Touch Screen Drawing Made Affordable with iPad

It's amazing to think that just a few years ago the notion of touching a pen or hand to a display, in order to directly manipulate creative content, seemed either futuristic or at least entirely cost-prohibitive.

The iPad (and iPhone too) have completely changed the game by making direct artwork manipulation via touch screen interface something most artists and designers can actually afford.

Comparison

Let's compare what might have been your best option only months ago. Assuming that you already have a desktop computer and you wish to add direct input to your kit:

Desktop Software and touch screen interface option - to be fair I chose the low end options:

Product	Cost	Notes
Wacom Cintiq 12WX	$999	their larger device is $1,999
Corel Painter essentials 4	$49	their full Painter 11 product is $299
TOTAL	$1,048	for a tethered desktop direct-edit solution that a person may consider.

That's no small chunk of change to add a tethered desktop direct-edit solution to your existing computer rig.

Now, with the iPad you could gain similar functionality with:

Product	Cost	Notes
iPad wifi	$499	their most expensive model will be $829
Autodesk SketchBook Pro	$7.99	iPad version, for iPhone it's only $2.99
PogoSketch stylus	$14.95	arguments can be made about accuracy compared to Wacom, other stylus competitors available and will blossom.
TOTAL	$521.94	for mobile direct-edit solution that a person may consider.

In other words approximately $526 cheaper (or half the cost) entry point. And it's mobile!

There are certainly variables that may cause this kind of comparison to vary. However, the bottom line is that artists and designers can look forward to cheaper ways to get in "touch" with their artwork production. I can't wait to see how this evolves in the coming years.

PCMag: Apple iPad video review

Here's a great early overview...

PCMag: Apple iPad video review from PCMag.com Reviews on Vimeo.

PCMag's Tim Gideon takes an in-depth look at Apple's first tablet, the iPad, prior to the April 3rd launch. Check out iWork, Maps, iBooks, and other apps and read the full review at www.pcmag.com

Facebook Demos New Design

Here's another interesting video. If you are in any way involved with website design, development, or management, you spend a lot of time looking at other successful websites in an attempt to discover what works well. During this process you'll often contemplate what drove certain decisions. Therefore it's very intriguing when you get a chance to hear an actual Q&A about such topics. So, check out this press demo from Facebook:



Found via: Mashable

Charlie Rose on The iPad, With David Carr, Michael Arrington and Walter Mossberg

Despite the various "glaring omissions" that have been well debated in the past week, I agree that the iPad will be a success. It may not fully blossom, past the early adopters, until a v1.5 or v2, but it's going to be very popular. As a UI designer I want one to develop for, as a consumer I want one because it looks so fun to play with. Anyhow, this Charlie Rose segment (presented in iPad-reistant Flash) sums things up well:



Found via: TechCrunch

Browser-based Web Browser Testing: Litmus vs. Adobe BrowserLab

Below is a quick comparison of two browser testing tools. There are others out there, feel free to add in comments. However, since Adobe just made another press push for BrowserLab I thought it would be a good time to compare these two tools that I've been trying out.

Litmus

Litmus is out of the UK, and has been around in some capacity since 2005. They currently offer both an HTML-based web application, as well as a nascent desktop application counterpart.

Browsers supported at this time:

• Short answer - Litmus wins here big time with a very broad list of browsers on both Windows and Mac. Full list here.

Stand out features:

• Not just web browser testing, but also Email Testing - a feature Adobe doesn't have at all
• Browser tests can show both: Cropped, in-browser window; and Full page no browser window bordering image
• Save multiple tests
• Retesting / test history, iterative workflow
• Validation warnings and direct links to validation results
• Ability to download test results
• Ability to mark a test as complied and share the results (ie Social features)
• bookmarkelt lets you test any page you are visiting in your normal browser
• Rich Help and other resources

Adobe® BrowserLab

Adobe BrowserLab is in a limited time preview stage, this Flash-in-browser-based tool covers the website basics that Litmus does and has a few slick features. One immediate 'weakness' in comparison is that at the moment you can only run one test at a time and there is no apparent way to access test history.

Browsers supported at this time:

• Firefox 2.0 & 3.0 for both Win XP and Mac OSX
• IE 6.0 & 7.0 for XP
• Safari 3.0 for Mac

Stand out features:

• Views: single browser, 2-up for comparison, and a very cool "Onion Skin View" that overlays two different captures to show where layout diverges.
• Browser sets, with controls
• Zooming on captures
• BrowserLab Extension for Dreamweaver CS4

Verdict

IMO, Litmus offers a broader more user-friendly set of features for testing multiple sites in an iterative fashion. It's huge browser library and additional support for testing HTML Email give it a clear edge. Adobe may be able to catch up of course, but I also feel that it will ultimately come down to pricing. Both offer free options, but at the moment Adobe allows you to test IE 6 for free, whereas Litmus requires a paid plan to gain access to anything but IE 7 and Firefox 2.0. Adobe has not set pricing, but has stated that it will become a paid service after it moves out of preview release. We'll have to see how the pricing packages compare. For the time being, you could benefit by using both in tandem, which I'll likely do for a while until I feel there's reason not to. No matter what, the advent of powerful browser-based browser testing tools is a huge time, money, and headache saver for website builders concerned with providing the best user experience possible across a large spectrum of web clients.

Excellent Example of an Interactive Product "Configurator" from Data Robotics

Drobo is a recently announced product from Data Robotics, Inc. It puts a new spin on high-capacity desktop storage. The way in which the product differs from traditional desktop hard-drives can seem a subtle at first.

Therefore, they have created a very effective product configuration / simulation tool that they call the "Drobolator Capacity Calculator". This is one of the most useful product configuration tools I've seen in a while. It not only helps you simulate different personal storage scenarios, but it also clearly communicates the unique way in which Drobo allocates storage (for various uses) across the multiple installed drives.

It's always great to see user experience designs that help make complex systems easier to understand. Kudos to Data Robotics for leveraging an interactive drag and drop interface in such a user-centered and effective way.

Finding Information: Factors that improve online experiences.

The Institute for Dynamic Educational Advancement (IDEA) recently completed a survey about how people find information online. They've posted their findings online. In their own words, "...this report outlines key findings from surveys that explored factors that drive online experience as expressed by the three different subject groups – nonprofit organizations and cities, web designers and firms, and the general public." The survey’s major findings are summarized as:

• Designers underestimate the thresholds for an effective site
  
• Easy access to complete information is key to visitor enjoyment
  
• Good visual design and up-to-date information are critical
  
• Visitors want information fast
  
• Visitors want a broad range of topics
  
• Designers are overly optimistic about visitors’ ability to maintain orientation
  
• Visitors still need handholding
  
• Visitors point to the lack of breadth and depth of site content as causing an “Information Gap.”
  

You can view the information online or download the 17 page report in PDF at:

http://www.idea.org/find-information.html

Cooper Journal: Bringing sanity to swat-team design projects

cooper.com: "In a perfect world, interaction design would begin when a product was still just a twinkle in a venture capitalist’s eye. In reality, many software products make it all the way through the development cycle with little thought to the users’ experience, and when executives, sales people, or QA testers finally get their hands on the functioning product and start sounding the alarm bells, interaction designers are brought in to clean up the mess. With increasing demand for design “swat teams” to rescue fully developed but flawed software that is scheduled to ship within months or even weeks, the critical question becomes: how can you avoid getting caught up in the chaos that frequently permeates “crisis-mode” engagements?..."

This is an excellent article from an authoritative source. Read the full article...