Archive for the ‘Android’ Category
8 Best Christmas Apps 2014
Posted on: December 14, 2014
- In: Android | Facebook | iOS | IT Applications | Mobile | Twitter
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It’s the time of the year when we are getting ready to celebrate Christmas with family and friends. 2014 is almost over but you can still get in the spirit of Christmas and have a more fun holiday season with these Christmas applications.
- Touchnote – Christmas Edition
Free: iOS, Android
If you want to send beautiful Merry Christmas cards to friends or family, you can do it in a minute with Touchnote Christmas Edition. The app is full featured with lots of customization option which allows to add pictures and beautify them with fantastic photo designs and filters. Zoom, rotate and crop your photo with a single touch to fit better. The cards will be printed on beautiful, high-quality, textured, thick card and will be delivered within one working day.
- Christmas RADIO
Free: iOS, Android
Holiday music lovers all over the world are in for a treat this Christmas because of the massively popular Christmas Radio application. This app allows you to enjoy a variety of Christmas hits from over 50 unique stations such as Xmas in Frisko, Jazz Radio Christmas, Christmas Lounge and Kristmas Kountry. There’s a North Pole Radio, which broadcasts directly from the North Pole – a detail that is sure to delight even the most skeptical of Santa-doubting kids; and probably more than a few adults, too.
- Photo Combine Xmas
Free: iOS
Photo Combine Xmas is an amazingly simple and fun application that will combine your photo into a Christmas frame, which you can use any time and your photos any size. Features include; supports crop, scale and rotate, you can share it to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Email, supports retina display and full iPhone front and back camera support.
- Christmas Ringtones
Free: Android
The Christmas Ringtones Free app gives you a variety of Christmas songs to select from to help you create your own festive Android Christmas ringtones for the holiday season! Inside this Christmas app you will find ringtones that range from “old school” Christmas songs to Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas songs, as well as everything else in between. Other Christmas song genres include: Rock, Techno, Chimes and more.
- 25 Days of Christmas
Free: iOS, Android
25 Days of Christmas is a popular interactive countdown calendar to the big day, complete with numerous minigames and freebies. As the countdown progresses, more and more minigames are unlocked, allowing you and your children to have some quick fun between store stops.
- Ink Cards
Free: iOS, Android
Ink Cards promises to help create greeting cards for all occasions, including the holiday season, with this free studio app. Enjoy easy-to-use card templates and themes, as well as the ability to add in your own photos, texts, and customizations. Cards can then be printed up on high-quality 5×7 inch paper, complete with delivery. Additional features include a helpful “Thoughtfulness Engine” that checks your linked Facebook account, reminding you of incoming friend’s birthdays. That way you’ll be able to cook up a gift card and have it mailed in time.
- Christmas’ Joy Ingredients
Free: Android
One of the most important part of Christmas is all the delicious cakes and food that you get to eat. If you want to try something new this Christmas and cook some really yummy food, then you should definitely get Christmas’ Joy Ingredients app as it offers a lot of different Christmas recipes for homemade Christmas traditions. Apart from recipes, this app also offers a countdown timer, Christmas wallpapers and customized greetings.
- Gift Wrapping Ideas
Free: Android
One of the most important elements of Christmas is the exchange of gifts. One thing which can make your gift stand out from the rest is a unique and interesting wrapping. It can make any gift look amazing. If you wish to wrap your gifts beautifully and differently, then get this app as it offers some really unique ideas and techniques related to how you can wrap a Christmas present creatively and make them eye-catching.
Hope you will enjoy Christmas apps we mentioned above. Also let us know in the comments which other apps you have downloaded for Christmas. Happy Christmas!
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Katerina Kviatkovskaya Kate.Kviatkovskaya@altabel.com Skype ID: kate.kviatkovskaya Business Development Manager (LI page) Altabel Group – Professional Software Development |
- In: Android | IT Applications
- 2 Comments
Android is the world’s most popular mobile platform and has millions of users. The open source nature of Google’s OS gives the possibility to find a lot of fantastic applications for Android. And, of course, most people try to find some useful apps which are free of charge. So you can download them, try them out, and uninstall them if they’re not to your fancy – you’ve nothing to lose!
So here are the top 15 best new free Android applications for your tablet or smartphone.
1. Line Whoscall
With Line Whoscall, the user can instantly identify the source of calls and text messages even if the caller’s number is not in his\her contact list. Line Whoscall also helps block specific numbers.
2. QuizUp
The QuizUp app is a game, based on trivial pursuit, where a player can choose from over 400 topics, ranging from TV shows and books to sports and music, and can compete against other players in a particular topic that consists of seven multiple choice questions.
3. Link Bubble
Link Bubble is a free app for the Android which lets the user have a faster browsing experience specially when opening links from other apps.
When you open links from apps the Link Bubble will let you stay on your current page while the app is trying to load the link in the background and then displays it when it is ready, this way, you can still do some things on your current page while you wait for the other link to load.
4. Timehop
Timehop is an application that collects old photos and posts from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Foursquare, and dropbox photos and replays past.
