Submission Artwork for All* Platforms

It can be a pain to track down the submission asset requirements for Roku, Fire TV, Android and Apple, as they tend to place the actual requirements spread out across a few different developer and design guidelines websites. Here it is for anyone who needs it, current as of 4/2018.

Roku
Channel Assets

• Channel Poster (540x405, no alpha, required) – These are essentially the app icons
• Channel Splash Screen (1920x1080, no alpha, required)

https://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/Graphics

Search Artwork
This artwork must look similar to your channel poster. Only required if participating in Roku search

• Teaser Logo (143x113, transparent, PNG, square corners)
• Small Logo (165x60, transparent, PNG, rounded corners)

Search Artwork templates: https://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/Roku+Search#RokuSearch-SearchArtwork

Screenshots
- Up to six (1920x1080, JPEG or PNG)

Screenshot instructions: https://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/Developer+Settings

Fire TV
General Assets

• Small icon (114x114, transparent, required)
• Large icon (512x512, transparent, required)
• Promotional Image (1024x500, JPEG or PNG, no alpha, optional/recommended)

Fire TV Assets

• App Icon (1280x720, no alpha, PNG, required)
• Background image (1920x1080, JPEG or PNG, no alpha, required) Look at link below for example
• Featured Content background (1920x720, no alpha, JPEG or PNG, optional) - Showcase image that goes at top of app
• Featured Content Logo (640x260, transparency optional, 24-bit PNG, optional) - Logo that goes on top of Featured Content background at top of app
• Featured Content trailer - Promotional video for your app, see specs at link below

https://developer.amazon.com/docs/app-submission/asset-guidelines.html#firetvassets

Screenshots

• Up to 10, minimum of 3 (1920x1080, JPEG or PNG)

Screenshot instructions: https://developer.amazon.com/docs/app-submission/taking-screenshots.html

Google Play

• High-res icon (512x512, transparent, PNG), should look like app's icon, max size 1024Kb
• Feature graphic (1024x500, JPEG or PNG, no alpha) - Not required, but recommended if you want to be featured
• TV Banner (1280x720, JPEG or PNG, no alpha, required), should look like TV app icon

https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/1078870#feature_graphic_requirements

Screenshots

• Up to 8 per supported device, minimum of 2 (1920x1080, JPEG or PNG)
• If you want your app eligible for "Designed for Tablets" section, you need to add tablet screenshots
• TV apps need at least one TV screenshot

Apple
iOS

• App Store Icon (1024x1024)
• App Previews (optional) See link below

https://developer.apple.com/ios/human-interface-guidelines/icons-and-images/image-size-and-resolution/

tvOS Assets
Only screenshots are part of the submission process. All other required/optional graphics are part of the build.

• App Store Icon (1280x768, no alpha, required) - Should match home screen icon in appearance
• Home Screen Icon (400x240, no alpha, required)
• Launch image (1920x1080@1x, 3840x2160@2x/4K, no alpha, required) - Essentially the splash.
• Top Shelf: Static image (2320x720@1x, 4640x1440@2x/4K, no alpha, required) - Shows when user places app in top row of home
• Top Shelf: Scrolling Inset Banner (1940x692@1x, 3880x1384@2x/4K, no alpha, optional) - Displays banners when app is in top row of home, showcases content. Minimum of 3 recommended.
• App Previews (optional) See link below

https://help.apple.com/itunes-connect/developer/#/dev4e413fcb8

https://developer.apple.com/tvos/human-interface-guidelines/icons-and-images/

Screenshots

• You must provide a set for all device types (iPhone, iPad, TV)
• iPhone, you need one set for 5.5" display, for iPad, one set for 12.9" display
• iPhone - 1242x2208 for portrait, 2208x1242 for landscape
• iPad - 2048x2732 for portrait, 2732x2048 for landscape
• TV - 1920x1080 (required), 3840x2160 (optional)
• JPEG or PNG, no alpha
• At least one per supported device

