ResolutionIndependence
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DevJuice: PaintCode offers resolution independent design
PaintCode (US$99.99) is a vector drawing app that generates Quartz and Core Graphics Objective-C (and C#/MonoTouch) drawing code. First released this March, the app was inspired by Apple's introduction of the Retina iPad. It allows developers to create resolution-independent art that adapts to the physical and geometric differences between devices. It's somewhat similar to Opacity (which I'm told it is no longer under active development), but with tools that specifically target Apple's latest technology. For example, PaintCode includes a Retina preview button that lets you visualize how the art will look on higher-density displays. Supporting both OS X and iOS code generation, PaintCode was actually developed using its own tools. Clocking in at just 2.3 MB, the app bundle's slim form factor is due to the vector graphics powering its interface. PaintCode allows you to build nuanced graphics, as you can see in the gallery at the end of this post. It is aimed at both designers and programmers. It's interactive tools mimics other popular vector-based editors. You build your design in a visual layout screen, and the supporting code appears at the bottom. You choose whether the code is generated for OS X, for iOS, or C# (for Monotouch development). What's more, you can generate either ARC or Manual Retain/Release output. PaintCode's developers have spent a lot of effort creating tools tied into the way people craft applications. For example, it's possible to build color swatches and gradients that are based off a core color. Update the root color for a family, and all the members who were derived from that base color update as well. It's a very nice feature. Another great feature is PaintCode's support for frame-based layout. Anyone familiar with Interface Builder's struts and springs tools will be able to recognize how PaintCode items resize with respect to a parent frame. If you're working with text, you'll appreciate PaintCode's ability to convert strings to Bezier-based text paths. This allows the results to resize as needed, or you can add effects like gradients to the derived paths. Admittedly, PaintCode is a pricey application, retailing for about a hundred dollars. When I kicked its wheels, I found the tools relatively easy to use -- although I was given an interactive tutorial before testing it out, which certainly helped. I did encounter a few glitches along the way, which is to be expected for a tool as new and specialized as this, but quitting and restarting the app cleared up my problems. I was impressed by the overall tool, and can see it being valuable for anyone writing across devices. This is especially true if Apple, as rumored, introduces even more new iOS device form factors this autumn. PaintCode, with its vector-based art that paints with respect to points, not pixels, offers a way to build resolution independence through code. It's a tool that continue to evolve as PaintCode's customers drive its feature set. Developer Peter Krajcik told TUAW, "We want to cover all the possibilities of Apple's APIs, but we base our feature set on our user requests and the customer demand." Krajcik discussed some of the new features that will debut in the upcoming 1.2 release. The refreshed app will introduce groups, blending modes, group clipping, SVG import, and enhanced shadow control. It's just entering beta now, and should ship within the next month or two, depending of course on the whims of the App Store. PaintCode's site offers a trial version to test out before buying, lots of examples and tutorial videos, and a wealth of documentation. %Gallery-162730%
App Store approvals and the tablet: why it matters
When iTunes Connect returned after its Christmas break, developers noticed that things had changed quite a bit on the App Store approval front. Applications that had formerly taken ten to fourteen days to work through review were now getting processed in a couple of days or less. The upshot? Happier developers, better bug releases for users, and a healthier App Store ecosystem. There's another consequence of the new, speedier approvals: the tablet. With the device due to ship March/April (late Q1, early Q2), and no announced 4.0 SDK, developers were left wondering how they'd have the time to bring their software up to date. Under the old review process even a single procedural rejection, which are quite common for small GUI details, would have exhausted nearly all of February in non-productive "wait mode". With the enhanced review system in place, it's likely that developers will be able to spend those extra weeks refactoring their software, allowing it to ship in a timely fashion once the actual device appears on-scene. Apple is expected to push their SDK to developers within two weeks of their late January product announcement, probably by 15 February. Assuming a 2 April product launch, that leaves nearly six weeks to update and test software. Not that developers are waiting. Many devs are already working on resolution independent versions of their applications. They are tasking their designers to re-imagine screens, to test hand-held cardboard prototypes, and otherwise start the process of scaling their products to new dimensions. It should be noted that some of the App Store heavyweights have suddenly become quite tight-lipped in recent days, refusing to talk in any specifics about how their upgrade process is proceeding. The rest of us will have to get by on guess work, at least until the product announcement at the end of this month. Without specific leaks regarding hardware changes (for example, will there really be a front facing video camera? and if so, will expanded Image Picker/Media Player classes support access?), it's hard to pin down exactly what new features can be leveraged in third party software. But it's a fairly safe bet that nearly all features available on the current iPod touch line will be in play on the new tablet. And that alone is enough to hedge some safe business bets about pushing forward with large screen development. It's still too early for most of us to start playing -- those tight-lipped folk have a bit of the wild "Apple will kill me if I speak" look around their eyes -- but it's not too early to begin planning and working. Even without specifics, there are ways to move forward on the development front. Carpe diem. There's not much time left before the yet-unannounced tablet ships.
First WWDC 2007 pictures
RoughlyDrafted has posted the first pictures of posters up at WWDC 2007-- the event of course doesn't start until Monday, but Apple is already starting to plaster the Moscone Center West with tasty morsels of what we might see there next week. As you can see, it looks like Leopard is not surprisingly going to take center stage-- the long banner in the pic above specifically references Time Machine (there's even a little logo just left of the star).Unfortunately, there's no reference to any of the "secret features"-- MacOSXHints rounded up a good poll of what we might see there. Since I wasn't around to make predictions the other day, I'll drop one right now: like Gruber, I think Leopard will be beautifully resolution independent. Yeah, I know, not too far out on the limb, but I just got here, so I'm playing it safe.Update: Commenter iwit helpfully points out a flickr page with even more shots.%Gallery-3780%
