The Daily Chad

Scott Forstall, Senior Vice President of iPhone Software, at the WWDC 2008 Keynote:

Now I want to center that [user interface element] in the toolbar. I've centered it in such a way that even if the toolbar changes in size, it will stay centered in the toolbar. Now you might ask when a toolbar may change size on an iPhone, and the answer is, if you rotate from portrait to landscape, it changes size.  

 

If a Tablet device is introduced by Apple, it's important for that device to run existing Mac or iPhone applications without any alteration whatsoever. This avoids fracturing either application library and also leverages the economies of scale within either existing ecosystem.

Many core iPhone apps and important 3rd party iPhone apps present identical user interfaces that appropriately adjust to the two different aspect ratios encountered when you hold an iPhone in either a portrait and landscape position. Mobile Safari, Messages, Mail and Notes are core apps that fit this mold. The iPod music player and Calculator aren't, as their user interfaces appear different in portrait and landscape mode. The iPhone dialer isn't either, since it only runs in portrait mode.

For applications that maintain the identical (though appropriately adjusted) user interface in portrait and landscape mode, individual user interface elements are not assigned to fixed coordinates on screen when a developer is positioning them in Apple's Interface Builder. Rather, all elements are defined in relative terms, and only with respect to the middle/top/bottom of the screen. Therefore, elements like a search bar or toolbar expand to fill the width of either side of a rectangular iPhone screen, or when the "toolbar changes to a different size" - say to the width of a screen that's much bigger, like a Tablet device. Another thing to notice in this category of apps is that what fills the vertical distance between the top and bottom of the screen is always a "list" of some sort - be it a web page, contacts listing, or list of emails. These lists can always readjust to fit remaining screen real estate of any vertical length.

Therefore, many existing iPhone apps can already run in fullscreen mode on a larger screen without need for redesign.

What about other core apps that have different user interfaces in landscape and portrait mode? Well, these interfaces are probably fixed to the pixel dimensions of a small iPhone screen. By coincidence, these are also apps that should't run fullscreen on a larger device. In the example of Calculator, the buttons and display are fine at the size they currently are - making the Calculator app fullscreen on a Tablet would result in number buttons the size of Oreos. In the case of the the iPod music player, taking the usual interface fullscreen on a larger device would be a very poor use of screen real estate. The existing interface feels very congested in the "Now Playing" mode when a volume controller, playback control, and scrubbing bar are all on an iPhone screen. Clearly, the iPod music player app interface would not be designed this way if a larger screen were available.

It makes sense that most iPhone apps that present different or solitary UI's in landscape or portrait mode will probably run, as is, within a small floating palette on a larger screen tablet (like Calculator).  A small number of other apps may be redesigned specifically for the Tablet (like iPod Music Player). In any event, this situation would result in relatively minimally fracturing of the existing "iTouch" application library.

Examples of 3rd Party iPhone apps that run identical interfaces in portrait and landscape mode:

• SplashID
• The New York Times
• Facebook
• AIM

If you've ever created or edited an image file - especially for use on the web, you've probably had to choose a specific image format for your image. Given the proliferation of image formats on the web, it's important to understand their unique strengths and weaknesses so that you select the optimal format.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)

The predominant image format online and offline, most images on the web appear as JPEGs and most photographs captured by digital cameras are saved in this format.

Compression: Lossy (degree of compression is adjustable).

• Tiny file sizes for photos.
• Small file sizes for graphic art, text, and icons.
• Excellent results on photographs with smooth color variations.
• Fair results on images with sharp transitions, particularly line art, text, and icons.
• Each edit-and-resave cycle results in generational loss of quality.

Pros:

1. Excellent color range (up to 16.7 million simultaneous colors for any image).

2. Generally excellent "bang-for-the-buck" with regards to image quality and file sizes for photographs.

Cons:

1. Compression algorithm occasionally results in suboptimal visual results when used on graphics art and text.

2. No support for transparency.

3. No support for animation.

 

GIF (Graphics Interchange File)

The most popular image format encountered on the web during the 1990's, GIF use has declined in recent years - although its online prevalence is still second only to JPEG. The decline in the use of GIF can be attributed to two factors: Netscape's introduction of in-line JPEG support in 1995 and Compuserve's decision to demand royalties from creators of any software application that displayed or generated GIF's in the late 1990's. Although Compuserve's action had no direct effect on web developers and web surfers, it did lead to creation of the royalty-free PNG format which has gradually supplanted GIF. (Incidentally, most of the GIF patents have since expired; the last will expire on August 11, 2006.)

