Friday, June 03, 2011

5 apps that’ll help you “get your inspiration on”.

I’m always hunting for new sources of inspiration, whether it’s within the Web design industry our outside of it.  In fact, I’ve found the most inspiration from non-industry sources (but still in the design realm).  Here are five apps and sites that are oozing with inspiration.

Not only are these resources great for soaking up ideas, you can share your own styles, likes, and interests to grow your social circle.  It’s a win-win for everyone!

• Cool Hunting - Web, Twitter, iOS
• Fancy - Web, Twitter, iOS
• Pinterest - Web, Twitter, iOS
• Fab - Web, Twitter
• Instagram - iOS

 

Thursday, May 19, 2011

5 ways Google Voice can be your own personal assistant.

Google Voice is a great service that can help streamline and unclutter your phone communication.  Here are 5 ways it can act as your own personal assistant.

1 - One number to rule them all
Your Google Voice number is great for many reasons, but one of the best uses for it is to connect all of your phones to one number.  Instead of people going on a wild goose chase to get in touch with you by calling every phone you have, you can have them call your Google Voice number and let it ring all of your phones.  You can also set up your account to ring specific phones, based on who is calling.  

2 - Call screening
Have you ever wished there were spam settings for phone calls?  Your Google Voice number can act as a buffer between you and unwanted calls.  Simply mark any unwanted caller as spam or add them to an unwanted caller group.  

3 - Voicemail transcription
While it’s not 100% perfect, Google Voice does offer voicemail transcription that can be emailed to you (which also acts as another layer of voicemail notification.  A great feature for checking voicemail with only a quick glance.

4 - Custom greetings for different people and groups
Similar to the call screening groups, you can create different greetings for various groups of people.  Want to greet your wife with a more personal message, or tell your clients when you’ll be out of town on travel, you can do that.

5 - Find your phone
Rushing out the door and can’t find your phone? Log into your Google Voice account and set up a call by dialing your cell phone.  Hopefully it’ll be close enough for you to hear it ring.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

What will become of Skype?

Today’s news that Skype has been purchased by Microsoft has me a bit worried about what might happen to this one-of-a-kind communication platform.  Listening to today’s episode of Tech News Today got me thinking about this even more as the acquisition news was of their hot topics.

Skype is currently available on many popular platforms with Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, and Android among the leaders of the group.  Microsoft could keep them all as-is and continue to build more versions for emerging systems (which is where I’m placing my hopes) or they could effectively shut the door on all non-Windows devices and leave the competition out in the cold.  Doing this would put many people who rely on Skype in a bad position.  There aren’t many competitors that are on the same playing field that Skype has established.  No matter how easy it is to use, Apple’s FaceTime is lacking in the number of non-iOS devices that it can make video calls to.  Google’s purchase and burying of the Gizmo Project effectively put the nail in the coffin of Skype’s closest competitor (thought you never know what Google has up their sleeve, and with Google I/O taking place this week, they may reveal some product that will occupy that space). 

Hoarding Skype for themselves, Microsoft could build an communication infrastructure that would connect their entire world from desktop Windows 7 to XBox to Windows Phone 7.  They could achieve the same connectivity and build on the existing Skype community if they were to add to the existing app environment.  More connectivity, more potential power, more possible revenue streams.

Ultimately, Skype’s fate lies in the hands of it’s new owner.  I hope they find something useful to do with it and, for the most-part, leave it intact.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Getting a handle on your task list with Wunderlist

I believe my search for the perfect project tracker is finally over thanks, in large part to Wunderlist from 6wunderkinder.

As I'd mentioned in an earlier post, I've been on a long search for the perfect project and task tracker. While the word perfect is subjective, I needed a solution that worked on multiple devices and would sync over the air rather than via cables. I was about to give up until I stumbled across an app in the iOS app store called Wunderlist. At first, I didn't give the app much thought but something made me take a look at it. I'm not sure why I clicked on the app description, but I'm glad I did. It was as if this app was written by angels that wanted tortured, hopelessly-unorganized souls to have a free app that did everything they could ever imagine. While I don't fit that exact demographic, I was drawn to some key points of Wunderlist.

• Available for the iPhone, iPad, and Android
• Seamless syncing across all devices
• Desktop versions available for Windows and Mac
• Free and no subscription costs

Beautiful design + beautiful functionality
Whether or not I'll stick with an app or a service is heavily-based on how I like the UI and overall UX and Wunderlist had me hooked from their preview screenshots. This app is as elegant as is is intuitive and each channel provides an optimized workflow based on the device you're using.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Above the mobile fold

A few years ago there was a battle cry that quickly built a following in the web design industry. The fold is dead! That long clung-to idea that content above "the fold" of a webpage was the most important, and was on prime real estate, had found it's detractors and was showing signs of weakening. Today, I think the general consensus among creative professionals was that there was no need to worry about what content was above the fold on a webpage given the interactive and elastic nature of the medium. Pages expand based on the amount of content on them and can easily be scrolled to reveal more content. Game. Set Match. The thing is, that entire discussion took place in the desktop Web design world. Enter the world of mobile and I'm wondering if we don't have an uprising of "the fold" on our hands.

The thought of a mobile fold has been in my mind for a while now, but it really hit home today as I was working on a one-off mobile page. The focus of the page was to get as much information in plain sight as soon as the page loaded. Anything below the *ahem* fold might be missed. The main difference I've noticed between content displayed on a mobile device is the lack of scrollbars. Yes, there are scrollbars that appear on mobile Web browsers but some of them only appear when the screen is being interacted with. If you're not touching the screen, only looking at content, you may not think to scroll down the page, especially if the page looks like it's completed at the point that it is cut off.

Mobile page design items to consider:

• Keep an eye on how your content looks at the bottom of the page. If it looks like an article has ended at the point of the fold, your viewer might think so as well.
• Provide anchor links to important items or elements that are on the lower portion of your page. For example, if you've placed a store locator at the bottom of the page, place a link in the upper portion of the page that points folks towards that tool.
• Along the same lines of the previous tip, look at placing standard "skip to content" anchor links on your content or mobile home page. This is a gentle visual reminder that there is additional content further down the page and it gives a quick point of access for your site visitors.