Iterate 15
My thanks to Marc Edwards, Seth Clifford, and Rene Ritchie for having me on the show. Be sure to check out the older episodes, too. They’ve had some pretty remarkable guests.
MoneyWell 2
No Thirst has released the long-awaited update to their personal finance software.
Full disclosure: I worked on this.
How Designers Can Help Developers
Matt Gemmell delivers again, this time with a thoughtful outline of how designers should think about the way their work gets handed off.
The creation of any kind of software is (or should be) a partnership between graphic design, interaction design, and implementation. None of these disciplines is any less important than another, and all are vital.
Less Than Perfect
Video of the Macworld Live panel I did with John Gruber, Guy English, Paul Kafasis, and Glenn Fleishman about what we dislike in our favorite apps. Hosted by the bizarrely tall Lex Friedman.
Some Assembly Required
An oldie but goodie from my friend (and employer) Daniel Pasco about perspective:
Unlike other hobbyist computers of its day, which were sold as kits, the Apple I was a fully assembled circuit board containing about 30 chips. However, to make a working computer, users still had to add a case, power supply, keyboard, and display. An optional board providing a cassette interface for storage was later released at a cost of $75.
Sometimes a first attempt can be a hit. But ask yourself: do you want to get lucky, or do you want to be sustainably great?
xScope 3
If you use a Mac to design or develop software or websites and you aren’t using xScope, you’re doing it wrong. I’ve been beta testing version 3 for a few months now, and I don’t think I could do my job properly without it. The perfect tool for the pixel-obsessed.
Minimal Patterns
I love stuff like this. Bonus points for presentation.
Morality and Persecution
The impossibly attractive Matt Gemmell rants about gay marriage and religion:
Indoctrination of children into religious belief systems is one of the great unpunished intellectual and social crimes of human history, and it continues almost unabated to this day.
Powerful, well-written stuff.
As an aside, I propose we start referring to militant atheists as “ghostbusters”. Who’s with me?
Slender
For the app makers out there, Kyle Richter has put out a thing called Slender that scans Xcode project files and helps you make them smaller. It also finds problems with mismatched retina assets that could lead to blurry half-pixel lines. All in the name of lighter, more attractive software.
I contributed interface work. The app icon was done by the talented Jordan Langille.
It’s only five dollars on the Mac App Store through the end of January.
Social Networks
Justin Williams breaks down how he uses the various social networks:
Twitter: I use Twitter as a smaller, creative outlet. I share links, write bad jokes and occasionally troll my followers for fun. I also obsessively delete replies after I am sure the person it is directed to has read it. When someone visits my Twitter profile for the first time I want them to decide whether to follow or not based on the content I produce, not the conversions I have with other users.
I do the same thing, and for the same reason.
How to Sell Your App
Brent Simmons writes about selling software to another developer:
Your major concern is to find a developer who will take care of the app and its users in the way you’d want them taken care of.
As someone on the receiving end of one of these purchases, I’ll personally vouch for Brent’s integrity here: the welfare of his baby was absolutely his top priority.
HP Fingers a New Logo
Brand New has a piece on HP’s new (possible) logo.
My first thought…
I actually like the new logo. It’s clean, fun, simple, and digital. You could argue that it’s a little too digital in a barcode sort of way, but overall it’s a step up.
The Condescending UI
Paul Miller at The Verge makes some interesting arguments about the state of UI design, particularly with regards to trends like skeuomorphism. He poses thoughtful questions, provides images to back his assertions, and demonstrates that he has clearly given this subject a lot of consideration.
Then he gets to the last paragraph.
360MacDev
If it’s an Apple-related 360|Conferences event, it’s a safe bet I’ll be there. The iDev and MacDev conferences are two of my favorites, and come February I’ll be taking stage to shock, awe, surprise, and delight. If you make Mac software, you should go. And since it’ll be in Denver, you’ll have easy access to the world-famous Casa Bonita.
Dalek Ipsum
Background by yours truly.