Camino Planet
Camino Planet is the central location for blogs from the Camino community. These posts are uncensored and unabashed. Enjoy with caution.
Jon Hicks: Creative Cloud thoughts
Posted by Jon Hicks at May 22, 2013 08:48 PM
When I started freelancing eleven years ago, 80% of my work was print design, and I needed to equip myself with the right software. Quark XPress was still the daddy as far as desktop publishing was concerned, so it was a necessary purchase. It cost the princely sum of £995. A single application just shy of a grand!
In contrast, I also bought an Adobe bundle of Photoshop 5, InDesign 2, Illustrator 10 and Acrobat for £680. Back then, Adobe was the good guy, the saviour, bringing a Quark alternative that was better and didn’t need a mortgage to buy it.
That view of Adobe has deteriorated over the years however. It’s felt more and more like paying for bug fixes and unnecessary features. To minimise this I always skip a major release of Creative Suite and I’m currently on CS5. Illustrator is my most-used tool, but I get frustrated on a daily basis at stupid bugs like stray or ghost pixels. I haven’t upgraded to CS6 yet as an important feature has been removed from Ai – exporting to SVG in the Save for Web dialog. If I set up an Iconset with slices, I want to be able to export both PNG and SVG, so this is crucial.
Now, Adobe have decided to stop selling Creative Suite as either a download or physical disk and move to a subscription-based service, ‘Creative Cloud’. You can see the attraction for Adobe, as it makes them more money and presumably makes it harder to pirate.
I mentioned on Twitter that this is making me rant. Here’s why…
- At £46.88 a month this costs £562.56 a year, roughly what I was paying for an upgrade every three years. My normal strategy of upgrading every other major release isn’t going to work anymore.
- Apps are available individually for around £15 a month, but this isn’t cost-effective for 2-3 apps. Likewise, the standard monthly cost feels like paying for a lot of apps I will never use.
- If I stop paying my monthly ‘rent’, I can no longer open files created in those apps.
- I’m not interested in all the add-on features like the cloud storage, after all that’s what I have Dropbox for.
In my opinion, this move hurts people like freelance print designers more than me. While I have other options to Illustrator and Photoshop, there are none for InDesign. Unless you count Quark Xpress – the best price for which is £858. Still putting Adobe’s costs into perspective.
What it comes down to is this: I don’t want to rent the tools I use for work. So while Adobe is going this direction, I’ll be going another. I’ll continue to use the CS5 tools I’ve paid for, but I’ll be using Mac native alternatives even more keenly. Instead of Photoshop, I already use Acorn, and instead of Fireworks and Illustrator I’ll be using Sketch.app more. That’s for another post though…
Tagged: adobe
Jon Hicks: Offscreen issue 5 is here!
Posted by Jon Hicks at May 17, 2013 01:37 AM
My copy of Offscreen #5 arrived this week and it looks (and smells!) absolutely gorgeous. As always its a great read and I’m dead chuffed at how well “Al Power’s”: photos have come out. Obviously they couldn’t use all of the shots that Al took, so I’ve put up an Offscreen Photoset on Flickr to show the best of the bunch, most of which weren’t published.
I’ll stop banging on about it now, promise.
I’ll leave you with this delightful gif made from outtakes from the shoot, which I shall simply call ‘Bike Dance‘…
Tagged: interview, magazine, offscreen, photography
Jon Hicks: Broken Spoke Bike Co-op
Posted by Jon Hicks at April 29, 2013 02:21 AM
Ever since I got into cycling, I’ve been aware that I’ve enjoyed tinkering and fettling bikes as much as riding them. I’m never satisfied with stock bikes, and love to customise and try out different parts where I can. Like Arthur Weasley, I’m happiest in the shed.
So far, I’ve picked up what I can from manuals, guides on the internet and just trying things, but there are an awful lot of holes in my education. I also want to be able to setup and service my bikes as much as I can, which is where a new co-operative in Oxford called The Broken Spoke comes in.
The Co-op door
Setup in 2012 by Cassiope Sydoriak, Elle Smith and Will McCallum, and based in workshops that are part of the Oxford Story Museum , they have laudable aims:
- Teach bicycle maintenance classes that are fairly-priced, convenient, and accessible to everyone
- Bring people together to ride and repair bicycles
- Provide specific activities and training for vulnerable members of our community and those under-represented in cycling
- Create training, volunteer, and employment opportunities for a new generation of bicycle mechanics
- Support the growth of a “fix it, don’t throw it away” mentality within the cycling community
- Do business in a sustainable way that strengthens our community
I’ve now completed two bike workshops there and can highly recommend them! The first course was Wheel Building back in February (Flickr Set here), where we learned how to lace and true a wheel. Topics like dishing and spoke length were also covered, and after spending 2 hours trying to true a wheel, I appreciate the skill involved even more.
Hubs, spokes and nipples
It was hard work, but I’ve now been able to true the rear wheel ‘enough’. I went with Cyclox Chairman, James Styring who wrote about the experience for The Oxford Times. Tech geek? I’ll have words…
I then went back for a second course, the two-part External Mechanics Intensive (Wheels, Brakes, Chains and Gears) with chum Matt Hamm. In both courses, the workshop leaders were fantastic, and numbers are kept low so that there is enough one-on-one time. This means you can get specific instructions on your particular bike and its components, rather than just generic instructions. I’ve learnt a lot and keen to go back for more.
Matt and I removing sprockets
As well as the specific bike courses, they run an open workshop every Saturday from 12–6pm. You can come and use their extensive tool collection, and get advice and help from volunteer experts hanging around.
The co-op is a triumph!
Sorry, couldn’t resist a photo of my singlespeed outside the Pembroke Street entrance…
Tagged: bikes, cycling, mechanics, oxford
Jon Hicks: Offscreen Magazine: Issue 5
Posted by Jon Hicks at April 24, 2013 04:21 PM
I’m very chuffed to say that Issue 5 of the gorgeous Offscreen Magazine is now available to be pre-ordered and it features an interview with me! You can see me in the sample spread above, resplendent in my special ‘webmaster’ lab coat that I wear to work. What’s more, I get to be in the same issue as these fantastic people:
In our fifth issue we speak to Mac-app and iOS-game designer Neven Mrgan, entrepreneur and body-hacker Ryan Carson, mobile photography enthusiast Jessica Zollman, icon design maestro Jon Hicks, the CEO of dorm-room startup Squarespace, Anthony Casalena, and Malaysian-American web designer and avid cyclist Naz Hamid.
All the photographs for my interview were taken in February by my friend Al Power on what was easily the darkest and coldest day of the year. It’s a testament to his skill that that they look so good!
Tagged: interviews, magazine
Samuel Sidler: Is Forecast the best mobile web app?
Posted by ss at April 15, 2013 06:16 PM
I’ve been using Forecast since they launched, but I hadn’t “installed” it on my phone until very recently. To say I’m impressed with their mobile web app is an understatement.
There are a few places where you can tell it’s a web app and not a mobile app, but not many. In fact, it’s my favorite weather app barnone. In a recent blog post, the team talks about how it was their goal to design not a mobile app and not a web app and not even a mobile web app, but just an App (with a capital A).
