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Best Of Explained

HOWTO: iPhone Webclip Icons

I remember, years ago, I was baffled by the little 16×16 icons that were showing up in my URL toolbar, and it took a surprising amount of searching to find out how to create one. I refuse to let this happen again.

So: if you want to make a custom icon for your website that will show up in the Springboard when a user makes a “webclip”, using their iPhone or iPod Touch, the dirt simple way is:

* Create a 57×57 PNG.
* Name it “apple-touch-icon.png”
* Throw it in the root folder of your website. (Not the root of your server, the root of your web documents.)

Boom. If you add a webclip for vjarmy.com, you’ll see my smiling mug.
If you want more flexibility – perhaps you don’t have access to the site root, perhaps you want to use a different file name or format – you can use a link tag in the head of the document, such as:

<head>
<title>iHelloWorld</title>
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/whatever.jpg"/>
</head>

I’ve tested this with a slightly larger (75×75) JPEG, and it works without trouble – it just scales things down.

If you’re testing this on your iPhone, you may notice a pause of a few seconds before the icon appears when you press “Add To Home Menu”. I’d imagine the icon only downloads when you request to make a webclip, instead of the “request it every time” method used for fetching favicon.ico. (As for why it’s a few seconds – well, that’s EDGE for you. The lag goes away when you use WiFi.)

Apple has more info on their iPhone Dev Center; look at “Create a WebClip Bookmark Icon”.

And don’t worry if your icon design skills aren’t up to snuff, but do worry if you care about the sanctity of your image:

>Safari will automatically composite the icon with the standard “glassy” overlay so it looks like a built-in iPhone or iPod application.

Addendum @ 9PM: I should note another oddity: there’s some degree of clipping off the sides of the icon that can’t really be controlled. I found this by scaling down a circular logo (in EPS format) to 57×57, and there was a noticeable clip on the sides. With that in mind, I recommend adding a pixel or two on the sides if you’re using a circular design. Note that scaling the icon down under 57×57 does not solve this, it merely scales it up to fit the 57×57.

Addendum @ 10PM: Neil Epstein, Technology Director for Gothamist LLC, says 47×47 seems to be the usable area, and that he had best luck with 45×45.

Addendum @ 1/16 7AM: Playground Blues notes that because of the resolution of the iPhone screen, using an oversized image (such as his 158×158 image) may result in a crisper icon. [via HicksDesign]

Categories
Best Of Enjoyed Narrated

Last Train To Astroland

One of my favorite pieces of writing is David Foster Wallace’s collection of short pieces called A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again. There’s a piece inside it called Getting Away From Already Pretty Much Being Away From It All, a piece that “takes on the vulgarities and excesses of the Illinois State Fair”, if you’re the type to believe Wikipedia. It’s very reflective of the big-city-to-state-fair experience, but there’s one abstract paragraph that I love:

One of the few things I still miss from my Midwest childhood was this weird, deluded but unshakable conviction that everything around me existed all and only For Me. Am I the only one who had this queer deep sense as a kid? — that everything exterior to me existed only insofar as it affected me somehow? — that all things were somehow, via some occult adult activity, specially arranged for my benefit? Does anybody else identify with this memory? The child leaves a room, and now everything in that room, once he’s no longer there to see it, melts away into some void of potential or else (my personal childhood theory) is trundled away by occult adults and stored until the child’s reentry into the room recalls it all back into animate service. Was this nuts? It was radically self-centered, of course, this conviction, and more than a little paranoid. Plus the responsibility it conferred: if the whole of the world dissolved and resolved each time I blinked, what if my eyes didn’t open?

Astroland

Categories
Best Of Created Endured

Xbox Support: The Text Adventure

You enter your apartment.
Buttons the cat greets you with a warm purr.

> EXAMINE ANSWERING MACHINE

The answering machine is black, with silver trim. The phone rests in the cradle. The red LED displays a solid "1", indicating you have one message you have already heard.

> TURN ON XBOX 360

You boot your Xbox 360. You reach the dashboard.

> LOG IN TO XBOX LIVE WITH RECOVERY ACCOUNT

You attempt to sign on with your recovery account, but you receive a network error.

> LOG IN TO XBOX LIVE WITH RECOVERY ACCOUNT

You sign on with your recovery account.

> CHECK POINTS ON XBOX 360

Achievement points or Microsoft points?

> CHECK MICROSOFT POINTS ON XBOX 360

You have 0 Microsoft points.

> FUCKITY FUCK FUCK

You kiss your mother with that mouth?

> PRESS BUTTON ON ANSWERING MACHINE

Which button?

> PRESS PLAY BUTTON ON ANSWERING MACHINE

A message from someone who sounds like "Suzette" plays. Your request to be refunded your points has been either put in or is being processed.

Suzette says she'll give you a call back within 24 to 48 hours, or you can call her at the phone number she mentions and give the case number.

This message was left Monday afternoon.

> CHECK DAY OF WEEK ON CALENDAR

Today is Wednesday.

> CHECK WATCH

It is 8:30 PM.

> DO COMPLICATED TIME MATH

Through a series of difficult equations, you deduce that it has been over 48 hours since Suzette has called.

The stress of the math makes you realize that you have been awake for 16 hours straight. You should think about going to bed.

> PICK UP PHONE

You pick up the phone.

> TAKE NOTEPAD

You pick up the notepad.

> TAKE PEN

You pick up a pen.

> TRANSCRIBE MESSAGE ON ANSWERING MACHINE

You get part of the phone number written down before the message ends.

> TRANSCRIBE MESSAGE ON ANSWERING MACHINE

You get ten digits, but they may not be right.

> TRANSCRIBE MESSAGE ON ANSWERING MACHINE

You get all ten digits right and the first four of the case number.

You are tired. You should think about going to bed.

> TRANSCRIBE MESSAGE ON ANSWERING MACHINE

You now have all of the relevant information.

> CALL 1-800-469-9269 ON PHONE

You dial 1-800-4MY-XBOX.

> OH CHRIST IT'S A TRAP

General Akbar would be proud.

The Xbox tone plays. Max, the automated menu, answers the phone in a chipper voice. He begins: "Hey, thanks for calling Xbox Customer support."

> SAY "OPERATOR"

Max doesn't respond.

Max says "Your call may be monitored or recorded for quality assurance. My name is Max, and I can help you find what you're looking for. Do you need help with: Xbox Console, Xbox Live, Xbox Games, or Accounts and Billing?"

> SAY "XBOX LIVE"

Max continues: "Which console are you calling about? The original Xbox, or the Xbox 360?"

You are very tired. You should go to bed.

> SAY "XBOX 360"

"Xbox 360, gotcha. Here's a tip. You can visit xbox.com/marketplace to get the latest information about downloads and other information about Xbox Live."

> SIGH

You sigh.

"So what are you trying to find out about?," Max continues.

> SAY "OPERATOR"

Max responds, "I'll see if I can find someone else who can help you out. The representative will be able to help you faster if you have your gamer tag ready."

You are extremely tired. Go to bed.

> WAIT

A female voice says "PLEASE WAIT!", followed by two tones.

> PREPARE TO ROCK OUT TO HOLD MUSIC

You get in a comfortable position to chair dance.

You are about to pass out from exhaustion.

An automated female voice answers the phone.

> QUIRK BROW

"Thank you for contacting Xbox. We are unable to answer your call at this time. Please try calling again later, or visit the Xbox web site at www.xbox.com. Thank you for calling. Goodbye."

The phone disconnects.

You pass out.

GAME OVER

Your final score is 0 out of 17,000 Microsoft Points.

RESTORE, RESTART, QUIT?