A customer had added to an application and requesting that we do some minor take a shot at their current application. I let him know that we would need access to the source code so the customer retreated to the first designer to get the source code just to find that the engineer guaranteed the source code as his protected innovation and declined to give it. Tragically, this is not the first occasion when I’ve seen this source code possession issue. Here are a percentage of the ramifications of not having the source code to your application:
You are forever tied to the developer. Any modification, bug fix, or upgrade has to go through that developer. This is problematic because the developer could raise the price of development and is problematic if that developer becomes sick, busy with other projects, etc.
Raising funds or selling your project becomes more difficult because there’s a question of who owns the intellectual property.
Common Law
(Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer; if this is a concern, please get good legal counsel). In general, the author of content owns the copyright. In the case of a software developer, it’s the person physically typing on the key board to create the code. An exception occurs under the “Work for Hire” doctrine where the work is developed by an employee with the scope of their employment. However, when contractors are used, this becomes a little more unclear.
Personal Opinion
If I hire someone to buy a house, at the end of the project, I want the keys to it. In a similar fashion, if I pay someone to develop an app for me, I would expect to have the source code upon completion. this is our general policy. The exception is when we develop an app based off one of our templates. In which case, the template is our intellectual property.
Proposals
On the off chance that you are having an application created by a foreman, have an open discourse about the source code proprietorship as a feature of the reviewing procedure. On the off chance that you don’t concur with their source code approach, proceed onward. In the event that you choose to run with that designer, verify the responsibility for source code is spelled out in the agreement.
Google announced that their algorithm will change on April 21, 2014 so that mobile friendliness will be a factor. What impact this has on a web site’s SEO is yet to be seen. However, if your business depends on being found through a Google search, you have to take this seriously. (I have seen businesses get devastated by a change in Google’s algorithm).
So, what does it mean to be mobile friendly? Here are some factors that determine your mobile friendliness rating:
Software not commonly used on mobile devices like Adobe Flash.
Use text that is readable without having to zoom in.
Web page adapts so that the user doesn’t have to zoom in or scroll horizontally.
Links are far enough apart so that the correct one can be tapped.
Still not sure if your site is mobile friendly? Google offers this easy test.
So what do you do if your site isn’t mobile friendly? A quick fix is to create a mobile site using a service like DudaMobile. You can then have your webmaster add a script so that traffic to your website from a mobile device re-directs to your mobile site. In my opinion, this is just a band-aid solution. Long term, if your site isn’t mobile friendly, you should consider re-creating your site using responsive design. With responsive design, the web site adapts to the user’s device; be it desktop, tablet, or smartphone.
Aside from Google’s change in algorithm, having a mobile friendly site is just smart business. Mobile exceeds PC Internet Usage. Having a good user experience is crucial if you want to have repeat visits. In this study, 44% of shoppers won’t return to a site that isn’t mobile friendly. If your site isn’t mobile friendly, now is the time to make the change. Otherwise, you may lose a lot of your business to your competitors that made the jump.
We’ve recently been looking a fair bit into the world of wireframes and prototypes and what they can do for the design and development process. However, we are yet to touch upon the history of this discipline, specifically the history of wireframes. In this post we will do just that.
Where did the term ‘wireframe’ come from?
The term wireframe actually predates its use in web design. Originally, wireframes were used to show 3D objects in Computer Aided Design (CAD). You’d probably recognize the style, used in manufacturing to depict the design of cars without the need for detail, leaving the drawing looking like it’s made out of wires – hence, you guessed it, the term ‘wireframe’.
In web design, ‘wireframes’ are visual guides that represent the skeletal framework of a page or app screen. They commonly depict functional layout: including interface elements and navigational systems. The wireframe usually lacks typographic style, color, or graphics, since the main focus is on functionality, behavior, and priority of content. This is a direct consequence of their CAD history. In other words, it focuses on what a screen does, not what it looks like.
The history of the humble wireframe is a complex one, and there is some debate about who coined the term for use on the web and with apps. As is common with this type of thing, it seems a number of parties coined the same term around the same time.
Wireframes most commonly take the form of faithful pencil and paper sketches, though higher fidelity versions have their place, as do animated and clickable versions (which is where prototypes really come into their own).
Really functional wireframes are great for developers, but offer less of a means to conduct a visual appraisal. Tools like our own Indigo Studio support these sorts of wireframes, as well as much more ‘designed’ varieties, and even full on use case storyboards.
This change from static designs to wireframes with more graphics (and even animation) has been driven by a need to accommodate a mature UX, which is becoming ever more important with the popularity of apps growing exponentially. Wireframes choice of a higher regard for the user experience is akin to its brother-in-arms: the prototype.
