“Breathtaking NASA Photos” plus 1 more - Speckyboy Design Magazine Feed |
| Posted: 23 Feb 2012 12:19 AM PST Unless you can afford a ticket to space ($200,000 with Virgin Galactic), the only way we will ever be able to clearly view our planet in its entirety or any distant galaxies is through the photographs released by NASA (The National Aeronautics and Space Agency). So, here are a few of my favorite pictures taken by NASA from its various space programs. You will find them breathtaking. (All photographs are Copyright NASA.) Sun Over EarthEarth’s horizon as the sun sets over the Pacific Ocean. Taken onboard the International Space Station (ISS). Space Shuttle Endeavour Over EarthThe space shuttle Endeavour over the colorful horizon of earth. Taken by one of the Expedition 22 crew member before the shuttle was docked with the International Space Station. The International Space Station from AboveThe International Space Station (ISS) is the largest human-made object ever to orbit the Earth. Its so big that you can sometimes see it drifting overhead… After the departure of the space shuttle Endeavour from the space station, a crew member captured this stunning image of the space station high above the clouds, waters and the land. Installs Panoramic Space WindowFloating just below the International Space Station, astronaut Nicholas Patrick adds the final finishing touches to the newly installed space windows hovering about 340 kilometers over the earth’s surface. Space Station Over EarthThe International Space Station pictured from the space shuttle discovery after its undocking from the ISS. The International Space Station and the Docked Space Shuttle EndeavouThe International Space Station docked together the space shuttle Endeavour approximately 350 km from the ground. Sun Over EarthThe bright sun shining on the space station… Aurora Australis Over Indian OceanAurora Australis over the southern Indian ocean during night time. Pictured from the International Space Station. Hurricane DanielleThe International Space Station’s view of the hurricane Danielle. Magnificent Details in a Dusty Spiral GalaxyA majestic spiral galaxy imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995. Light and Shadow in the Carina NebulaA mysterious and complex structure within the Carina Nebula obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope. NGC 281 is a bustling hub of star formation about 10,000 light years awayA bursting hub of stars about 10,000 light years away. Comets Kick up Dust in Helix NebulaAn often photographed cosmic starlet for its resemblance to a giant eye and its colors. A Grazing Encounter Between Two Spiral GalaxiesTwo spiral galaxies pass each other. The near-collision image caught by the Hubble Space Telescope. Crab Nebula: Energy for 100,000 SunsA stars’s death observed on earth as the supernova of 1054 A.D. After almost a thousand years, this is the remains left behind. The Sombrero Galaxy from HubbleA brilliant white core encircled by thick dust lanes in this amazing spiral galaxy. The galaxy is 50,000 light-years across and 28 million light years from Earth… When Galaxies OverlapTwo large spiral galaxies which just happen to almost exactly line up. The foreground spiral is viewed nearly face-on, its pinwheel shape defined by young bright star clusters. NGC 6188 and NGC 6164Amazing shapes in clouds in NGC 6188 about 4,000 light-years away. The Wizard NebulaLocated at 8,000 light-years away, the Wizard Nebula it has gravitation strong enough to form stars, and stellar winds and radiations powerful enough to create and dissolve towers of gas. Rigel and the Witch Head NebulaDouble, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. Irregular Galaxy NGC 55About 180,000 light-years away and is a well known satellite of our own Milky Way Galaxy. Andromeda Island UniverseThe most distant object easily visible to the unaided eye is M31, the great Andromeda Galaxy some two million light-years away. Centaurus AEleven million light-years away, Centaurus A is the closest active galaxy to planet Earth. Young Suns of NGC 71293,000 light-years away lie young suns within the dusty NGC 7129. These suns are at a a very tender age, only a few million years old. Star Cluster R136 Bursts OutSome of the hottest, largest and most massive stars known. These lie in the center of the star-forming region 30 Doradus. In the Arms of M83More than twelve million light-years away lie this big, bright and beautiful spiral galaxy. The Color of IC 1795IC 1795 is located about 7,500 light years away toward the constellation of Cassiopeia. Amazing Northern Lights Time-Lapse Video from NASANasa has recently released this amazing time-lapse video of The Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) created using over 500 still images. You might also like…20 Inspirational and Free Downloadable Photography Magazines →
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| Tips for Wireframing a Usable Mobile App Interface Posted: 22 Feb 2012 09:26 AM PST A lot of time and energy is required to build mobile iOS/Android apps. Aside from the coding and UI design you need to plan functionality ahead of time. This way you can start programming immediately and implement key features without a hassle. The best way to start off a mobile application is through wireframing. This is a design process where you lay out each of the app’s views in detail. This could be just a rough sketch, but many designers will spend time going that extra step. Wireframing is all up to your personal decisions and how much pre-planning needs to be done. I’ve gone into some detailed tips below focusing on creative techniques for intuitive wireframe designs. Planning Application ViewsEach application is made up of a series of pages