Group items tagged

teachers in middle school were allowing kids to read their books on their e-readers,”

the Harry Potter series, remains unavailable electronically so far, even though J.K. Rowling’s agent said last year that they were at least on the horizon. Hopefully the exploding popularity of children’s e-books will convince them to get them available as soon as possible so they can get in on this boom.

Platform savvy: distinct differences between platforms and must take each into account. Apps are not a panacea, need to design for browsers as well, they are the lowest common denominator.

Keynote is a very powerful prototyping tool and have been using it almost exclusively.

The more features the less people tend to like the app. Killer apps do one to three things well.

App should be specific, useful and easy to use. Took several months to introduce full screen photos into the app because it required so many design changes from other departments. You have to start with a simple working simple and then gradually evolve to more complex.

People expect your app to look and feel the way the platform wants. Need to read iPad/iPhone Human Interface Guidelines. Android, Blackberry have similar guidelines.

Need to achieve the Kindle’s sense of “calm” even though you are working with a glowing screen.

Decision to come out with first app “Editor’s Choice” was a business decision, not a technology decision. Major criticism was that didn’t have full content. But after released full content app received a lot of criticism that had too much content. People seem to be using the iPad app the same way they would use the paper media – breakfast, lunch, evening and weekends.

How the device interacts with the environment. Different from a computer – can be inside or outside, stationary or moving, focused or distracted.

Need to understand the “habit fields” that surround the device.

Can build out 80 – 90% of application just using sketches.

Should think about the culture that surrounds the device. Think about platforms as cultures. Five elements of culture: population, market share and demographics; customs, styles, governance and beliefs.

Touch is the first interaction, working with a hand not a pointer. A clumsy and large interactive method, also a more intimate experience. For USA Today wanted large touch contacts, reduce interactive areas.

Think about how people are holding the devices – laps, lie down, cradle in arm, flat on a desk, propped up on a counter.

They put controls, as opposed to tap targets, at the edges to make them easier to access while holding the iPad.

the reality is that HTML 5 is the future of books and content.

The Daily is being iterated on a daily basis and everyone should read it to see how it changes day to day.

What is The Daily selling – an experience. Magazine layouts translating one to one to iPad is a slippery slope because need to train the user when you take non-interactive presentation and make it interactive.

Dual modes on iPad, landscape and portrait, requires a pretty astute user to figure out what is going on.

epub is basically HTML, already lots of software that uses it (Kindle Reader, Scribd, Ibis reader, Monocle, Google Docs, Adobe, Treesaver.js).;

Epub doesn’t have to be ugly and version 3.0 will have a lot of interactive features that may be an alternative to interactive Apps; it is basically a wrapper for HTML 5 and CSS.

Tablet content has 3 cornerstones: make compelling, steal worthy content; remember accessibility; when in doubt use HTML 5, it can be wrapped in native iOS, like the New Yorker app does.. Will see a lot more advancement in Webkit views. Kindle, as a device, is the most underrated device ever – never have to charge the battery, can throw it around, gets lost in a pile of papers, have a 1,000 books on it for only $130, wireless connectivity around the world, syncs, connects notes.