5. Coursera
Coursera is an awesome online service that allows users to tune-in to some great courses from more than 80 top universities and organizations free of charge. It provides free knowledge to anyone interested into expanding his/her horizons.
6. Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff
Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff is a free-to-play, city-building game in which a player must rebuild the town of Quahog from the ground up. Along the way, there are plenty of weird and wacky missions featuring the main characters from the popular FOX show.
7. IFTTT
IFTTT (If This, Then That) lets users mash up different services into “recipes” that can do things like automatically download new Facebook photos you’re tagged in to Dropbox, send starred emails to Evernote, or call you in response to a text message so you can escape a bad date. But connecting it to a device extends the possibilities even further.
8. Chrome Remote Desktop (Google)
Chrome Remote Desktop app allows for remote access to Mac or PC from Android device, whether smartphone or tablet. The new app is an extension of Google’s previously launched Chrome Remote Desktop screen-sharing service, which allows to share desktop’s screen with other Chrome browser or Chromebook users.
9. Sunrise Calendar
Sunrise is a free calendar made for Google Calendar and iCloud. Connect with user’s G account and the app will automatically import all the data you’ve entered into its own attractive format. Add and edit events via the app and they’ll sync up with anywhere you use your Google calendar.
10. Yahoo News Digest
Yahoo News Digest provides a definitive summary of all the important, need-to-know news. Digests are delivered twice a day – once in the morning and once in the evening. All the top stories are summarized and presented with the key information that you need to stay on top of what’s happening.
It’s available in four editions: the US, UK, Canada and ‘rest of the world’.
11. Ginger Page & Grammar Keyboard
Ginger Page is a comprehensive English writing application that provides all the tools needed to compose high-quality English text everywhere one might write. This is accomplished by providing live rephrasing and proofreading capabilities and also offering quick access to important complementary writing tools like contextual synonyms, translations and definitions.
12. Aviate [Yahoo]
Yahoo Aviate is called “the intelligent homescreen that simplifies your phone.” With the app, you’ll be able to get information you need at the exact moment that it’s useful. It shows weather and news apps throughout the morning, productivity apps while you’re at work and music apps while you’re driving. It has a clean, simple layout, with organized apps that cater to the user, displaying information based on what it knows you’re up to.
13. Path Talk
Path Talk is a new app from Path which replaces SMS and Facebook with Path Talk to message friends, family, and groups for free. Messages you send in Path Talk are automatically erased from servers 24 hours after you send them, so you can now be yourself in conversations.
Path Talk can automatically tell your friends when you’re in transit, in the neighborhood, or even low on battery so your availability is always understood—removing the headache of misunderstandings in conversation.
14. EverythingMe
EverythingMe‘s contextual launcher aims to customize your Android home screen so that you get exactly what you need every time you switch on your phone. The system is pretty simple — look at the apps you have installed, when and for how long you use them and then tailor a homescreen layout to show what it thinks you want before you do.
15. MyRoll
MyRoll is an intelligent mobile gallery app that displays all your best photos as ‘moments’, automatically organizing your snaps based on its analysis of each photo’s make-up. In a nutshell, it prioritizes shots that are in-focus, contain smiling faces, bright colors, and so on.
What new Android applications do you like? Have you already tried to use those mentioned above? Welcome to share your thoughts and experience.
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Katerina Kviatkovskaya Kate.Kviatkovskaya@altabel.com Skype ID: kate.kviatkovskaya Business Development Manager (LI page) Altabel Group – Professional Software Development |
What to expect with Android 4.4.3
Posted on: June 9, 2014
For many Android owners, the 4.4.3 update has yet to hit (though it is slowly rolling out — when you will receive the update will depend upon your carrier and device). Although the new feature list isn’t epic in length, what it brings to the table will have a lot of users happy… quite happy, actually. This is especially so for users who frequently snap photos with their device and/or record audio.
Aesthetics get little in the way of an upgrade. There is a slight tweak to the Dialer app, but that’s the only change to the UI you’ll readily notice.
The short list of major changes looks something like this:
- A tweaked Dialer app with a colored Action bar (this is the UI change)
- Contact app (sometimes called People) uses placeholder images, similar to those used by Gmail
- Fixed hissing sound while recording videos (Nexus 5) is fixed
- Fix for LTE connection dropping bug
- Wi-Fi improvements
- Microphone and earphone related changes
There are also a lot of other under-the-hood camera, Bluetooth, and other system-related bug fixes.
The cameras (especially those on Motorola devices) will see numerous improvements. Exposure consistency and flash coloring are dramatically improved. A big change for photo enthusiasts is better low-light handling for the front camera.
Speaking of Motorola devices, Moto X and Moto G owners will find a new app called Motorola Alert. This app will send out periodic messages to select contacts.
Probably the biggest upside to this update is the improvements to security, overall stability, and power profile features. One major update is an optimization to ZRAM support. This allows idle background apps to store data in a compressed RAM partition to free up RAM for applications. There’s also a low-RAM API that improves performance on devices with as little as 512 MB of RAM (by using more aggressive memory management). Finally, an experimental Java runtime (called ART) improves application performance over the current Dalvik runtime.
