Keeping up with technology is a lot of work. Luckily, we enjoy wading through the noise just to find the gems of awesomeness sprinkled throughout. Fusion Radar is our gift to you, Current or Potential Client, so that you can enjoy all of the awesome without any of the drudgery. Unwrap it each week, and know that you’re loved by the geeks and pixel-pushers at Agency Fusion.
UICloud
Coming up with interesting, interactive, customizable web elements that still work well and engage users can be tough. UICloud is a (free) service that allows users to submit and search through various UI elements. Dozens of variations on elements like progress bars, download buttons, and even music players are available for anyone to download. Use them on your site, or just peruse the selection for inspiration.
Spiffing CSS
Much of coding syntax requires “American English” – you know, writing “color” instead of “colour”, engaging in questionable grammatical practices, etc. Spiffing CSS aims to correct this problem. It allows users to write CSS and stylesheets in conformance to the Queen’s own English. The best part? Spiffing CSS’s site includes a numbered list of steps to take to use their product the last of which is: 4. Celebrate your well-spelt stylesheet with some tea and scones.
Transitional Interfaces
Pasquale d’Silva, an animation and production designer, is always hyper-aware of how “natural” an app feels. And a large part of feeling natural and intuitive with computers and apps have to do with transitional interfaces – you know, what happens when you swipe, or click, or scroll. This article covers a few do’s and don’ts of the transitional interface world, along with offering a few examples you can use.
https://medium.com/design-ux/926eb80d64e3
Sold.
Usesold.com sells your stuff for you; you just upload an image and description of your items for sale, and they’ll find a buyer, a fair price, and even send you a box to ship your items in.
Inactive Account Manager
Google’s Inactive Account Manager asks Google users: what do you want us to do with your data once you’re dead? Using this free extension, you can tell Google to either delete your account or pass it on to someone else after a certain period of inactivity.
http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2013/04/plan-your-digital-afterlife-with.html
Patients Like Me
Patients Like Me is a site that is trying to open-source health care, treatments, and cures. Anyone (not just members) can visit the site and view what other people have to say about hundreds of diseases. Treatments, symptoms, and other ways of coping are all shared and quantified on this site. It even has an (optional) addition of social networking: if you do join the free service, you can connect with other patients like you on Facebook or on their message boards.
http://www.patientslikeme.com/
Niice.
Sometimes all we need is a little jumpstart to get thinking creatively; sometimes we’re looking for something in particular and just can’t find anything to fit our vision; other times we’re in a rut and need to find something – anything – inspirational to pull us out of it. Niice is a site dedicated to showcasing creative projects – beautiful pieces of design, quirky logos, elegant packaging, anything that might help spark creativity.
Microsoft’s Mobile Comeback
Microsoft’s mobile comeback doesn’t seem to be happening, even though the Windows smartphone is a good product. It has many of the same features as the iPhone, and its performance and battery life are all favorable. Unfortunately, it seems like the slumping sales and reputation of Microsoft are hurting its phones as well as its PCs.