The prototype timeline
In terms of timelines, the prototype has a relatively short one. Below is a brief timeline on the progress this discipline has made since the 70’s:
1970 – Winston Royce introduces the Waterfall model
1980 – The first basic prototypes appear – resembling flow charts
1985 – Paper prototyping is integrated for usability testing
1987 – Microsoft PowerPoint – now a common tool for creating rough wireframes
1988 – Boehm founds The Spiral Model
1990 – Adobe Photoshop – many a UX designers’ favorite tool
1991 – IBM introduces RAD (Rapid Application Development) software development
2001 – Agile Manifesto released
2005 – Web-based (SaaS) prototyping becomes more influential
2008 – Lean UX movement is born
2010 – Technological advances enable high-fidelity SaaS prototyping without coding
And that brings us up to date. It’s easy to see the strides that prototyping has made, and it’s showing no sign of slowing down. Both wireframes and prototypes are constantly adapting and evolving to make developers jobs easier.
What about the future?
These days, as wireframes become more interactive and prototypes become more useful, the two terms are merging. Ask any good UX designer or UI developer and they will see them as one and the same. There will always be a need for the different types of wireframe and prototype – lo-fi, hi-fi, animated, sketch etc… and each of course has pros and cons depending on the project need.
Design tools also need to react as the discipline matures and changes. The latest release of Indigo Studio allows users to create static wireframes, clickable prototypes and everything in-between. Indigo Studio even lets you prototype without writing a single line of code.
Our new storyboarding feature is particularly useful in the world of more interactive prototypes. It helps unite and develop the user story and the app story together. It really helps to prototype the experience, and not just the app.
Storyboards provide an array of scenes that you can drag-and-drop, creating your own story that depicts a real-life scenario or use case. Indigo helps to develop how the app will be used much more fully than if you only wireframed set screens.
With Indigo, you don’t have to simply tell people what your app can do when showing them a prototype. Now, you can envelop them in the whole experience, leading to richer engagement, and ultimately a better end product
As mobile devices continue to explore and colonize the technology landscape, their conquests are leading us to a new era, beyond search and apps.
Looking to claim the territory previously held by URLs, portals, and even search and apps, the rapid acceleration of mobile interface innovation, with messaging as its main driver, is irreversibly moving us into a new, conversation-based era.
Two Expeditions
There are currently two expeditions climbing the lucrative post-search mountain from different sides, each plotting their own unique route to the top.
1. The AI-Based Ascent Of Mobile Operating Systems
This first expedition is betting on a future where all silos, whether it’s apps or websites, are connected and integrated through one overarching AI or virtual assistant. It’s no surprise that major OS guys Apple and Google, the mighty rulers of the app era, are pushing hardest for such a future since it would keep them on top of things.
The main climbers
Google has been paving away on a de-siloed future since 2012 when they first launched Google Now as part of Android 4.1. Since then it has kept making its digital assistant smarter with every update. Early this year Google announced that Now would support 3rd party apps. More recently Google announced Now on Tap, giving you contextual information related to what you’re doing in your apps.
Meanwhile, Apple is betting big on AI with Siri. At this years WWDC Apple revealed its own prediction-centered strategy with iOS 9’s Proactive.
With Proactive, Siri has become contextually aware and is able to offer users content and information based on context. Also, like Google Now, Apple announced that iOS 9’s new search API enables deep linking into apps to surface content from 3rd party apps.
Other contenders
Amazon Echo, Microsoft’s Cortana, The Windows Phone home screen with its interactive live tiles, Microsoft Arrow Launcher, Pebble Timeline (and Apple Watch Time Travel), and Yahoo’s Aviate are all designed with a similar vision.
“Think about how much your phone understands about you and what happens when that context becomes part of the search experience. The future of search is contextual knowledge.” – Marissa Mayer
Most categorize your apps and show them on your homescreen when you need them, based on the context. All aim to design a future where a user is served the right information when that user needs it.
Apart from the 404 error, how many other HTML error pages do you know about? Have you ever thought about what happens in the background when you see any of these HTML error pages on your screen?
Those codes are meant to convey important information to the user. It can be useful to know them better, especially if you are a website owner. Using them properly reduces your bounce rate, improves your search engine ranking and gives you knowledge on the performance of your site.
Understanding Status Codes
Behind every error page you see on the web there is an HTTP status code sent by the web server. Status codes come in the format of 3 digit numbers. The first digit marks the class of the status code:
1XX status codes have informational purposes
2XX indicates success
3XX is for redirection
None of these three classes result in an HTML error page as in this casesthe client knows what to do and goes on with the task without hesitation. What we usually see are the 4XX and 5XX kind:
4XX represent client-side errors
5XXs indicate problems on the server side
HTML error pages are displayed in these cases because the client has no idea about what how to move on. Let’s see what happens in the background when something goes south and what you can do about it.
