Neven Mrgan
mrgan.tumblr.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2009
Neven Mrgan is a designer who writes about iOS app icons, pixel art, Photoshop, and Apple's app platform.
What HN saysCommenters cite his posts on app icon sizes and pixel art, and his 'walled garden' post in debates over iOS openness.
46HN people shared it
16linked it in comments
40stories submitted
394story points
8 years agolast shared
2009people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1IPhone Web App Debate Continues: Pie Guy5 people · 6 points · first shared 2009 · discussion on HN
- 2The many sliders of Photoshop CS43 people · 55 points · first shared 2009 · 24 comments on HN
- 3All the sizes of iOS app icons3 people · 37 points · first shared 2010 · 8 comments on HN
- 4We Value Your Opinion2 people · 4 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
- 5Pixel art and the art of preserving pixel size2 people · 1 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
- 6Hand pixelated2 people · first shared 2011
- 7Testflight2 people · first shared 2010
- 8Pixelfari: a pixely, 8-bitty version of Safari from Neven Mrgan1 people · 103 points · first shared 2011 · 19 comments on HN
- 9Pixel art and the art of preserving pixel size1 people · 85 points · first shared 2012 · 37 comments on HN
- 10Photoshop: What's wrong with the sliders.1 people · 25 points · first shared 2009 · 3 comments on HN
- 11Ask HN: Facebook redesign - What's with the "Y" and orange bar?1 people · 9 points · first shared 2010 · 2 comments on HN
- 12The Back button should never say "back"1 people · 8 points · first shared 2011 · discussion on HN
- 13Jony Ive’s icon grid in iOS 7 is wrong1 people · 6 points · first shared 2013 · discussion on HN
- 14My first week without an Apple Watch1 people · 4 points · first shared 2015 · discussion on HN
- 1530%1 people · 4 points · first shared 2011 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
ajslater · 2012-04-08
Automatic scaling doesn't work very well. You can find numerous design blogs showing you in great detail why it looks slightly shoddy if you scale from 512x512 down to 128x128 or 64x64, and how below 64x64 you just get into illegibility. For your app to look great you need hand tweaked assets for most resolutions.
http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/708404794/ios-app-icon-sizes
http://bjango.com/articles/designingforretina2/
grey-area · 2013-08-22
Do you have a mailing list discussion you can link to on this, that might be illuminating?
The reason webkit implemented srcset is because of the performance it allows.
I wonder what HTML would look like if browser performance was the primary concern? Is this truly the best argument for srcset, that browsers can parse the page quicker?
Probably the fastest HTML to render would be something like this:
<img src="foo" border="2px solid red" margin="10px" width="100px" height="100px" align="left">
There are good reasons we've moved away from that, even though it hits performance. It just seems wrong to be tying image resolutions to particular screen resolutions and trying to specify sources in a comma separated list with arbitrary resolution scales included, that's pretty nasty and not at all like other parts of HTML (which generally has been kept surprisingly clean if spartan in terms of features). I'd rather use js to load hires than use this or just serve everyone hires.
It reminds me of the horrible multiple resolution handling on iOS, which is probably what inspired it (@2x etc). I think there are now 15 different icon sizes for iOS [1] because of this insistence on tying resolutions to device specs. I can imagine issues with devices lying about resolution or ending up between x1 and x2 and not getting bigger images just because their resolution isn't quite x2 etc.
[1] http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/708404794/ios-app-icon-sizes
I see the concern on loading - if…
elblanco · 2010-09-11
> Like all rules, once you understand them and know what you are doing, then it may make sense to break them.
I actually agree with this whole heartedly. I think we're on the same wavelength here. Just like all good literature violates supposed rules of good form for the language.
But I think that following OS conventions is the wrong set of rules to learn and target. There are already good interface guidelines. It just so happens that some OSs (OSX) do a particularly good job at following those guidelines.
It reminds me of this http://catb.org/esr/writings/cups-horror.html
The meta-problem here is that the configuration wizard does all the approved rituals (GUI with standardized clicky buttons, help popping up in a browser, etc. etc.) but doesn't have the central attribute these are supposed to achieve: discoverability. That is, the quality that every point in the interface has prompts and actions attached to it from which you can learn what to do next. Does your project have this quality?
A good interface can look like anything so long as it follows good GUI conventions. And fortunately most OSs follow pretty good GUI conventions so targeting the conventions of that platform are in a way following good GUI conventions transitively. I just wouldn't limit myself as to say that the measure of important should be following OS conventions when it should really be following interface conventions. The CUPS story I linked to brings that problem directly to the forefront.…
Terretta · 2014-06-02
I think you missed that the App Store is an iPhone afterthought -- the original, still supported, intent was to support HTML5 apps installed to your home screen.
You can write your own software, run it on any iOS device, share it with others, even sell it without anyone's permission.
Here is a PacMan style game, for example:
http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/257187093/pie-guy
If that's not "hobbyist" friendly, I don't know what is.
eupharis · 2013-01-22
The term has been appropriated.
John Gruber:
http://daringfireball.net/2010/06/iphone_os_too_closed
Neven Mrgan:
http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/653708588/the-walled-garden
lloeki · 2012-08-24
flixic · 2011-07-12
Neven Mrgan, developer of The Incident game, tried confronting AppTrackr community: http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/1440586319/the-incident-crack
In the end, pirates really don't care. They crack without guilt, appeal to "it's just one dollar" doesn't matter (1/0 = free version is infinitely cheaper, and in this way doesn't generate any attachment to purchasing decision), and even personal approach from developer is taken as a little joke.
mccutchen · 2011-06-24
To me, it does look like fair use. But I'm not a lawyer. I found this argument pretty compelling, though:
http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/6840184364/hand-pixelated
"That cover is NOT the original photo, downsampled. It’s a hand-crafted, precisely drawn interpretation of the source. Anyone who’s ever seriously put pixels to screen will tell you that this is an actual artistic method, one with its own challenges, tricks, and yes, an aesthetic."
snsr · 2011-06-24
Agreed - pixel/bitmap artist weighs in (not my post): http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/6840184364/hand-pixelated
wallflower · 2010-10-02
Good overview by private beta tester: http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/1037353749/testflight
I'm not sure this is a product that I would pay for, since it is based on an iOS 4 feature[1] that I have used before.
[1] http://jeffreysambells.com/posts/2010/06/22/ios-wireless-app-distribut…
blasdel · 2010-08-31
http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/1037353749/testflight
Who knew that iOS can install signed ad-hoc binaries through the browser?
jazzychad · 2010-05-21
I wonder how much of the code was inspired by Neven Mrgan's PieGuy iphone webapp game, also written in html/js.
http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/257187093/pie-guy
http://mrgan.com/pieguy/ <-- go here on your iphone
icey · 2010-03-04
HTML 5 is supported on the iPad, you can install an application that looks pretty native (including local storage) that doesn't have to go through the crazy Apple approval process. Neven Mrgan made a game in HTML5 that illustrates how well this works: http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/257187093/pie-guy
wvenable · 2010-02-06
Yes, but does Photoshop need 9 different ugly sliders, for example?
http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/235455865/the-many-sliders-of-photoshop-c…
stilist · 2009-11-26
> Pie Guy will run on iPhone 3GS with OS 3.0 or higher installed.
— http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/257187093/pie-guy