A new generation of Retina displays with high pixel densities is now on the market. Unfortunately, that means your website imagery could instantly become ugly and pixelated if you don’t take action. With the introduction of the iPhone 4 in 2010, Apple no longer measured its screens in pixels, but in points. The scaling factor of the screen changed, which determines how a point relates to a pixel. A Retina display now has a scale of two, so one point is equal to two pixels — if you draw a one-point line, it shows as two pixels wide. If you’re imagery isn’t optimized to account for this, your product won’t make a great first impression. Most standard desktop displays fall between 96 to 100DPI, with web-ready graphics normally at 72DPI. However, Retina displays have a much higher DPI (generally acknowledged at 200 pixels per inch, or greater), so the images will look blurry if you don’t make adjustments. It’s therefore essential to ensure your website images are optimized to scale up properly. We’ll cover four approaches to convert your site to Retina, while ensuring its imagery looks great on all devices. If you have found alternative solutions to serving Retina images, please share your recommendations with readers in the comments below. 1. CSS Sprites One method to serve responsive Retina images is to use CSS Sprites. To cater for high-resolution displays, you need two images: a normal resolution (@1x) and a high-resolution image (@2x); this means doubling the number of files, selectors and references in your CSS. However, if you use a CSS Sprite, “you only need to override the link to the @1x sprite file for all the selectors that include high-resolution assets,” says Maykel Loomans, user interface designer at Instagram. This technique reduces network requests and stylesheet file size, an efficient process for creating Retina assets. The CSS Sprite solution, though, is only for assets referenced in your CSS. For the images on your page, Imulus has developed Retina.js, a very useful plugin that checks your server to see if you have any image source with @2x at the end. For example, if you have an image on your page that looks like this: img src=”/images/my_image.png, the script will check your server to see if an alternative image exists at this path: /images/my_image@2x.png. It then automatically replaces images on your page with high-resolution variants. To use it, just place the Retina.js file on your server and include the script on your page at the bottom of your template, before the closing </body> tag. While it is often more time-consuming to produce multiple graphics, the end result produces an optimal file size and is a “future-friendly” approach to development. 2. Retina Images Retina Images is a server-side solution, which serves high-resolution images automatically without double loading resources. It relies on PHP, a modified .htaccess file, enabled cookies and JavaScript. Once set up on your website, all you have to do is create a high-res version of each image you […]
Facebook is celebrating hitting the 1 billion monthly user mark with the company’s first ad campaign. The social network hired ad agency Wieden + Kennedy — best known for its Nike work — to create the 90-second film above. The ad compares Facebook to chairs, bridges, basketball and other vehicles that bring people together. “What we’re trying to articulate is that we as humans exist to connect, and we at Facebook to facilitate and enable that process,” Rebecca Van Dyck, Facebook’s head of consumer marketing, told Advertising Age. “We make the tools and services that allow people to feel human, get together, open up. Even if it’s a small gesture, or a grand notion — we wanted to express that huge range of connectivity and how we interact with each other.” In a blog post, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg added, “For the first time in our history, we’ve made a brand video to express what our place is on this earth. We believe that the need to open up and connect is what makes us human. It’s what brings us together. It’s what brings meaning to our lives.” The ad campaign will roll out in 13 countries, including the U.S., Brazil, Mexico, Russia and Spain. There is no mention in the film of Facebook having hit the 1 billion mark. What do you think? Does this make you think of Facebook any differently? Let us know in the comments. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/10/04/facebook-ad-campaign/
Mountain lions understandably get a bad rap for eating people and being pretty menacing members of the animal kingdom, but when it comes down to it, they’re just big cats…and cats like to play! Case in point: this mountain lion who wanders onto Desert Mountain’s Chiricahua golf course in Scottsdale, Arizona, and becomes completely enamored by the flag at the 18th hole. He could probably eat your cat in one bite, but for a second, it’s hard not to think he could BE your cat! Read more: http://www.viralnova.com/lion-golf/
“American Ninja Warrior” is an American TV show where contestants take on ridiculously challenging obstacle courses and compete for a trip to an even more difficult course in Las Vegas. Only the top ten contestants get to try their hand at conquering “Mt. Midoriyama” and for the first time in the show’s history, one of them will be female. Despite only being 5′ tall and 100 lbs, Kacy Catanzaro was able to accomplish something big. In front of an incredibly supportive Dallas crowd, the former Division 1 gymnast showed everyone what she’s made of and reminded us all that anyone can do anything they put their mind to. Check out her inspiring run! Don’t leave her hanging now. Thanks for the inspiration, Kacy! And good look on “Mt. Midoriyama!” Not that you’ll need it. Share this post using the button below. Read more: http://viralnova.com/american-ninja-warrior-first-female-finalist/
