Posts in stories

How Do You Touch an iSlate?

Great article over at AppleBits, which contains many questions I’ve been asking myself for a few weeks now.

I don’t agree on the keyboard shortcuts idea, but Cody brings some interesting discussions on the table, which are definitely worth a look. Here’s a brief quote:

“The first thing we have to think about is our actual desktop. What would it look like? How would we interact with it? I image the iPhone played a huge role in the development of this device, and possibly helped Apple kill two birds with one stone by being the “test” device that enabled them to study how people interact and want to interact with a touchscreen. Apple addressed the issue of menus (menus suck), by making apps front row and center on the home screen. I don’t have to page through a list of items or navigate into folders to launch an application – it’s immediately available with a tap and maybe a swipe or two of the finger. The iSlate’s desktop will be the most important element of the software, as it’s where we will spend most of our time launching apps and organizing data.”


Apple’s Mythical Tablet: The Text’s The Thing

Interesting post over at Macworld analyzing the text entries possibilities the upcoming Tablet could have. I still firmly believe the tablet won’t just copy text inputs systems from other devices, but Steve will unveil something totally original and that “makes sense”.

A vertical keyboard wouldn’t surprise me, anyway.


The Tablet. Finely Tuned.

There’s a lot of buzz going on about the tablet Apple should announce in a matter of a few days. You know, every blog that I know has posted at least an article about it, so I decided to share my thoughts as well.

I believe that the tablet will be announced, and that it won’t be called Apple Tablet, iSlate, Macbook Touch, iPhone XL or whatever fake name you can think of. Now, this is not a post where I discuss specs, nor I will share my thoughts about prices, controlled leaks and other people’s opinion.

I want to focus on apps, and how I believe Apple is going to collaborate with 3rd party developers. Just like if it’s day one again.

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Crafting Subtle & Realistic User Interfaces

Link

“The underlying secret to beautiful user interface design is realism: making 2D objects on your screen appear to sit in 3D space with volume, surface properties and undulations that might appear in real life. These faux 3D objects have highlights and shadows just like objects on your desk might have, and they have textures that emulate real objects from glass to sandpaper and everything in between. Designing beautiful user interfaces has more to do with the why than the how.”

For everyone who’s interested in User Interface design, this is a great post. Go read it now.



Interview with Gi-Lo, Developer of iPhone Tweaks from Cydia.

As a part of the MacStories Apps Tree event, I had the chance to interview Gi-Lo, a developer of iPhone tweaks available in Cydia. He’s the creator of SnowCover, FiveIRows and many other stuff. Be sure to follow @EyeDevs on Twitter to stay update about what Gi-Lo and his upcoming team have in store for 2010.

This is 15th of many interviews and guest posts I’ll publish on MacStories during this week.

Enjoy!

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