request.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8201306386077512543.post-59332900508725525832012-09-22T10:00:00.000-07:002012-11-25T05:42:49.700-08:00Xcode: Drop the Docs Folder Symlinks -> Add a Copy of Facebook iOS SDK 3.0.8 to Your ProjectIt's against my alignment to have a project's free framework files consist of symbolic links linking to my current user's <i>Documents</i> folder. This opens the door to time-wasting pitfalls later on, including git nightmares, and the <i>delightfully</i> unexpected when upgrading one package affects multiple projects.<br />
<br />
<div>
But that's what the folks at Facebook tell you to do with the iOS SDK version 3.0.8. After 'installing' the SDK, the effect is that the files are simply extracted to your Documents folder with explicit (not relative) symbolic links . This is <i>by design</i>.</div>
<div>
<br />
(Alternatively, you could download the SDK source from Git. But, dag nabbit, it has a different folder structure: <i><a href="https://twitter.com/i/#!/search/?q=%23thatstheshitidontlike">#thatstheshitidontlike</a></i>)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Install</i> the <i>Facebook iOS SDK</i> as per the documentation. The default (invariable) location is in your <i>Documents</i> folder.</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Copy the <i>FacebookSDK.framework</i> to your project's root folder.</li>
<li>In a terminal, navigate to this copy of the SDK's folder which is now in your project's folder.</li>
<li>Use the command '<i>ls -al'</i> to list all. You should see:</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>FacebookSDK -> ./Versions/A/FacebookSDK</i><br />
<i>Headers -> ./Versions/A/Headers</i><br />
<i>Resources -> ./Versions/A/Resources</i></blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Type '<i>rm FacebookSDK</i>' (you may need to do this as '<i>sudo rm FacebookSDK</i>'). This will <i>remove</i> the symlink.</li>
<li>Using the previous symlink as a reference, replace this symlink with '<i>ln -s Versions/A/FacebookSDK</i>'.</li>
<li>List all files again, you will see that this symlink is nearly the same except it's missing the preceding period. That means it's now looking within its own child folders, not the default user's home directory.</li>
</ul>
<div>
You should be able to follow the rest of the tutorial. Namely, copying the <i>FacebookSDK.framework</i> folder to your project's Framework directory. After you complete their tutorial, press <i>Command+B</i> and watch that baby compile.</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8201306386077512543.post-47192648271118494632012-09-16T11:56:00.000-07:002012-09-18T09:38:31.061-07:00I'm Serious This Time: I'm Going 100% Open Source at Home, Especially No Photoshop Nor Illustrator<b><br /></b>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjueut8_3ZSYXHyUwL14kjnNR3spM-2mCH8VBBabGs4PxRnO7rNNPeVeGfwVNVuBqsHtEceAfkOSnJ_5Ej5Hkst4nK6ftuHpQwLAtivyBcgJesKbeUuPsyErDCxjJ7T9waRAcelxMX7ytMD/s1600/lotus-race_vs_rolls-phantom.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjueut8_3ZSYXHyUwL14kjnNR3spM-2mCH8VBBabGs4PxRnO7rNNPeVeGfwVNVuBqsHtEceAfkOSnJ_5Ej5Hkst4nK6ftuHpQwLAtivyBcgJesKbeUuPsyErDCxjJ7T9waRAcelxMX7ytMD/s400/lotus-race_vs_rolls-phantom.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">A Lotus Evora GX race car interior versus Rolls Royce Phantom.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There's a philosophy behind this and I find it's best described using the <b>Race Car analogy</b>.<br />
<br />
Race cars reach top performance in part because they have no dead weight. Every dime is poured into parts that get the job done.<br />
<br />
Buying a computer for your work should be like buying a car for racing. A 'Pro' Mac is packed with overly-expensive speciality parts that are expensive to upgrade or replace. I just use a Mac Mini for building and testing iOS apps, that's it. And Windows, well, let's be serious ...<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>When you need to build a powerful workstation, don't get a 'Pro' <i>anything</i> from Mac and don't pay for useless Windows operating systems (it's all up-selling smoke and mirrors).</b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<b>That sure would be nice, but ...</b><br />
<br />
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">The Adobe Problem:</span></h2>
<i></i><br />
In print, web app, or even native app (Android) development, <i>Adobe</i> is the last <i>strangely</i>-<i>expensive</i> anchor that binds you to costly operating systems (Windows) and/or costly platforms (Mac).<br />
<br />
Say you <i>just</i> want to produce industry-standard vectors and layered bitmaps -- for print and/or digital -- with Adobe:<br />
<ul>
<li>Adobe Design Standard: <b><span style="color: red;">1300 USD</span></b> ... <b><i>hilarious</i></b>!</li>
<li>+ Windows OS: 230 USD ... <b><i>nonsensical!</i></b></li>
<li>or + Mac OS: 20 USD ... <b><i>conniving!</i></b> (You must own a [expensive] Mac!)</li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Note: Gimp and Inkscape do it just as well for free. They both run on a free operating system, Ubuntu (Linux), that runs on any Mac or Windows machine.</b><br />
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The $1,300.00 'Easy Way' Excuse:</span><br />
