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All posts tagged "design"


Thursday, March 3, 2011

Developers: Planning a Cross-Platform Solution

Posted by Danny Simmons in "Windows Phone Developer" @ 05:30 PM

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_...m-solution.aspx

"I recently blogged about Flashcards.Show Version 2 for WPF, Silverlight, and Windows Phone, which features the Flashcards.Show application. I'm not going to (again) review the app, but I do want to talk about how we developed the application and the design the code base to support multiple clients.

The first version of Flashcards.Show was a Windows (WPF) application. This app was originally designed by IdentityMine, and used a few Windows 7 features such as multi-touch and taskbar integration. While the first version was great, we wanted to increase its value by enabling users to share the decks that they are creating. Therefore, when we set to work on version 2, we sought both functional and technological solutions to enable ease of use for the deck-sharing scenarios, as well as ease of development and maintenance of the code."

Yochay Kiriaty gives a good tutorial on some of the things to plan for if you are looking to bring your application to many different platforms, such as Windows Phone, Silverlight, and Windows Applications. This is the vision that Microsoft has been touting for a few years now (3 screens and the cloud). Development tools are getting better and better at providing this functionality, but it still takes some planning up front to ensure the code that will be portable and compatible accross the different platforms.


Monday, February 14, 2011

Those Nokia Windows Phone 7 Photos are Legitimate

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Windows Phone Talk" @ 01:35 PM

http://conversations.nokia.com/2011...ess-conference/

Over at the official Nokia blog there are two high-res photos of the design mock-ups Engadget showed last week. I'm digging the white and the yellow versions - unfortunately there's no sync/charge port on the bottom, but it's hard to judge a mock-up so I'll hope they put the sync/charge port there.

Also worth noting is the Nokia keynote highlights video below - it explores some of the reasons why Nokia made this move. Android is clearly in Nokia's crosshairs: they want to take out what is now the world's #1 smartphone platform.


Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Windows Phone 7, Metro, and Adrian Frutiger

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Windows Phone Articles & Resources" @ 02:00 PM

http://crocusgirl.wordpress.com/201...gn-notes-part2/

"In the first post of my "Windows Phone 7 Design Notes" series, I tried to provide a general introduction to the Metro design language and share links of text and media resources, which you may find useful if you wish to dive deeper into the design concepts behind Windows Phone 7. This article is going to be a bit lengthy, as it includes my personal impressions on Metro and its type-centric design features plus a recent typography project, which actually sparked the idea to write this series."

Over the past handful of years, basically since just before Windows Vista came to light, I've watched Microsoft become an increasingly design-focused company. It's a slow process, and the culture shift doesn't always go smoothly, but in group after group, I've seen a distinct shift toward design-led software creation. If ever there was an example of this, it's Windows Phone 7. This article talks about some of that design language, Metro, and what sort of roots it has. It you're a typography geek, you'll find it especially fascinating.


Why You Might Want a Windows 7 Phone

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Windows Phone Articles & Resources" @ 12:00 PM

http://www.ben.geek.nz/2010/06/why-...-windows-phone/

"This week I've been able to spend some (supervised) time with actual prototype Windows Phone 7 devices. I can say with utter confidence that I will be using one of these phones as my regular device before the end of this year. You all know I don't say something like that lightly."

I ran across this blog post somewhat at random, but it's an interesting read from someone who's an iPhone user, yet is intensely interested in what Windows Phone 7 has to offer. It's a good read.


Thursday, March 18, 2010

Early Concepts of the Metro Visual Design for Windows phone 7

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Windows Phone Software" @ 05:00 AM

http://www.istartedsomething.com/20...phone-7-series/

Long Zheng has some really cool screen shots on his site, apparently of what early mock-ups looked like for Metro, the name for the visual design that Windows phone 7 is made up of. Well worth checking out - some of them I like more than how Windows phone 7 looks today!


Monday, February 15, 2010

Behind the Design of Windows phone 7

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Windows Phone Software" @ 10:31 AM

This is a Microsoft produced video where Albert Shum, Director of Mobile Experience Design at Microsoft, discusses the design inspiration for Windows Phone 7 Series. What do you think of how he describes what a phone experience should be? Does this sync up with what you want from your mobile phone?


Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Buttons Or No Buttons?

Posted by Jon Westfall in "Pocket PC Talk" @ 11:30 AM

My Matrix Pro Smartphone has 2, my Touch Pro has 1, and my T-Mobile Dash has none. What am I referring to? Hardware buttons that can be mapped to different features on a device (as opposed to those which are fixed in function, such as keyboards, power buttons, softkeys, etc..). Five years ago, it was pretty common to have 3-4 buttons on a device that the user could map to. Now you're lucky if you get one. While in many ways better touchscreen response or a full keyboard has reduced some of the need for these buttons, there are times I just wish I had a few more. So what's your opinion - more hardware buttons or is 0 the magic number?

picture source


Monday, March 2, 2009

Windows Mobile 6.5's Honeycomb Layout Explained

Posted by Darius Wey in "Pocket PC Talk" @ 12:45 AM

http://www.istartedsomething.com/20...mple-ingenuity/

"Contrary to popular belief, the tip of human fingers is not squared, but in fact circle-shaped when depressed against a hard surface like a touchscreen. When you're space-constrained as you are in something like the applications menu - where there's a fine balance between how many icons can be displayed at one time and how easy it is to hit the icons, large circular hitareas makes it easier for users to touch the desired icons and avoid accidentally hitting nearby icons."

If you checked out our "Windows Mobile 6.5 Screen Shot Walk-Through" thread on the day of said OS' unveiling, you'd have a general idea of why Microsoft opted for a honeycomb layout over the conventional square grid layout. Long Zheng, over at istartedsomething.com, elaborates on this. But there are still skeptics out there, and if you're one of them, we'd love to hear from you. What aspect of the honeycomb layout do you truly dislike, and what would you prefer to see in its place?


Thursday, February 26, 2009

Microsoft: "Understanding Phone Design Decisions"

Posted by Darius Wey in "Pocket PC Articles" @ 08:45 PM

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmob...one-design.mspx

"In January, I had an opportunity to hear a presentation by Eric Lin, the Online Community Manager at HTC. Many of the Windows Mobile smartphones on the market today are made by HTC, even if they don't have the HTC name on them, so when it comes to smartphones, HTC is a market leader. The presentation covered several different topics, but the one I found most interesting was the question of how specific hardware design decisions impact the usability of the phone. When you pick up a Windows Mobile smartphone, the shape, size, weight, and feel of it give you an impression about the product - but did you know what kinds of decisions went into the final product you're holding? The answer may surprise you."

Read Jason's column on tethering? Well, here's another one. It discusses the design decisions that go into the phones you're carrying today - from the size of the screen to the feel of the keyboard and the sound it makes. Who knows? You may learn a thing or two that will help you choose the right phone the next time you're in the market for one.


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