Client-Side Errors (4XX)
1. 400 – Bad Request
Whenever the client sends a request the server is unable to understand, the 400 Bad Request error page shows up. It usually happens when the data sent by the browser doesn’t respect the rules of the HTTP protocol, so the web server is clueless about how to process a request containing a malformed syntax.
When you see a 400 error page the reason is most likely that there’s something unstable on the client side: a not sufficiently protected operating system, an instable internet connection, a defective browser or a caching problem. So it’s always a good idea to test a bit your own PC before you contact the owner of the website.
Open the same webpage in a different browser, clear the cache, and check if you are due with security updates. If you regularly meet the 400 error on different sites, your PC or Mac is awaiting a thorough security checkup.
2. 401 – Authorization Required
When there’s a password-protected web page behind the client’s request, the server responds with a 401 Authorization Required code. 401 doesn’t return a classical error message at once, but a popup that asks the user to provide a login-password combination.
If you have the credentials, everything is all right, and you can go on without any problem and get access to the protected site. Otherwise you are redirected to the Authorization Required error page.
If you are a website owner, you can add the same password-protection to your site or a part of it through your cPanel account.
Click on the “Password Protect Directories” submenu inside the “Security”menu box and choose the web folder you want to protect. It can be a good security layer to restrict access to your admin area like the wp-admin folder in a WordPress site.
3. 403 – Forbidden
You can encounter the 403 Forbidden error page when the server understands the client’s request clearly, but for some reasons refuses to fulfil it. This is neither a malformation nor an authorization problem. By returning the 403 status code the server basically rejects the client with a big loud “No” without any explanation
The most common reason is that the website owner doesn’t permit visitors to browse the file directory structure of the site. When this kind of protection is enabled you can’t access folders directly on the website. The other frequent reason is that the specific file the client requested doesn’t have the permission to be viewed from the web.
You can set 403 protection for security reasons on your own site. It can be useful to harden your site against being hacked by hiding the directory structure or files that contain vulnerable information.
Luckily many web hosts provide this service to their clients by default, but if you want to add an extra security layer, open your cPanel account, navigate to the Advanced menu box, and click on Index Manager.
Here you can customize how your visitors view a specific directory on your site. If you choose No Indexing the client will receive an 403 error page if it tries to access the given directory.
4. 404 – Not Found
404 is the most well-known HTTP status code out there, and you have surely read many great posts about how to customize 404 pages. The browser returns a 404 HTML page when the server doesn’t find anything on the requested location.
There are two main scenarios that can result in a 404 Not Found page. Either the visitor mistyped the URL, or the permalink structure of the site has been changed and the incoming links point to pages that were moved to different locations. 404 error pages sometimes can appear on top level URLs too. It usually happens when a site has recently moved to another web server and the DNS still points to the old location. This kind of problem usually disappears after a short time.
You can find SEO experts on the web who claim too many 404s have a negative effect on your site’s search engine ranking, but Google claims that “404 errors don’t impact your site’s ranking in Google, and you can safely ignore them” as 404s are seen as a normal part of the web by the search engine.
You may want to reduce the number of your 404s because they increase the bounce rate (people who leave immediately) of your site. The most common solution for this is using 301 redirects for permanently removed pages, and 302s for those that are temporarily unavailable.
5. 408 – Request Time-Out
When the request of the client takes too long, the server times out, closes the connection, and the browser displays a 408 Request Time-Out error message. The time-out happens because the server didn’t receive a complete request from the client within the timeframe it was prepared to wait. Persistent 408 errors can occur because of the heavy workload on either the server or on the client’s system.
In some cases both ends of the connection work properly but a temporary internet surge slows down the delivery of the message. Bigger websites tend to customize 408 error pages just like most of you do, in case of 404s. 408 errors can usually be fixed by reloading the page with the help of the F5 button.
6. 410 – Gone
The 410 Gone error page is very close to the well-known 404. Both mean thatthe server doesn’t find the requested file, but while 404 suggests that the target file may be available somewhere on the server, 410 indicates a permanent condition.
410 shows the client that the resource was made intentionally unavailable, and the website owner wants incoming links to be removed from the Web. 404 is used when the server is unsure if the unavailability of the file is permanent, but 410 always indicates a complete certainty.
If you are in charge of your own server, it’s important to understand how 404s and 410s are treated differently by Google crawlers. In this video Matt Cutts, Google’s head of search spam explains the gist of this distinction. It’s a good idea to distinguish between 404 and 410 to enhance your Google-friendliness.
Server Errors (5XX)
7. 500 – Internal Server Error
Internal Server Error is the most well-known server error, as it’s used whenever the server encounters an unexpected condition that prevents it from fulfilling the client’s request. The 500 error code is a generic one, it’s returned when no other server-side 5XX error codes make any sense.