https://help.apple.com/itunes-connect/developer/#/devd274dd925

https://help.apple.com/itunes-connect/developer/#/dev910472ff2

My iOS Must-Haves

• PS View - While on the same Wi-Fi network, Using Remote Connection in Photoshop you can see your PSD's real-time on your iPhone. This has become a great tool for mobile design; for figuring out font sizes, button sizes and just getting a feel for how your app will look on the device. You can always email yourself pictures, but that's just dumb.
• Check (formerly Pageonce) - I've been using this app to get my finances in order. Gives me a real-time snapshot of my money, portfolio, debt and credit score. Love it.
• Rowmote - Control your Mac while on the same Wi-Fi network. I use this so I don't have to get up and put on the next Game of Thrones (I connect my laptop to my TV via HDMI). Gives you player controls, a touchpad (with gesturing support) and keyboard. So there's really nothing you can't do.
• Evernote - Notes app that syncs to the cloud, so I have access to my notes no matter which device I'm using. I make notes on my phone and can access them on my laptop and vice versa.
• Waze - Crowd-sourcing maps application. Real-time information about traffic speeds, accidents, visible cops, something in the road, as well as navigation all from other users. So good Google bought them for $1.1B a couple months ago.
• Redbox - I use this app to rent my DVD's before I get to the kiosk, so all I need to do is put in my CC and out comes the movie. I sometimes use it when I'm waiting behind someone in line and snipe their movies.

Got any to add?

To be continued...

iOS 7 Bugs / Missing Features / Issues / UX - Part 2

Beta 3 has been out for nearly 3 weeks now. I didn't write about beta 2, not that anyone is actually reading this, but even for my own sanity, I never got around to it. There are still quite a few bugs (as is expected with betas), so here is a small list of the ones that are still bugging me.

• Camera Focus - The camera still won't focus up close. This one is a real pain for me, as it affects every day use. Even simple shots 2-3 feet away sometimes won't focus.
• Some apps become unusable - This may be an app issue, and maybe not an iOS issue, but some apps' buttons eventually stop working, and I have to restart the app in order to make it work properly.
• Apps with custom dialog boxes may not work properly - I've had apps lock up on me once their custom dialog boxes appear, as there's no way to close the popup and it renders the app useless. I know this because our app is one of them. Doh!
• Notification banner gets in the way! - This was an issue with iOS 6 as well, but there really needs to be a close X button on the notification banners. If I'm getting navigation, if I'm on the phone, or if I simply need to access to the top level navigation in an app, my new message banners get in the way with no way to close them.
• Parallax really isn't that cool. I don't even notice it anymore. Not a game changer as some fanbois are claiming.
• When you close an app that was opened from within a folder, you're still in that folder. I really don't like this. There are times I want to quickly get somewhere else, and this feels like an extra step.lo

teehan+lax at it again - iOS 7 GUI PSD

http://www.teehanlax.com/tools/ios7/

Their PSD's have been getting better and better. Most everything is vector and very accurate. Some of the earlier PSD's had issues and obvious omissions, but teehan+lax, you're making the world a better place.

iOS 7 Bugs / Missing Features / Issues

I haven't written for a long time, not that anyone is listening anyway. I have been finding lots of issues with iOS 7 beta, so I figured why not post them here. Not only can I keep track of these for my own sanity, maybe Apple will stumble across this post and fix things/make note/or hire me. Pow.

- Kik Messenger not working - Kik crashes upon launch and has been completely unusable since I upgraded to iOS 7 beta. Kik released an updated app that fixes this issue.

- Instagram Photos disappearing - Photos disappear when you scroll back up to them.

- Control Panel gets stuck - sometimes the slide up control panel gets stuck, and when it finally disappears, the area of the phone's screen that it was stuck on becomes unusable. (buttons not clickable, etc.)

- Facebook - Buttons on slide out menu at the top are unusable. Headerbar color has changed to purple on pieces. notifications don't seem to work correctly. I'll see 6 on my badge, go in and see 2.

- Foursquare - Search area background has same purple header issue as Facebook above.

- Brightness - At times, the phone will be super dark, and no amount of adjusting brightness will fix. I have to turn off the screen to fix.

- App Store not clearing updated apps - I can't clear my updated apps list.

- Email Badge Number not changing - I erased about 2000 unread emails on Gmail, and the badge on my email app has yet to adjust. It's been a day.

- New Camera UI/UX is horrendous - It's very hard to figure out that you need to swipe the bottom to change the type of picture being taken. It's also done very poorly. Take a look at how Path does photo vs. video. It's simple and much better than the native camera app.

- Quick jump letters on lists (like phone contacts) are misaligned.

- Parallax has made some badges appear on the wrong screen.

- Autofocus not working well on camera - I can't get the camera to focus on close shots, like pictures of my computer screen, etc. I generally need this for submitting my company expenses (many receipts are digital, and apps like Concur let me submit pictures of them). This one is really bad for me. I can't focus on any close-up objects.

