Playing with the User Interface in Android Part [1]!

This Topic will discuss playing with the user interface in developing an Android Application..
our Topic will be about how to create the following screens and the next part will be about how to connect between them!>>

here is the Code of View one: res/layout/main.xml

in the previous code ,using the Linear Layout which is used to arrange views in a single row or a single column , then set the width and the height of the layout to “fill_parent”, setting the background of the layout with a hex-dec value .. the orientation of the layout to vertical and the padding to 20..

about the TextView : the value of the width to “fill_parent” and the height to “wrap_content” , the text appears which it’s value saved in strings.xml : res/values/strings.xml , you can change its value easily , I have changed it to CATaZineLive.. then , set its size to 25 and make marginBottom to make good space between it and the next button..

the two buttons : set to them an id , so u can easily call them , set the width , height , textSize, textColor , and onClick : you can easily refer to the button in you code ..

the SignUp Screen Code : res/layout/signup.xml

in the previous code , you will use the TableLayout which is consist of rows and columns to make the view looks good , u will notice that some EditTexts took different input types : textEmailAdress , textPersonName, textPassword .. it depends on the value you will put in the EditText view..

LogIn Form View code : res/layout/login.xml

 

the code only clarify one new feature which is the checkBox , the user can check it if he/she wants the app to remember the password..

that’s all today .. the next part will let you know how to connect between them and know some new features ..

Thanks!

 

Add-ons in FireFox!

بداية كلنا نعرف أو نسمع عن متصفح الانترنت FireFox و الذي بدأ بالانتشار سريعا و بدأ ايضا في المنافسة مع المتصفحات الاخرى، و سوف أتطرق ل خاصية مهمة يحملها هذا المتصفح تجعله يتميز عن غيره و هي ال  add-ons .

ال add-ons هي ب مثابة برامج صغيرة يتم تحميلها و إضافتها عبر ال متصفح ل إضافة مميزات أو تحسينات له . ف هي قادرة على تلبية احتياجات المستخدم باختلاف ذوقه . و هي تعمل فقط على تطبيقات موزيلا مثل:

FireFox , FireFox for Mobile , SeaMonkey and ThunderBird . و لكنها لا تعمل على كل هذه ال تطبيقات أو الإصدارات المختلفة لها .

و هناك أنواع من ال add-ons التي خصصت ل FireFox :
الملحقات – Extensions : إضافة مميزات جديدة لل FireFox أو تعديل وظائف موجودة فيه ، و تسمح للمستخدم بالإعلانات و تحميل الفيديوهات من المواقع و التعامل مع المواقع الاجتماعية ب صورة أفضل ، و الكثير الكثير من هذه الملحقات التي يمكن ذكرها و مع الاستخدام يتم التعرف عليها! .

الموضوعات- Themes : تمكنك من تغيير مظهر و شكل ال FireFox بشكل كامل بما فيه شكل الأيقونات و الألوان و صناديق الحوار .

شخصي- appearance : و تستخدم ل تغيير خلفية شريط الأدوات في ال FireFox .

شريط البحث – Search Providers : ف هي توفر لك البحث في أي موقع من داخل المتصفح .

اللغات والقواميس –  Dictionaries & Language Packs : تدعم لغات إضافية لل FireFox .

الإضافات – Plugins : تساعد ال FireFox على عرض أنواع ال media المختلفة مثل Adobe Flash .

و يمكن تثبيت ال add-ons عن طريق الضغط على tools >> add-ons و من بعدها يتم البحث و اختيار ال add-on المراد تثبيته والضغط على install و يمكن عرض ال add-ons المثبتة من قبل و تعطيلها أو إزالتها أو تحديثها . و معظم هذه ال add-ons لا تؤثر على أداء ال متصفح و سرعته ، و إن كان هناك قابلية للتأثير السلبي عليه من أحد ال إضافات سوف يظهر رسالة تحذير أو تنبيـه ب ذلك أعلى الصفحة الخاصة بها .

و من هنا أحب أن أعرض أشهر و أنسب ال add-ons المتاحة على ال FireFox :

AdBlock Plus :
يسمح بالسيطرة على طريقة العرض على شبكة الانترنت و تمكنك من إزالة الإعلانات و حجب كل ما هو غير معروف ، ف هي ب مثابة فلتر يمكنك من اختيار الأنواع المختلفة التي تريدها من صور أو flash أو Java objects .

