Blueprint for Design

I’ve been using a new web browser for the last week and have been extremely impressed.  The browser goes by the name of RockMelt. That name is probably the lamest part of the browser experience.  It’s built on Google Chrome.  So, if you’re a Chrome user as I am, the transition is pretty seamless.

Where RockMelt outdoes the standard Chrome is the full immersion of Facebook and other social media.  By no means do I consider myself a heavy social network user.  (I don’t care that you just ate a burrito, watched Glee, or are sitting at Starbucks.) But…having RockMelt has made me want to share more than usual because it’s so easy.  My ideal social network experience involves sharing photos, cool websites, new music, etc.  I like to know what my friends like so I can go try it out and see if I like it.  RockMelt makes it easy to share a website or share your status because it’s built into the browser.  In fact, you can see any feed in handy little buttons on your sidebar.  The buttons even show how many tweets or Facebook messages you have unseen. Admittedly, this can be a distraction while working.

The search box built into the browser also functions differently than what most users are used to.  Instead of jumping right to a new tab or page within the browser, RockMelt displays a window that shows all of your results which you can then click to view the link.  There is a button to simply just open up the search results in a standard fashion.  Very handy.

Check out this video to see RockMelt for yourself.

I’ve been reading lately about a company called AppMaker that claims to offer the ability to create a free Apple iPhone App.  It seems pretty cool and is worth looking into.  There are of course some limitations, but overall it seems like a good concept.  You don’t have a lot of freedom in what to display.  It show various types of RSS feeds.  So, it’s basically just an iPhone App version of a blog.  I’m sure there are some creative ways to show or deliver the content.  You can also publish a photo gallery that links to your photostream on Flickr.

According to the website CruchBase “Thousands of brands large and small have created apps using AppMakr, including PBS, Accenture, Harvard Business Review, Maclife, Macworld UK, US Congress, PGA TOUR, Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki, along with churches, music bands, and smaller publications like Racer X.” At least some of the users are a little mo

They list several apps on their website that were created using their services so I downloaded about six.  As I figured, they all function exactly the same.  It’s interesting to see the range in quality of the design that goes into the loading screen, home screen icon, and content found on the app.  It truly is free and you can tell with most of the apps.  None of them featured images that could be viewed clearly on the high retina display.  This also cheapens the look and feel of the app.  I did go through the setup process through their website and did notice that you can now upload images suitable for the high retina screen.  I guess either no one does it or I just wasn’t looking at the right apps.