We’ve had conversations like this dozens of times since launching Forecast. They usually comes from people who have an iPhone but aren’t particularly tech savvy, and I’m fairly certain none of them will ever know that Forecast is actually a web app. To them, it’s just an app you install from the web.
Putting the app maker in control of the entire user experience – in-app purchases, advertising, updates to the app, etc – is of course the ideal. But up until recently there hasn’t been a mobile web app that looks and feels like a real app.
If Firefox OS is to survive and flourish – and really this applies to other alternative mobile operating systems – there needs to be more of these slick mobile web apps that feel exactly like a real app. The portability of apps that is a major selling point of Firefox OS is within reach if more companies choose the path that Forecast has and create thought-out, well-done mobile web apps apps you install from the web.
I highly recommend reading Forecast’s blog post, which includes some of the lessons they learned creating their app.
Jon Hicks: Icon Handbook Easter offer
Posted by Jon Hicks at March 25, 2013 05:03 PM
Hey folks! Can there be anyone who doesn’t have a copy of this valuable tome yet? Well, The Icon Handbook is 20% off until 7th April, so you can fill that icon-shaped space in your bookshelves!
Tagged: iconhandbook, icons
Samuel Sidler: Three Months to Scale NewsBlur
Posted by ss at March 18, 2013 09:47 PM
Great report from Samuel Clay about his challenges in the post-Google Reader world. Since the news hit about Reader shutting down in July, NewsBlur has been hit hard with requests. (Previously.)
I was able to handle the 1,500 users who were using the service everyday, but when 50,000 users hit an uncachable and resource intensive backend, unless you’ve done your homework and load tested the living crap out of your entire stack, there’s going to be trouble brewing.
[...]
It has also been a dream come true to receive accolades from the many who are trying NewsBlur for the first time and loving it. Since the announcement, NewsBlur has welcomed 5,000 new premium subscribers and 60,000 new users (from 50,000 users originally).
Because it’s open source and because I can actually pay for it (unlike Feedly), Newsblur is my top choice for replacing Google Reader at the moment. And the new design he’s working on is a nice improvement.
Jon Hicks: Detecting compiled CSS changes with Coda 2
Posted by Jon Hicks at March 14, 2013 05:30 PM
I’m a staunch Coda 2 user, but I also like to write CSS in Less (and occasionally SASS), with LiveReload compiling the CSS file for me. The problem here is that Coda doesn’t detect the new file, so doesn’t automatically mark it for publishing. It would be nice to just hit ‘Publish All’ and be done with it.
Simple workaround: Right-click your CSS file choose “Open with…” and then “Coda 2.app”. From now on, Coda will detect the compiled CSS and mark it for publishing. Huzzah!
Samuel Sidler: Goodbye Google Reader… now what?
Posted by ss at March 14, 2013 12:56 AM
The big news in the feeds I follow is that Google Reader is shutting down July 1. Why?
There are two simple reasons for this: usage of Google Reader has declined, and as a company we’re pouring all of our energy into fewer products. We think that kind of focus will make for a better user experience.
Of course, usage has declined because they’ve poured their energy elsewhere, but facts don’t matter here.
So now what? What other web apps exist that can replace Google Reader, especially the backend sync feature? For just a web app, there’s Fever. For a desktop app, Newsfire can still be purchased, but hasn’t been updated in years. Nothing is ideal.
Update: Looks like a bunch of people are getting behind Newsblur. It’s open source too.
2nd Update: The Old Reader looks much nicer to me, but feeds aren’t updated all that often from what I can tell.
3rd Update: Tiny Tiny RSS looks like a pretty good alternative. As does 1k, which open sourced a few hours ago.
4th Update: Okay okay, I know I left out a few before. Feedly, of course. And NetVibes and Bloglines. But I’m not all that impressed with those, and the idea of an open source feed reader is particularly enticing. Meanwhile, Digg has thrown its hat into the race. And as Robert Kaiser says below, there’s ownCloud News if you don’t mind running your own.
5th Update: Feedbin is another option.
Samuel Sidler: Firefox OS and Browser Choice
Posted by ss at March 08, 2013 05:23 PM
Back when I was working at Mozilla, there was quite a bit of discussion about user choice, specifically how important it is for users to be able to choose their browser. Often, this discussion was tied to the Mozilla Manifesto, point 5:
Individuals must have the ability to shape their own experiences on the Internet.
Back in February 2010 (a couple months after I left Mozilla), Mozilla launched the “Open to Choice” campaign (since shuttered), which was a great place to send individuals to show them why the ability to choose your own browser is important. The campaign was mostly tied to Microsoft’s settlement with the European Union and its requirement to offer a selection of browsers to choose from during setup. Here’s Mozilla’s then-CEO John Lilly on why browser choice matters:
(Side note: the Open to Choice campaign has been shut down and wasn’t archived, unlike most other Mozilla sites. Going to opentochoice.org leads to a bad https site, and then a 403. I would love to read the letter from John Lilly and Mitchell Baker again.)
As an iPhone user, I’m more-or-less stuck with Safari. Sure, I can find numerous browsers in the App Store, Chrome included. But the browsers in the app store are mostly just embedded version of WebKit – a limited version of WebKit at that. Why can’t I run Firefox on my iPhone? Why can’t I run a real version of Chrome? Apple has locked out browser makers by making specific requirements of the applications in the App Store and making the App Store the only way to distribute apps. Short of jailbreaking my iPhone and hoping Mozilla or Google port their respective browsers to jailbroken iPhones, there’s nothing I can do.
Prior to my iPhone, however, I had a Google Nexus One phone. One of the features of Android is the “open” Android Market and the ability to install applications from any source. Back then, I wasn’t locked in to any specific browser. In fact, I ran Firefox on my Nexus One and was quite happy with it, even back in the days of Firefox being incredibly slow on Android. The situation has gotten even better with Google shipping a version of Chrome for Android. It isn’t hard to imagine another browser running on the platform some time in the future.
Last year, in May 2012, Harvey Anderson, Mozilla’s General Counsel, wrote about the lack of browser choice on Microsoft’s Windows RT, an ARM-specific operating system tailored for tablets. He conclusion is quite clear:
The prospect that the next generation of Windows on ARM devices would limit users to one browser is untenable and represents a first step toward a new platform lock-in.
But the upcoming Firefox OS, built on Mozilla technology (namely Gecko), doesn’t appear to have any browser choice (as John Gruber pointed out a couple days ago). Is this an oversight or are developers working on the ability to allow browsers to run successfully on Firefox OS? And what about Chrome OS – why hasn’t Mozilla publicly asked for browser choice from Google?
Even webOS – Palm’s HP’s LG’s ill-fated operating system built on Linux and WebKit – had a method for porting browsers. In fact, a Mozilla developer started an experimental Firefox port a while ago. That experiment ended, likely because it isn’t important to port Firefox to a dying platform, but the point remains that it was possible.
I’ll ask again: where is the ability to select a third party browser on Firefox OS? Is this ability being planned in the future? And why has there been no advocacy against Chrome OS for its lack of browser choice? It all feels rather hypocritical to me.
Jon Hicks: Pinned Sites in Windows 8
Posted by Jon Hicks at February 16, 2013 12:06 AM
The Icon Handbook has a whole chapter devoted to creating Favicons, and the various options you can provide for different contexts, but with the subsequent release of Microsoft’s new OS, Windows 8, there’s another big one for the list! In Windows 7, websites could be ‘pinned’ to the taskbar (which used a 32px resource in the favicon.ico file) but now they can also be pinned to to the start screen, having a special Windows 8 ‘tile’ of their own.
