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12/11/2013

On Going Project http://www.hamareerasoi.com/

03/11/2013

Google Launches Web Designer, A Visual Tool For Building Interactive HTML5 Sites And Ads

Google today announced the launch of Web Designer, a new tool for building interactive HTML5 sites and ads. The company first hinted at this launch in June, but had been quiet about it ever since. Web Designer, which Google calls a “professional-quality design tool,” is now officially in public beta and available for download for Mac and Windows.

As Google notes in today’s announcement, Web Designer was developed to allow advertisers to easily create HTML5 ads for mobile and desktop. Until recently, Google argues, advertisers “didn’t have the tools they needed to easily develop content fit for today’s cross-screen experiences” and Web Designer aims to be the tool to create these experiences.

While this ad pedigree shines through across Web Designer (the default layouts are for DoubleClick rich media ads and AdMob mobile ads, for example), there is nothing in the tool that would prevent you from building interactive single-page sites and animations for other purposes, as well. Some of the features, however, are currently only available for ads, though Google says it plans to expand these tools for other purposes in the future.

At its core, Web Designer is a visual tool, but you can also delve right into the JavaScript and CSS to fine-tune different aspect of your site. Indeed, Web Designer allows you to manipulate all of your code directly in a built-in editor and lets you quickly preview your creations in every browser you have installed on your machine.

The tools come with all the usual visual design tools you’re probably familiar with. Some of the more interesting ones Google has developed for Web Designer include a pen tool for free drawing, as well as a timeline for managing your animations. Web Designer also features the ability to create 3D content using the power of CSS3, as well as a set of pre-built components for galleries, maps and embedded YouTube videos.

For animations, one of the core features of the application, Web Developer features a Quick mode for building animations scene by scene and an advanced mode that gives designers more control over each of the elements on the page.

It’s worth noting that projects like Adobe Muse, Reflow and others include most of Web Designer’s features, too. But by making Web Designer available for free, Google is putting quite a bit of pressure on the incumbents in this space.

Download: http://www.google.com/webdesigner/

It doesn’t matter how brilliant your work is if people can’t see it. Now everything you create is accessible on any screen – desktop, tablet or mobile – without compatibility issues.

03/11/2013

10 Logo Design Tips for a Timeless and Creative Logo

So, are you designing a logo? Alright! That sounds awesome, doesn’t it? And easy too!

Really? Did we just say “easy”?

If you think logo design is an easy process, trust me, that’s a misconception. To begin with, a logo is not merely some colors, fonts and fancy lines put together. It is a brand’s identity, to the extent that, more often than not, a logo is more identifiable than the brand’s name! For an entity so important, the design process requires thinking, artistic inputs and systematic planning. In other words, you don’t simply sit down and draw a logo while watching your favorite anime series.

If that is the case, how does one accomplish the creation of an awesome logo? We shall attempt to answer this very question in this article. Now, I have divided the article into two parts (because one is too mainstream): the first part talks about things that you should do while designing a logo, whereas the second one deals specifically with things you shouldn’t. Sound good? Well then, let’s start!

Logo Design – Things to Consider
1. Be Simple

There are a million ways I can tell you this, but, again, let’s keep it simple: Be simple!

Point is, that a logo is not exactly a testing ground for your illustration and typography skills. It is more a test of your design insight and presentation sense. Let us look at the logo of Nike for that matter:

Most of the time, the logo doesn’t even require a caption or the brand’s name. But we know it is Nike the moment we look at it! They can use it on sign boards and pamphlets, and even stop using their brand name altogether, we still will not be confused about the brand’s identity. That’s simplicity for you!

A complicated logo is not only difficult to identify, but also repeatedly fails in engaging the audience. A logo is an emblem, not a manifesto. Thus, it needs to be kept simple.
2. Be Dynamic

Be it design, art or even writing, flexibility and adaptability go a long way in helping you succeed. To put it in other words, one needs to be dynamic and not static. Being rigid in logo design only leads to no scope for improvement and/or innovation, and when innovation dies, the design also dies.

