I developed this widget for the Web App UI at my full time job. Since most of the applications we build are data heavy I had to come up with a way to allow separation of different data types and page functionality while making viewing of the data easy with minimal scrolling.

I basically combined a box container with the drawer metaphor. I call it the DecoBox.

It can be as simple as just a display box with a title bar or as complex as a collapsible/expandable drawer action with a toolbar that has it’s own sliding trays for, wel… whatever you want.

I can say it’s been a huge success where I work. The users love that they can get things out of their way, but still have it handy with a single mouse click. The developers like having the sliding tray for forms and AJAX calls. It’s been a very flexible and intuitive UI element.

So I’ve taken the time to document it pretty thoroughly in the .rp file and make it a Custom Widget. I now offer it out to the Axure community at large.

It’s in grayscale since wireframes should be so IMHO. The width can easily be adjusted to fit your needs.

So… enjoy! If you have any questions feel free to ask @iconic_arts on Twitter or post a comment here.

Demo

Download the 5.5 .rp file

There was a request sent out via the Twitterverse from @axurerp asking if anyone had done a password strength widget. I thought I’d give it a shot.

* UPDATE * I added two more styles!

Demo

Download the 5.5 .rp file

“Interested in the mac version for Axure RP? We want to keep you in the loop! Please visit www.axureformac.com for updates on our progress.”

I gave a loud “WOOT!” and actually danced a jig for about 3 minutes… (okay 30 seconds). I then replied and asked about licensing. If I already purchased a Windows license will I have to buy a new one for the Mac version? God I hope not. Here was the response:

“We’re working on licensing for the two versions, but hoping to make it very favorable ” I mean I’d pay a small fee for the Mac version, but not full price again. I’ll work through VMware Fusion if that’s the case. But the Axure folks are great and I’m sure they will work it out for us trench-workers.

Let’s hope they do it right and get an awesome port of this great tool over to a great platform soon.

Just in case you haven’t seen the original…

Here’s the original logo…

Here’s my first spoof…

And my second attempt…

If you want to see other people’s spoofs you can see them at http://michellemalkin.com/2009/03/03/obamas-new-mark-of-the-porkulus-beast/

Enjoy…

Of all the web browsers in all the world… iPhone had to walk into my life.  It’s hard enough keeping up with the various quirks of the big hitters in the League of Unextraordinary Web Browsers… then along comes a cocky rookie called iPhone with it’s “best browsing experience” attitude.

No big deal most designers would think, “Jobs says it uses Safari so everything should be good to go”. MUHAHAHAHA you silly designer, nothing is ever what the hype sells. Now I sound facetious and maybe I am a bit, but the reason for this post is a simple one.

I showed a friend a design mockup for a church web site I’m working on. His first question was “How does it look on an iPhone? It does have like 90% of mobile web traffic.” Wow, kinda felt like a kick in the nuggets. But it was a valid question.

Since I do not own an iPhone (I have my reasons) I had to test it on the next best thing, my iPod Touch. So I pulled up the site. Amazingly it looked really good! But there were some quirks, mainly with nested backgrounds, but all in all it looked pretty intact. Then it hit me… to even read anything on the site the viewer would have to zoom in and then that starts the whole scrolling issue yadda yadda yadda.

So I thought to my self, “Self, we need to seriously consider the iPhone when designing sites now.” Great, just what I needed to hear from myself. So we set out to compile some resources for designing a web site with iPhone considerations. So now we add yet another browser to the mix. Luckily it is really a matter of CSS and a few link enhancements for maps and phone numbers.

To that end I offer the following links for reference for my UI designer comrades-in-arms. I’ll try and post updates and additions as I find them. If you want to track updates you can find them on my Delicious or eat the RSS feed.

Statistics & Traffic

• iPhone Users hitting the web with fury

Design Resources

• Boutell.com – WWW FAQs: How do I design web pages for the iPhone
• Practical Ecommerce: Website Design for the iPhone

iPhone Simulators

• iPhoney (sorry Mac OS X only)
• If you are a designer on a budget (or on Windows) I highly recommend picking up an iPod Touch 8Gb model for design testing. You get a true test device plus a cool toy.

So I went back to a rock solid old favorite and here we are. Enjoy.

I decided to share one of my first Axure widgets. This is my animated drawer slider with sidebar. This mimics a sidebar with text buttons and animated toggled drawers that slide out from under the sidebar.

Demo

Download the 5.1 .rp file

Download the 5.5 .rp file

I thought Axure 5.0 was amazing, but it did lack a few things that would make it outstanding. it looks like the Axure Dev team has listened intently to the Axure community and added quite a few nice features which will surely push Axure further in the prototyping arena.

Information on the beta and a download is posted on the Axure web site.

Check it out.

With that glaring short-coming wagging in my face I decided to get started.

So this is my first post on my new web-pro blog. Since I’ve gotten more into my blogging lately I’ll try to keep this one up to date. I’ll send out an offical notification of the launch when I get all the blanks filled in.

C’ya round the playground…