If you don’t provide your own tile image, the OS will simply use a light grey version of the IE logo (see right).
However, specifying an image is straightforward, and thankfully doesn’t interfere with any other favicons you may have linked to in the <head> of your page. All you need is a 144×144px transparent PNG, and a background colour for the tile, served via meta tags:
<meta name="msapplication-TileImage" content=“pinned.png”><meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#ef0303”>
Note that the PNG doesn’t have to be transparent, but it doesn’t cover the whole tile. A square start screen tile is 150×150px, so the 144px square PNG only occupies the top centre area. The best approach is: specify an image for the centre, and background colour in HEX, RGB or CSS named values. If a colour isn’t specified, IE will take the most prominent colour from your site.
IE will take the <title> attribute for tile label, but if you want to provide a shortened tile-friendly title, you can use a meta tag, for example:
<title>Hicksdesign: Design for Print, New-Fangled Media and other wobbly bits</title><meta name="application-name" content=“Hicksdesign”>
Final thing to watch out for: if you fill the entire 144px area, it won’t look vertically centred on the start tile. Sites like BBC News have got around this by leaving the top 56px as whitespace (see right – where the area the PNG covers has been highlighted). The image then looks balanced on the tile!
If you want to delve further into implications of Windows 8 for websites, I can highly recommend this excellent post on the Breaking the Mobile Web Blog. You can also add badge notifications.
Tagged: favicons, icons, metro, windows, windows8
Jon Hicks: Now there's a job title
Posted by Jon Hicks at February 03, 2013 04:18 AM
Philip Kingsley, Elasticizer.
Nate Weaver (Wevah): Photo
January 27, 2013 12:01 AM
Jon Hicks: The Bird Cage
Posted by Jon Hicks at January 17, 2013 07:03 PM
Photo: ©Jonathan Maus
Portland Design Works have developed a new alloy bottle cage thats a refreshing break from the norm. The Bird Cage is an inspired design where the wings form the arms to keep your bottle secure, and is available in the UK from Charlie the Bikemonger.
Tagged: cycling
Jon Hicks: Starflyer 59 - IAMACEO
Posted by Jon Hicks at January 09, 2013 03:55 PM
I feel it’s a Hickensian tradition to point out new Starflyer 59 releases, and the new album ‘IAMACEO’ is a bit special. It’s their first release not on Tooth and Nail Records – instead it was crowd funded via Kickstarter. Being a big fan, I put my two penneth in, as much for the buzz of getting my name in the liner notes of the CD as helping one of my favourite bands continue to publish music.
The result is one of their best of recent years, topped off with a classic SF59 style cover. It’s available now via iTunes or directly from their Undertow Store
Tagged: music, starflyer59
Nate Weaver (Wevah): Random Launching Issue: Solved!
November 18, 2012 08:12 PM
For future reference: Don’t use public.item to mean “any file type”. Use public.data instead.
Jon Hicks: Behind the Sofa
Posted by Jon Hicks at November 06, 2012 04:59 AM
Attention Whovians, there is a new book out that you need to buy forthwith! Behind the Sofa is a compilation of celebrity memories of Doctor Who, compiled by Steve Berry in aid of Alzheimer’s Research UK.
I always had a sneaking suspicion that everyone in the world loves Doctor Who. Now I have proof! If I could get all the famous names who contributed to this book into one room, it would be the maddest Doctor Who party ever. Until then, their favourite memories of the programme are preserved for all to see. Plus, everyone who buys a copy will be helping to give hope to the 820,000 people in the UK living with dementia today
You might think a book of ‘celebrity reminiscences’ about Dr Who had the potential to be a fairly dull read but its anything but. The celebrities chosen go beyond just the standard ‘I was scared by the maggots in Green Death’ to give actual insight or funny anecdotes with varied viewpoints. Its a heartwarming trip though the varied ways that fans have experienced Who, and its made with love. All of this is topped off with excellent illustrations from Ben Morris, who can capture classic and ‘New Who’ with equal dexter. I also got a warm glow from having my name in the investors page :)
If you do decide to purchase”, please buy from the publisher (rather than a certain online retailer), so that more money goes to Alzheimer’s Research UK.
Jon Hicks: The importance of building a financial buffer
Posted by Jon Hicks at October 24, 2012 04:19 PM
As a newly self-employed person, you’ll almost certainly feel compelled to take on every piece of work that presents itself, because you’ll think that for some reason your supply of work might dry up next month. Finding yourself with nothing to do would be bad, but it’s almost certainly not going to happen. Finding yourself with everything to do, because you were afraid to say “no,” can be much worse.
More than just great advice on financial buffers, this paragraph from Malarkey’s latest blog post sums up freelance work in a nutshell.
Jon Hicks: Always wanted drops
Posted by Jon Hicks at October 17, 2012 09:27 PM
A few weeks I found this great photo of my Mum outside her childhood home in Cloister Crofts, Leamington Spa (it all looks very different now!). A month before Mum died, she was asking me all sorts of questions about cycling, and revealed that she’d always wanted a bike with drop handlebars.
Still, that looks like a classy Brooks saddle and saddlebag there, so not all bad!
Tagged: cycling, memories, mum
Jon Hicks: Iconsider
Posted by Jon Hicks at October 17, 2012 08:22 PM
Here’s a new iPhone app to help you preview your iOS application icons called Iconsider ($2.99). The workflow is that you simply place your png files in dropbox, and Iconsider will take the file and preview on a sample homescreen. You can change the App Name, choose whether the gloss overlay is applied, and simulate a non-retina screen if its on an iPhone 4 or above. Once previewed you can then email a screenshot to your client for them to consider.
It does all of this very well, but could really do with expanding much further. I would like to test spotlight and settings icons in-situ as well, and consider an iPad version absolutely essential. Its also not the most effective way to preview how an icon looks – you would need to test how it compares with other icons, rather than in isolation. You could do this by installing other app icons, but that’s a bit time consuming.
Here’s a test I ran with the icon files for PlanGrid:
As you can see, it takes all the various icon sizes, but only really previews the App Icon.
You can of course preview your icons on top of a screenshot on any desktop graphics app, but with colour and saturation differences, you can’t beat testing on the actual device. At the moment I use xScope Mirror to test on iPhone and iPad, but an iOS app that could take all the exported PNGs and simulate them all in their various contexts would be fantastic.
In short, Iconsider has potential, but needs more thought to become a useful tool.
Tagged: apps, development, icons
Nate Weaver (Wevah): cipater: steamgoodworkshop: The Inconspicous Appendage 2: The...
September 28, 2012 07:16 PM
The Inconspicous Appendage 2: The Return by MultiTrip
HE’S BACK AND IN BLACK (You can paint it black)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=97606095
HOLY FUCKBALLS DOTT
WANT
Nate Weaver (Wevah): catbushandludicrous: JON: This correspondents’ strike may go...
September 28, 2012 07:12 PM
JON: This correspondents’ strike may go down as the least-effective piece of industrial action in recorded history—if you’re an option, I’m firing all these guys right away! […] As far as I’m concerned, I just traded up my ‘83 Toyota for a Maserati!