<br />
When it comes to reluctantly using Adobe software, the only excuse I have left takes the form of me whining that I can't work '<i>as fast'</i> in Gimp and Inkscape.<br />
<br />
I don't know how to work fast in those packages because I'm indoctrinated by Photoshop/Illustrator <i>workflow expectations and keyboard shortcuts</i>.<br />
<br />
<b>That's it: just a learning curve!</b> And, I've got a lot of Scottish Heritage. <b>I'm cheap.</b> I'm not going to pay over $1.3K <i>because of some insistence on being stupid and lazy</i>. <b>That's not my style.</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">
A Great Place to Start: Gimp Magazine</span></span></h2>
<br />
And I'm going to start with <a href="http://gimpmagazine.org/issue1/">Gimp Magazine's First Issue</a>; particularly by carefully following the guide, 'Save $2000 - Here's How!'<br />
<div>
<ul>
</ul>
<h2>
</h2>
</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://gimpmagazine.org/issue1/"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLuXWEQHyjXrsdIJvbxbVLJHcMNtKjlUPnwfFqoYzVHUnal7kVf6nlTrKI88SZuLb2WaBYOjvvmMUhqfZYMqJ7bhPHWmuHmrILYP9wLD0nKERH_zcybMqPEQWSH-XiSJUdMTPd19feZ3OD/s320/GIMP-Magazine-Issue-1.png" width="266" /></a></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8201306386077512543.post-56638828049970278992011-10-24T10:30:00.000-07:002011-10-24T10:30:22.252-07:00Pure CSS ButtonsUsing webdesignshock.com's comprehensive list of fancy buttons ( <a href="http://bit.ly/nGVdAZ">http://bit.ly/nGVdAZ</a> ), the following is a refined version of that list for the top pure-CSS entries. Note, these entries only work on modern browsers.<div><ul><li>5/5: BonBon Buttons - <a href="http://bit.ly/pVGWGQ">http://bit.ly/pVGWGQ</a></li>
<li>4/5: Zero to Fancy - <a href="http://bit.ly/n6VmNe">http://bit.ly/n6VmNe</a></li>
<li>5/5: Acris Design (Tutorial) - <a href="http://bit.ly/p6Eswh">http://bit.ly/p6Eswh</a></li>
</ul></div><div>at which point, I came across the CSS Button Generator and that was it for this post: <a href="http://bit.ly/reACFa">http://bit.ly/reACFa</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8201306386077512543.post-45819597129879484542011-06-08T21:17:00.000-07:002011-06-08T21:23:40.382-07:00Joomla 1.6 jQuery instead of Mootools, Core, CaptionAfter a lengthy and fruitless pursuit through Javascript control plugins and various discussion threads, I took a gander at the function setHeadData in the class JDocumentHTML.<br />
<br />
Presumably, you're reading this because you want to streamline your J1.6 app.<br />
<br />
Given this, what I was able to conclude is that if you want to cleanly remove those hefty Mootools libs, you have to pass <i>something</i> to the function.<br />
<br />
That is, passing a NULL array as the params for 'scripts' to setHeadData won't work. You'll get a forward slash for an src param in a superfluous script tag. Alternatively, some discussions will try to tell you passing empty strings will work ... but they don't have error/notifications turned on.<br />
<br />
So, you could pass an src to a 0kb (empty) js file. Or, for me, I passed jQuery:<br />
<br />
In the top of your template's index.php:<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">// replace default scripts with jQuery</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">// load jQuery instead</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">$headers = array(</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> 'scripts' => array(</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> $this->baseurl . </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">"/templates/" . // directory of templates</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> $this->template . // 'this' template</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> "/js/" . // folder for javascript files</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> "jquery-1.6.1.min.js" // filename</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> => array(</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> 'mime' => 'text/javascript', // 'type'</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> 'defer' => NULL,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> 'async' => NULL)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> )</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> );</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">$this->setHeadData($headers);</span><br />
<br />
<br />
HEAD before the change:<br />
<br />
<script src="/media/system/js/core.js" type="text/javascript"></script><br />
<script src="/media/system/js/mootools-core.js" type="text/javascript"></script><br />
<script src="/media/system/js/caption.js" type="text/javascript"></script><br />
<script src="/media/system/js/mootools-more.js" type="text/javascript"></script><br />
<div><br />
</div><div>HEAD after the change:</div><div><script src="/templates/templatename/js/jquery-1.6.1.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><div><br />