On the downside, at least for Nexus 5 owners, the mm-qcamera-daemon bug (this is a bug that caused the camera to quickly drain the device battery) has not been fixed. The update also does not fix the LED Notification for missed calls (which has been plaguing many devices for some time now).
Android 4.4.3 is primarily a continuation of bug fixing for KitKat. However, don’t let the lack of UI changes fool you… the 4.4.3 update will go a long way to improve the performance and stability of your device. So, when can you expect the rollout to your device?
- GPE versions of the HTC One M7, Galaxy S4, HTC One M8, and the Sony Z Ultra should already have the update
- Sprint users with Nexus 5 devices should be seeing the update soon
- All other devices should see the update in the coming weeks
As with any Android update, predicting when a device will receive the new software is like predicting the weather — it’s hit and miss (and most often wrong). Every supported device should have the update available in the coming weeks. I can tell you that, as of this writing, Verizon HTC and Motorola devices, as well as AT&T Motorola devices, do not have the update available.
Have you received your 4.4.3 update? If so, has your Android device performance and reliability improved? What would you like to see in upcoming Android updates? Share your ideas in the discussion thread below.
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Lina Deveikyte |
If you’re just learning the Android ropes, you might get tangled up in a mistake or two. Here are 10 ways to avoid problems and get the maximum benefit from your Android device.
Android is the most widely used platform on the planet. That means it is being used by a variety of skill levels. If you exist on the newbie end of the scale (or if you have to support a group of newbies running Android), know that there are some common mistakes made with this Google-centric platform. Some mistakes come from the adjustments you have to make when migrating from another platform. But others are a bit more grievous and could even cause some form of data loss. All these mistakes can be easily avoided with just a bit of knowledge. So that’s what I’m going to give to you — in the form of 10 preventable newbie mistakes.
1. Don’t expect it to act like an iPhone
Many users who migrate from the iOS platform expect Android to behave the same way. Sure, fundamentally it does. It will make and receive phone calls, check email, and view web pages. But once you get beyond the basic functionality, the Android and iOS platforms have little in common. If you assume that Android and iPhone smartphones are the same, you are in for a frustrating experience. Each platform approaches tasks differently, and if you assume your Android device is similar to an iPhone, you’ll miss out on a lot of features.
2. Secure it now
You have plenty of data on that smartphone… data you do not want getting into to the hands of other users. To that end, you must secure your smartphone with a password, or a pattern, a fingerprint, or whatever your device offers. No matter how you approach it, don’t leave your data open for all to see. In the case of your Google account, consider two-step authentication. You want your device as secure as possible.
3. Avoid that POP
The single most common question I get is, “Why are emails disappearing from my phone or desktop?” It’s because you set up your email as a POP account and didn’t configure your phone or desktop to retain messages on the server. The best way around this is to avoid configuring your email account as a POP account. With Android you can set up many types of accounts… but just avoid POP as much as you can.
4. Don’t drown yourself in widgets
I’ve seen Android homescreens so dense with launchers and widgets, it looked like the app drawer vomited up breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Unfortunately, the more widgets you have on your homescreen (especially those that display data from online accounts) the more battery you will use. If you really want a few widgets on your homescreen, choose wisely and don’t overdo it.
5. Don’t overlook Gmail
Android and Gmail are like peanut butter and chocolate — they work perfectly together. If you get an Android device and don’t have a Gmail account, create one. Why? You’re missing out on a LOT of features (the Google Play Store, backups, and more). Make sure you create your Gmail account before you set up your phone. It’ll make things far easier in the long run.
6. Be smart about permissions
When you install an app, you’ll be warned about what permissions that app requires for use. Do not ignore those permissions, as they can give you insight into the app’s nature. If you’re installing an app that will serve as a mirror and it requires permission to use your location and your email, don’t install it! There are certain permissions that should be given only to certain apps. Do not ignore the permissions warning. Period. Learn what it means and how it works. Know when to stop installing an app based on the permissions it requires.
7. Red-light that Bluetooth
If you don’t use Bluetooth for anything, why leave it on? It’s only going to drain your battery (and Android does that well enough by itself). Shut off Bluetooth from within the Settings app and you won’t have to worry about added battery drain. The same can be said of shutting off Wi-Fi when it is not in use.
8. Stop hoarding those apps
Open up your app drawer. Do you see a veritable cornucopia of unused apps? If so, uninstall them. Your Android device is not a dumping ground for cutesy apps of the day. If you know you’re done flapping angry birds get rid of the app. Those unused apps take up precious space, and in some cases, they could be helping to drain your battery (even if they’re unused). It’s not that those apps are going to suck your battery dry. But why take the chance that they are even draining it in the slightest? If you don’t use it, lose it.
9. Tap into all that power
One of the biggest differences between Android and iOS is the degree of flexibility and control. You have much more control over what your phone can do on Android — so much so, that many new users are overwhelmed or intimidated by all the bells and whistles. Don’t be. If you turn your back on all the possibilities, you miss out on a lot of features that could make your mobile life far easier. Of course, that doesn’t mean you should just start randomly tapping buttons. Use that power with intelligence and understanding.
