Creed’s Favorite Apps – From the web design and web development teams

Merry Christmas from Creed Interactive. Here is a sampling of the various apps that our web designers and web developers enjoy. Hope you have fun downloading them!

 

Here are all of the links:
Galcon       -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/galcon-fusion/id364902651?mt=8
Race Penguin             -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/racing-penguin-flying-free/id443637419?mt=8
Pinball HD                   -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pinball-hd/id363592836?mt=8
Monster Coloring Book                -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/monster-coloring-book/id435676573?mt=8
SaiSuke     -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/saisuke-google-calendar-sync/id289228987?mt=8
Pimp Your Screen      -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pimp-your-screen-your-device/id419864550?mt=8
Pinterest   -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pinterest/id429047995?mt=8
Design*Sponge Podcast               -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/design-sponge-podcasts/id150149606
HGTV: Design Star     -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/hgtv-design-star-season-6/id446495063
Cut the Rope              -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cut-the-rope/id380293530?mt=8
Angry Birds                 -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/angry-birds-seasons-hd/id398329664?mt=8
Maps         -                 Already on your device
TiltShiftGenerator      -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tiltshift-generator-for-ipad/id364225705?mt=8
Bakodo      -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bakodo-barcode-scanner-qr/id371932548?mt=8
Flipboard   -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flipboard/id358801284?mt=8
SketchBookExpress   -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sketchbook-express/id410871280?mt=8
CycleTracks               -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cycletracks/id338203326?mt=8
ActionMethod            -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/action-method/id305796271?mt=8
GoodReader                -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/goodreader-for-iphone/id306277111?mt=8
FlyDelta    -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fly-delta/id388491656?mt=8
OpenTable                  -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/opentable/id296581815?mt=8
SongKick   -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/songkick-concerts/id438690886?mt=8
iBooks       -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ibooks/id364709193?mt=8
Star Walk  -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/star-walk-for-ipad-interactive/id363486802?mt=8
Scrabble    -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scrabble-for-ipad/id363306776?mt=8
GarageBand                -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/garageband/id408709785?mt=8
Animoog   -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/animoog/id471638724?mt=8
Night Stand                 -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/night-stand-for-ipad-social/id414870358?mt=8
Welder      -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/w.e.l.d.e.r./id471056941?mt=8
News360   -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/news360-for-ipad/id420397564?mt=8
StumbleUpon              -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/stumbleupon!/id386244833?mt=8
Where’s My Water?   -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wheres-my-water/id449735650?mt=8
Wolfram Alpha           -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wolframalpha/id334989259?mt=8
Dropbox    -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dropbox/id327630330?mt=8
Evernote   -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/evernote/id281796108?mt=8
iHeartRadio                -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iheartradio/id290638154?mt=8
Mint.com app             -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mint.com-personal-finance/id300238550?mt=8
Photoshop Express     -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/adobe-photoshop-express/id331975235?mt=8
IMDb         -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/imdb-movies-tv/id342792525?mt=8
Tiny Wings                  -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tiny-wings/id417817520?mt=8
Soosiz        -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/soosiz-hd/id364759017?mt=8
Heads Up: Hold’em     -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/heads-up-holdem-hd-1-on-1-poker/id364894003?mt=8
SongBook Chordpro   -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/songbook-chordpro/id392888837?mt=8
Plants vs. Zombies     -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/plants-vs.-zombies-hd/id363282253?mt=8
Pageonce Money & Bills             -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app//id285056092?mt=8
Livestrong                   -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/calorie-tracker-livestrong.com/id295305241?mt=8
TED           -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ted/id376183339?mt=8
Audible      -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/audible/id379693831?mt=8
All Recipes                  -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/allrecipes.com-dinner-spinner/id299515267?mt=8
The Night Sky             -                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-night-sky/id475772902?mt=8

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With advancements in JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS3 around the corner, where is the Web going?

With previous releases of Firefox, Chrome, and Opera, developers and web enthusiasts had their first opportunities to test-drive new HTML5 and CSS3 specifications even before World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was finished creating them. Now, with the latest release of Internet Explorer 9 (and soon to release, 10), the dream of a better web is closer to our finger tips than ever before!