Being a mom can be a messy job. Between cooking, feeding, and playing with the children, a mom’s work is never done! For both well-experienced and new mothers, perhaps the most daunting and outright dirtiest part of the job is the infamous changing of the diaper. Changing a diaper is hard enough, but it can be even more frustrating when the baby is wearing a onesie. One experienced mom just discovered the best-kept secret to saving a baby from what she calls the “Poo-Nami.” Check out this mom’s awesome diaper-changing tip below! You go, mom! I wish changing my clothes were that easy! Read more: http://www.viralnova.com/diaper-changing-tip/
Clocking in at 1,178 minutes, or just under 20 hours, the Harry Potter films, while excellent representations of the wonderful books by J.K. Rowling, are simply too long to watch. But fret no more, muggles — we’ve got you covered. In the second episode of our new series, “Too Long; Didn’t Watch,” we tackle the story of the boy who lived. In roughly 0.2% of the time it takes Harry’s story to unfold on screen, we explore the films in their entirety. No themes left unexplored; no characters left unanalyzed. We promise. BONUS: The Lord of the Rings in 90 Seconds Read more: http://mashable.com/2014/07/15/harry-potter-tldw/
Image: Nintendo The newest incarnation of Super Smash Bros. is the fastest selling game on Nintendo’s Wii U console, the company reported Tuesday, with almost half a million copies sold in the first three days of release in the United States. Nintendo said 490,000 physical and digital copies of its mash-up character fighting game were sold between Nov. 21 and Nov. 23. Previously, Mario Kart 8 was the fastest selling Wii U game, and though Nintendo didn’t disclose how many copies it sold in the first three days, it did sell 2.28 million copies worldwide during its first two months of release. Nintendo still comes in at a solid No. 3 in the console race. Its investor relations website lists 7.12 million Wii U units sold worldwide since the console’s launch two years ago; Sony’s PlayStation 4 passed 10 million in sales after just eight months on the market, and the Xbox One was nearing that number, Microsoft recently stated. Though the previous-generation Wii console was a massive commercial success, selling more than a 100 million units, Nintendo hasn’t even matched the sales pace for its last unpopular console, the GameCube. But Super Smash Bros. Melee was the best selling game for the GameCube, so Nintendo is likely betting on the franchise fans to drive console sales. Super Smash Bros. launched in North America first. It will be released in Europe on Nov. 28, Australia on Nov. 29 and Japan on Dec. 6. It seems Nintendo prioritized the U.S. release to get in before Black Friday sales this week. BONUS: How Twitch propelled the ‘Super Smash Bros.: Melee’ community Read more: http://mashable.com/2014/11/25/super-smash-bros-fastest-selling/
The world has yet to recover from the shock of Robin Williams’s death. Recently, it was announced by his wife, Susan Schneider, that the 63 year-old entertainer was in the early stages of Parkinson’s Disease. That sad fact makes his death even more tragic than it already was. So many were touched by his work and are still grieving over his loss. People are remembering his years of wonderful work in the most amazing ways. One that will bring you to tears in about 5 seconds flat is this special Broadway performance. The cast of Broadway’s “Aladdin” sang the song, “Friend Like Me,” in his honor last Tuesday night. James Monroe Iglehart, the actor who plays the Genie, led both the cast and the audience in song. YouTube / AP It might be tough getting through this without tearing up, you may want to grab some tissues: (H/T Elite Daily) If you’re anything like me, remembering his work is bittersweet. Tears mix with laughter as we go back and watch some of his best performances. Please share this touching tribute with others on Facebook by clicking the link below. Read more: http://viralnova.com/broadway-aladdin-tribute/
Dogs usually love beef jerky, but this is not beef jerky. When presented with low-fat lamb jerky, this five-month-old Labrador Retriever not only expresses his displeasure, but we’re detecting a bit of fear. In the video’s YouTube description, his owner says, “This is strange and yet hilarious, because this is a dog who will eat anything and pretty much everything.” But he wants to make it clear that this YouTube video isn’t showing him abusing the young dog: “I will have you know that this in no way counts as abuse. Once I finished filming, he went back to playing with his toys. He is a much loved and much spoiled pup. :)” But just look at the sad expression on the dog’s face. Sure, a lot of that is the natural folds of the breed’s skin, but from someone who has had undesired foods pushed into his face too many times, I have to feel sorry for the little guy. What do you think? Is this any way to treat a dog? Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/08/11/dog-is-terrified/
Anytime you go in for surgery, there’s a chance you might walk away with complications…or worse. But when there was a payment dispute between a doctor and a patient in China, one woman received more hurt than she bargained for. The following video was taken at a hospital in Inner Mongolia, and it’s believed that it was captured in the gynecology unit. Allegedly, the woman was about to be operated on when the doctor asked for more money to complete the procedure. An argument started, the patient lashed out, and eventually, the doctor slapped the patient and forcefully restrained her. While it’s never okay to resort to violence, some are saying that the woman had every right. According to reports across the country, doctors are preying on patients and extorting them in their weakest hour, which is supposedly what happened in this woman’s case. Because of this and other factors like a growing upper class with very specific expectations, recent numbers show that Chinese patients are attacking their doctors more and more often. Read more: http://www.viralnova.com/doctor-attack/