Yes.
Jon Hicks: Authentic Jobs Scavenger Hunt!
Posted by Jon Hicks at September 27, 2012 03:20 PM
To celebrate seven years (7!) of Authentic Jobs, we’re having a Scavenger Hunt to find the location of a prize! On offer are many wonderful things (and different ways of winning them), like a Cannondale CAD10 (which I would dearly love to win myself), but the one you can win from me is an iPod Nano (square version) and a Lunatik watch strap (above). Believe me, I don’t want anyone to win this, I want to keep the Lunatik for myself, but that wouldn’t be Gentlemanly conduct.
Here’s how it will work:
- I’ve chosen an obscure location in the UK (but the prize isn’t hidden there)
- I will tweet clues every few days, each one getting less cryptic, until someone correctly guesses the location. I’ve tried to make the clues hard to just google search for the solution
- I will send the winner the prize, or if they happen to passing by Witney, Oxfordshire, we can meet up for an afternoon tea at Huffkins and I can give it to them in person!
So, all you need to do is follow me on Twitter (@Hicksdesign) and start working out the location! Good luck!
Tagged: authenticjobs, competition
Jon Hicks: Smash!
Posted by Jon Hicks at September 18, 2012 06:49 PM
There’s a road near home that I cycle most weeks. Its a gravelly and potholed concrete track that makes a shortcut to the village of Hailey, avoiding the busy main road. It has a dip and then a small climb with crops growing either side.
Normally, I take this track quite gingerly – staying on the left side where there are less potholes. Last Sunday, I seemed to have decided that I’d been needlessly overcautious in the past, and didn’t need to brake going down the hill. Obvious what happened next isn’t it? I could beneath feel the bike slide and down I came, scraping down the hill on the gravel.
Fortunately nothing was broken, just bumped and scraped – the helmet did it’s job! Also, my cycling buddy Andy was with me, and knew that if things were bad, there was a buddy there that could help me, or ring for help. He also helped me slowly limp home.
My bike came out of it better than I did, just cosmetic scrapes, nothing expensive to fix.
I’ve fallen off before, but this was the first time I’d done it at speed, and with such painful consequences. Apart from the intense agony just after the crash, I feel like such an arse. It wasn’t unlucky, it was a preventable accident, and its affected my ability to work and be a parent.
My enthusiasm isn’t dwindled, but confidence is undeniably knocked a bit.
Tagged: cycling
Jon Hicks: Scrape
Posted by Jon Hicks at September 18, 2012 06:49 PM
There’s a road near home that I cycle most weeks. Its a gravelly and potholed concrete track with a descent and then a small climb. It acts as a shortcut to the village of Hailey, avoiding the busy main road where I’ve felt the breeze from wing mirrors of passing cars.
Normally, I take this track quite gingerly – staying on the left side where there are less potholes and not taking it too fast. Last Sunday however, I seemed to have decided that I’d been needlessly overcautious in the past, and didn’t need to brake going down the hill. It’s obvious what happened next isn’t it? I could feel the bike slide beneath me and down I came, sliding down the hill on the gravel to the bottom of the dip.
All that’s left of the ‘Giro’ is the O
Fortunately nothing was broken, just bumped and scraped – the helmet did it’s job! The inner foam was cracked through in four places, and on the side I slid on, its almost scraped all the outer shell off. Also, my cycling buddy Andy was with me, so I knew that there was someone who could ring for help. As it was, I recovered enough to slowly limp home the last four miles, but it was agony.
My bike came out of it much better than I did, just cosmetic scrapes, nothing expensive to fix. All in all, I came out of it well, and I know people who’ve had far worse knocks, and not their fault either. I feel a bit of an arse, and I’m in quite a bit of pain, but my enthusiasm for cycling isn’t dwindled one bit.
Tagged: cycling
Jon Hicks: World's first color film footage
Posted by Jon Hicks at September 13, 2012 01:56 PM
The National Media Museum in Bradford have discovered and restored the worlds first colour film footage dating back to 1902.
A complicated process, it involved photographing successive frames of black-and-white film through blue, green and red filters. Using a special projector (which you can see in the gallery) these were combined on a screen to produce full-colour images.
The full footage is on show in Bradford, but clips can be seen in the documentary video on the NMM website.
Jon Hicks: Recent Work: PlanGrid Icon
Posted by Jon Hicks at September 11, 2012 05:51 PM
Hicksdesign recently created a new application icon for PlanGrid, an iPad app for storing and viewing blueprints for the construction industry. Even though blueprints aren’t actually blue these days, its such a familiar piece of imagery that it couldn’t be ignored as a metaphor.
The final design followed the original quite closely (see right), retaining the simple image of a white pictogram on a blueprint background. Instead of the magnifying glass, a stylised version of the loupe was used instead, and construction lines and folded paper effects were added on.
A variety of options were explored, using various magnifying devices and architectural symbols. Here are the vector sketches:
As well as trying out a characterisation of their software, known as ‘GridBot’:
The idea was most liked was the loupe however:
The hatched version lost too much impact at smaller sizes, so in the end, the solid version won. xScope mirror was then used to help preview the artwork on devices as I worked. This was particularly useful for getting the stroke weights correct on retina displays, and for testing colour. The blue needed to be much more saturated on iOS than on my dekstop screen.
Tagged: icons, ipad, recentwork
Jon Hicks: PlanGrid Icon
Posted by Jon Hicks at September 11, 2012 05:51 PM
Hicksdesign recently created a new application icon for PlanGrid, an iPad app for storing and viewing blueprints for the construction industry. Even though blueprints aren’t actually blue these days, its such a familiar piece of imagery that it couldn’t be ignored as a metaphor.
The final design followed the original quite closely (see right), retaining the simple image of a white pictogram on a blueprint background. Instead of the magnifying glass, a stylised version of the loupe was used instead, and construction lines and folded paper effects were added on.
A variety of options were explored, using various magnifying devices and architectural symbols. Here are the vector sketches:
As well as trying out a characterisation of their software, known as ‘GridBot’:
The idea that was most liked however, was the loupe:
The hatched version lost too much impact at smaller sizes, so in the end, the solid version won. xScope mirror was then used to help preview the artwork on devices as I worked. This was particularly useful for getting the stroke weights correct on retina displays, and for testing colour. The blue needed to be much more saturated on iOS than on my desktop screen.
Tagged: icons, ipad, recentwork
Nate Weaver (Wevah): flash
September 10, 2012 01:33 AM
Set a delay.
Nate Weaver (Wevah): What settings do I use to capture a very long web page?
September 10, 2012 01:33 AM
Just leave the crop size set to infinite, and it should work. If it’s an “infinitely scrolling” page, you might have to interact, scroll manually, and then press cmd-return to capture without reloading (0.6.5+).
Jon Hicks: Revised Logo for Stuff and Nonsense
Posted by Jon Hicks at September 04, 2012 05:37 PM
Based on the classic AA and RAC badges, Hicksdesign created a realistic version of Kevin Cornell’s original logo for Stuff and Nonsense, with a choice of colours and added subtle layer of decay.
Tagged: recentwork
Jon Hicks: Tufty Elvis Presley Hicks
Posted by Jon Hicks at September 04, 2012 02:27 AM
May 2009 – August 2012.