10. Don’t neglect updates
There are reasons why you get warnings about updates: because they are often necessary for device security or efficiency. Apple pushes out only major updates and does so as a whole package. But there are instances when Android pieces can be updated. Many times these updates will occur without your assistance. However, you should still go into the Application Manager to find out whether there are updates for certain apps or elements of Android (the Play Store is a good example). Make sure you are updating on a regular basis. And be sure to install (and use) Secure Update Scanner so you don’t fall victim to the pileup flaw.
Reap the benefits, avoid the pitfalls
Android is a powerhouse of a platform and has eclipsed all other mobile platforms in global usage. That means there are a lot of first-time users. Don’t fall prey to any of these beginner mistakes and you’ll enjoy a long and productive life with Android.
Have you made some newbie mistakes on Android? Do you think there are just as many mistakes to be made by iOS novices? Share your thoughts bellow.
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Lina Deveikyte |
Quick, grab all of your devices and check what release of Android they are using. Are they all the same? If so, consider yourself one in a million. The Android platform is plagued with numerous releases on numerous devices — even the same devices from different carriers can suffer from different iterations of Android!
Because of what I do, I have numerous Android devices. The different releases are:
- 4.0.4
- 4.1.2
- 4.3
- 4.4.2
All of the above are on devices ranging from a Samsung Galaxy Tab to an HTC One Max (and just about everything in between). As I work with one of the various devices, I have to bounce back and forth to remember where something is located on a certain release. Although this isn’t a deal breaker for me, imagine having to support hundreds of devices, all with varying releases. Now, we’re talking about the breaking of deals.
But this issue goes deeper than that. It’s common knowledge that certain providers and certain device manufacturers are quicker to update than others. Motorola, for one, has always been at the top of the heap for updates. My Moto X always has the latest version of Android (almost immediately upon release). Samsung devices? Not so much. And if you’re with AT&T — good luck.
At one point, Google created the Android Update Alliance. That failed, but not because of Google. The blame here lies at the feet of the carriers and hardware manufacturers, including:
- AT&T
- Verizon
- T-Mobile
- HTC
- Motorola
- Samsung
- Kyocera
This update issue isn’t only widespread, it’s also very counter to rolling out new devices. How can Samsung (or any manufacturer) or AT&T (or any carrier) sell a device with an out of date OS? And with KitKat showing off how much more efficient it is at memory management, it’s become imperative that Android devices are released with the latest version.
I know this is a challenge for all involved. The second you release a piece of hardware, it could quickly become out of date. And each manufacturer has a different spin on the UI:
- Motorola Motoblur
- HTC Sense
- Samsung Touchwiz
When a new release of Android hits, each company has to integrate the underlying platform with its UI, so there’s another slowdown.
Here’s my beef with this — I can go to the Google Play Store and install any number of home screen launchers, nearly all of which play well with whatever version of Android I’m using (with a rare exception). In some cases, these home screen launchers are developed by a single person who must constantly keep up with changes made to the kernel and various stacks that make up the Android platform. And they do it with aplomb and efficiency.
So, how is it that a single developer can manage this, yet a large company cannot? It truly baffles the mind.
Well, I’ve come up with some ideas that might help this along. Some of them are unlikely, and some of them just might actually work. Let’s take a look:
- All hardware manufacturers drop their in-house home screen launchers and go with vanilla Android (they can offer their versions on the Google Play Store).
- Google develops a set of standards for all hardware manufacturers to use for developing their home screen.
- Set up an OS upgrade check during the first run wizard? Out of date? Update.
- Carriers stop selling out-of-date Android devices that won’t run any version of Android other than the most recent two major releases.
I know it’s a lose-lose scenario. The carriers, the manufacturers, and Google are not going to see eye-to-eye on this issue. But they need to lose their egos and stranglehold on their devices and come to some sort of unified structure that allows Android updates to roll out in a universal fashion. Having carriers selling devices with out-of-date operating systems does no favors to Android. And users not getting the best possible experience, because a carrier or a manufacturer can’t seem to get the upgrade process refined, does nothing but frustrate users.
KitKat is a substantial improvement over an already solid release. Every Android user should be enjoying the speed and features brought about by the latest iteration of the platform. Every entity involved needs to step up and make this happen… soon!
What do you think? Are you one of those suffering from an out of date release of Android? What do you think needs to be done to resolve this problem? Share your thoughts in the discussion thread below.