- Lock screen often overlays time/caller name with audio player controls.

- Siri's voice seems very slow (beta 2)

- Timestamps are not correct on iMessages. No Timestamps showing since 12 (it's after 4). (Beta 2)

- Cursor often disappears when zoomed into text fields

- Can we get Timestamps for every message? Hide it under the "more" menu if you have to

----------
UPDATE:
Beta 2 out today: http://news.yahoo.com/ios-7-beta-2-full-change-log-now-173332250.html

Things I hate about my Macbook #4

Can't sort by image bit depth in Finder

This one really bugs me. For a platform that is supposed to be designer friendly, this one boggles my mind. I work mostly in tablets and mobile, so file sizes and bit depths play a big role in what I do. For performance reasons, keeping each of those attributes low adds to a better user experience. If I can export something at 8-bit and loose no quality, I will do so.

Often I need to do batch scaling. I don't want to export 8-bit PNGs as 24/32 bit, so I like to run these batches separately. On a PC (Vista and above), you can sort by bit depth in Explorer. I can quickly see 8, 24, 32 (and even 1, 2, 4). I cannot find a way to do this on a Mac. Even looking at Get Info, I can see that the bit depth displayed in there is either wrong, or it's based on direct color, not image bit-depth.

UGH.

Things I hate about my Macbook #3

No Delete Button

The delete button on a Mac acts like a Backspace button on Windows. It deletes left, not right, and it won't delete files. Some programs have programmed the button to behave the way I expect it to, but not Apple.

It took me 2 weeks to figure out I had somewhat similar functionality of the Window's Delete key by making sure I hit Command-Delete.

I guess that will work.

Things I hate about my Macbook #2

Finder Locks Up

I work remotely pretty much every night. I understand that trying to open 300 Mb files over VPN is going to take some time, and may lock up your system a bit. What I don't like is when Finder locks up and can't be minimized. I end up stuck behind Finder windows, when the windows and apps underneath are perfectly selectable and useable. It's like it's taunting me.

I've noticed this with more than just Finder and big files, any time the machine locks up a bit this happens.

Oh, and I've already crashed the computer completely. So much for "Get a Mac. They just work."

Things I hate about my Macbook #1

Command vs. Ctrl

As you can imagine, switching from PC to Mac, there are many things I need to get used to. Some features in Windows just don't exist on a Mac, and some are just changes in how I do things. Command vs. Ctrl is one of those things.

I use an external keyboard most of the time. It's a Dell keyboard, which means I don't even have a Command key.

Ctrl as a modifier key should be easily accessible. I noticed that with my normal hand positioning, hitting Command wasn't as easy as Ctrl. Ctrl sits there right on the corner of my keyboard, begging for it. With Command, I find myself having to search. Given that I work at nights a lot in the dark (with a black keyboard), I need this key to be easy to hit.

Enter: System Preferences > Keyboard > Modifier Keys

Switch Ctrl and Command. Pow.

OSX Mountain Lion and Reverse Scrolling

One of my biggest gripes about OSX right now is the scroll wheel on my mouse. When Apple released Mountain Lion, they decided that "natural" scrolling is now the default and the standard, so all of us need to just get used to the path that Apple is blazing.

Natural works amazing for the trackpad. I'm so used to my iPad and my iPhone, that it just feels right. The problem is, I've been using scroll wheels for much much longer than my iPhone, so I expect them to behave a certain way. Apple does give you the option to turn this off, but while they give us separate settings screens for the trackpad and the mouse, the scrolling attributes are linked. So turn off natural on one, and it removes from the other as well. It's a pain in the ass to have to switch every time I decide to use this machine as a laptop, then switch back when I dock in.

Enter Scroll Reverser (http://pilotmoon.com/scrollreverser/).

With Scroll Reverser, you can adjust the scrolling direction per type of input. I now have my scrolling set to Natural in System Preferences, but reverse it for the mouse through Scroll Reverser. It hangs out in your menu bar, and you can tell it to launch on login to keep it working for you. Pow.

Path Finder for Mac OSX

I'm in the midst of switching to a Macbook Pro from my 20+ years of Windows. I've always known Apple to have nice machines, but I've always preferred Windows and just feel more at home there. But times, they are a changin'.