We’ll miss you furry fella :(
Jon Hicks: Things 2
Posted by Jon Hicks at August 27, 2012 04:55 PM
I know that there are plenty of other task manager apps out there, free ones even, that have had cloud syncing for a while now. I’ve tried them all, but nothing works as well for me as Things,and now Things 2 finally has proper syncing. Not too minimal, not heavily laden with features, just the right amount of functionality to manage tasks, without spending managing the task-manager.
Well done Cultured Code, it was worth the wait!
Jon Hicks: Doctor Who Series 7
Posted by Jon Hicks at August 24, 2012 01:50 PM
Finally, an airdate has been announced, and the new series of Doctor Who will start on Saturday September 1st at 7:20pm! Leading up to the first episode there will a 5 part mini-series called ‘Pond Life’ explaining what has happened to the Ponds since the Christmas episode
Leigh recently told me that she was “missing me being excited about a new series”. That’s not just because of the longer wait between series, but that I felt a little bit disappointed by much of Series 6. It had gems – ‘The Doctor’s Wife’ by Neil Gamain, and ‘The Girl who Waited’ were standouts for me, but the story arc felt overwrought and left too many questions (not in a good way).
This year, there are format changes, first of all, no 2 parters. Not that I have a problem with two-parters, some of the best stories have been in that format (The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, Human Nature/Family of Blood) and I’ve often felt that 45 mins isn’t long enough to allow a story to unfold, like the rushed ‘Lets Kill Hitler’ from last year. There are of course stories that work brilliantly in the allotted time, Blink and Vincent & the Doctor spring to mind, so lets see.
The other change is no story arcs. Again, I’m not against these in principle, as they provide a overall narrative, and I love the mystery of their meaning (‘Eyepatch Lady’ from last year did work for me). However, they can labour stories needlessly, so it will interesting to see if their removal will make a difference.
We’ll get just 6 episodes this year, with the last one being the Christmas Episode. The other 6 or 7 will be shown at some point next year. Here’s what we’ve got to come this year (WARNING: may contain spoilers – I don’t know what counts as a spoiler these days):
Asylum of the Daleks
Every kind of Dalek ever. I wasn’t sure how many they’d include, but even the Special Weapons Dalek from Remeberance of the Daleks is there (and apparently one that was only ever seen in Russell T Davies’ apartment). The teaser features them all shouting ‘SAVE THE DALEKS’ before the trio get pushed down an energy pipe to a snowy planet.
Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
Despite the title, the cast looks promising for this one! The Doctor lands on a spaceship that contains… dinosaurs… and is accompanied by Amy, Rory, Rory’s father Brian (Mark Williams), Queen Nefertiti (Riann Steele), and an Edwardian explorer (Rupert Graves).
A Town Called Mercy
Filmed in Spain (doubling as ‘The Wild West’) it features fairly heavily in the Teaser Trailer with a cyborg called ‘The Reckoner’.
The Power of Three
Little is known about this episode, other than it features UNIT (hurrah!), black cubes and “will celebrate Amy and Rory’s time with the Doctor by telling it from their point of view and examining the influence of him on their lives”.
The Angels take Manhattan
Amy and Rory’s final episode, which the Who Team have been at great pains to tell us is ‘heartbreaking’ at every possible opportunity, but also “not what you’d expect”. Features River Song (posing as “Melody Malone”), and unlike the Dalek story, some of this really was filmed in New York (although some bits are still in Cardiff). It also features the Weeping Angels (hmm, are there are any FAMOUS STATUES in New York? ;) )
Christmas Episode (not yet named but could be ‘The Snowman’)
Set in the 1890s, it Introduces the new companion, Clara Oswin, played by Jenna Coleman and features Richard E Grant as the villain of the piece. Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax (from A Good Man goes to War) will also return (yay!).
Doctorwhotv.co.uk have a great breakdown of all the images in the teaser trailer, as well as comprehensive what we know about series 7.
Lets get cracking!
Tagged: drwho
Camino Blog: Introducing the Amasis Web Font
Posted by Samuel Sidler at August 16, 2012 08:35 AM
This past weekend, we deployed the Amasis web font on headings throughout our website. We’re excited to finally be able to use the popular web font technology present in Camino 2.1 and to be able to use the same font on our website as we use in our logotype.
We would like to thank fonts.com for providing a license to make this possible; without their support, we would be unable to take advantage of web fonts on caminobrowser.org. We’ve added fonts.com to the Thanks section of our Contribute page, alongside our current hosting sponsor NetworkRedux. Thanks so much, fonts.com!
Nate Weaver (Wevah): Old Soap.
August 16, 2012 12:52 AM
Old Soap.
Nate Weaver (Wevah): Paparazzi! and Folder Actions
August 16, 2012 12:29 AM
A few people have written describing a very odd issue: Paparazzi! randomly launching on them for no reason.
Two of these people mentioned using Folder Actions, so I figured Apple Events/AppleScript were involved. They were also all using 10.6 or 10.7.
Turns out, Folder Actions want to talk to System Events. On 10.8, Folder Actions Setup asks for System Events using its bundle ID (com.apple.systemevents). However, on 10.7, it looks for it using its (deprecated) creator code ('sevs').
If System Events isn’t already running, Folder Actions somehow can’t find it via its creator code. (I’m fairly certain now that this is an Apple bug.)
TLDR: If you’re having Paparazzi! launch on you randomly, and you’re using Folder Actions, try launching /System/Library/CoreServices/System Events.app manually. If the problem goes away, add it to your login items.
(Or stop putting off your upgrade to Mountain Lion.)
Nate Weaver (Wevah): Paparazzi! random launch issue
August 12, 2012 07:55 AM
A few people have reported an issue with Paparazzi! where it will spontaneously launch or come to the foreground, interrupting their workflows. I can’t reproduce this, so if anyone is seeing this I woud appreciate any info that could help me track it down! (Console logs around the time it occurs, etc.)
Nate Weaver (Wevah): Paparazzi! 0.6b4
August 09, 2012 05:00 PM
Paparazzi! 0.6b4:Yeah, this was last Monday, and I forgot to post it here. :S
Jon Hicks: The Orchid - Beyond the vast, endless sea
Posted by Jon Hicks at July 31, 2012 04:32 PM
The Orchid have a new release out on Bandcamp – ‘Beyond the vast, endless sea’. If you’re fan of atmospheric instrumental music (in the similar landscape to Explosions in the Sky, This Will Destroy You etc), pop along and have a listen!
Tagged: music
Nate Weaver (Wevah): Retinas.
July 20, 2012 02:15 AM
Retinas.
Nate Weaver (Wevah): The hole Internet. Right here.
July 12, 2012 04:46 AM
The hole Internet. Right here.
Jon Hicks: 20% off all Five Simple Steps books!
Posted by Jon Hicks at July 03, 2012 02:15 AM
This is a great opportunity to add more colour to your bookshelf with 20% off all Five Simple Steps books throughout July. Not only my own Icon Handbook, but also my current favourite Designing the Invisible by Robert Mills, and Andy Clarke’s labour of love Hardboiled Web Design. Then again, I can’t single out those when there’s Brian Suda’s Designing with Data and Mark Boultons classic Designing for the Web.
If you’re missing these titles in your library, now is your chance to see why I approached them to publish my book!