Although in this case the problem is not on your end, you can do some things to resolve it such as reload the page (as the error may be temporary), clear your browser’s cache (as the issue may occur with the cached version of the site), and delete your browser’s cookies and restart the browser.
You can also contact the webmaster (like in case of any other server-side problems) – they may be grateful for your contribution but there’s also a chance that they are aware of the problem and already working on it.
If you encounter the 500 error page on your own site, it will be wise to contact your hosting provider. The reason is most likely a permission error, acorrupt .htaccess file or a too low memory limit. If you have a WordPress site, the 500 error can also caused by a third party plugin; you can test this by deactivating your plugins, one by one, until the culprit is found.
8. 502 – Bad Gateway
The 502 error message represents a communication problem between two servers. It occurs when the client connects to a server acting as a gateway or a proxy that needs to access an upstream server that provides additional service to it. The other server is located higher in the server hierarchy. It can be for example an Apache web server that’s accessed by a proxy server, or the name server of a large internet service provider that’s accessed by a local name server.
When you encounter the Bad Gateway error page the server receives an invalid response from an upstream server.
In most cases it doesn’t mean that the upstream server is down but that the two communicating servers don’t agree on the protocol about how to exchange data. This usually happens when one of the machines is incorrectly configured or programmed. Contact your hosting provider if you see 502 on your own site.
9. 503 – Service Temporarily Unavailable
You see the Service Temporarily Unavailable (sometimes Out of Resources) message any time there’s a temporary overload on the server, or when it’s going through a scheduled maintenance. The 503 error code means that the web server is currently not available. This is usually a temporary condition that will be resolved after some delay.
If you are a website owner it’s important to have appropriate knowledge about the 503 status code to properly handle scheduled maintenance. If you don’t handle scheduled maintenance in the correct way, you may hurt the search engine ranking of your site.
There is a server-server communication problem behind the Gateway Time-Out error message, just like behind the 502 Bad Gateway error code. When the 504 status code is returned there’s also a higher-level server in the background that is supposed to send data to the server that is connected to our client. In this case the lower-level server doesn’t receive a timely response from the upstream server it accessed.
This is the same time-out problem that occurs in case of the 408 Request Time-Out status code, but here it doesn’t happen between the client and the server but between two servers in the back end. The Gateway Time-Out error page usually indicates slow communication between the two servers, and it can also happen that the higher-level server is completely down.
As 504 is a network problem in the background only people who have access to that network can solve it. As with other server-side HTTP errors, sometimes it’s enough to refresh the page a few minutes later to tackle the issue – of course only if the service providers work on the problem meanwhil.
Remix OS is a custom version of Android aimed specifically at devices with bigger screens and hopes to give a more desktop-like experience to tablets. There’s a taskbar, multi-window support, and even window size management.
Remix OS has even ported across 15 of the most common keyboard shortcuts and enabled them on Android to make it feel even more like the desktop experience we’re used to.
The best way to get Remix OS on your Nexus 9 or Nexus 10 is to use Fastboot and ADB from your PC over USB. For more detailed instructions, check out the source link as grab the downloads while you’re there.
Need to know what the following iPhone 7 or iPhone 8 will be similar to? Straightforward: simply take a gander at today’s leader Androids
Apple’s iPhones are incredibly prominent. Apple offers crazy measures of them each quarter and has done since…well…since it initially began offering them route in 2007. Apple’s model is straightforward and the iPhone is its money bovine, so the organization is extremely cautious regarding the matter of evolving things, which is the reason we get incremental overhauls between each new upgrade.
Say what you need in regards to Apple, its telephones, and Jony Ive, yet the equation – an extremely basic recipe – lives up to expectations. Apple has developed its telephone business progressively in the course of recent years and the net result today, to a great extent on account of it effectively tapping China, is a HUGE measure of offers and a significantly greater heap of incomes and benefits.
Apple was first out the doors with a genuine, touchscreen cell phone, one that caught general society’s creative energy. It was the to start with, yes. Be that as it may, Google and its army of equipment accomplices rapidly rose to the event, pumping out a horde of handsets. Furthermore, it was Google and its equipment accomplices that truly pushed the advancement bend with respect to telephones.
Simply take a gander at how quick things changed somewhere around 2010 and 2015, contrast the HTC Hero with the Samsung Galaxy S6 EDGE. The development has been sensational. What’s more, one thing has dependably been copiously clear since, well, around 2011 – Android telephones have much higher specs and a considerable measure more equipment stuck inside them.
Whether you’re discussing showcase determination, application processors, network or memory. Android constantly progressed before Apple. For hell’s sake, Android even did legitimate multitasking before the iPhone. Same for giving clients access to higher measures of memory and more control over their handset’s framework settings – something that has still yet to happen in iOS.