Pictured: Logo for Sabayon Linux

A logo has to be dynamic. This does not mean that it has to change every week, but it should have a flexible approach. Companies expect their logo to appeal to a diverse spectrum of users. With such diversity, the audience is bound to have different types of tastes and preferences. A rigid logo means if you hate it, you hate it! That does not work in design.
3. Be Versatile

Being versatile goes a long way in making a logo design popular. If your logo is such that it looks great on posters, but horrible on coffee mugs, it will never achieve popularity. Further more, if your logo is a slave to a color scheme, it cannot be called a good logo either — what this means is that a logo should look good even if it is displayed in black and white, or a set of colors that are not part of the original or actual design.

Take a look at Apple’s logo, for instance, that can look good irrespective of the color scheme. This is versatility in logo design portrayed at its very best!

4. Be Unique

This is one of those oft-said but rarely followed tips. How does a logo rise to prominence as a brand’s identity? Simple! By being uniquely identifiable.

Again, let us turn to Apple’s logo. To put things into perspective, here is a simple, perfectly awesome, good to eat, chemical-free and absolutely healthy apple for you:

03/10/2013

What is Web Programming?

What is Web Programming? Programming is the intricate art of telling a computer what to do. "You mean when I say, 'Give me back my research paper you stupid machine', that I'm programming". Umm, no. Programming is giving written instructions in a logical manner that the computer can understand. Essentially, you give the computer small steps of instructions, and the computer goes down the list, executing each one in order. Programming allows you to make new software and have the computer do new things. Web site programming is the same except you write applications or web pages that are used by a web browser.

The good news is that web site programming can be easy! This page will help you understand, what is programming, and why you might want to do web site programming. Web Site Programming is the practice of writing applications that run on a web server and can be used by many different people. Many applications work really well as a web application. Some examples of popular web applications include Flickr, Gmail, and Google Maps. You are able to upload and view pictures, send email and lookup directions using these web applications and they are all made possible through web site programming.

How does web site programming work?

Basically, you will embed code within your normal HTML pages. Something like this:

My Web Page

When you access your page with a browser, your web server will parse, or read through, your HTML page line by line and when it comes across a programming language, it will execute the code. In this case, it writes out the current date on the page and then sends the page back to your web browser. Your web browser just sees a normal web page with a date but the server will generate a different web page when it is loaded on a different date. Dynamic!

What is web programming good for?

Web site programming allows you to turn a simple, static HTML page into a dynamic, Web 2.0 masterpiece. It allows others to interact with your web site and use the application on any computer with Internet access. Web site programming is often easier than programming applications that will run directly on the computer.

Essentially, if you want to make or edit anything dynamic on your website, such as a forum, a guestbook, or even a form submission, you will need to know how to do some web site programming.

What are web programming languages?

All web programming is done with web programming languages. These languages can include static technologies like HTML, XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, and XML. However, most web site programming is done using server-side web programming languages. This code runs on the server and then gives static information back to the web browser. The most popular web programming languages are: PHP, ASP.NET, Ruby on Rails, Perl, ASP classic, Python, and JSP. To learn more about a particular web programming language, select the language below:

Learn about PHP Learn about ASP.NET Learn about Ruby on Rails Learn about Perl Learn about ASP Learn about CGI Learn about Python Learn about JSP.

01/10/2013

30/09/2013

10 skill set for web developer.

What skills do you need?

Software development had a few years of relative calm. But now the rollercoaster is back on track and it's picking up speed, as HTML5 gains a foothold and Windows 8 threatens to significantly change the Windows development landscape. If you want to stay ahead of the curve, you should consider learning at least a few of these 10 software development skills.

1: Mobile development

If you don't think it is worth your time to learn mobile development, think again. According to a recent Gartner report, Android mobile device sales outstripped PC shipments in the third quarter of 2012. Add in the other big-name mobile devices (iPhones, iPads, and even the "dying" RIM devices), and what you see is that mobile devices now dwarf PCs in sales. What does this mean? If you make your living from software that can run only on a PC (which includes Web sites that don't work or are hard to use on mobile devices), now is the time to learn mobile development.