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Kristina Kozlova |
Responsive web design vs mobile web development: advantages and challenges. HTML5’s momentum and Best tools for responsive web design
Posted on: June 17, 2013
- In: Android | Apple | E-commerce | html5 | iPhone | jQuery | Mobile | Responsive web design | Tablets | Web | Web design
- 2 Comments
Responsive web design isn’t the future, it’s the present
In our humble opinion it’s late to debate whether responsive web design is the future because it’s already the present of everybody’s business represented online. Consumer/client behavior has been changing. According to statistics and analysts’ predictions, for instance, for the first time since 2001, PC sales are projected to be lower than they were in 2012; smartphone sales will double PC sales in 2014; tablet sales are expected to exceed 100 million this year and may top notebooks next year. So the shift to mobile is happening at an extraordinary speed, and tablets and smartphones are becoming extremely popular for business and pleasure matters. This means people view your content on thousands of oddly shaped and different sized screens. What’s more, according to Google research, mobile users “expect their mobile experience to be as good as their desktop experience” – this expectation poses a thorny challenge for both, business stakeholders and web designers and developers.
So this is no longer about “How do I make my website available to a smartphone or tablet?” – it’s “How do I make my business available in smartphone and tablet context?”. For some business it’s not important – it’s literally critical, for example: according to the Pew Research Center, 60% of tablet users prefer reading news on the mobile web than via an app; the same percentage is quite common for e-commerce sites according to Google Analytics and that’s why RWD has been listed in E-commerce marketing checklist for 2013. If you wish to identify the percentage of your audience that use mobile devices use the Google Analytics Mobile Overview report feature: if mobile users are more than 5% of your total audience you should consider catering for them too.
In general, there are three main approaches to providing information and interaction to mobile/tablet device users : responsive (and adaptive) web design, mobilized websites, and mobile apps. It’s important to understand that these are different marketing channels and their value proposition is very different. A mobile web site may do something very different from a mobile app – simply said, “if your goal is just to display and show content beautifully create a responsive or mobilized website; if your goal is to show productivity tools, build an app”. Which option is the best for your business will depend on your use case, your users’ habits and your budget.
Responsive web design vs mobile web development: advantages and challenges
To talk about advantages of responsive web design, let’s start from its definition. RWD is a front-end development approach aimed at crafting device agnostic sites. It uses “media queries” to figure out what resolution of device it’s being served on. Flexible images and fluid grids then size correctly to fit the screen. So responsive design provides easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling, and eliminates the need for separate sites for different devices. Adaptive web design is either a subset of responsive design, or a related approach. “Responsive design will show more stuff or less, optimized for a mobile layout, but is likely to still provide access to the full desktop-view’s content. Adaptive design, by contrast, might show very different content, and also present a different UI, reflecting touchscreen’s tap/swipe/scroll versus desktop’s keyboard/mouse interaction.” In either case, responsive (and adaptive) web design will be based on the same code as a desktop site, and will locate on the same URL.
– In the definition above a couple of advantages of RWD are pointed out. Indeed, it improves user web browsing experience since a website adapts to the browser or device compatibility automatically and makes the content look good. For customers it shows that your business is receptive to changing technology and understanding of consumers’ needs.
– From business perspective, “one website – multiple devices” concept means that it’s easy to manage and focus on developing good content for your website. The same applies to analytics and strategy development and deployment since there is only one set of analytics to examine and a single strategy to develop and deploy. From maintenance standpoint, the technique is great too as one update affects all of your platforms.
– Additionally, responsive websites are easier for consumers to find than traditional or mobile web sites because they come up higher in search engines’ rankings. “In fact, Google recommends responsive web design because having a single URL for desktop and mobile sites makes it easier for Google to discover content and for Google’s algorithms to assign indexing properties to content.”
– One more advantage from the future perspective, as Resnick predicts, is: “As the internet transforms further into a platform of services and user interfaces that tie those services together, leveraging RWD technology in the future will allow companies to integrate a plethora of back-end services, such as Facebook, Twitter, Salesforce.com, and Amazon Web Services, and then present the integrated data back out the front-end iad layer on a responsive design so the application looks great on all devices without custom coding needed for each device or screen size. No longer are expensive back-end solutions needed to integrate legacy systems with business partners.”
Actually responsive web design is quite immature so it faces many challenges too.
– Even though we might view a responsive website on a smaller screen and it displays less visible content or smaller-sized images, this does not mean that the site will load faster. The thing is that from one side responsive websites are not much smaller in download size when viewed on smaller devices or screen resolutions compared to when being viewed on a desktop browser jacked into a broadband internet service provider, on the other hand mobile internet speeds still lag much behind broadband internet ones. Thus responsive web sites need advanced optimization, such as serving smaller images and conditionally loading scripts, and much more. An alternative may be found in dedicated mobile web development solutions since they specifically address mobile devices.
– The related issue concerns complexity. Responsive web designs are inherently complex because they are trying to support many viewing experiences without necessarily optimizing the experience for one particular device (or genre of devices). Mobile browsers will have to deal with a big HTML file, and the site would need to carefully avoid running specific scripts, loading certain CSS and download large images. Perfect implementation is possible, still avoiding over-resourcing requires scripts or code and therefore additional complexity. Typical “m dot” site wins in this case and is simple. It usually has a small amount of HTML, limited scripts, CSS, and images (if at all) as it is built specifically for its intended small-screen, touchscreen mobile devices viewing experience.
