I’m pleased to announce the release of MGTileMenu, an open source iOS GUI component providing a pop-up tile-based contextual menu. It’s designed for iOS 5, and uses ARC. It supports Retina and non-Retina devices, and works with VoiceOver. MGTileMenu is designed for use on iPad, but it will also work on iPhone and iPod touch.

MGTileMenu is released under an attribution license for free, and can also be licensed without the attribution requirement for a modest fee. MGTileMenu has no external dependencies. Here’s how it looks, at full Retina resolution:

MGTileMenu

I’m very invested in the iPad as a laptop replacement, and I endeavour to make it my main machine when I’m away from my desk (at which I currently use an iMac). I travel regularly, often to speak at events, and I try to embrace simplicity and to work away from my office as much as I can.

With a not-uncommon sense of despair, I recently read an article on a hack for jailbroken iPads, allowing desktop-like layered window management.

I’ve previously written at some length about the evils of religion, but they pale against a far greater, more pernicious, more widespread blight on society. Religion itself, as always, continues to support and propagate this greater cruelty. And unlike religion, sadly, it’s not being rapidly abandoned by the more civilised countries and enlightened people.

Do you know the word “misandry”? You probably don’t, or you didn’t until you just looked it up. It’s a relatively modern word; about 70 years old. It means a hatred of men.

You do, however, almost certainly know the word misogyny. It’s an older word; something of the order of a few centuries. The hatred of women. The modern ‘misandry’ is modelled on the pattern of the older ‘misogyny’. The etymology is both factually true and deeply symbolic.

For most of my life, I’ve struggled to quantify what constitutes an enticing interface. There are certain basic aims from which you can take your pick - intuitiveness, attractiveness, clarity, simplicity, consistency, and more - but those are general guidelines. I’ve had trouble defining what an enticing interface is for me.

Whatever progress I’d made was very nearly reset by the advent of the iPhone, and touch-screen devices generally. With the arrival of the iPad, however, I’ve noticed an increasingly-prevalent UX aesthetic that I think gets close to the natural role of these devices in our lives - or at least in mine.