GreaseMonkey :
تخصيص طريقة عرض صفحات الويب عن طريق ال java script .

DownThemAll :
مدير التحميل DownloadManager الأساسي في ال FireFox .

 

XMarks Sync:
تحافظ على المواقع المفضلة و علامات التبويب tabs المفتوحة .

 

TabMix Plus :
و هي إضافة خاصة بال Tabs و تُمكٍن من تكرار ال tabs أو التراجع عن ال tabs المغلقة و مميزات أخرى خاصة بها .

 FasTestFox- Browse Faster :
يوفر الوقت من خلال تسريع المهام المتكررة و جعل التنزيلات على نحو متواز ، و تحسين البحث .

 AniWeather! :
ينبه عن أحوال الطقس ب طريقة ممثلة animated ،

 

NetVideoHunter Video Downloader :
يساعد على تحميل الفيديوهات و المقاطع  من المواقع مثل  youtube أو facebook أو DivShare .. إلخ

 

 WebMail Notifier :
ينبه ب عدد الرسائل الواردة الغير مقروءة ل جميع الحسابات المفتوحة عليه مثل hotmail , yahoo , gmail , facebook! و الأهم أنه قادر على فتح أكثر من حساب على نفس ال host .

 

 Reminder Fox :
يعرض و يدير قوائم ال To-Do و يحفظها ب تواريخ و ينبه ال مستخدم ب alarm .

 

* و هذه كانت اقتراحات  لل add-ons الأهم على المتصفح و يوجد الكثيـــر من ال add-ons التي يمكن تنزيلها و تثبيتها للتمتع ب مميزات و خواص أنسب للمستخدم ..

 

Identify the Topic

In the name of ALLAH, the Beneficent, the Merciful

Writing for CATazine
(Identify the Topic)

What does writing for CATazine mean to me?
• Pleasure, to receive the invitation to write here.
• Honor, to support a hard working team: carrying glory from history, evolving in Faculty of Computers, and spreading to the rest of the world, and loves fighting.
• Responsibility, to present a different kind of articles, with higher quality than what I used to. Blogging is nice…
• I have been blogging since 2005. I used to blog using a blogging service called: http://www.blogspirit.com I am not quiet sure if it still exists or not. Blogging has plenty of advantages, and disadvantages too.
* One of the advantages: feeling free, I write what I feel, and if you are not interested, you can leave 🙂 But… CATazine is not my personal Blog ,
• Though I feel CATazine is my home, it is not my personal blog. I have to fulfill minimum requirements, which are high quality standards, on time basis (Weekly… You are kidding me CATians 🙂

I couldn’t have started my first post without this introduction. I believe this introduction carries a lot, and hopefully it delivers what I feel inside.

Now, enough with the feelings, and to start the Topic:
Actually, the first topic is: “ Identify the Topic“

What do I mean by ” Identify the Topic” ?
Simply, I will go through different topics right now, and wait for readers feedback.Voting on the most wanted topic will yield the rest of the coming series of articles. That does not mean we will not go through the rest of the topics, but we have to follow some order.

• Information Systems: Information Systems are collection of Computers, Hardware, Software, Processes, etc. that handles data to give information as output. Do you believe that? Because I don’t. No matter how many times you have read this in different books. I have read that many times before, and I do not like the sound of this sentence. Information Systems are the most important
field nowadays, that represents huge sector of research and money. There are important research fields within Information Systems we know nothing about. If you are interested to dig deeper into Information Systems; including Enterprise
Architecture, Business Intelligence, Enterprise Systems ” ERP, CRM, etc.” it would be my pleasure to start this sequel of articles immediately. Honestly, I hope you are voting for this. Let us see 🙂

• Computer Networks: Cisco is a major player in Computer Networks – True. It is not the only one there. Are there any? How Open Source world applies to Computer Networks? Are Computer Networks affecting our World? Our Systems? Who is the Network Administrator? What are the responsibilities of Network Engineer? What is the perfect combination of skills do I need to become efficient Network Expert? What are the latest Technologies? Many other questions. If you are interested, it is my pleasure to start this sequel of articles inchallah. Honestly, I hope you are voting for this. Let us see 🙂