– As for UI and UX, responsive websites have limitations here. Not only in screen size, they are also limited for utilizing or recognizing key mobile features such as user location, connectivity, device limitations, software potential, and user needs. Mobilized sites and mobile apps will provide broader opportunities and advantages here.
– Information architecture can be an issue. It needs to be carefully considered and should be hierarchically structured before the design implementation.
– Advertising is an issue. Ads will have to shift with the sites, something that will wreak havoc with advertisers who want guaranteed placements on sites.
So, which approach will or do you use to present your business online?
HTML5’s momentum and Best tools for responsive web design
Responsive web design is not a specific technology but a whole design approach. However, responsive design is enabled primarily by CSS3 and JavaScript, which fall under the banner of HTML5. HTML5 is really maturing in terms of its functionality and, more importantly, its speed. So now HTML5 is the backbone of the new and interactive features of responsive web design.
To achieve a smooth flow from a large screen to a small one it takes a lot of patience and perseverance. To reach a seamless result there are a number of tools that help you with it. Below you will find a list of best responsive design tools broadly recommended in the web as well as by Altabel’s dev team:
1. Gridset
A tool that helps you design, prototype and build any type of grid layout required – columnar grids, asymmetrical, fixed, fluid or responsive grids. It even lets you create a library of your own grids, with a variety of presets available. It will allow you to build responsive prototypes (without all the calculations) very quickly and easily, providing all the measurements and tools to integrate with your existing markup.
Alternatives: Frameless, Tiny Fluid Grid, Gridpak, SimpleGrid, Responsify, Responsive.gs, Golden Grid System and Photoshop Grid for Responsive Design.
2. Bootstrap
An intuitive and powerful front-end framework from Twitter to start a responsive website fast and easy. It addresses the most popular user interface components and interactions, uses a 12-column responsive grid system with simple and flexible HTML, CSS, and Javascript and features dozens of components, styles and JavaScript plug-ins, with basic global display, typography and link styles all set. It also gives the option of customizing components of your website for instance by using the Customizer .
Alternatives: Skeleton, Foundation, Base, InuitCSS, LESS Framework, Gridless, 320 and Upand Gumby.
3. Wirefy
Clients wish to see how wireframes will adapt to different device sizes. Static wireframes aren’t particularly useful to show a client how responsive your design is, or what functionality is being suggested. But rapid prototyping by building flexible wireframes may. Wirefy is a collection of functional responsive HTML snippets and templates that scale as the browser is resized (working across multiple devices). It builds on tools such as the Frameless grid system and Bootstrap, and uses CSS media queries that adapt to different device resolutions. Wirefy focuses on key elements such as typography, tables, images, slideshow, forms, tab panel, paginator, menu, etc., focusing on the users.
Alternatives: Froont, Interactive Style Tiles, Responsive Sketch Sheets, Responsive Wireframe Template, Interface Sketch Templates, Responsive Device Diagrams, Wirify.
4. FlevNav
Navigation strategy is a really critical component of any responsive website design. FlexNav is a jQuery plugin that takes a device-agnostic approach to complex site navigation. It is a mobile-first concept using media queries and JavaScript to create a menu with drop downs. It features multiple nested sub-menus, with support for em units and tap targets to reveal sub-menus for touchscreens.
Alternatives: TinyNav.js, Navigation Patterns for Responsive Design, MeanMenu, Responsive Solutions for Menu Navigation, jPanelMenu.
5. Adaptive Images
Previously, making your website images responsive was tricky and usually meant using a “hack-around”. Now several tools may simplify this task. Using a one htaccess file, one php file and a single line of JavaScript, Adaptive Images detects screen size of browsing devices, cashes and delivers device appropriate re-scaled versions of your web page’s embedded HTML images without any mark-up changes. Also it is entirely non-destructive, and works on existing websites and markups — without the need to edit anything. Adaptive Images works on the premise that you are already using the highest-resolution images on your site, and also offers a ton of customization options.
Alternatives: ReSRC.it, jQuery Picture, ResponsiveImg, Retina.js and Retina Images.
6. FitText
As content scales according to a user’s viewport, the text will naturally wrap as the container is narrowed; and this often causes widows, orphans or your headlines to look rather ugly, and can even break the entire layout. FitText is a jQuery plugin specifically for headlines and big text. It auto-updates the font size according to the width of the element wrapping it, so you can achieve scalable headlines and a non-broken layout that can be caused by font-sizing issues. FitText works perfectly with Lettering.js or any CSS3 property thrown at it. There are options to fine-tune the text, including the ability to set min-max sizes and the level of scaling. Still FitText is only for headlines, and shouldn’t be used with paragraph text.
Alternatives: BigText, Lettering.js, Kerning.js, Kern.js, Type Butter and Slabtext.
7. Responsive Slides
This lightweight plugin allows you to create a responsive slider using elements inside a container. The images have to be the same size and jQuery 1.6 and up should be used. You can keep captions and other non-HTML elements inside the slides, while also using CSS3 transitions with JavaScript fallback. It works in all major desktop and mobile browsers, can support multiple slide shows, have settings for transition and timeout durations, automatic and manual fade, and have options for customization.