I utilize an iPhone at present, yet from 2010 to 2014 I was essentially Android totally with periodic plunges into BB10 and Windows Phone. What’s more, the explanation behind this was basic: I loved testing out and utilizing the most recent specs, equipment, and new sorts of integration like BLE 4.0 and NFC. Be that as it may, I likewise saw something else while living in the Android camp for so long…
Apple’s iPhone’s, very nearly since they initially propelled, have ALWAYS been no less than maybe a couple eras behind current Android leaders. Simply take a gander at the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus and how they contrast with the LG G4, Samsung Galaxy S6 and LG G4. On the other hand how Android telephones, well, not every one of them, have had water resistance and remote charging for quite a long time.
You can say the same thing in regards to show innovation as well, or why it took Apple SO LONG to change to ever-so-somewhat bigger showcase boards. Google’s Android accomplices, remarkably Samsung and LG, are in charge of this movement in buyer demeanor. It is a direct result of them we have enormous telephones with QHD boards on the front of them. They have changed the way we see the telephone and what’s in store from a showcase, while Apple, at any rate for as far back as couple of years, has basically taken after its nose, asserting it knows best, before in the end – just about as though it is under pressure – surrendering that, yes, perhaps the time has come to do an iPhone with an ordinary measured presentation.
You unquestionably DO NOT require QHD boards and I know quite a few people despise 6in showcases on telephones. However, the point here is that on the off chance that you need an iPhone with respectable specs, a thing we really got for the current year, you NEED Android brands like Samsung and LG in light of the fact that they’re the gentlemen that genuinely drive the usage of better equipment and specs inside iPhones, yet at a much later date.
I know, I know. Apple offers more telephones. In any case, that is not the point here; the fact of the matter is much more straightforward: without Android telephones, without this sort of rivalry, the iPhone of today would presumably look and feel more like the iPhone 4 than the iPhone 6. Simply look what happened to BlackBerry telephones when they had an imposing business model on the portable space preceding the landing of Google and Apple (answer: diddly squat).
Android is great at presenting forefront innovation, equipment, and specs to the business sector and making that stuff appear to be something everybody and his puppy needs on their telephones. Apple’s simply better at offering it in large numbers to shoppers over the globe. Furthermore, Apple has the included advantage of controlling EVERYTHING that goes ahead inside its biological community, including ALL money related exchanges.
Along these lines, the lesson of the story here is straightforward: on the off chance that you need to recognize what Apple’s iPhones will be similar to in 2016 and 2017, simply take a gander at advanced Android leads today. That is what Apple’s been doing these most recent couple of years which is the reason the iPhone 7 or iPhone 8 will likely be water and dust safe and have 3-or-4GB of RAM and a QHD sho
HERE for Android Beta (Free)
Nokia – the bit that wasn’t bought by Microsoft, obviously – has opened up its HERE maps and navigation to all Android users running a recent version of Google’s software, rather than just Samsung owners. It’s a polished mapping app with offline navigation, public transport info and live traffic – the latter in more than 40 countries so far. The beta is available from Nokia’s site.
Inbox by Gmail (Free)
This is Google’s new email app, sitting alongside Gmail rather than replacing it. For now, it’s invitation-only – but you can request one – with features aiming to declutter your inbox by grouping similar messages together, from travel details to receipts and promotions. Worth trying, when you get the opportunity.
Autodesk SketchBook (Free + IAP)
Apple’s iPad has tended to hog the limelight when it comes to artists and illustrators working on tablets, but Android is building up its own library of drawing and painting apps too. Autodesk SketchBook is one of the best yet, with plenty of depth yet an accessible interface for scribblers like me.
Skype Qik (Free)
In the early days of the app store era, Qik was a video livestreaming app that got plenty of hype. Skype bought it in 2011, then shut it down earlier this year, ahead of a relaunch this month. The app is different now though: more about creating groups then pinging video messages between one another, with the clips automatically deleted after two weeks. It’s fun, but faces a big challenge taking on Snapchat.
Lumific – Photo Gallery (Free)
Want more features than Android’s default photos app offers? Lumific is one of the apps jostling for attention on the platform and promising to provide them. It’s not for control freaks, since it automatically “beautifies” your photos, including automatically straightening and cropping them. But it could be a time-saver for keen mobile photographers.
Snowball Beta (Free)
Another beta which – disclosure – I haven’t been able to try yet, either because it’s country-locked or my devices aren’t compatible. But it looks potentially useful: an app that aggregates various social networks and messaging apps into one place: Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Line, Twitter and Hangouts among others now, with Skype and Viber to follow. Worth watching.