Tagged: books, iconhandbook, offers
Jon Hicks: Updated iOS Application Icon Ai Template
Posted by Jon Hicks at June 28, 2012 03:02 PM
Sorry its taken a while to get around to this, but I’ve finally updated the iOS Application Icon Template for Illustrator to include the new Retina sizes for iPad 3:
Part of the delay was me trying to include all the document icon sizes as well, but these were more complicated, and I’ll do a seperate template for these when I can. The update includes the whopping 1024px size required for the App Store on iPad 3.
I’ve not updated the guides and masks layer to use the super-accurate corner radius. As before, treat this layer just for preview, and hide it before exporting to PNGs. Your exported file should have sharp, not rounded, corners. I recommend using Matthew Ericson’s export script to export the artboards to PNGs. The artboards are labelled following the Apple guidelines, so as long as you don’t add a prefix or suffix, the filename should be right!
There shouldn’t be any catastrophic errors, but if you notice anything odd, please let me know!
Tagged: icon, illustrator, ios, ipad, iphone
Jon Hicks: Replacing the back of an iPhone 4
Posted by Jon Hicks at June 27, 2012 06:00 PM
A few months ago, I dropped my iPhone 4 on a concrete path and shattered the glass coated back. I’ve dropped it countless times, and don’t use a case or bumper, so it was only a matter of time really.
I only discovered in the last week how simple it was to change the back though. There are 2 tiny phillips screws either side of the dock connecter port, and once those are loosened (you don’t need to unscrew them right out), you can press down on the back and slide it up about 5mm. The back then just lifts off. Probably best to turn your phone off first though.
I ordered a replacement back from ebay, and while I can’t be sure if it’s a genuine part or not, it looks good and works just fine! Doesn’t have the shabby chic aesthetic of broken glass, but a lot more comfortable in my pocket…
Jon Hicks: Phantogram - Nightlife
Posted by Jon Hicks at June 22, 2012 03:54 PM
Phantogram are making all the right moves to become my favourite band. I played ‘Eyelid Movies’ to death, and the last few months I’ve been doing the same with the mini-LP ‘Nightlife’. I say ‘to death’ but I’ve never got tired of it, and needed a break. It’s that good.
Please come and tour in the UK chaps!
Tagged: music
Jon Hicks: Morning ride
Posted by Jon Hicks at June 20, 2012 04:01 PM
This morning I managed to squeeze a 20 mile ride in before work, and it was the perfect morning for it. Warm, sunny, and with all sounds of summer around me – from swifts screaming above to to the gentle babble of the River Windrush in the picturesque village of Swinbrook (above). Good for the soul and sets you up for the day!
Jon Hicks: Ride with tea!
Posted by Jon Hicks at June 19, 2012 07:21 PM
Wouldn’t it be nice, especially over winter, to be able to take a nice cup of tea* with you on a bike ride? A source of refreshment, caffeine, antioxidants and sugar that tastes so much better than energy drinks**.
You can of course take a thermos with you, but this is not only heavy (requiring a bag to carry it) it also means stopping to drink it. Its nice to stop and enjoy a view for sure, but generally I prefer to keep going, especially as stopping can mean getting cold.
So, what I was looking for was the equivalent of a normal plastic water bottle (or ‘bidon’ if you’re poncey), that can be stored in a bottle cage and squeezed into my mush on the go, but will also keep my tea drinkably hot. Until recently, the closest I’d found was the Biologic Vacuum Flask, which is designed for a bike’s bottle cage, but doesn’t fulfill the squeezy requirement:
I also had doubts about whether a metal flask in a metal bottle cage on a metal frame would just be too rattly.
I was about to seriously start thinking about trying to make my own (see: Kickstarter), when I found the Camelbak Podium Big Chill via Matt Hamm. I use Camelbak Podium’s already, they have a great spout system, and you get no nasty plastic taste in the water. I hadn’t come across the ‘Big Chill’ though, which has an insulated wall for keeping water cool. In the description was the key text:
Also keeps warm beverages warm during cool weather rides
BINGO!!
My tests so far have been great – I’ve kept tea hot for more than an hour and half, longer than I expected for plastic bottle! It doesn’t have all the elegance of a china cup, but it works!
*Or coffee if you’re that way inclined
**OK, it doesn’t have all the benefits of a proper energy drink, but it does taste better
Jon Hicks: The first sportive
Posted by Jon Hicks at June 12, 2012 02:55 AM
Yesterday I took part in my very first sportive, The Circuit of the Cotswolds, with 70 miles (112km) and 4000ft of climbing it was the hardest ride I’ve done yet. The weather was forecast to chuck it down all day, but it held out, and even treated us to a sunny start! The route was gorgeous – very picturesque and worth the climbing for the views of the Cotswolds.
The first 30 miles or so flew by, probably because I was busy nattering. I then started to feel sad that we were doing it too fast – not reasons of saving energy, but just because I wanted to make it last longer. It’s rare to get so much time to be cycling with my friends, usually its snatching an hour or two inbetween all the other things you have to do when you have a family.
The last 10 miles or so started to hurt a bit however, so in the end I was quite glad to see the finish line. With recent events, training had taken a back seat, so I was very pleased to have achieved what I had and have so much fun in the process. Now the next milestone is the 100!
Finally, thanks to your generosity, I also managed to raise £1100 for Helen and Douglas House – thankyou!
Smokey Ardisson: :grmbl: WordPress.com
Posted by Smokey at May 20, 2012 07:29 AM
Today I discovered one of my friends had returned to blogging. Seized with happiness, I went to leave a “welcome back” comment.
Unfortunately, in the two-plus years since I had last left a comment on her blog, WordPress.com had completely redone comment authorization. Even though the text reads
Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:
(emphasis added) and I filled in my details rather than clicking on a service icon, WordPress.com decided that, because said email address was also associated with my Gravatar or WordPress.com accounts (both, in this case1), I would have to sign in to WordPress.com in order to leave a comment.
That’s not the end of the world (although way back when, I had carefully crafted my cookies exceptions list to ensure I was remembered on her blog but not anywhere else in the WordPress universe—there’s nothing more frightening than showing up on a site you’ve never visited before and finding that you’re logged-in in the comments field—and generally free from being tracked by WordPress.com in my travels across the web), if that were where it ended. I would have logged in, had my comment posted, logged out, and gone about the rest of my evening, and you’d never be reading this post.
However, what happened is, without any notification whatsoever, WordPress.com replaced the details I had entered (remember, I entered my name, URL and email address instead of clicking on a service icon) with a reference to my WordPress.com account. So instead of “Smokey” from http://www.ardisson.org/ leaving a comment, “sardisson” with no URL left a comment. Even after I visited my never-used WordPress.com profile and entered http://www.ardisson.org/ as my “Web Address” (“Shown publicly when you comment on blogs and in your Gravatar profile.”), my comment still has no URL. I guess because my blog isn’t actually at WordPress.com, I can’t have a Web Address associated with my comments on WordPress.com sites. 
As for my name, I can also change my “Public Display Name”, but, once again, doing so didn’t alter my comment. (I can also change my WordPress.com username, which might produce the desired effect—though based on the prior two changes it seems unlikely—but I don’t want to jump through the hoops required to do that, and, besides, I like my username just fine.)