2: NoSQL

I appreciate a well-designed relational database schema as much as the next person, but they just are not appropriate for every project. We've been using them even when they aren't the best tool because the alternatives haven't been great. The last few years have seen the introduction of a wide variety of NoSQL database systems. And now that major service vendors (like Amazon and Microsoft) support NoSQL as well, there is no technical limitation on their use. Are they right for every project? No. Are they going to replace traditional databases? In some projects, and for some developers, definitely. This is the year to learn how to use them, as they will only become more prevalent in the year to follow.

3: Unit testing

We've seen unit testing go from being, "Oh, that's neat" to being a best practice in the industry. And with the increasing use of dynamic languages, unit testing is becoming more and more important. A wide variety of tools and frameworks are available for unit testing. If you do not know how to do it, now is the time to learn. This is the year where it goes from "resume enhancement" to "resume requirement."

4: Python or Ruby

Not every project is a good fit for a dynamic language, but a lot of projects are better done in them. PHP has been a winner in the industry for some time, but Python and Ruby are now being taken seriously as well. Strong arguments can be made for Ruby + Rails (or Ruby + Sinatra) or Python + Django as excellent platforms for Web development, and Python has long been a favorite for "utility" work. Learning Python or Ruby in addition to your existing skill set gives you a useful alternative and a better way to get certain projects done.

5: HTML5

HTML5 is quickly pulling away from the station. The release of IE 10 made the full power of HTML5 available to most users (those not stuck with IE 6 or IE 8). Learning HTML5 now positions you to be on the forefront of the next generation of applications. Oh, and most mobile devices already have excellent support for it, so it is a great way to get into mobile development too. And don't forget: HTML5 is one route for UI definitions in Windows 8.

6: Windows 8

Windows 8 may be getting off to a slow start, but being the top dog in an app store is often based on being the first dog in the race. The first mover advantage is huge. It is better to be in the Windows Store now than to take a wait-and-see approach. Even if Windows 8 sales disappoint, it's better to be the only fish in a small pond than a fish of any size in a big pond, as recent app sales numbers have shown.

7: RESTful Webservices

While I personally prefer the convenience and ease of working with SOAP in the confines of Visual Studio, REST is booming. Even Microsoft is starting to embrace it with OData. JSON really was the final straw on this matter, relegating SOAP to be for server-to-server work only. Unless your applications can run in isolation, not knowing REST is going to hold you back.

8: JavaScript

Before Windows 8, it was easy for non-Web developers to look at JavaScript as a Web-only language. No more! JavaScript is now a first-class citizen for native desktop and tablet development, thanks to the Windows 8 Modern UI and WinRT API. XAML + C # or VB.NET may be a good way for you to get things done. But if you want to maximize what you can get out of your knowledge, HTML5 and JavaScript are the best bet. They give you Web and Modern UI/WinRT, and you can use them for some of the cross-platform mobile systems out there, like Appcelerator's Titanium product.

9: jQuery

If you are going to do any kind of Web development where you are working directly with HTML, jQuery is a must-know skill. While there are plenty of credible alternatives, jQuery is quickly turning into the de facto tool for rich UIs with HTML.

10: User experience

Other than getting that first mover advantage in new app stores, there is little to differentiate many applications on a feature basis; it's a crowded field. User experience, on the other hand, is a different story.

Creating a great user experience is not easy; it starts before anyone even downloads your application and continues through to the uninstall process. In the age of instant $0.99 and free app downloads, and ad-supported Web apps, the barriers to switching to another application are mighty low. If your user experience is poor, do not expect much business.

30/09/2013

10 tips for a logo design.

Designing logos is just like any other type of design work, to be professional you’ll need to pay attention to details. Even a great idea can be ruined by not thinking about simple things, the following tips will help you to keep your concepts safe.

1. Work with vectors This probably sounds obvious to most designers out there, but it isn’t to everybody so I repeat it as often as I can to avoid receiving those damn jpeg logos. Vector formats are the ones that will allow the most variations for your logo.

2. Don’t use more than 2 fonts There is many nice fonts out there and we would all love to use as many as we can. Unfortunately using too many fonts will most of the time result in a loss of coherence. Using two different fonts can be good to create a contrast, catching the eye.

