Dony Sukardi

You didn’t read it wrong. I have been a long proponent of Angular ever since it started picking up popularity. As you might have known, Angular is an open source web application framework that is currently maintained by Google and the community. One of the best features of Angular is its two-way data binding that allow us to synchronize models and views automatically. TypeScript on the other hand is a compiled language that is a superset of JavaScript maintained by Microsoft. TypeScript enforces safe-typing and allows modular programming, a feature that we are familiar with in other OOP languages. Angular 2, a newly rewritten version of Angular, is developed for mobile in mind, hence the focus on performance, speed, and efficiency. As of last year, it was written using AtScript, a superset of TypeScript that uses Annotation processing. However, just today, Angular and TypeScript team announced that Angular will now be build with TypeScript. ...

For those who know me personally, you’ll know that I love reading feeds from tech websites using Feedly (hello Feedly! I’ll share top websites that I follow closely in a separate post). It is my usual ritual when i wake up while still in bed, when I commute, or just before I go to bed. However, there are times where I want to read up but I just can’t, simply because I’m doing something else (multitasking FTW!). Usually we’ll just turn to music for this. However, lately I found a solution to that. PODCAST! It’s like listening to a radio talk, but for me, specifically, on tech. I think listening to podcasts or even audiobooks are suitable to those who don’t like reading that much and have problem of falling asleep when they just start reading a few paragraphs (me! me! *raise hand*). Here, I’d like to share top 3 podcasts that I listen to regularly. ...

Merry Christmas and Happy Boxing Day! :D I’ve been developing more and more interest in UX (User Experience). UX is a very intriguing subject of study as it involves a lot of thinking, studies, research, testings, and experiments. Here’s a Tumblr blog that I’m following - http://52weeksofux.com. Basically, you’ll get weekly dose of UX for you to read on, ponder upon, and implement on your work throughout the week. I am in my 2nd week, and this particular paragraph strikes me the most. ...

It’s no secret that there’s lots and lots going on in back-end web development these days. For instance, debates surrounding node and asynchronicity, have reached a fever pitch and have occasionally felt more like philosophical arguments than technical arguments. Similarly, there are a lot of things going on in the world of front-end development. There are tons of frameworks available to help you to build your websites or web apps, in terms of functionality and look and feel. In this particular post, UI frameworks will be our topic of interest. It was all pretty much started by Twitter Bootstrap. It has helped enable developers to whip up some quick templates for website or app without having to worry about getting involved in interface or app design. This will no doubt appeal to any seasoned web/app developer, as they could focus more on the functionality. Since then, more and more frameworks are emerging. As much as back-end developers can choose their preferred languages, e.g. PHP, Java, Ruby, Python, front-end developers have a variety of frameworks that they can utilise too. Before we go into the pros and cons of using a UI framework, let’s take a look of the features that UI frameworks offer in general. ...

The newly released Windows 8 has won many people’s heart for its interface. I just got my PC upgraded to Windows 8 today and I’m loving every single bit of the UI. It just looks so fresh and easy to the eyes. With this new UI, Microsoft is putting emphasis on content of applications, relying more on typography and less on graphics (“content before chrome”). Microsoft has also recently revamped its websites. Look at the new and slick Microsoft.com and Outlook.com. How could one not fall in love with websites with such UI? Having fallen in love with new Windows UI (previously called Metro/Modern UI), I’ve decided to take inspiration from that for my personal website that I’m currently working on. I embarked on my journey to find resources on creating such website. There are currently so many CSS frameworks available to ease up your web design process. You could get your static web prototype up in a matter of hours. So after doing some research, I’ve found three frameworks inspired by the new Windows UI that are worth considering. Metro Bootstrap (view site) Metro Bootstrap, as its name suggests, relies on Twitter Bootstrap and because of that it is easy to use. Most elements are brought back to basic (no gradients, rounded corners) as compared to the original bootstrap. The support for tiles are pretty minimum as for now. BootMetro (view site) BootMetro is another framework that relies on Twitter Bootstrap and provides a lot of Windows 8 components, such as Tiles, Application-Bar, Login, Charms, and styles for Form Elements. It offers you almost every thing you need to make your website / web app like a Windows 8 app. The default scrolling behaviour is horizontal. However, you have the option not to use it. Metro UI CSS (view site) The Metro UI CSS isn’t related to Twitter Bootstrap but it still offers similar features. Of course there are Tiles and a number of fancied up Form Controls. The sample site looks pretty nice. It’s got template for Selected Tiles, Image Slider Tiles, and Badges. Beside the three that I’ve mentioned above, you could also take a look at DropTiles if you want server side integration. Based on my finding, Metro Bootstrap is quite easy to integrate and it would be a good base if you intend to work on a simple website without dynamic Tiles and Windows 8 controls. BootMetro seems pretty powerful, but isn’t as classy. Metro UI CSS doesn’t rely on Bootstrap, so its cross browser support requires much more testing as compared to the other two. I will give Metro Bootstrap a try. If you’re using any of the frameworks mentioned or probably any other ones, you could share your experience with us. With these weapons bestowed upon you, go and spice up your site or app with Windows 8 flavours!+

Just how big is the Windows community? There are 1.2 billion Windows users globally, with 690 million currently on Windows 7. Microsoft has announced upgrade pricing for its upcoming Windows 8 operating system. Anyone running a copy of Windows from the last decade (Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7) can upgrade for USD40 - WOOTTT? SO CHEAP AND AFFORDABLE! With the plethora of new devices coming up with Windows 8 - from Notebooks, Slates, Convertibles, Ultrabooks, Tablets, etc - you can imagine how that number will grow. Want to be the next big app developer? You’ve got a golden opportunity to catch here. We’re just less than a week away (6 more days to go!) from the launch of Windows 8. I’m sure the resources that we’ve provided so far are more than enough for you to get started and submit your first Windows 8 app/game to the store. In my previous post -Lessons from Fruit Ninja Developer Dojo, Halfbrick mentioned that they’re excited about the launch of the new platforms, Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 and the opportunities that the platforms would open up for developers. And here, I’ve gathered more compelling reasons to get you started: ...

Developers gather at Sauce Bar for Day 1 of Fruit Ninja Dev Dojo Day 1 of Fruit Ninja #DevDojo proved to be a great evening with so much interaction amongst the participants, sharing their their passion on game development. Everybody, including me, was looking forward to getting to know the success story of Halfbrick and its famous game with more than 300 million downloads - Fruit Ninja. Registration began at 6pm. ...