Since the release of iPhone 4 and the iPad 3 (known as "The new iPad"), Apple has doubled the resolution of the displays, which are now 640 x 960 pixels (iPhone 4 and 4s), 1536 x 2048 pixels (iPad 3), and 640 x 1136 pixels (iPhone 5).
To keep a good-looking user interface for both the old as well as the "Retina" resolution, Apple decided not to resize all graphics or make use of scalable image formats (such as SVG), but instead it now requires two sets of graphics for each device. When building an app for iOS, you have to provide the normal-sized and double-sized images for each graphic. This is where the strongest Adobe Fireworks feature comes in — the capability to create sharp vector elements which scale up and down without any quality loss.
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We always try our best to challenge your artistic abilities and produce some interesting, beautiful and creative artwork. And as designers we usually turn to different sources of inspiration. As a matter of fact, we’ve discovered the best one—desktop wallpapers that are a little more distinctive than the usual crowd. This creativity mission has been going on for over four years now, and we are very thankful to all designers who have contributed and are still diligently contributing each month.
This post features free desktop wallpapers created by artists across the globe for December 2012. Both versions with a calendar and without a calendar can be downloaded for free. It’s time to freshen up your wallpaper!
Please note that:
- All images can be clicked on and lead to the preview of the wallpaper,
- You can feature your work in our magazine by taking part in our Desktop Wallpaper Calendar series. We are regularly looking for creative designers and artists to be featured on Smashing Magazine. Are you one of them?
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In this tutorial, we introduce the Magento layout by creating a simple module that will add some custom HTML content to the bottom of every customer-facing page, in a non-intrusive manner. In other words, we will do so without actually modifying any Magento templates or core files.
This kind of functionality is a common requirement for many things such as affiliate referral programs, customer tracking analytics, adding custom JavaScript functionality, etc. We will be covering a number of interesting topics, including Magento layout handles, layout XML files, blocks and templates, and an alternative to widgets.
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Advertising has always had an uneasy relationship with the media because of ethical considerations on both sides of the printing press. On the one hand, journalists are reluctant, quite rightly, to be seen as under the thumb of an advertiser, and on the other side, advertisers don’t want to be seen to be enforcing their views on the free press.
The relationship between the media and marketeers is the greatest sham marriage of all time: convenience, rarely love. We need each other. Writers need to be paid, and people making products need to be paid too. That being said, the journalism profession has been somewhat eager to hand a lot of control of their content to advertisers for some time now.
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The Smashing Library grants you immediate unlimited access to all Smashing eBooks, released in the past and in the future, including digital versions of our printed books. The yearly fee of $99 covers the immediate access to the complete Smashing library with 38 eBooks — you save up to 70% off the regular eBook prices! We think that’s a reasonable price for a total of 60 quality eBooks during the first year.
We are proud to announce our new undertaking, a little extra that will help us make your reading experience on Smashing Magazine better, cleaner and more valuable in every way. Meet The Smashing eBook Library, an annual eBook subscription for our very own Smashing eBooks.
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Twenty minutes after unboxing my first iPad, I realized this device’s potential to revolutionize the world of kiosks. Ten years ago, my team and I worked with Honda to develop touchscreen kiosks for its dealerships. Potential buyers could customize their purchase with a few touches of their fingertips. While innovative at the time, these early interactive kiosks didn’t come cheap, running Honda $3,000 to $5,000 per installation. Today, we can create such a kiosk for a fraction of the price.
Which industries are the most likely candidates for tablet kiosks? Four that immediately spring to mind are hotels, restaurants, museums and retailers. Kiosks help streamline information-gathering processes, such as signing up for mailing lists, making reservations, ordering products and services and checking in and out of locations. By automating these processes, the kiosk eliminates the customer’s frustration from waiting in line to speak with a representative and, likewise, frees the employees to focus their energies on higher-level tasks.
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Everyone loves a happy ending: the hero slays the dragon, true love conquers all, the Death Star is destroyed, the new website is launched and both client and users alike are thrilled. While this last example may not have the Hollywood ending that the first few examples do, for those of us in the Web design industry, it is the story ending we want for all our project.
Much attention is given to how you kickoff projects, or how best to design and develop websites. But the final stages of the Web design process are never discussed as much as those early and middle stages are. How you wrap up a project, as well as what you do after the project is completed, is critical when it comes to building long-term relationships that will lead to future business.
In this article we will look at some ways in which you can end projects on the right note, and also what you can do after they are launched to help your project stories have happy endings (and many successful sequels).
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The Web is technical by nature. Different scripts and pieces of code are linked together through hyperlinks, forming an endless net of interwoven, encrypted information — data that is accessible only through technical interfaces, such as Web browsers, or applications.
Yet, Web professionals have made it their calling to tame the “wild” Web and turn it into an accessible, user-friendly and, most of all, personal medium. Designers can do plenty of things to counteract the technical appearance of the Web. One very effective way is simply to make it look less technical, by using a more human, personal style.
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This week we have a beautiful icon freebie for you. BanzaiTokyo designed this art related icon set. Their collection of 34 icons are an homage to the creative professions. The icons are available as PNG files and released under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
The Art Professions Icons set would not be out of place in an artist's portfolio website, be they cook or painter — or even multi-talented. Imagine these icons guiding a modern art gallery's visitor through the institution's online presence and you won't feel let down.
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