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Graphic Work on OS X
I’m blessed with ability to spend more time practicing and learning in the broad field of web design. A big hurdle for me in the past is graphics — I don’t know Photoshop from a hole in the ground. And so I’ve set out to educate myself in this area as well.
I started out by asking for recommendations for the best tool to start with on Twitter. Since I happen to have some amazing designers on my list of followers, I asked the following question:
Included in the responses were the industry mainstays, Photoshop and Fireworks. And I was not surprised to see people suggest Pixelmator. But what did surprise me was that Acorn was not mentioned. I’ve seen many positive comments from talented designers about the potential of Acorn and the approach [Acorn developer] Gus is taking.
Here’s a chart of the overall response (built in Acorn by the way):
I think I’m lucky with the fact that I have never used Photoshop. I can choose from one of the new up-and-coming tools instead. Experienced designers seem to complain a lot about Photoshop, but they stick with it — due largely to the fact that it’s what they are used to. I have no such constraints.
Now it’s your turn — what do you use?
Mousepaths on my computer for the last 24 hours.
Made with Anatoly Zenkov’s java applet (Mac) (PC)
Mr. Feltron is so wizard.
Sure signs that a company developed software for Windows before providing software for OS X (click for larger version).
“For example, early in my tenure, our group of very clever graphics experts invented a way to display text on screen called ClearType. It worked by using the color dots of liquid crystal displays to make type much more readable on the screen. Although we built it to help sell e-books, it gave Microsoft a huge potential advantage for every device with a screen. But it also annoyed other Microsoft groups that felt threatened by our success.”
An interesting piece from the NYT, in which a former Microsoft employee gives several reasons why Redmond is floundering.
The last sentence in this quote pretty much sums it up for me.
If you’re at all a fan of type, you need to check out the Know your type series on idsgn. Each article gives you some historical insight, great photos, and current examples of the type in use.
My favourite is the article on Gill Sans.
I’ve only had a Chemex at my desk for about a week, but I’m already thinking about the next step.
Did you think you were serious about your coffee? Sorry … you’re not.
I mentioned this on Twitter a couple weeks back, but it’s worth repeating here: I’m absolutely flattered to be listed with the sites above.
The App Store Nightmare Hasn't Gone Away
There has been a lot of interesting, insightful and intelligent discourse on the iPad over the past 5 days. Much of which has been provided by people who have not even seen this device in ‘the flesh’.
I can appreciate thoughts such as this one provided by Fraser Speirs in his piece titled, “Future Shock”:
If the iPad and its successor devices free these people to focus on what they do best, it will dramatically change people’s perceptions of computing from something to fear to something to engage enthusiastically with. I find it hard to believe that the loss of background processing isn’t a price worth paying to have a computer that isn’t frightening anymore.
And Craig Hockenberry soothes the nerves of my over-stimulated inner child — who simply wants to create and is angry and frustrated with the adult me who tinkers way too much — with this thought:
There’s an inherent benefit to only doing one thing at a time: the load of worrying about other tasks is lifted. Knowing that there isn’t anything else competing for your attention is quite liberating.
Many people have spent some quality time thinking about the future over these few short days and have penned some truly great thoughts. And for the most part, I’m on board.
But …
There is one small issue that worries me. I’m more than happy that Apple is stripping the idea of the personal computer down to the essentials. I want my parents, my grandmother, and every other extended family member to be able to just do what they need to do. I want that for myself at times.
The move to touch computing is another aspect of the future that I do not fear. It’s not here yet — for me at least — simply because I cannot yet do my job on iPad 1.0. But I have no doubt that it’s coming and so far I’m simply grasping to somehow get a firm picture of what that might look like. But at the end of the day, I’ll leave that to Jobs and Apple, who for the last decade, have shown so much more propensity for vision than I have. Or anyone else.
No, my issue merely lies somewhere on the fringe of one of the discussion points that has been debated this past week: the closed nature of the iPhone/iPad infrastructure. On this point, some good points were made on both sides. And while I appreciate the perspective by those who debated that the closed nature of this platform is indeed better for all of us, one question repeats itself in my ears:
It’s the community that first attracted me to the Mac platform and OS X. And it’s this community that provides the majority of the software that I use to do my job every day. I fear that if Apple continues their strong arming of these developers, some (or many) of them will eventually go elsewhere.
At this point, the signs are pointing to these very developers being excited about the potential of the iPad. But that’s easy now, while the excitement is high and the news fresh. I only hope it’s enough to keep these devs satisfied if Apple continues their inane rejections of App Store submissions.
But there is hope. As internet racountere John Gruber recently stated:
Developers go where the users are.
And the momentum that Apple started in the century’s first decade appears to be rolling strong, at the expense of vendors selling Microsoft PC’s or crappy mobile phones.
At this point, there’s not really anywhere else for the great developers to go (Linux users, you know this is true). But I hope that Apple improves the entire App Store situation, rather than hope that a lack of better alternatives keeps the great developers from leaving.
It’s the community that makes this platform strong. And if Apple plans to move the Mac lineup into this closed framework along with the iPhone and iPad, I want to see the community follow.