Compression: Lossless.

• Tiny file sizes for graphic arts, text, and icons.
• Small file sizes for photos.
• Excellent results on images with sharp transitions, particularly line art, text, and icons.
• Excellent results on photographs with smooth color variations.
• No generational quality loss with each edit-and-resave cycle.

Pros:

1. Excellent "bang-for-the-buck" for icons and graphics.

2. Transparency support (by declaring single pixel value as transparent).

3. Animation support.

Cons:

1. Limit of only 256 simultaneous colors for any image (from a palette of 16.7 million).

2. Color limit often results in dithering when some colors need to be rendered.

3. Large file sizes when used on photographs. 4. Transparency support limited - no alpha channel.

 

PNG (Portable Network Graphics)

The PNG (pronounced "ping") format was developed in response to Compuserve's decision to demand royalties with the GIF format. PNG can be viewed as an "advanced GIF" format that is royalty-free.

Compression: Lossless.

• File sizes comparable to GIF, as long as 256 colors. If color depth is 16.7 million, the file sizes will be substantially larger.
• Excellent results on images with sharp transitions, particularly line art, text, and icons.
• Excellent results on photographs with smooth color variations.
• No generational quality loss with each edit-and-resave cycle.

Pros:

1. Excellent "bang-for-the-buck" for icons and graphics.

2. Transparency support (can declare single pixel value as transparent or add an alpha channel).

3. Excellent color range (greater than JPEG's 16.7 million simultaneous colors).

Cons:

1. No animation support.

2. Although supported by all new browsers, support by older browsers is a bit more spotty. For example, Internet Explorer 6 does not support alpha channel transparency in PNG by default. (Internet Explorer 7 does).

 

TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)

TIFF is a professional image format that has traditionally been used for image editing, scanning, and publication, though it is increasingly encountered online as a result of its offline prevalence.

Compression: None/Lossless (you can choose).

• File sizes are generally huge.
• Excellent results on images with sharp transitions, particularly line art, text, and icons.
• Excellent results on photographs with smooth color variations.
• Generally no quality loss with each edit-and-resave cycle.

Pros:

1. Excellent color range (equivalent to JPEG's 16.7 million simultaneous colors).

2. Choice of no compression or lossless compression available to user.

3. Many additionally features available for the professional users - generally for offline applications.

Cons:

1. Complicated format (for example, compression algorithms for Macs vs. PC's differ).

2. Huge file sizes.

3. Online support in web browsers still limited.

 

BMP (Windows Bitmap)

Windows Bitmap is an image format created by Microsoft, free of patents, which was created for use in the Windows operating system. Due to ubiquity of Windows, BMP support has diffused into many web browsers.

Compression: None.

• File sizes are humungous, even larger than TIFF.
• Excellent results on images with sharp transitions, particularly line art, text, and icons.
• Excellent results on photographs with smooth color variations.
• No quality loss with each edit-and-resave cycle. 

Pros:

1. No patent restrictions, despite association with Microsoft.

2. Excellent color range (16.7 million simultaneous colors for any image).

Cons:

1. Although format itself supports transparency, no web browser supports BMP transparency at present, including IE 7. Transparency is implemented via an alpha channel that is stored as a file separate from the image file. A recently introduced, new version of BMP finally integrates the alpha channel into the existing image file, however.

2. Absence of compression, results in large file sizes, limiting online use to small icons and graphics.

 

XBM (X Windows Bitmap)

XBM is a 1-bit, black-and-white image format analogous to BMP, but created for use in the Unix X-Windows GUI for cursors and icons. During the creation of the web in the early 1990's, XBM and GIF were the only image formats supported by early browsers. XBM support continues to be offered by most browsers, probably primarily for historical interest and legacy support.

