Griffin Interactive

Great Mobile Web Performance resources of 2011

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 15:46:08 +0000

2011 has truly been a great year for Mobile Web, we’ve finally seen the adoption of Mobile First thinking within the web design community (originally coined by Luke Wroblewski way back in 2009). Retail sites have seen a huge influx of visitors from Mobile devices, forcing them to rethink their web strategy to include mobile. The increase in mobile web traffic has almost certainly put a strain on the Mobile Network Operators abilities to deliver data at speeds necessary for the end user. 2011 has seen some great articles, resources and recommendations for mobile web site performance.

Windows phone 7 - VISIO Template

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 21:37:44 +0000

Created this WP7 Visio template a while ago, I've added it here so someone can save some time if needed. The plan was to add all the tiles, will have to add those at a later date. Includes generic phone template and a Panoramic template. You will need the correct WP7 font Segoe WP.

Create with HTML 5 today

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 22:29:14 +0000

HTML 5 is still in draft (Editor's Draft 5 June 2010), however if you are looking to create sites that implement some of the new proposed features then why not use some of these APIs today.

Examples of CSS 3

Smartphones' with Resistive and Capacitive touchscreens

Mon, 31 May 2010 11:31:48 +0000

If you are thinking of buying a Smartphone here is a useful list of popular devices that sport either Capacitive or Resistive touch-screens.

So what does this mean? Well, Capacitive allows for light touch navigation and Resistive is as it would suggest, needs more pressure (more likely to use a stylus).

Capacitive Touchscreen (Common device - iPhone)

Pros: - Smooth and responsive interaction (Apple’s slick multi-touch gestures, such as pinching and spreading two fingers to zoom and reduce on-screen objects, are only possible on a capacitive screen).
Cons: - A bare finger is required for operation since the body’s electricity is blocked by gloves.; - Require glass screens that can shatter when dropped.

Resistive Touchscreen (Common device - Nokia N97)

Pros: Use of fingers, both bare and gloved, and non-specialised stylus
Cons: Poor responsiveness, Scratch-prone surfaces, components that wear out and break over time, less-than-perfect transparency

Mobile Design UK - April forum

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 22:07:26 +0000

This months Mobile Design UK forum is entitled Mobile Apps vs Mobile Web, so if you're interested in Mobile Design then why not sign-up to mobiledesign-uk and register. You'll need to get your skates on as places for this free event are going quickly. mobiledesign.org.uk Sign-up and then register at Mobile Design UK April forum 2010

OmniGraffle Wireframe Stencils

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:20:03 +0000

Massive thanks to KONIGI for releasing version 3 of their free OmniGraffle Stencil set. Large array of stencils featuring the following:- Buttons, Colour picker, Form elements, Calendars, Error and Confirmations, Video players, Ad units, Browser chrome iPhone, Safari and more.

MobileHCI 2008 Presentations

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:46:37 +0000

This years MobileHCI 2008 conference was held in Holland, Amsterdam. For those like me who couldn't attend six presentation decks have been made available:

Text input for mobile devices by Scott MacKenzie
Mobile GUIs and Mobile Visualization by Patrick Baudisch
Understanding Mobile User Experience by Mirjana Spasojevic
Context-Aware Communication and Interaction by Albrecht Schmidt
Haptics, audio output and sensor input in mobile HCI by Stephen Brewster
Camera-based interaction and interaction with public displays by Michael Rohs

Vista you start me up!

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 23:32:32 +0000

So some of us have moved to Windows Vista, a few teething problems but are please with some usability improvements. For instance the most obvious to note is that you no longer have to start in order to 'shut down'. As a user of Windows XP you had to select the 'Start' button to shut down the machine, which always seemed a bit of a misnomer to me. However Vista improves on this by only showing the icon button. Windows XP - Start it up then Shut it down
Windows Vista - Shut down Although I still found myself hunting the 'shut down' option and inadvertently selecting the globally recognised symbol for stand-by.

Managing multiple onLoad events with Prototype

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 13:11:58 +0000

This is an update to a previous article written way back in 2003 "Managing multiple onLoad events in JavaScript".

The article describes how to create an array of onload (window.onload) events in order to queue each event and enable the browser to perform onload sequentially. However this can all be forgotten in preference to the Prototype Javascript Framework and the useful Event Observe method.

Use Event.observe instead of using or DOM Level-0 event property window.onload = myFunction;

Alien Attack

Mon, 28 May 2007 20:43:16 +0000

Whilst looking through some dated archives I found some old animations, before condemning them to the waste bin I decided to upload a few to youtube for future reference. ISS-7 Alien Attack was a university animation project (1998), and created using 3D Studio Max.

Introducing the Slider control

Thu, 17 May 2007 20:01:14 +0000

The slider as a control interface can be found on a number of appliances within the home. Maybe more so within older analogue interfaces such as a television volume control or Hi-fi graphic equaliser. All in all the sliders prime use is to control a range, where the position of the slider defines the control. In this article we look at common uses of the 'Slider' within the home, the computer interface, web and Mobile UI.

Google's User Experience for Mobile Applications

Sun, 06 May 2007 14:06:37 +0000

Google have unveiled their Mobile User Experience Strategy for the delivery of Mobile Applications. To read more on the overall strategy check out the article "Google’s Mobile User Experience Strategy" over at Information Week.

Google state that the application design can be segmented into 6 layers:

Understanding users, anywhere, anytime
Fits in your pocket
More personal than the PC
Consistency across modes
Localization is intensified
Integrated devices, modes, products

BBC Explain Web Accessibility

Fri, 04 May 2007 23:20:55 +0000

When a national TV network air a story on Web Accessibility you know, finally knowledge is spreading and soon enough people will take notice. Explaining Accessibility to clients back in 2003 was difficult, So it is great to see topics such as Web Accessibility covered on the BBC's technology programme. Okay, some of the facts are a little scew; CSS has actually been around way before stated (Try looking at Effective Use of Style Sheets, dated 1997).

Mobile Web Guidelines

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 22:21:58 +0000

With input from big players such as Google, Microsoft, Nokia, AOL, AT&T, Ericsson, GoDaddy, and Vodafone the W3C have defined a set of basic guidelines for developing mobile Web content. Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0, consists of instructions on how to avoid technical issues when viewing web content from mobile devices. The guidelines also focus on how to prevent known problems such as pop-up windows, horizontal page scrolling and more. It is seen that these guides will aid content authors, web developers and web designers when planing to create websites that will also be available via mobile devices. There is also a Wiki dedicated to the Mobile Web Best Practices, enabling people to actively respond and add valuable input. Mobile Web Best Practices Wiki