On the one hand, I can understand WordPress.com’s desire to force all commenters to use an account from one of their blessed services (even if I don’t agree with the idea), but in that case, why even allow for the appearance of commenting with any name/URL/email? I can also see an argument for forcing anyone who is trying to comment using a known-to-the-WordPress.com-universe email address to log in, so all comments can be associated with the user profile and aggregated (though, in my opinion, that argument is not one that carries much weight).
But if you’re going to force this correlation on visitors/users,
- Make it clear the association is going to happen, and don’t offer alternative identification UI that leads users to believe they can still comment using the traditional name/URL/email details, and
- Realize that users—and here by users I mean people, human beings, flesh-and-blood, your mom, your brother, your best friend from college, real people you know and interact with in person on a daily basis, not some abstract construct called “users”—are going to want to identify themselves differently in different contexts,2 so you need let them. Not just let them, but facilitate this choice.
After all, even Yahoo! allows you to have separate “identities” associated with the same account and has allowed you to subscribe to different Yahoo! Groups using different identities for so long I’ve forgotten when they introduced that feature. And, er, I believe Gravatar.com supports exactly that sort of thing, different gravatars for different email addresses (except, I guess, if you want to comment on WordPress.com?). Why can’t WordPress.com comments?
Please, just let me comment on my friend’s blog as “Smokey” from http://www.ardisson.org/ using the email address I customarily use on the internet, and let me choose to comment elsewhere on WordPress.com blogs as “Smokey Ardisson” or “sardisson” or whatever facet of my identity is most appropriate for the context in which I am commenting.
1 Even if I hadn’t used the same email address on both services, once Auttomatic acquired Gravatar and linked it with WordPress.com, practically speaking for everyone the two accounts are one and the same. ↩
2 :cough: Google Buzz :cough: Google Plus :cough: ↩
Jon Hicks: Dorothy Hicks 1936–2012
Posted by Jon Hicks at May 19, 2012 02:49 AM
While away at the New Adventures Conference in January this year, I had the news that my mum had been diagnosed with a tumor. It was localised, and there was a good chance of success, but as it was on her tongue and throat, which made speaking (and understanding) increasingly difficult.
The following months were a tough slog of various preparatory operations, before 5 weeks of radiotherapy. It wasn’t pleasant, but the treatment ended with a feeling of optimism. She was however, left feeling very weak from it all. Just a week later she contracted pneumonia, and was rushed into Warwick hospital to be treated.
My two older brothers and I dashed up to see her, and got a shock. Compared to her condition just two weeks previously, she was even more fragile, as if she’d aged another 10 years. In the few days that followed, she came in and out of consciousness. On occasions we were able to communicate a little.
On the morning of Thursday 10th May morning she seemed stable, to the extent where I started to believe that recovery was possible, even if it meant a long term recovery. Within a few hours we learned that it wasn’t to be, and were told this was it.
Whatever horrible things she had to endure in the last 4 months, in the end, she died very peacefully in a calm private ward, with her three sons and brother with her. The nursing staff of Warwick Hospital who looked after her (and us!) were nothing short of fantastic. We really couldn’t have asked for more of them.
(Mr Chuckles at the front there is me)
My mum’s name was Dorothy, and was known to her many friends as Dot. Her brother always called her Fred, while her sons decided in the early 80’s that they were going to use ‘Ada and Bert’ instead of ‘Mum and Dad’, and the name stuck. Whatever she was called, everyone had the same impression of her: an exceptionally kind and caring lady. She was also exceptionally stubborn and strongly refused a lot of help. I really wish she hadn’t.
My mum gave me so much, she was the best you could ever hope for. Our family have lost our rock, and now there is a painful void. I just hope that the memories of the last few months disappear, leaving the rest intact.
Goodbye mum, I love you and miss you so, so much.
Tagged: mum
Jon Hicks: Singlespeed Steed
Posted by Jon Hicks at May 03, 2012 08:24 PM
Riding a singlespeed can help bring back the unfettered joy you experienced riding your bike as a child. You don’t realize how much mental energy you devote to shifting until you relinquish your derailers, and discover that a whole corner of your brain that was formerly wondering when to shift is now free to enjoy your surroundings and sensations.
After buying a new road bike last summer, I was pondering what to do with the now-redundant Peugeot. I really fancied a retro/modern project bike to work on, and after seeing pictures of a Charge Plug (below – a bike with exactly the aesthetics I was after) I set about converting the Peugeot to a Plug-style singlespeed to use on the commute to the office.
The first stage was quite cathartic – remove all the surplus components from the bike, stripping it back to just what it needed. Off came the front and rear derailleur, cogs, large chainring, bottle cage and brake levers/shifters. Once the relevant cables were cut, this was all very straightforward.
I loved the process of sourcing parts and learning how to put them together myself. From the original Peugeot, I kept the frame, cranks, calipers and seatpost along with pedals I’d bought for my Globe Daily (now sold to a new owner). Then off ebay I got the following:
- ‘New’ Rigida wheels: These weren’t necessary, but I liked the style of the deeper rims, and silver colour, as opposed to the skinny black ones that came with the Peugeot originally. They were also a complete bargain at £30!
- Charge Spoon saddle: My favourite bottom perch
- Charge Slice Bullhorn Bars: Bullhorns give more hand positions than a standard flat bar, and the extensions are great for extra leverage when you need more power going up hill. Its great to ride. They’re only £20 brand new anyway.
- Chain tensioner: Because the length of the chain is restricted by the width of the links, you’ll most likely end up with a bit of slack. ‘Proper’ singlespeed/track/internal hub frames have horizontal dropouts at the rear, so you can just adjust the position in the dropout to take up the slack. However as I wanted to use my road bike frame, it has vertical dropouts, so I needed a chain tensioner. More on that later…
- Velo Orange stem: Used, but was immaculate! Shinnnnyyyy!
And then the parts I had to buy new:
- Short chainring bolts: The inner chainring needed remounting onto the front, with shorter bolts. A few pounds from Charlie the Bikemonger
- The gaps left by the removed rear cogs was filled with nice polished alloy Hub Spacers from Velosolo.
- 25mm Schwalbe Marathon tyres: I wanted slightly wider tyres, with more tread than my road bike, and found these with a reflective wall – ideal for commuting!
- Cyclo cross style Tektro brake levers: These were a Christmas present :)
- Fizik bar tape in brown to match the Charge spoon saddle
And here’s the end result:
The hardest parts of the process were getting the chainline dead straight (a lot of fiddling but got there in the end!), and setting up the chain tensioner correctly. I tried all sorts of fettling with it, but it was always too noisy once engaged with the chain. The chainline was definitely straight, and ran smoothly without it (just a bit loosely) so in the end I got a Charge Masher ‘half-link’ chain which did away with the need for a tensioner altogether. No noise, the right tension, and no extra gubbins needed!
I’m really pleased with how it turned out! Its fun to ride and ideal for commuting, keeping my proper road bike (currently a Canyon Ultimate AL self-build) setup for my jaunts around the countryside.
Jon Hicks: iOS icon corner radii
Posted by Jon Hicks at May 02, 2012 02:32 PM
When designing app icons for iOS it’s useful to know the corner radius for each size to preview it correctly – even though the exported png needs to have sharp corners. This is why I include the radius size on the Icon Reference Chart and a mask layer on the OS Illustrator Template.
