Tag Archives: MacOS

A New Tool To Get Work Done

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I have been struggling for a bit with my computer. I have had it for over 6 years, and while it still works, there is less and less that it can do. The newest version of the operating system isn’t supported on it and because of that development tools were becoming less stable.

I have been looking at new computers for many months, now. The computer I was replacing is a 27″ iMac. It’s a huge screen on a fully desktop computer. But, I wanted to switch toward something more portable. I started to look at the MacBook Air. I liked the idea of the computer. They were small – only a 13.3″ display and were limited in upgrades, but the ability to be portable was a plus. It would allow me to move around and work in places that would have fewer distractions.

Well, then Apple released a new set of MacBook Pro laptops. They had many of the features that were missing from the Air – more upgrade options, larger screens, and more external ports. They made a lot more sense – but the price was quite a bit higher. I priced out several and then put the idea aside. I couldn’t really rationalize spending that amount of money. Then Black Friday sales showed up. There were several MacBooks listed at various places – some of them local and available that day. I spent the day debating it and eventually decided the factors that really mattered. I needed a computer that I could work on anywhere I needed to. It had to be portable and be able to run the software that I used – mainly Xcode. It ideally had to have enough hard drive space in order to install what I needed and work comfortably. What I found was a decent compromise. The cost wasn’t as high has it could have been. The screen was smallish. The drive was a bit smaller that I would have liked, but the form factor was decent and I could work around the flaws without too many issues.

So, I ended up taking home a brand new MacBook Air M1 with a 512GB SSD drive and 8GB of RAM. I would have liked a larger drive, but I can get by with this. It will also keep me from hoarding everything on the face of the planet. I have to force myself to watch what I put on here and remove things as I don’t need them. So far, I’m doing just fine.

Heck, I’m sitting with the computer on my lap on the couch right now writing this. It really has opened up new things for me. The keyboard is comfortable and has a nice form factor. The trackpad takes some getting used to, but it’s working pretty well. The screen – though small – does just fine. If I need a larger one, external displays are an option. So far, I’m really liking it. The computer has no fan, so it is extremely quiet. I don’t do a ton of video, or photo processing so the RAM limits haven’t really caused an issue.

Overall, I’m happy with the choice. I figure if I was going to have an issue, it would have happened by now. So, yeah. It’s a nice little laptop.

Colors Of The Apple World.

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I am posting this because it’s a page that I’ve been spending a bit of time with today. I often have to look up what Apple calls many of its system colors – beyond the simple primary colors. The documentation that Apple provides does a really good job of showing you the various colors, their uses and how they are affected by light or dark mode. Needless to say, this is a necessary page for any Apple interface designers.

https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/macos/visual-design/color/

An Example From Apples Documentation showing the colors available.

SwiftUI – The Best Interface Builder That Wants Me Dead.

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I have been spending a lot of time trying to build an interface for a new version of one of my apps. I had a layout that was working visually, but unfortunately SwiftUI wasn’t up to making it work as it should. I have remade it multiple times over the last week in order to get buttons and pickers to work as they should.

Finally, tonight things started to work. I wish I could explain why they didn’t work in the first place, but oh well. It isn’t perfect and I still have a lot of things to add, but it is working.

I really like the idea of SwiftUI. It offers a nice escape from the usual interface builder and the never ending fight with constraints. But, it still has a lot of bugs that need to be squashed before it will really take off.

For me, my two fights were problems deleting pickers in a list, or making the keyboard pop up and work properly with those pickers. Most apps aren’t going to use a collection of pickers that need to be added and deleted, so my problems won’t help many of you. I ended up having to do some odd workarounds to make the delete happen. The keyboard issue kind of fixed itself in the process of attempting a ton of different ideas. I have since cleared out close to 200 lines of code that were added during my attempts to make it work. The most surprising part – it STILL WORKS. Yeah, I’m as shocked as you are.

If you want to develop your app with SwiftUI, go for it – but only if you have some time to work around its internal issues.

Here is a link to a page that answers many basic questions about SwiftUI and also a great rundown of the various features and how to use them: Fucking SwiftUI.