• Mozilla: We have been through this discussion before. Mozilla is the Non-Profit that produces Firefox. This is great. But, Mozilla is working hardly to face a changing world and to keep the web neutral. What are the latest Mozilla updates? What are the latest Mozilla technologies and products? Why we need to support Mozilla? How can we get involved with Mozilla? If you are interested,
please vote here and it is really my pleasure to start this sequel of articles. Honestly, I hope you are voting for this. Let us see 🙂

I will not be chatting much more. I believe feedback is the most important component for Information Systems ” Please don’t consider this an indication to the topic I would love to discuss 🙂 “

ah! How will I get your feedback, through comments.

~Haitham El-Ghareeb

 

Gmail With it's new Dress .

It is clear that Google wants to celebrate Eid Al-Adha Al Mubark with us by a new dress for it’s Gmail .

All of us have observed the new look for Gmail .

Let us know what’s the new …..

Streamlined conversations

 A new view of the responses and discussions in the mail.

Elastic density

 Changing the distances between the elements of mail automatically depending on the nature of the user or device can    be changed as desired by the user.

New HD themes

 provides themes with high quality for good view.

Smarter navigation

 The possibility of modifying the side lists and moving or hiding chat area .

Better search

Searching in the mail appears better and offer advanced options directly in the search box.

And finally , Google said that the changes will be brought to everyone soon , and they have rolling out a switch to the new look link in the bottom right of the Gmail .

A video for it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vfW5e6jVsMs

 

 

 

 

 

Start with google

as most of you must have heard Start with google bus arrived at mansoura yesterday , and ofcourse we wouldn’t miss it ! So here’s our report for the lovely day incase you missed it.

They arrived around 6:00 PM at Misr library , they started by introducing the representative of one of the associations the was originated from Mansoura but is now big and covers all Egypt “SAS” that stands for “Science Age Society جمعية عصر العلم ” , It has programs that aim to spread science among all different levels of the society starting from kids till scientists . The association is one of the sponsors of the competition

Then in the discussion part , small communities that serve the same purpose were mentioned and the association’s representative welcomed any sort of collaboration -interesting no ?-

Make sure you check their website trust me you will be impressed 😉

http://www.sasegypt.org

Then Mr mohammed Aboud started talking about the competition itself , ofcourse starting with the video -actually we made him skip it we all saw it before the session 😀 – but here it is anyway

Then he started explaining the competition phases :

Phase 1 : the submission phase which will end on 31^st this month so hurry up If you’ll participate

around 7000 submitted but only 1600 actually completed the submission , it’s expected that t the number will jump to 3000 by the dead line that’s why they wont extend it

a good note is that they limited the number of lines for the description , so be as innovative as

possible .

Phase 2 : 200 projects will be picked and will receive special training about business management and related stuff not that every team must be at maximum of 5 people , 2 will be picked for the training .

Phase 3 : 50 projects will be picked based on the prototypes of their project.

Phase 4 : 20 will be picked -suspense here-

finally , Winning team will be picked , and will receive a prize of 1.2 Millions to finance their startup

as you may guess we were all surprised how come the runner ups get nothing , mr mohamed

replied that there will be tons of investors there, so it’s a win win for whoever reaches phase 4

Note:team will not receive the prize unless they register their company -ouch- .

moving on to the discussion part , we were asked why on earth would google think of doing that ,

quoting wael el fakharany he said “We need people who can dream, who have ideas” . Google is simply investing and they picked Egypt for this because the saw too much potential in Egyptian youth after Jan25 , I was still sad that Wael el fakharany didn’t make it to mansoura 😦

Some equation I liked in the presentation :

القدرة X الرغبة X معرفة الدور = Success

The multiplication means that if one of the factors was zero , it’s all zero

so you CAN do it

you WANT to do it

you’re in the RIGHT PLACE where you can innovate

————————–

little hard work will do the trick

So If you have a good Idea you don’t want to miss this chance , Even if you don’t win you will be forced to work on it and humans 101 , deciding to start is always the hardest part.

Follow @Ebda2 on twitter for updates , and ofcourse here’s the website : http://startwithgoogle.com

Cheers !