called views. These views may contain important content, a table listing, photo gallery, numerical dial pad, or any number of features. When sitting down to plan a wireframe you need to consider the many possible views you’ll encounter. A great place to start is on your app’s root view – this is the first page your users will see when the application finishes loading. Consider which elements are vital to the interface right off the bat. Most likely some form of navigation between pages will be very important. Another great technique is to create a bulleted list of all the generic views. This should only include unique interfaces even if you’re going to have tens of hundreds of the same page style. The purpose here is to dictate how the application flows, not to define content. A definitive flow between your views will make traversing the app all so much simpler. Navigation RoutesWireframing your navigation is a lot simpler than you’d think. If you have enough paper just sketch out views which stem off your root view then connect them through a series of arrows. You can pinpoint a specific tab or button on the view which triggers this new page to load. This can be accomplished using wireframe software and in-browser apps such as Mockflow. Again, you’ll come out feeling a lot safer if you have a diagram to look over. This planning step is crucial to make sure you don’t leave out any important UI elements. For example many applications will have a “Config” or “About” button located in the top navigation bar. But this may only display on your root page and none of the other internal views. Denote this in your early wireframe sketches so you’ll remember such functionality when building the app. User InteractionNot all applications will have a means for interactivity. But if you plan on taking any input from visitors it’s important to plan this out. Keyboards and popup modal messages are just some of the smaller interfaces to deal with. Additionally you will have to route functions to the different “submit” buttons on these form pages. Use different shapes for separating the function content from your view layouts. I prefer speech bubbles which outline how the function will process data. This scheme can get much more confusing when you include a backend database such as SQLite. Try to jot down even a few notes to remind yourself when building the custom functions later on. For each of the view displays you’ll also need to denote which type of interface to handle. For example, you could denote a small key to mention the animation of pulling up a user keyboard or number pad. Also label each input field based on what type of data will be represented(username, password, e-mail address, etc). Setup Filler ContentWireframing apps isn’t about planning out the intricate details within each view. You want to accommodate writing in page text and headers with filler content. If you’re using a pen or pencil this could be squiggly lines in the shape of sentences. Whatever you need to use to delineate text content. But along with text you may also have to display similar types of page media. Any photos should be fitted ahead of time so you know how they will affect the page layout. It’s super easy to do, The only text you may want to consider ahead of time are navigation pieces. Since you may already know which types of views and content will be displayed it’s simple to write in these in. This includes table cell views and tab bar icons, but also buttons you place along the top navigation bar. Open Source TemplatesPlenty of designers all over the world have been working years on prototypes and wireframing. It’s certainly a lot easier to begin this process if you have a template to work from. Thankfully the open source community has contributed profoundly in this effort to build a free and studious Internet. We have previously written about free wireframing tools which you can find on the web. A couple of Google searches will also turn up some useful results. In any case you shouldn’t feel obligated to work with paper & pencil. And since so many digital freebies are available it’s easier to get started now than ever before! Look Over Some ExamplesWhat good is talking about building wireframes when you may not even be familiar with them? In theory this is great practice for building any application(even a website). But far too few designers will actually take the stand and put this theory of knowledge into practice. So I suggest spending a bit of time browsing through the web for examples of app UI sketches. Many talented designers have shared screenshots and photos on Flickr which can give you a glimpse of their formatting. Similarly we had written a piece back in 2011 featuring 20 examples of web/mobile wireframes. It’s a very inspirational collection and boasts a diversity of techniques you may pick up on. And since trends are always changing don’t be afraid to customize your wireframe sketches with unique ideologies. ConclusionThe process of sketching out an application’s user interface is wonderfully exhilarating. It gives you a chance to peek into how your creation will look and feel without the restriction of finer-detail elements. It can also pave the way for an easier development cycle when you understand what needs to be programmed. Ultimately building a rough draft of any creative project should follow your own methods. Think about what feels right and how you can make it work for your application. Don’t over-think the process too much or you’ll get caught up in your own head. Along with the examples in our previous post let us know your thoughts in the comments below. You might also like…10 Completely Free Wireframe and Mockup Applications →
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