Clue – Period Tracker (Free)
There are quite a few menstrual cycle-tracking apps available now, but Clue looks like one of the easiest to use, with effective design and plenty of features. Its also suitable for various uses: general period tracking, as well as keeping tabs on sex and cervical fluid if you’re trying to get pregnant.
Anki Drive (Free)
Anki Drive’s big unveiling during Apple’s WWDC keynote in 2013 was a trifle strange, but the product itself is very fun: an app-controlled, thoroughly modern take on Scalextric. It’s now available for Android too, with the same choice of battle and race modes to compete against people on the physical track.
Shutter by StreamNation (Free)
Finally, more photography, with the schtick here being that all your photos are stored on StreamNation’s servers rather than on your device – although they can be downloaded again to view offline. It supports videos too, with social networks plumbed in for online sharing.
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Skylanders Trap Team for Android.
GAMES
Skylanders Trap Team (Free + IAP)
You need a recent Android device – a list is provided on the Google Play store – and 2.5GB of free space to install the new Skylanders team, but it’s worth the hassle. This is a proper, full Skylanders game, complete with its own joypad and tablet stand to use with the Skylanders figures. New to the game? It’s a monster-battling fest aimed at children, with new features including the ability to trap beasts then play as them.
République (£1.86 + IAP)
République is another example of the kind of game proving that tablets can provide deep, satisfying console-style gaming as well as casual fun. Billed as a stealth-action game, it sees you exploring a beautifully-realised world dodging enemies and solving puzzles, working your way through three carefully-plotted episodes – the second and third are the in-app purchases. Brilliant.
New Words With Friends (Free + IAP)
Scrabble-like digital board game Words With Friends is five years old, making it one of the grizzled veterans of the Google Play store. But this is a brand new, separate version from its publisher Zynga, with better features for finding opponents, more stats on how you’ve played and a dictionary to help find top-scoring words.
Lord of the Rings: Legends (Free + IAP)
Publisher Kabam’s game based on The Hobbit has been a big hit on smartphones and tablets, so now it’s turning its attention to Lord of the Rings. Based on the films and books, it sees you exploring Tolkien’s universe fighting, questing and falling in with a host of familiar characters. As with past Kabam titles, though, the key will be updates over the coming months (and even years) to add more content.
Botanicula (£3.90)
One of the most creative, well-crafted games you’ll play on Android this year, Botanicula has charming visuals and sound, wrapped around a plot involving tree-creatures, seeds and parasites. It’s the opposite of twitch gaming: something to relax with on the sofa. And marvellous for it.
Galaxy on Fire – Alliances (Free + IAP)
The first Galaxy on Fire game was an engrossing space adventure full of flying, fighting and trading. This newer game – just launched globally after being tested in a few countries – is set in the same universe. But it’s more of a massively multiplayer game, as you explore and conquer your way through the galaxy, battling other players.
Pixel People (Free + IAP)
At first, this seems a bit simple: like a cut-down SimCity where you build a town and add residents, before “splicing” them together to create new professions. But once it sinks its tentacles into you, this is one of the more addictive mobile strategy games in recent memory, with the professions aspect bringing a collect-‘em’all dynamic that you’ll find hard to break.
Sentinel 4: Dark Star (£1.99 + IAP)
No Android roundup would be complete without at least one tower defence game, and Sentinel 4 is a very good one indeed. Set on an alien planet – no earthbound orcs and wizards here – it sees you defending your base in 26 carefully-constructed maps, with a lot of flexibility for customising your arsenal in response to each level’s intricacies.
1 Read up on the subject
You’re not starting with a blank page: there is some good material online offering advice – some general and some more technical – on making accessible apps. Apple and Research in Motion both have accessibility guides for iOS and BlackBerry developers respectively, while two sites called Designing for Accessibility and Android Accessibility offer specific advice for Android developers.
A blog post by developer Matt Gemmell, called Accessibility for iPhone and iPad Apps, is also an excellent read as a primer on the subject – with general principles that hold true beyond Apple devices.
2 Talk to people with accessibility needs
Reading about accessibility is one thing, but talking to people who have access needs is also an invaluable way to open your eyes to some of the common mistakes made by apps currently. This doesn’t need to be a succession of focus groups if you’re a small company: sitting down with friends or friends-of-friends with access needs and asking them about the frustrations they encounter using their phones is a good start.
Talk to some of the charities and campaigning groups in these areas too: they are likely to have materials and examples of best practices, and perhaps relevant events.
3 Use some of the key accessibility technologies yourself
First-hand experience can also be hugely useful for an app developer looking to make their products more accessible. For example, if you’re working on iOS apps, spend a bit of time using Apple’s accessibility features, particularly the VoiceOver screen reader that’s built in to iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS.