Alternatives: Flex Slider, Slides.js, PhotoSwipe, Supersized, Camera, RefineSlide, BlueberrySequence.js and Galleria.
8. Responsive Tables
Data tables in responsive design can be troublesome: you want it to not break responsive layouts, not hide content, let you see entire rows and columns, not be too small to read easily or zoomed in too far requiring scrolling. Here ZURB comes out – a simple JavaScript/CSS combination containing two key files: responsive-tables.js and responsive-tables.css. It works by taking the first column, which is often the unique key for a table, and “pinning” it to the left of the table, allowing you to scroll the other columns under it.
Alternatives: Responsive Data Tables, Stackable.js, Footable, Responsive Tables, Responsive Tables, Responsive SEO Friendly Data Tables.
9. Responsive Design Testing
Building a responsive website means constantly testing how it displays across mobile and tablet devices. You could resize the browser yourself, or use a browser extension or tools within your IDE; but there is an extremely simple tool that allows you to see how a page displays on different screen sizes, in a single view. With Matt Kersley’s RWD testing tool you just have to enter your website’s URL into the address bar to test a specific page in different widths and device sizes. Also you can share the results of the test with others by adding any URL to the end of the testing page address. One major benefit of this tool is that it can be self-hosted (available on GitHub) by downloading and installing it on your own site. You can then navigate through the frames that your website appears in, testing the entire site effortlessly.
Alternatives: Screen Queries, Screenfly, Responsivepx, Responsinator, Responsive ViewportResponsive.is, and Resize My Browser.
10. Respond.js
The problem with media queries in responsive web design is that they are a part of CSS3 specifications so they do not work with older browser versions such as IE8 and lower. Respond.js comes to the rescue for browsers that don’t support media queries directly, translating any media queries it finds into equivalent JavaScript.The script itself is incredibly small and lightweight. It works unobtrusively, and doesn’t rely on any other scripts or frameworks to run.
Alternatives: Modernizer, Adapt, Categorizr, CSS3 Media Queries and Enquire.js.
The tools above are ultra useful for any RWD project from the planning and designing phase right through to testing, and what’re your favorites?
Welcome to share your view points.
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Helen Boyarchuk |
Android in 2013: What to expect
Posted on: January 13, 2013
- In: Android | IT Trends | Mobile
- 3 Comments
The Android ecosystem has become a dominant force in 2012. Here’s how I see it growing in the coming year.
Brace yourselves: 2013 is upon us, and that means a whole new generation of Android devices, rumors, and expectations.
Android will have a strong showing at CES (Consumer Electronics Show), and the next few months will be littered with new smartphones and tablets. Let’s take a look at some of the trends we can expect in the Android space over the coming year.
This article will touch on many trends in the Android ecosystem, including hardware advancements, vendor decisions, and key events of the year. Given the sheer number of players in the space, there will be much to look forward to in the ever-evolving Android landscape. Indeed, much could be said about any one of these aspects of Android, but we will address them here in broader terms.
Screen size will sharpen and grow
Not long ago, most smartphone screens didn’t exceed 4 inches. Up until the HTC Evo 4G, most Android phones were had 3.2-inch and 3.5-inch displays. Now, thanks to popular handsets such as the Galaxy S3 (4.8 inches) and Galaxy Note 2 (5.5 inches), consumers are becoming used to much larger screens. We’ll continue to see all sorts of screen sizes in 2013, but the standard high-end experience will fall in the vicinity of 4.5 inches. Those of us who are moving into our second and third Android device will expect something at least as big as our current model.
Beyond size, resolution will sharpen. HTC had a leg up with the Droid DNA with a 1080p (versus 720p) resolution, but now nearly every handset maker you can think of is reportedly working on their own 5-inch 1080p HD display for their premium products. Whether you place a lot of importance on pixel density or not, expect screen resolution to be a big buzzword in 2013.
Quad-core will multiply
If you listen to companies such as Qualcomm and Nvidia, then you’re well aware of the fact that quad-core is the new spec hotness, and Android is the vanguard of competition among handset makers all vying for your little green Android dollars.
Gone are the days of big dual-core announcements. If you don’t come to the table with at least four cores of mobile prowess, then you’re not really expecting to compete on the high-end. We should anticipate that the big devices of the coming year will have quad-core 1.5GHz processors or higher, with some even hitting 2.0GHz by the year’s end. Of course, the fight for faster processors might only be relevant on paper; real world practicality is a different animal. It’s one thing to tout the impressive clock speeds or point to a benchmark, but showing the benefits to end users is the most important win.
Play a lot of 3D games? You definitely care about who makes your phone’s CPU. Just want to see what this whole Android thing is all about? Jump in wherever you want, you’ll be just fine.
One area where we may see more improvements is in the phone’s memory and storage. If the previous year saw 2GB RAM emerge for the top-of-the-line memory experience, next year may see us inching toward 3GB RAM. Storage capacities for Android phones (and all phones) will creep up in 2013 as well, yielding 32GB as the standard for mid-range and 64GB becoming common among high-end devices. This will be especially true for those manufacturers opting for internal batteries and removal of external storage, and I expect to see the first handset with 128GB internal storage appear before 2013 is out.
