Friday, May 2, 2014

15 Classic Business Cards Of Tech Legends

While you have plenty of options to leave an impression online, offline, the business card still serves a primary use for the "here’s how you can contact me" approach. There are plenty of very interesting business card designs but if you have ever wondered what the business cards of tech legends like Bill Gates and Steve Wozniak looked like, have we got a compilation for you.

bill gates intro

Below are 15 name cards belonging to people who have made a huge mark in the online and tech world. These names are probably not unfamiliar to the lot of you even though the designs really reflect the days of yesteryears. Some cards exude formality, others a sense of cheekiness. How far they’ve come from the days these business cards were making their rounds.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook. The co-founder and CEO of Facebook has the world at his fingertips and made himself clear to the world with the phrase "I’m CEO, Bitch" on his name card. (Image Source: anthonylee)

mark zuckerberg

Steve Jobs, Apple. Back in the day, the founder of Apple went by with a relatively simple name card. (Image Source: ofisyasami)

steve jobs

Jerry Yang, Yahoo!. The chief of Yahoo opted for a more fun approach with his name card. And just look at that email: jerry@yahoo.com. You can’t find emails like that anymore. (Image Source: bitrebels)

jerry yang

Eric Schmidt, Google. Google’s former CEO and now executive chairman used a formal and simple name card to introduce himself to fellow businessmen. The color for g seemed a little different though. (Image Source: bitrebels)

eric schmidt

Bill Gates, Microsoft. The backbone of Microsoft used bright orange as the colour palette for his name card. He even used his given name, William. (Image Source: designtaxi)

bill gates

Larry Page, Google. The co-founder and CEO of Google, Larry Page made sure everyone knew the company he was working for with the massive Google! logo in the centre. (Image Source: businessinsider)

larry page

Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple. Wozniak went for a different approach as compared to Jobs. The co-founder of Apple opted for a metallic, almost credit-card-like feel for his name card. (Image Source: topdesignmag)

steve wozniak

Evan Williams, Twitter. Williams went for a very simple design for his business card. It looks like it is made from recycled paper! (Image Source: clubsoda)

evan williams

Mitchell Baker, Mozilla. Mozilla’s former chairman bore the original dinosaur logo of Mozilla on her business card. (Image Source: lizardwrangler)

mitchell baker

Meg Whitman, HP. CEO of Hewlett-Packard keeping it simple with her business card. (Image Source: startiger)

meg whitman

Tim Berners-Lee, founder of WWW. A man that many people thank today for inventing the world wide web, Berners-Lee went by with this classic business card design. (Image Source: telenet)

tim berners-lee

Kevin Mitnick, ‘World’s Most Wanted’ hacker. Even the world’s most wanted hacker had his very own business card! It certainly is made to impress! (Image Source: acumendesign)

kevin mitnick

Richard Stallman, GNU. Stallman is known for his free software movement and for launching the GNU project â€" and less on his unusual sense of humor. (Image Source: cngulu)

richard stallman

Wright Brothers, Cycle Company. The Wright brothers were known to have built the world’s first successful airplane. This was the name card they used when they started their own company. (Image Source: psprint)

wright brothers

John Donahoe, eBay. eBay is famous for being a successful platform for online shopping. The CEO used a classic design for his business card. (Image Source: auctiva)

john donahoe

Thursday, May 1, 2014

10 Frameworks to Build Mobile Application with HTML, CSS & JavaScript

For many web developers, which may only be familiar with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, developing a native mobile app could be unfamiliar territory. Technically speaking, mobile apps in Android, iOS, and Windows Phone are built using completely different programming languages; an Android app uses Java, an iOS app uses Objective-C, while a Windows Phone app uses .NET.

But now, anyone with a decent knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript can build a mobile application. One key advantage of using web technology to build your app is Portability. Using a packager/compiler, like PhoneGap, you will be able to port and install your app on many different platforms.