I, myself, have spent far too much of my career slicing images, rasterizing gradients, and adding “alt” attributes to images containing text that I feel I have almost forgotten the flexibility and beauty of web-based content. Plus, with the slow adoption of modern browsers by the general public, I’ve had an increasing fear that compatibility would enduringly mean compromising performance, but thankfully, not anymore.

We have our web-accessible mobile phones, touch-screen handheld devices, and key contributors to the internet marketplace (such as Google, Facebook, and Microsoft) publicly announcing to drop support for older browsers and web technologies, to thank for pushing the WWW further.

Below I’ve included a video from Google which highlights all the released or soon-to-released tools and techniques we can expect to be using in the next number of years.

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5 Things That Are Different When You Work at Creed

Minneapolis Web Design Team

Think you might want to join us? Here are 5 things that are different when you work at Creed.

1.) A true chance to make a difference

At Creed, you can truly make a difference. Being a growing web design and development shop we keep things fresh and new allowing each team member to contribute in a fashion that makes a difference. You can work directly with clients without layers of management or bureaucracy. You can collaborate with team members and choose what technologies to use to write your code. You can work on new and interesting projects that our client’s will greatly benefit from. And, you can help contribute to the Creed dream to help make our group what you’d want it to be.

2.) Working with mad-crazy talented people

When we started Creed, we went out to find all the most talented web designers and web developers that we have ever worked with. And, we asked them to join us. Many of them did, and we get to work with the most talented people we have ever worked with every day. We not only want talent, but we also encourage growth and ambition, so much so that when one of our web developers was having a challenge he couldn’t quite solve, he applied to a Stanford data-mining program, got in and is now working with the smartest people in the world to solve this unique challenge. Our designers have a resume of all the best ad agencies and web design shops in town and puts together PSD files for development cleanly laid out with roll-over states and everything. But we don’t let pedigree or accomplishments go to our head. We try to bring a collaborative spirit to all of our work and are approachable and willing to help each other out with some of our best conversations happening over happy hour after work.

3.) Work from home 3 days a week

Yeah, you read it right. We currently only come in to the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Those days are devoted to collaboration and team communication. As long as you make yourself available, the rest of the time you can work where ever you are most comfortable – at home, a coffee shop, or out at the lake. We are a group of people that like to get things done in an efficient and open environment. Why deal with extra layers of management and red tape if you don’t have to? Work in a process that is tailored to our clients and our own preferences.

4.) Learn and grow in new skill sets

By collaborating with our team, you can learn and grow in your skill set. We try to make it a point to attend conferences and training opportunities as we can and have a modest budget set aside to do so. By having lead developers and supporting developers on projects, you can be assigned as a supporting developer on a project that is a technology that you’d like to learn more about and can have a real live person to ask questions to. We like to take on interesting projects too – e-commerce, CMS, custom web apps, data algorithms, new JQuery and HTML5 sites, Drupal installs, and things that haven’t been done before.

5.) Be a real person

We like to work hard but we also like to have balance in our lives. Weekends should be for spending time with family and friends, not to be burned through at the office. We bring our dogs to work – how is that for balance? We make an intentional effort to respect and value each of our team members and want to take care of them. Grab a free pop and snack in our kitchenette during a break in the action. Spend some time choosing the best health insurance plan for you and your family and we’ll pick up the tab. Work remotely on an overseas trip for a week and tack on a vacation afterwards. Have your cell phone bill picked up by us. We value our team and want to allow our team members to be real people.

We are hiring for a senior level developer who is a PHP whiz. We are looking for a good communicator who takes pride in hisor her work and who would enjoy writing software with us using PHP, .NET, JavaScript, CSS, and host of other technologies. Check out our job posting and send us your resume at info[at]creedinteractive.com.

Minneapolis Web Designers and Developers

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Epic user experiences without the Flash web developer

Web Developer

 

A few years ago, Flash based user experiences were the rage.  Advertising agencies discovered that by using Flash, they could make websites look just like the print advertising or video that they were producing.  As a result, web developers created a host of Flash sites that popped up.  Many had cool user experiences, but long load times and confusing navigation often made some of these sites difficult to navigate and left site visitors saying “I just want my information.”  Now, with the combining forces of Apple products not supporting Flash and the advances in Javascript, many things that web developers formerly did in Flash can be done using Javascript and HTML5.  Before we chat a bit about the cool user experiences that can be created using Javascript, let’s define a couple of commonly mis-understood terms.