Use it with your own apps and those of other developers, and understand how features like its “Rotor” virtual control work. When testing your apps during their development, make sure you test with this too. And the same goes for other screen readers and similar features on Android, BlackBerry and other platforms.
4 Don’t just focus on screen readers
Yes, getting hands-on with VoiceOver and other screen reading technologies is important, but don’t make the mistake of thinking accessibility is just about making apps usable for people who are blind or partially sighted. The range of impairments, such as deafness and colour blindness, require a range of solutions; if you start thinking of accessibility in terms of people with cognitive disabilities, people whose literacy skills are lacking and older mobile users – to name but three groups – you’ll realise that making an app that interacts well with screen readers is just one step towards accessibility rather than the whole journey.
5 Talk human, not programmer
This is a great example of how addressing accessibility can actually benefit all users, not just those with specific disabilities. So many apps continue to use unnatural language when communicating with their users: menu options, feedback and/or error messages that make perfect sense to a developer, but may baffle less technical users and people with cognitive disabilities.
Sorting this problem out should be something that happens during the testing process for an app, whether that’s full-scale user tests or simply letting your friends and family have a go and asking what they think. Natural, human language feedback is the goal.
6 Think about user expectations
It’s understandable when developers and designers want to create brand-new, whizzy user interfaces for their apps rather than copy what’s gone before. Sometimes, that can be an accessibility barrier. Users will come to apps with expectations based on factors including the platform they’re on (how other iPhone/Android/BlackBerry apps work) and the app category (how other news/social/games apps work).
Which isn’t to say developers should be slavishly copying their rivals or not trying to innovate. It’s more about considering whether people will intuitively swipe and tap in the way you want them to – and if not, what you need to do to help them learn your interface and not be frustrated.
7 Simplify wherever possible
Another accessibility principle with benefits beyond any particular group of users is simplicity. Cramming features, menus and on-screen prompts into an application is an easy road to go down, especially when you’re the developer, and so know your way around them.
Less options, clearer prompts and a well-defined pathway around the application are improvements that will pay off across the board, but they’ll be particularly appreciated by people using screen-reading technology, or just people who are fairly new to smartphones and apps.
8 Consider your colours
Two facts. One: the most common form of colour blindness is the red/green variant, where people have trouble distinguishing between those two colours. Two: a lot of mobile games still rely on players being able to differentiate between red and green enemies or objects in order to succeed. The issue here is obvious.
Puzzle games are a particular bugbear for people with colour-blindness, as they so often rely on colours to differentiate same-shaped objects, whether jewels, bricks or balls. But it’s not just games that can pose problems for this group of users: other apps’ use of colour for buttons, menus and text can also cause needless frustration.
9 Testing, testing
Talked to people with accessibility needs for point two? Test with them before (and after) your app is released. On iOS, developers are using services like TestFlight to put beta versions of their apps into the hands of testers before submitting them to Apple for approval – a golden opportunity to find out early if your app is falling short.
Meanwhile, once an app is released, it’s important to keep testing it, especially when there’s an update for the operating systems that it’s available for. Accessibility technology, and features in iOS, Android and the rest, are evolving steadily, so even if your app was accessible when it was released, don’t assume it can’t be improved after that point.
10 Remember your lessons
Assuming you’re planning to build more than one app in the coming months and years, it makes sense to set down some internal accessibility guidelines for future use. There’s a very good blog post by freelance user access consultant Henny Swan with some advice on this score.
She says she prefers to break down general mobile accessibility guidelines into five roles: design, develop, content, interaction and devices. “There is of course a crossover between roles, but the ultimate responsibility has to stop somewhere. Go on, be brave,” she writes. Swan also suggests that guidelines can apply across mobile and web development, where a company is working on both.
The most recent “gracious, this must be genuine on the grounds that we read it some place” is that “Apple is going to impart its unique mark database gathered by the iphone 5s with the National Security Agency”. Rude awakening: the article asserting this originates from a conservative” “parody” site. Why are individuals confounded? Since the parody’s gravely executed.
Many individuals read it yet didn’t understand that the parody site was a parody site. (I’ve had no less than one email directing excitedly toward it, and not humorously.) This isn’t shocking, on the grounds that the thing about parody is that you either need to lay it on with a trowel, or get so near to the core (eg The Thick Of It) that its indistinct from agonizing reality. It’s not difficult to do severely. Furthermore the site being referred to, National Report, does it truly gravely. It’s similar to Fox News, yet with the jokes and actualities taken out.