3. Keep it readable If people can’t read your logo, it’s useless to have one. This sounds like dumb advice again, but it’s easy to get caught in creating letters or distorting a font until it becomes unreadable. Always stay aware of that when working on your logo.

4. Test sizes Your logo should resize well at any size, whether it’s huge on a truck or tiny on a badge.

5. Adapt it for dark backgrounds So you’ve got a wonderful looking dark logo, but now your client want to get it on his black car. It’s usually not too hard to adapt it, but you’ll look more professional if you already got that case figured out.

6. Make sure it works well in black and white I have a very simple technique for that: I work every logo in black and white before adding any colour. This way choices are made judging by the shapes and you are not distracted by anything else. It makes it much easier to know that your logo will work well in shades of grey afterwards.

7. Don’t include photos in your logo Well… this one goes along with the first tip. First, photos are not vectors. Photos also don’t scale, have no branding value and are hard to adapt for any use.

8. Look at it upside-down This is a tip I got from my teachers in graphic design school, looking at your logo (or any printed design really) will get the meaning out of the way and give you a new look at the design’s balance and white spaces. Try it!

9. Don’t follow trends It’s often hard to escape trends, especially if you’re passionated and love to look at inspiring logos on design sites. Your logo has to work on the long run, so try to avoid the web 1.0 swoosh or the web 2.0 reflection.

10. Get specific feedback Asking people’s opinion is worthless if you don’t know what informations you want to get, so when getting feedback, try asking specific questions (eg. does your logo expresses the industry of the company?).

To take your logo design skills one step further, you should check out these great sites:

Logolog, blog dedicated to logo design.

Brand New, opinions on corporate and brand identity

Logo Pond, identity inspiration.

Logo Design Love, another blog dedicated to logo design.

Logo of the Day, daily logo design inspiration.

29/09/2013

The 4 Most Important Skills for a Software Developer

With the vast array of technology, language and platform choices available today, it can be very difficult to figure out where to best invest time in training your skills as a software developer.

I’m often asked advice on how to be a better programmer.

Most often the question someone asks is based on whether or not they should invest their time in a particular programming language or technology versus another.

I’ve been giving this quite a bit of thought lately and I’ve come up with what I think are the most important and timeless skills that a software developer can attain which will give them the best career opportunities and make them the most effective.

Skill 1: Solving Problems

I’ve talked about the need to learn how to solve problems before and I’ve even given some steps of how to learn to solve problems, because I believe this skill is critical to any software developer.

Software development is 100% about solving problems.

Without problems there wouldn’t be a need for software.

All software is designed to solve some user problem and within that general solution is a wide array of smaller problems that make it up.

It really doesn’t matter what programming language or technology you use, if you can’t solve problems, you won’t be very good at developing software.

It is amazing how bad most developers are at solving problems.

I constantly hear complaints about job interviews that are too hard because they ask the developer to solve some difficult problem.

I’ve talked about why hard interviews are good and part of the reason is because they test a developer’s ability to solve problems.

I know that many developers still disagree with me about this point and don’t see why a site like TopCoder would improve their development skills so much, but I know from personal experience that it was the practice of solving problems on TopCoder that was the turning point in my career.

Think about a carpenter. If you want be a successful carpenter, you should probably be good at cutting wood. You should probably have practiced doing all kinds of cuts and using many different tools to cut wood.

It doesn’t matter how many years experience in carpentry you have had or how well you can design furniture or cabinetry if every time you try to cut wood you struggle with making the cuts.

Cutting wood is a base skill of carpentry, just like problem solving is the base skill of software development.

Skill 2: Teaching Yourself

There is probably no more important skill in life than learning to learn.

This skill is especially important in software development, because no field I know of changes more rapidly than software development.

You can’t know everything about everything. You can’t even really invest the time it takes to be a master of one particular framework or technology—things are moving way too fast!

Instead you need the ability to quickly acquire the knowledge you need for the task at hand.

If you truly want to have a skill that will propel you through your software development career, learn how to teach yourself.

The only way to develop this skill is to put it into use. Go out and learn a new programming language or technology, even if you think you’ll never use it. You’ll be surprised how quickly you may be able to pick it up because of the foundation you will already have in what you know.