Flash – An Adobe product that is uses an encapsulates the site into a SWF file that can be used similar to an image file – only you can interact with it.  An example of a site based in Flash would be our web development case study for the Minnesota Wild.

Javascript – A web-browser based technology that allows a developer to change code on the “client side” rather than “server side”.  In other words, Javascript allows changes to be made without pulling new information from the server.  An example of using Javascript would be our Web Developers page on this site where each card will flip over when you click on it.

JQuery – A library of Javascripts that can be used by a developer to complete common animations or tasks.  An example of using JQuery would be under the Web Developer Work Section of this site.

AJAX – A technology that combines using Javascript with server side information that allows a web page to produce updated data or contact from the server with out refreshing the page.  An example of AJAX would be when you pull up the scores of an on-going sports game and the scores updated as the page sits there.

HTML5 – The latest version of HTML that allows much more “client-side” interactions. HTML5 sites are just starting to roll out.

Some of the more recent Javascript user experiences that have caught our eye involve rotating the whole page.  For instance at www.nikebetterworld.com , the web developers on this project created a system using Javascript where the page scrolled at different rates for different items.  While this is not a huge web development challenge, it does create a very unique and fluid user experience.  Another example of a similar site is www.yurbuds.com.  This sites is an amazing example of new technology that only utilizes beautiful web searchable fonts but has bold imagery and dimension to tell a brand story using cool Javascript.

One disadvantage that web developers may find using the latest and greatest Javascript code is that not all browsers can handle it.  Since Javascript is a “client-side” technology it needs to be tested on each different browser – including various mobile devices.  So, while mobile devices can handle Javascript and this makes it a good alternative to Flash, it may not be the forever ideal as a web developer will need to check the code on various devices.

All things considered, Javascript has a bright future for continuing to enhance user experiences.

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Paying Tribute

There are plenty of excellent tributes to Steve Jobs, none more so than Apple’s tribute, but I also thought one of Jobs’ biggest critics wrote an outstanding tribute, stating in their third paragraph “Gizmodo and Steve Jobs had, at best, a tumultuous relationship. Yet no matter how much he may have hated us, we admired him.”  And I think this says a lot about what Jobs was able to for both those who love Apple and those who loath the brand.  Regardless of your stance, Apple could not be ignored – as a brand, a service or a product.

We, at Creed, would like to pay tribute in our own way, knowing that there are others who knew Jobs far better than any of us, but taking confidence that Jobs would prefer us to save our words and continue running our business on the operating system(s), MacBook Pros, iPads and iPhones that he so heavily influenced.

Thank you Mr. Jobs,

Creed Interactive

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Are Androids really going to take over the earth?

Android Usage in Minneapolis

In doing a review of one of our client’s analytics this past month, we saw a surprising statistic.  Our client’s site gets a bit over 3 million visitors to their e-commerce site every year.  Of those visitors, over 10% of the visitors are on a mobile device.  That equals over 32,000 mobile visitors per month or over 1,000 people on handheld devices every day.  While our stats from our Minneapolis based e-commerce store may not be representative of the rest of Minnesota and the nation, we have a hunch that it is.

Minneapolis E-commerce Analytics

We were a bit surprised to see that this high of a percentage of people were interacting with our e-commerce system on handheld devices.  The site is optimized for mobile and works well, but purchasing high-end items on a mobile device in this quantity was a bit of surprise as we envisioned most people would be on a desktop computer when searching for high end e-commerce sites.  But, when one stops to think about it, maybe it shouldn’t be so surprising after all.

Another finding that was surprising was the dominance of the Android operating system on mobile devices that hit our e-commerce store.  Android visitors outpace iPhone visitors by a rate of almost 2 to 1 to our site.  With all the hype surround Apple, one would think that Android devices were just a blip on the radar screen.  But in reality, the Android has an accelerating rate of distribution.

Granted, when you factor in the iPad and combine it with the iPhone, Apple does come out ahead.  But it seems that for now, the iPad is what is really benefiting Apple.