</div><div><i>Bob's Yer Uncle</i>.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8201306386077512543.post-41867284232521069232010-10-22T15:48:00.000-07:002010-10-25T06:43:16.628-07:00Use F11 Key to Enjoy Enticing Web Design<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://robertwatson.ca/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://robertwatson.ca/images/robert-watson_social-icon.jpg" /></span></a></div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Since way back in 2008</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, websites with large backgrounds started to crop up more and more. However, certain limitations such as bandwidth and consumer expectations/norms were holding them back from being mainstream. Today, with Flash losing popularity to Javascript libraries and smartphones getting <i>smarter</i>, the big background website is booming. As this approach becomes more of a permanent fixture on the web, "full screen mode" on traditional browsers (laptop/desktop) helps heighten the experience. Try it out.</span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The F11 Key</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">On most browsers, the F11 key will "full screen mode" the current web page. More than just a convenient way to instantly "maximize" your browser window, it gets rid of all the pesky navigation and window edges. It makes the website display more like a DVD menu screen.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Big whup?</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> Not on the right website. If you're at a website that highlights creativity, chances are your eyes will relax with your increased sense of satisfaction after you've struck the F11 key.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Tech Trends Towards Full Screen Viewing</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">People are getting used to the idea of full screen web surfing. Smartphones, gaming systems, and other web ready multimedia centers already do it. These alternatives to the traditional laptop/desktop surfing experience are simultaneously providing very small and very large screens, from the hand held to that big-ass TV.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This is a new type of an old problem.</span></i><br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">To more conservative designers and developers, solving this issue of both a big and small resolution appears to be nothing new; they swear by the method of using a mobile template for displaying website content viewed by a smartphone. Other developers, on the other hand, have taken note that a mobile template is often a glorified version of viewing a well-built website with CSS/scripts turned off.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The reason for this simple observation stems from the fact that mobile-only templates are just as ugly as a website built in 1995. <i>Sometimes this can't be avoided. Corporate websites, for example, may be too complex.</i> But if you observe where smartphones are heading -- with particular attention to the zooming and panning features -- using the mobile-only solution often needlessly forces someone who has just dropped $200+ on a fancy phone to look at a garbage website. Some reward.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">A website should be built to support accessibility and SEO purposes anyway and therefore support "no style" viewing. By building a highly standards-compliant site, developers have a catch-all for older web-ready phones and can focus attention on the fancier ones.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This broadens the horizon for the savvy developer looking to build feature-rich experiences that work nearly the same on screens in the living room or the office, or in the hand.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Forward-Thinking Design: Dynamic All-In-One</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Some experts -- those fuddy-duddy conservative types -- will go out of their way to encourage the mobile-only approach. What I hear is a claim to always design as though the world is flat!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">To the more Galilean of us, it is more like "you simply can't please everyone to the same degree," the world is 3 dimensional and dynamic! Therefore, dynamically turn off large elements only when necessary to avoid needless bandwidth wastage. After that, go nuts.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So forward-thinking contemporary web developers are building sites where the core functionality fit nicely inside a smartphone's screen with supportive visual elements (backgrounds) that fill much larger resolutions. Smartphones can zoom and pan, desktops can "full screen." Everyone's happier.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Visually speaking, websites built with compressed/"stretch-to-fill" content areas and large backgrounds are like Shrek's layered onions. This approach often leads to cleverly constructed visual experiences with powerful photo-painting backgrounds that start strong and build with every increase in resolution. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So next time you're on your laptop or desktop and surfing a site where the background's details extend beyond the confines of that browser's ghastly window border, free yourself and the website, full screen your browser!</span></i></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0