If you can quickly adapt to the rapidly changing software development market and technologies and platforms associated with it, you will have skills that will always be in demand.

Although I am a bit skeptical of some of Tim Ferris’s claims, he has an excellent book called the 4-Hour Chef which has some great techniques about how to learn things rapidly. (I was wanting to write a book about this very subject.)

Skill 3: Naming

When people ask me what I do all day, I mostly say “read things other people name and name things.”

Ok, no one really asks me that and I wouldn’t really answer it that way, but I certainly could.

Software development is all about describing the metaphysical. Most of what we are building can’t be seen.

We have to construct in our minds an entire world with authorization managers taking authorization requests and spitting out authorization response alongside user repositories using user factories to assemble new users.

Every time you are writing code you are naming things. When you read code that you or someone else has written, you are gaining most of your understanding about that code from the names of things in that code.

Most of the time I can accurately predict a developer’s skill level by looking at how they have named methods, variables and classes in code they have written.

A developer who lacks the ability to give good names to concepts and data in their code is like a mute translator. It doesn’t matter if you can understand something, if you can’t adequately explain it, the moment it leaves your head it is gone.

The best way to improve this skill is to always put it into practice. I’ll often rename things in code I am just reading to get an understanding. As I start to understand what a method is doing, I’ll change the name to match that understanding. I’ll do this while I am reading the code, not even making any logic changes to it.

The more you focus on giving good names to things, the better at it you will become.

This is also the most visible thing about your code. It is hard to know if your code is correct or efficient by looking at it, but if I read it and can understand it, I am going to assume you know what you are doing.

Skill 4: Dealing with People

I list this as last, but in many cases you could say it is the first or most important skill.

Everywhere you go there are people.

Unless you work alone and develop software just for yourself, other people are going to influence your career as a software developer.

I’ve talked about why you might not want to criticize someone else before, but there is much more to dealing with people than not pi***ng them off.

I always go back to the famous book by Dale Carnegie, “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” because this book is so important in learning how to be a successful human being.

I’ve said it before, but if you want to develop people skills, read this book!

The basic problem is that humans are not logical creatures, we are emotional ones. Sure, we like to pride ourselves on our ability to reason, but the reality is that most decisions we make are more influenced by emotion than reason.

What this means for you as a software developer is that unless you can effectively deal with other developers, managers, and even customers, you will constantly face trouble despite how good your ideas are or how valuable your skills are.

Being active and involved in the software development community in general can also help you immensely in your career. It is not just about networking, but getting your name out there and building good Karma.

Doing this successfully hinges directly on your ability to deal with people. (Want to take a big shortcut in learning how to deal with people? It’s simple. Be nice!)

What about practical skills?

Notice I didn’t include anything in my list about a particular technology or even as broad a skill as web development or mobile development?

It is certainly important to have a solid foundation in a couple of technology areas, but what those areas are is not nearly as important as the 4 skills I mention above.

If you can solve problems, learn things quickly, name things well and deal with people, you will have a much greater level of success in the long run than you will in specializing in any particular technology.

With that said, of course it is important to thoroughly learn a programming language or two and to have a general area of specialization, but as long as you don’t go too far off the beaten path with those choices and you focus on these 4 important skills, you will be ok. (You could even learn C++

)

28/09/2013

15 Qualities Every Software Engineer Should Have

Although you might envision software engineers as geeks who lack social skills and live in their mothers’ basements, these individuals actually require qualities that could make them suitable to run as president of the U.S. Visionaries who love code and attention to detail can fit into this field, but there are other skills and personality traits that can help snag that coveted job. And, looking in from the outside, the developers who share these attributes are the same folks who would make you want to quit your job to start a company.