Entry-level phones will benefit
You have to appreciate the trickle-down effect of technology as today’s top devices quickly become tomorrow’s mid-range experience. With that in mind, the $50-$100 Android smartphone of 2013 will be quite an impressive piece of hardware.
Dual-core processors should become the norm for your “basic” Android phone as single-core stuff gets pushed aside. The same may be said of the no-contract handsets, as we’ll continually get more for our money.
As every carrier scrambles to build out its next-gen data network, 4G LTE will be commonplace in Android smartphones. Sure, we’ll get the occasional 3G product every once in a while, but that will diminish with time. This is not to say that 2013 will be the end of 3G Android, but the days of touting 4G LTE as a special feature will pass.
Popularized technologies
There is always a chance that we’ll see a 3D experience in an Android phone or two, but I have the feeling this is one technology that won’t take off. I’ve yet to run into someone who wants or needs 3D graphics in their mobile device. Sure, it’s a cool feature to show off once in a while, but we’re just not ready to adopt this baby. I get the feeling that we’ll see a new surge in NFC-enabled accessories and technologies in the coming wave of tech conferences. The idea of tap-to-play speakers or media players doesn’t seem like much of a stretch for this year’s biggest mobile conferences, CES in January and Mobile World Congress in late February.
Perhaps the biggest issue facing smartphones with large displays and super-fast processors is battery life. Nobody wants to put their phone away to preserve juice; we bought that big screen for a reason.
Looking ahead to the New Year, we expect to see more handsets come with internal and/or higher capacity batteries. The Droid Razr Maxx HD is still the benchmark for long-lasting batteries, but we should see the gap narrow. To that end, we may see less emphasis on “world’s thinnest” or “lightest” claims.
One device around the world
I cannot tell you how pleased I was when I learned that Samsung was going to adopt one singular form factor for the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 across countries and carriers. I’m sure that a number of accessory makers were quite happy with the decision as well. Samsung will employ the same strategy for the Galaxy S4 and will likely have records sales again in the New Year.
As far as other companies going this route, HTC today seems to be the closest. I wouldn’t be surprised if its next flagship model were to hit multiple carriers with a single design. As nice as it was to have fewer models to choose from in the One series, it was still confusing to keep up with the various suffixes — One X, One X+, Evo 4G LTE. “Does my carrier offer that one? What’s the difference between this and that?” Along those lines, LG also seems to be slowly headed in this direction with the Optimus line.
Android comes to new territories
The Samsung Galaxy Camera wasn’t the first digital camera to utilize Android, but the first to tie into carriers.
Nikon, Polaroid, and other camera-makers will dabble a bit with Android backbones and we’ll see smarter shooters in 2013. Pricing will need to come down for mass adoption; however, we will see carriers selling connected cameras in retail stores and online.
We will also see more kid-centric tablets and devices with Android under the hood in the next year. We might as well get used to the fact that Toys R Us and Walmart are going to offer $99 Android tablets.
Once the price point of a generic, knock-off tablet, the $100-$200 price range now offers a decent experience for most. Come this time next year, it will not be strange to see a house with even more Android tablets for a range of age groups.
Shortly after Android became a recognized term in the mobile space; we saw the platform arriving in various electronic devices including microwaves and washing machines.
I don’t think we’ll find too much of that in 2013, but it would not surprise me to see a refrigerator or appliance with a custom touch interface that runs Android. Not a full-blown experience, mind you, but something that gives hardware-makers more flexibility.
There is a chance that we’ll see more Android in the automobile in 2013, but it’ll have competition from RIM’s QNX OS. This won’t be a replicated tablet-like experience with full-on Google Play support but something a little smarter than what we have today. It is easy to picture a 7-inch display that lets users hop from stereo to diagnostics to Google Maps.
Another area that would work well is embedding a tablet in the back of the driver and passenger seat. With more cars offering Wi-Fi connectivity over time, a connected device just makes sense. Don’t be surprised if someone introduces a backseat experience that includes access to social networks as well as casual games such as checkers for road trips. For added fun, pair your Bluetooth game controller and dive into a 3D shooter.
Google I/O and major releases
If the last few years are any indicator, there will be at least five key moments for Android in 2013, starting with trade shows: CES in early January, the international Mobile World Congress in late February, and CTIA in late May. Samsung is also expected to launch its Galaxy S4 flagship phone at a standalone press event, if we follow 2012’s model.
Android’s background OS will continue to gain speed, and the company will introduce new features that again pull away from iOS to set the industry pace. We don’t know much about Android 5.0 quite yet, but we’ll assuredly discover bits and pieces of upcoming features in the months just before Google I/O — especially if Google releases a new Nexus device or two to go along with the latest software build.
2013 will certainly be an exciting year for Android, with the mobile OS surely maintaining its mobile lead.
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Polina Mikhan |