As our clients look at mobile apps, our advice is to not too quickly reach out for an iPhone app.  The Android market is looking pretty good right now.

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Monsters in Minneapolis


This post is overdue, but we wanted to give a shout out to our former co-workers Zara, Victor, and Christopher on the success of their Monster Color Book app on iTunes .

Here is the description from monstercoloringbook.com:

“Everyone loves to break out the paints, markers and crayons for a hardcore coloring session but sometimes it’s just too much work or there is not enough space or…you get the idea. With Monster Coloring Book all the mess is locked away inside your device so clean up is simple and the coloring is just as fun.

There are over a hundred monsters to color, stickers to decorate them and patterns to make them unique. With so many monsters to color and so many different ways to do it, this app will chase boredom away for hours.”

The cool part of this app is all the original artwork that web design wizard Zara put together. We’ve watched Zara doodle on her notepad a whole world of monsters for years during meetings and assumed that was her imaginary universe was hers alone. But with this app, she has let other people into her creativity and now you too can join the wonderful world of monsters. You can even submit your designs to a Flickr group to show them off to the rest of the world.

Let’s not forget about Christopher and Victor as well. Our partners in crime have outdone themselves with the coding of the app. You can tap and click to fill whole sections of color and patterns. The app has even been picked as an iPhone app of the day by FWA.

Show your support of web design and iPhone shops in Minneapolis by downloading the locally grown app in iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/monster-coloring-book/id435676573?mt=8 .

Congrats again to our friends.

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Creed’s Minnesota Wild 2011 Tickets

Now that you’ve had a chance to see CreedInteractive.com’s updates and had a chance to check out our new blog, please take a look at Creed’s MN Wild Tickets and let us treat you to a game as our way of saying ‘Thank you” to our clients.  We certainly would be the company we are without our clients.

Here is the Minnesota Wild’s scheduled home games up through Mid December.  The 2 tickets/game are for our clients only and are given out first come, first serve basis.  If you are a Creed client and would like to attend a game, please let Jonathan or Grant know.  As games are picked, we’ll update the list below to show the available games.

Sat. Oct. 8 7pm vs Columbus Blue Jackets

Thur. Oct 13 7pm vs Edmonton Oilers

Sat. Oct 15 7pm vs Detroit Red Wings

Fri. Nov 25 1pm vs Edmonton Oilers

Mon. Nov 28 6 pm vs Tampa Bay Lighting

Wed. Dec 14 7 pm vs Chicago Blackhawks

Sat. Dec 17 7 pm vs New York Islanders

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Responsive Web Design from our Minneapolis Friends

Our friend Mike B. from a friendly Minneapolis web design shop shared a very compelling presentation on responsive web design that we want to share. Mike outlined very clearly a number of principles in web design that we try to stay true to. Since his presentation, we have been able to incorporate more fully some of these ideas and have had good success with them. This is a great response to the consistent request that we get from clients that want to put together an iPhone app when really what they need is a mobile friendly version of their site. And, as Mike points out, it may not even be a true mobile site. It may just be flexible layouts that allow the web design to react to the screen size. This can save our clients a lot of time and money and prevents from having to create a web design for each possible version of device out on the market today. Here is the presentation:



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Creed’s & Magid’s trending tool goes Mainstream

During the course of two years Twin Cities-based Creed Interactive and the California consultants Frank N. Magid, the two companies have collaborated on a trending application that has been become a fundamental tool to Magid’s consulting group.

The tool combines a basic “web scraping” and combines it with a powerful analytic tool that ranks and weights the information appropriately.  It currently is reading and ranking an article every half second, and plotting the data accordingly in hierarchy of graphs, giving Magid an unprecedented edge in being able to trend more accurately for their client base.

The success of the tool has has caught the attention of others and in June, MSNBC’s David Gregory of Meet the Press began running a segment on Sunday mornings highlighting the political trends that the tool is deciphering.  Called the “MTP Political Trend Tracker” a viewer can easily track and gauge the political stories that are on the rise and those that are fading from headlines.

Since the web application’s introduction to MSNBC, USA Today has also began using the tool as well.

Creed Interactive and Magid are continually refining the tool and adding features, ensuring that the application evolves to meet the diverse needs of Magid’s clientele.

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