When Steve Jobs unveil the magical multi-touch interaction on the first iPhone, everyone is getting wowed by it. Thanks to Steve’s decision on making an iPhone first instead of an iPad (multi-touch screen is initially designed at the size of iPad), as well as the top notch touch-oriented operating system – the iOS, finger-friendly touch interaction is able to reach thousands and thousands of people around the world, and it is even more magical on the iPad. A new page in human-computer interface is then opened, and we are slowly moving away from stylus-based and button-based interaction. Continue Reading »
[How To] Save Fillable PDF Form
While it seems to be a pretty simple question, but if you are using Adobe Reader AND you are filling a fillable PDF form (with the above warning), most probably that you are scratching your head and ask yourself ‘How do I save this darn thing?‘. Of course, if the fillable PDF is created in an appropriate way, Adobe Reader user will be able to save a copy of the filled form.
What if that is not the case? You have the option to go back to the author and ask for a proper version, but sometimes it just doesn’t work that way. Solution? You will still be able to save the form, only in other PDF readers. Here’s some PDF reader alternatives that can be used to save any fillable form:
- Nitro Reader - A pretty new PDF reader and it is impressive since first release. You can save fillable form as normal form or flattened version.
- PDF-XChange Viewer - A long time third party PDF reader with a lot of features – saving a fillable form is one of them.
What are the alternative if a new PDF reader is not a preferred solution? You can try any PDF printer. Fill the form, print the form using PDF printer, and you will have a PDF filled with your information. My recommendation for PDF printers:
- PrimoPDF - Highly recommended. Easy to install and easy to use.
- CutePDF - Simple and easy application.
So that’s it! Happy form filling!
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Can’t login into Windows 8 Consumer Preview? It’s not your fault, it’s the password bug
It’s been a wonderful day that Microsoft decided to release the Windows 8 Consumer Preview Build to the public to taste the new features.
I install it on top of my Windows 7 and everything went so well until I restarted my PC – I can’t login to my Windows 8 and I confirmed that I have my login details right. So what’s the problem here?
[UX Thought] iOS Shake to Undo is cool, yet it’s a bad design
Do you have an Apple iPhone? If you do, allow me to ask another question: Do you know there is a feature called ‘Shake to Undo’ on the iPhone which allows you to undo/redo your last actions during typing?
If you are aware of this feature, do you still recall how do you know about it? If you doesn’t know about it, you are not alone, and it’s not your fault. Continue Reading »
[UI Concept] Twitter for Android with Ice Cream Sandwich Theme
Click the image above for full-size view.
I loved the Holo theme in Ice Cream Sandwich. That’s the reason I made the Android ICS GUI Design Kit in PSD for Android Designer to design high quality app with stock UI elements in mind. But I am also curious how well can the UI elements in Holo theme for ICS can be applied to the currently available apps, so I decided to start with the official Twitter Android app, which is an easy one I think. Continue Reading »
[Android] Printable A4 GUI Sketching Kit – Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus
Details
Update 30-06-2012: Version 2.0 includes the new Nexus 7 in Portrait and Landscape!
Besides the Android ICS GUI Design Kit that can be used in Adobe Photoshop, I also think (and love!) that sketching is a big part of UI/UX designing, while it can be messy, but it definitely help in quick idea visualization and aid in brainstorming.
So here I come up with two sketch templates for Android App, using the Samsung Nexus S and Samsung Galaxy Nexus as the sample devices, and put them on an A4-sized PDF with almost real-life size so designers can sketch the app with the size as close as the real device (don’t blame me if there is one or two pixels off! /jk/).
Android app designer, go create some awesome apps with the GUI Design Kit and GUI Sketching Kit!
Download
Android GUI Sketching Kit – Nexus S
Android GUI Sketching Kit – Galaxy Nexus
Android GUI Sketching Kit – Nexus 7 Tablet – Portrait
[Android 4.0] Ice Cream Sandwich GUI Design Kits in PSD
15AUG2012: Android ICS/JB Photoshop GUI Design Kit is updated to 3.0 and released at AndroidUIUX!
29FEB2012: Android Team have officially provided the Android Design Stencils in Adobe Photoshop format! Awesome!
26FEB2012: Android ICS GUI Design Kits updated to 2.0.1!
19JAN2012: Android ICS GUI Design Kits updated to 2.0!
Update
1.1: Added more stock ICS GUI elements. Refer below for details.
2.0: Based on the official Android Design by Android Team, most of the ICS GUI stock elements have been added. Below image shows a summary of the content.
2.0.1: Added the Back Arrow for the top action bar. Thanks Andy!
Details
I have been designing mock up of Android app in Adobe Photoshop and I find that a GUI Design Kit is extremely important, and I thought there isn’t any good (and simple) one in the wild, so I have decided to make this Android ICS GUI Design Kit for two different resolutions and dpi:
- 720×1280 320dpi – Samsung Galaxy Nexus
- 480×800 240 dpi – Samsung Nexus S, Samsung Galaxy S II
The main idea of this GUI Design Kit is not making everything scalable to the unfortunate fragmentation occurs in Android, but just provide some stock elements of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) in one .psd file so app designer can really focus on creating awesome mock up to show developers/clients. Some of the elements are just single layer of image from ICS, but I thought they are pretty adequate for mock up purpose.