Compression: None.

• Great results on images black-and-white bit art only.
• No quality loss with each edit-and-resave cycle.

Pros:

1. Image data is not stored as binary information like every other image format in existence (GIF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF...) but rather in the form of C language source. As a result, the raw code for any image can be simply copied and pasted into the code for any application and compiled!

Cons:

1. Black and white only.

2. Support for XBM to be removed from Internet Explorer 7.

 

The Bottom Line

Photographs: JPEG; experiment to see how much compression you can get away with on a case-by-case basis.

Icons, Graphics, Text: PNG if transparency not needed; GIF if transparency required.

 

I didn't have much to do this evening, so I drove by Google's headquarters in Mountain View (a.k.a. the Googleplex) and then Yahoo's headquarters in Sunnyvale. The difference could not have been more pronounced. Driving around Google, you had the feel of a college campus on a Sunday evening, seeing small groups of people scattered around talking and walking around. On the other hand, I don't think I saw a single person on my drive around Yahoo's campus. I guess that says a lot.

An Excerpt from my website in 1995:

For people of a certain age and/or geographical persuasion, western wear can pose a problem. Isn't this stuff kind of an affection? Well, one day, you get off a bus somewhere in New Mexico and everyone's wearing hat-jeans-and-boots, and you begin to think it's time to adopt the custom of the country.

Here is a social observation regarding jeans that may be comforting to some: Artfully faded denim matters much more to Marlboro men and schoolgirls than to people who ride horses for a living. Cowboys actually appear to prefer newish jeans; should you and your horse part company, new jeans are more likely to go with you. The traditional brands, Levi's and Wrangler, prevail around the ranch, with Wrangler a favorite of rodeo riders becuase the manufacturer spends a lot of money on the sport.

You might think that a pair of hiking boots or sneakers would go for a few days in the saddle, but they won't. You need cowboy boots and may in fact not be allowed to ride without them. Not ostrich-skin needle-nosed numbers, just something with a narrow toe, smooth, preferably leather soles so as not to get hung up in the stirrup, and heels. Fairly low-heeled boots are commonly seen. A few brands are nationally available, of course, but clothing stores in the West have racks and racks of the things. It's nice if you have time to break them in, but new boots beat no boots - you aren't going to walk far in them.

In the delicate matter of hats: Get one. In summer nobody will think it odd for you to wear one of those bright white ten-gallon straw models. The trouble is, you may find it odd, insupportably so. Probably better to spend four times as much on a Stetson with a relatively low crown and narrower - but still upturned - brim.

Thus arrayed, you discover that you are merely wearing the national costume of your country, as distinctive as Laplanders' leggings and recognizable around the world. What's so wrong about that? You may even realize that in your heart it's what you've wanted to wear all your life.

 

On my recent drive across the country, I frequently drove along stretches of historic Route 66, particularly whenever I found that cruising along Interstate 40 was getting a little bit too boring. Along a stretch of old Route 66 between Seligman and Kingsman, drivers can encounter a nostalgic artifact from nearly half a century ago - Burma-Shave jingles on the side of the highway.

Growing up in the 90's, I don't think I know of anyone who used a shaving brush - except for two old time barbers down the street. However, back in the early half of the 20th century, it appears that shaving cream (like Burma-Shave) that didn't require a shaving brush was quite a novelty.

However, the reason why Burma-Shave is still remembered today is not because of its product, but because of its advertising. During the early and mid 1900's, Burma-Shave posted numerous roadside advertisements in the form of 6 sequential signs in a row - the first 5 containing lines of some interesting limerick/rhyme and the 6th sign containing their logo. For example:

Within this vale

Of toil

And sin

Your hair grows bald

But not your chin

Burma-Shave

or

Don't take a curve

at 60 per

We'd hate to lose

A customer

Burma-Shave

Needless to say, many folks would slow down to read the signs and catch the punchline at the end (funny by 1940's standards, I suppose). These signs were helpful in slowing motorists down a little, and breaking the monotony along long drives through endless miles of identical countryside. They seem like a good idea, and I hope some company starts doing something like this again.