There are a number of frameworks that make this possible. They also have done half of the hard work to bridge the gap between web and mobile platforms. Here we have put together 10 of the best mobile frameworks that we could find. If you are ready to build the next billion-dollar app let’s check out the list.

1. jQuery Mobile

jQueryMobile is a robust mobile development framework to build cross-mobile-platform app. jQuery Mobile support a wide range of different platforms, from a regular desktop, smart phone, tablet, or an e-reader device like Nook or Kindle. Similar to its sibling, jQuery UI, jQuery Mobile comprises a number of UI that, in this case, is optimized for mobile and touch-enabled devices.

Recommended Reading: Mobile App Design/Dev: Beginner’s Guide To JQuery Mobile

2. Cordova / PhoneGap

PhoneGap is essentially based on Cordova. Cordova/Phonegap provides a set JavaScript APIs that connect to the device’s native functions such as Camera, Compass, Contacts, and Geolocation. Cordova/Phonegap lets us build a mobile application without the native programming language; instead we can use a framework like jQuery Mobile. It will compile your app using the platform’s SDK and will be ready to install on the platform it supports including iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry and Web OS.

3. Sencha Touch

Sencha Touch is a mobile framework powered by HTML5 and CSS3, providing APIs, animations, and components that are compatible with the current mobile platforms and browsers. Sencha Touch supports both Cordova and PhoneGap; you can compile your app, and submit your app to the respective platform’s App Stores. In addition, Sencha Touch provides a set of themes for iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone, Tizen, and a variety of other platforms to help your app feel like a native app.

4. Ratchet

Ratchet was originally used by Twitter as an internal tool to create their mobile app prototype which is then released publicly as an open source project. Ratchet comes with a collection of User Interface and JavaScript plugins for building simple mobile apps, providing reusable HTML classes. In version 2.0, Ratchet is also shipped with its proprietary font icon set named Ratcheticon and two pre-made UI themes for iOS and Android.

5. Ionic

If you are concerned with your app performance, Ionic is the right framework for you. Ionic is an HTML5 mobile framework with focus on performance, by leveraging hardware acceleration, and it requires no third-party JS library. It works best together with Angular.js to build an interactive app. Similar to Ratchet, Ionic is shipped with a nicely crafted font icon set, Ionicons, and a bunch of reusable HTML classes to build the mobile UI.

6. Lungo

Lungo is a lightweight mobile framework based on HTML5 and CSS3. It has very nice default styles that you can use as a starting point to design your mobile app. Aside for the mobile UI components, Lungo brings a number of JavaScript API to control your app. Lungo supports the following platforms: iOS, Android, Blackberry and Firefox OS.

7. jQT

jQT is a Zepto plugin for mobile framework primarily designed for Webkit browsers. jQT is easily customizable and extensible. It comes with a theme that can be modified using Sass/Compass, cool 3D transition that is adjustable via CSS3, plus developers could also extend jQT with their own required functionalities.

8. Junior

Junior is also a Zepto plugin for building a mobile app similar to jQT. But Junior is dependent on several external libraries for some features to work, namely Backbone.js, Flickable.js for creating a swipe-able slider, and Ratchet for the UI scaffold.

9. Jo

Jo supports a wide variety of mobile platforms including Tizen and Chrome OS. Jo also comes with a starter, that is powered by CSS3, so it makes it easy for web developers at any level of experience to grasp and start styling their apps. In addition, you can use Jo along with PhoneGap or Cordova to pack your app for use on mobile platform.

10. Famo.us

A new kid on the mobile framework block, Famo.us promises to eliminate HTML5 performance issue on mobile devices with its lightweight JavaScript engine (only 64k). Famo.us, reportedly, will a also launch a cloud-based service to package your app to publish to the AppStore â€" it sounds like Phonegap and Sencha will get a new competitor soon. You can sign up as a beta tester in www.famo.us to get your hands on it.