These sizes are rounded up to the nearest pixel though, and when David Barnard of AppCubby consulted Louie Mantia (former Apple, Square, and Iconfactory designer) he found the true sizes:
Apple starts with the 57px icon and a radius of 10 then scales up or down from there. Thus you can calculate the radius for any icon size using 10/57 x new size (for example 10/57 × 114 gives 20, which is the proper radius for a 114px icon). Here is a list of the most commonly used icons, proper naming conventions, pixel dimensions, and corner radii.
This means that the correct radius measurements are as follows:
| Icon512.png | 512px | 89.825 |
| Icon.png | 57px – | 10 |
| Icon@2x.png | 114px | 20 |
| Icon-72.png | 72px | 12.632 |
| Icon-72@2x.png | 144px | 25.263 |
| Icon-Small.png | 29px | 5.088 |
| Icon-Small@2x.png | 58px | 10.175 |
If your design doesn’t have any visual elements that follow or echo the corner radius, then you can safely ignore these measurements, and I would normally do just that. Occasionally though, you may find that the right solution requires it, and therefore the more accurate may be useful. Icons like Camera Genius use the corner radius as part of the design:
Obviously, at a pixel level, the difference really is minute, but may be just enough to make it feel as if it’s not sitting right:
Compare the 2 corners in this image, and you can see that it is different. I created this in Illustrator, which does allow you to use radii with a decimal point – your mileage in other apps may vary. For now I’m not sure if adding these to the Icon Handbooks iOS Reference Chart is over-complicating matters – I’d love to know your thoughts via Twitter!
Jon Hicks: Come and hear me speak at the inaugural MK Geek Night!
Posted by Jon Hicks at May 01, 2012 01:44 AM
MK Geek Night is a free Milton Keynes based meet up for people to meet up over a few beers and chat about web design, development, UX, technology, creative stuff, photography and general geekery. I shall be speaking about Icon Design at the inaugural event on the evening of Thursday 21st June 2012 at Buszy in Central Milton Keynes.
Visit MK Geek Night for more information.
Jon Hicks: Firefox removes Favicons from the address bar
Posted by Jon Hicks at April 30, 2012 06:23 PM
Firefox will be joining Chrome and Opera by removing favicons in the address bar. The main issue is that sites can make their favicon a padlock icon, thereby making it ‘appear’ secure (when in fact its a bit naughty). I think its just IE and Safari left now.
Smokey Ardisson: Sunday Re-Read
Posted by Smokey at April 30, 2012 03:57 AM
Periodically I glance at the statistics for افكار و احلام, and as I did so today at breakfast, I noticed some referrer activity from another author’s response to one of my old posts.
I glanced back at my old post and re-read it; although it was nearly a year-and-a-half old, the post still resonated with me as strongly today as then, and it remains just as timely and relevant today.
So for today’s Sunday Re-Read, I offer up again September 2010’s If not me… for thoughtful reading.
Smokey Ardisson: Hack of the Day: Force Postfix to stay running on Mac OS X
Posted by Smokey at April 27, 2012 09:00 PM
Since Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard”, the Postfix mail server runs only on demand and only for sixty seconds at a time. In most normal cases, this is probably great; I suspect it saves some on resource usage, and it’s a nice demo for the wonders of launchd. Unfortunately, when things aren’t working right, and you have a UNIX/Linux sysadmin feeding you troubleshooting commands, Postfix not being running is a problem. 
In this exact situation a few days ago, the awesome Dave Miller (aka justdave) provided what turned out to be a really useful hack: touch a junk file in the Postfix maildrop directory (/var/spool/postfix/maildrop on client, /Library/Server/Mail/Data/spool/maildrop on Server). Since you’ll likely not have permissions to do this, use sudo. Now launchd will see “new mail” and start Postfix; even better, since the junk file was created using sudo, Postfix can’t clear the file, and after the sixty seconds of runtime are complete, launchd will start Postfix right back up. In addition to allowing you plenty of time to run troubleshooting commands, this hack turns out to be very useful in (more) rapidly clearing a large backlog of mail to be sent that accumulated when things weren’t working correctly in the first place! When you’re done troubleshooting or clearing mail backlogs, just delete the junk file and Postfix will return to its normal on-demand behavior.
There’s probably a recommended way of changing this behavior by editing the Postfix LaunchDaemon and reloading (if you know what the recommended way is, please mention it or include a link to documentation in the comments), but in a pinch, forcing a file into the maildrop directory works well.
Jon Hicks: Good Management is Like The Beatles
Posted by Jon Hicks at April 19, 2012 05:28 PM
My model of management is the Beatles. The reason I say that is because each of the key people in the Beatles kept the others from going off in the directions of their bad tendencies. They sort of kept each other in check. And then when they split up, they never did anything as good… so John kept Paul from being a teenybopper and Paul kept John from drifting out into the cosmos, and it was magic. And George, in the end, I think provided a tremendous amount of soul to the group.
I don’t know what Ringo did.
Steve Jobs in an interview from 2004
Tagged: apple, beatles, stevejobs
Jon Hicks: Artboard Limit
Posted by Jon Hicks at April 18, 2012 02:46 PM
Whenever I’m asked what app I use to draw icons, I’ve always recommended Illustrator. However, I recently discovered an important drawback though when creating large icon sets – there is a limit of 100 artboards per document.
Artboards are a great way of defining areas to export – you can keep all the icons for a project in one file, work on them in company and context, and use export scripts to create individual files. When I moved from Fireworks to illustrator, it was artboards that replaced the pages/states feature in FW. I think the arbitrary limit was set to avoid performance issues, but when you’re dealing with simple monochrome icons, that would surely never be an issue.
This is one of the reasons that Mordy Golding prefers Slices (with other good reasons), but export scripts certainly get around at least three of the artboard issues he mentions, and there are some drawbacks with slices:
- Slices can’t overlap, whereas artboards can. This is useful for the ability to export individual files as well as one large sprite.
- Slices are more hassle to name. Artboards aren’t particularly easy either, but at least you can hit Shift + O to enter artboard mode, or double click the artboard name in the list.
- You can’t align objects to slices, only selections and artboards.
But of course, you can have an unlimited amount of slices! In general though, I find slices in Illustrator a rather fiddly way of managing multiple exports.
In Sketch however, (and particularly Sketch 2) slices are great. They can be place anywhere, named easily and have the option to export final files without a specific layer – handy if you’re drawing icons on top of a background colour (such as dark toolbar) that you don’t want exported.
Adobe are currently gearing up for CS6, and maybe the artboard limit has been relaxed, but keep an eye out for Sketch 2. I’ve been very excited playing with the beta version, its got bags of potential!
Tagged: icons, illustrator
Jon Hicks: The Bicycle of A.D 2000!
Posted by Jon Hicks at April 17, 2012 08:55 PM
In 1954, Cycling Magazine ran a competition asking readers what they thought the bicycle would be like in the year 2000. They weren’t that far off either (click the image to view larger) – frames made of plastic, cables concealed in tubing and electrically welded frames. There was however, no explanation of the ‘Twin Top Tubes’. As reader John Caine, astutely guessed:
Our old friend the bicycle will remain essentially the same…
Tagged: cycling
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May 24, 2013 08:01 AM
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