Technical Skills

1. Basic Computer Science Skills: Hopefully, any software engineer will have these skills and more. Research skills, reading comprehension, the ability to know how to use library functions, and understanding computing problems, design patterns, and frameworks are other skills that are valuable to have. A great class involves students and helps them to develop skills in logical thinking, creative problem-solving and communication. Classes that incorporate a team approach, requiring clear communication among members as they solve a

solution to others, enables graduates to work this way at their jobs. 2. Passion for Code: Programming isn’t for the uninterested. You must have a passion for code, developing it from a purely scientific skill into a craft or an art. Building code is much like developing a painting, a sculpture, or a symphony. With the popularity of Open Source, you don’t have to be alone in code creation — the ability to work with software engineers and developers from around the world is possibly through the Internet. 3. Fearless Refactoring: Refactoring is the ability to improve code without changing what it does. The ability to realize that no one should be a slave to original code is key here — that old code can become unstable and incompatible over time. Refactoring enables the developer to own the code, instead of the code owning you. 4. Develops Quality: In a former era, engineers thought testing was

understand the value of tests, because their goal is to create a working system. Exposing bugs and eliminating them is the best way to develop stellar code. But a good engineer also knows not to waste time writing trivial or redundant tests, instead focusing on testing the essential parts of each component. 5. Willing to Leverage Existing Code: Why invent the wheel when it’s already working? Life is too short to continuously invent new codes and libraries. Reuse of internal infrastructure, use of third-party libraries, and leveraging web-scale services such as the ones offered by Amazon, are marks of a software genius. 6. Focus on Usable and Maintainable Code: Software always works better then it is well designed and user-centric. Good engineers work hard to make the system simple and usable. They think about customers all the time and do not try to invent convoluted stuff that can only be understood and appreciated by geeks. A disciplined engineer thinks about the maintainability and evolution of the code from its first line, as well. Expressive names for methods and variables can make the code self-explanatory. 7. Can Code in Multiple Languages: Writing FORTRAN in any language is just the tip of the iceberg. Just like a person who can speak several languages, an engineer who isn’t tied to one code language can think outside the box and is a more desirable hire. A willingness to learn new languages, new libraries and new ways of building systems goes a long way to creating a great software engineer.

Personal Traits

8. Vision: What is the use in developing code, when it won’t be applicable a year or two down the road? Visionaries create code and libraries that are open to refactoring, and easy to use in all code languages. Being able to see the impacts of present-day decisions is paramount to building great software. 9. Attention to Detail: If you get angry about misspelled database columns, “uncommented” code, projects that aren’t checked into source control, software that’s not unit tested, unimplemented features, and so on, then you probably try to avoid those issues yourself. Bad installation packages, sloppy deployments, or a misspelled column name can bring down entire systems. Be obsessive about details, and you’ll be on your way to becoming a software star. 10. Business Acumen: If you don’t understand why your software development is so important to your clients’ livelihoods, consider this NASA story. “This software never crashes. It never needs to be re-booted. This software is bug-free. It is perfect, as perfect as human beings have achieved. Consider these stats : the last three versions of the program — each 420,000 lines long-had just one error each. The last 11 versions of this software had a total of 17 errors. Commercial programs of equivalent complexity would have 5,000 errors.” The ability to understand why all the coding is done, as it the fruit for any customer or client. 11. Curiosity: The best software engineers are curious about why something is done one way or another, yet with the added ability of being objective about the solutions. Many engineers we know got in trouble as kids for taking things apart to see how they worked. Putting together software is just a creative, and many software engineers also have artistic hobbies. This creativity and curiosity is required to think outside the box when designing programs. The thrill you get from making something work is what keeps you going. 12. Experience: If you’ve been tinkering with software programs since you were a kid, your abilities as an adult will be quadrupled. Beyond hands-on experience, you might also be addicted to math and science, and the ability to stay organized. At the same time, great software engineers also realize that they don’t know it all…the ability to continue to learn is essential in a field where change is a constant. 13. Discipline: Although you may have passion for your job, this love for your work and for the next project doesn’t mean that you can be sloppy. Attention to detail is important, but so is an ability to stay organized. So much bad code belongs to developers who don’t do what they know should be done. 14. Patience: Bugs are natural. Design glitches are normal. Sloppy coding by other engineers occurs often. Patience is a key quality for software engineers who want to work in this field. 15. Teamwork: Few projects are small enough or require so few skills that one person can do them well. Learning how to work as a team in college is one way to get over that “hermit” image…and working as a team online or in the office can only produce stellar projects. Successful engineers also become good communicators. They know how to write clear and concise reports and instructions, and know how to convey ideas to clients and customers.