I've been designing more and more for iPad. Besides the ridiculous file sizes created by working on a canvas that is 2048x1536 (easily upwards of 200 Mb per), having to design at 33% zoom kinda sucks. So in order to make my life easier, IT suggested I try out the Macbook Pro Retina, with 16 GB RAM.

So far it's been a decent change. The power of the laptop is the biggest plus. The OS? Meh. There are things I love, and things I can't stand. Other than the multi-touch trackpad with gestures and the power of this machine, I don't think I've come across much else that would make me "need" to switch. It's a great laptop, if all I needed was web browsing and Word docs, I'd be in love. But as a work machine, I find as many cons as I do pluses.

One of my biggest gripes is Finder. It's lack of features and the user experience makes me long for Explorer. I love being able to type in paths, copy and paste paths, the way things are displayed and organized, bread crumbs.

Enter Path Finder (http://cocoatech.com/pathfinder/).

Path Finder brings a lot of the features I miss in Explorer to OSX. I can copy and paste paths (in any format I want, BTW, Windows, Unix, etc.), I can see where I've been with breadcrumbs and quickly go up a few levels, tabbed browsing (Explorer doesn't even have this) as well as quick links to recent documents, changed documents, and more. It's $40, but will be well worth the investment and sanity.

Photoshop Tutorials: Really easy HDR effect

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kolnedra/2257529395/

Jersey Shore font

Umbrage: http://www.acidfonts.com/typeface/umbrage.htm

You know you want it. Amazing they went with a freeware font.

Fixing the Photoshop clipboard bug (copy and paste)

"For many Photoshop users, there is a horrible bug in Adobe Photoshop that causes the program to stop importing from the clipboard. You’ll be using the software for hours or even days without a problem, and all of a sudden you won’t be able to copy and paste anything into it at all, with your only option to close and re-open Photoshop."

http://microsoft.blognewschannel.com/archives/2007/09/05/how-to-fix-the-photoshop-clipboard/

swffit - Smart Flash Resize Script

http://swffit.millermedeiros.com/

"swffit was made to improve accessibility of your flash website.

It was made because each user uses a different screen resolution and resizes the browser window at custom sizes.. when you set the flash size to 100% width and/or height (full bleed) the browser won't generate scrollbars and maybe an important content will be hidden from the user.

In short: It controls how big and how small your Flash movie can be scaled to within a browser window (assuming you're at 100%). Adds necessary scrollbars if someone resizes the window to a size smaller than the minimum.

Flash Liquid Layout - Top Left Corner

This code is for top left aligning an object inside a centered fullscreen Flash movie. Took me a while to figure this out, but here's the code:

Stage.align = "T";
Stage.scaleMode = "noScale";

originalStage = Stage.width;

sizeListener = new Object();
sizeListener.onResize = function() {
myObject._x = myObject._x-((Stage.width-originalStage)/2);
originalStage = Stage.width;
};
Stage.addListener(sizeListener);

Cavs owner's letter mocked for Comic Sans font

Dear computer users: If you're ever going to write a fuming letter, think twice before setting the font to the oh-so-mockable Comic Sans.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/07/09/comic.sans.cavs.james/index.html?hpt=C2

iPad GUI Kit: Teehan+Lax

Teehan+lax are back with a GUI kit for iPad. Yeah, I know I'm 5 months late, but I've only just begun iPad work. As always with their kits, make sure to look closely at detail and use this more as a starting point, as their iPhone kits were nice, but not perfect.

Enjoy!

http://www.teehanlax.com/blog/2010/02/01/ipad-gui-psd/

Type 1 Fonts, Windows 7 and Photoshop

Today my computer was upgraded to Windows 7, and well, now my Type 1 (postscript) fonts don't want to work inside of Photoshop CS3. I know the format is ancient and is slowly going the way of the dodo, and even though I have OpenType and TrueType versions of Helvetica, none organize as nicely as my Type 1 fonts do. In Photoshop, all versions of my Type 1 Helvetica show up in the secondary dropdown, not as separate entries in the full font list, as happens with OpenType and TrueType (for me at least). Plus, some of us have had these fonts for years and don't feel like buying another set.

After much Googling, I discovered that Adobe products will recognize them if you place them in this directory:

c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Fonts

If this directory doesn't exist, try creating it. The workaround kinda sucks, but for me it's worth it.

FREEBIES: Think Design

http://thinkdesignblog.com/category/freebies

Patterns, vectors, fonts, textures and more.