Indeed along these lines, you’d trust individuals who read such “stories” may think a bit. Alternately that they may even take a gander at different features on the site, and miracle if a site which has a story featured “Apple iphone 5s Fingerprint Data To Be Shared With NSA” additionally has one featured “Packers Embarrassing Loss to Bengals Linked To Green Bay Bridge Collapse” and “Taurus Firearms Company Introduces The New Trayvon PK-10 or ‘Perp-Killer'” is totally genuine. (It isn’t really amusing, particularly the last feature; in case you’re effectively outraged, don’t read the story that runs with it. Be that as it may that is an alternate matter.)
How about we recap what we do think about the iphone 5s’ finger impression framework.
• First: Apple says the iphone 5s doesn’t store an “unique finger impression database”. Its “Touch ID” stores a cryptographically hashed numerical representation of the example of each one finger that you decide to enlist on it. You don’t enroll any fingerprints at all in the event that you would prefer not to.
Switching the cryptographic hash to deliver a copy of the first unique finger impression may be unthinkable, contingent upon how great the encryption is. Regardless of the fact that the NSA has some way or another gotten in and debilitated the encryption utilized (something it has done somewhere else), that doesn’t make turning around the hash insignificant – simply less abate.
• Second, Apple says that the information is put away in a “protected enclave” inside the A7 chip on the telephone. There doesn’t appear to be any approach to get that hash out; on the off chance that you include a hashed print into the “enclave”, you can get out a yes/no response for whether it matches any put away hashes. Be that as it may it is extremely unlikely yet known to turn around from the hashed representation to anything like your unique finger impression. (The Chaos Computer Club, furthermore Lookout Security, have figured out how to farce the Touch ID framework by lifting an unique finger impression from a glass surface, making a high-determination duplicate and afterward sticking that on their finger. That implies they’ve broken into the framework, yet not that they’ve got the information out.)
• Third, the NSA will as of now have admittance to your fingerprints in case you’re an American native of driving age with an auto (you give fingerprints to a driving permit) or in case you’re a remote resident who has gone by the US. The FBI additionally keeps up a database of fingerprints in the US. Not one or the other needs to turn around them out of telephones.
• Fourth, if the NSA or FBI or other law implementation organization needed to know the responsibility for telephone, it could do it significantly more effectively than by turning around a cryptographically hashed representation of the holder’s unique mark (actually accepting that its conceivable) just by subpoenaing administrator records for the SIM and IMEI (remarkable gadget number) connected with the telephone. Those would let it know where the manager had been, and when and where they had made telephones calls. (Keep in mind the Verizon metadata, which kicked this off? It’s that.) Remember The Wire? No unique finger impression hashes included. Bunches of telephones and pagers, however.
• Fifth, while Apple hasn’t said that the unique finger impression framework is completely secure (it puts the shot of an arbitrary unregistered finger impression opening the gadget at 1 in 50,000, which is five times better than a four-digit PIN), it has underscored that the information doesn’t go off the gadget, isn’t went down, isn’t synchronized to icloud.
It hasn’t said that it won’t offer it to the NSA. Be that as it may then, none of the enormous engineering organizations (Microsoft, Google, Apple, and so on) needs to say the NSA-word in discussing new gadgets or administrations, in light of the fact that that draws in the inquiry of “so what amount did you impart before?”, which rapidly transforms into a “Have you quit beating your wife and imparting the feature to the NSA?” sort of examination.
Saying “it stays on the gadget” is their best choice here. That is not an ensure that if the US powers seize a gadget, and for reasons unknown need to have the capacity to figure out the fingerprints, that Apple won’t be obliged to work with them. Anyhow turning around cryptographic hashes is hard; US police have officially whined about the trouble of doing it on prior Apple gadgets, and there’s no motivation to think the “enclave” will be any less secure.
Presently, to subtle elements. The article at National Review cases to quote somebody called “Tim Richardson” who it says is “Locale Manager of Apple’s North America Marketing Department” as saying
“Totally the databases will be fused. This entire ‘finger impression filter’ thought began from somebody in our Government. They simply didn’t hope to be outed by Snowden.”
Truth: there’s no such individual working for Apple in any part. What’s more it doesn’t have a “North America Marketing Department”.
Hold up, there’s additional:
“He went onto [sic] clarify that the NSA and FBI have been gathering an extraordinary database for over a year now to use with the new Apple innovation. Fingerprints from everywhere throughout the country. Frosty cases. Outlaws of the law. Missing persons.”
As pointed out over, the FBI has an exquisite huge unique finger impression database, and the NSA can without much of a stretch figure out where individuals have been whether it needs to.
Obviously the piece of information that its parody – or “parody” – comes in the HILARIOUS quote toward the end, citing “an Apple client we talked with”: “I like the though
mobile friendliness will be a factor. What impact this has on a web site’s SEO is yet to be seen. However, if your business depends on being found through a Google search, you have to take this seriously. (I have seen businesses get devastated by a change in Google’s algorithm).
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