Free Template Tuesday #16 – Tumult Hype “Origin”

Christmas Tree GridMerry Christmas! It is a day where we celebrate the birth of Jesus — and to celebrate we give each other gifts. There are many religious and non-religious reasons why the day is significant. But for this post, let’s look at the origin. It is the year 2019 AD or Anno Domini. That’s Latin for “in the year of our lord”. Even if you use “CE” (Common Era), instead of “AD”, the calendar’s starting point is the same. Jesus is the origin point.

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Widgets – Version 2.1 Update

Widgets App Icon – Fiery ThumbnailThis update is a milestone. Widgets is now in 2.x territory. That means the app is becoming more refined. Major issues are being resolved. Looking back, Apple’s been a big part of that success. Their tech support has been legendary. I rejoined the Apple Developer Program last May. Since then, Apple resolved four of my technical issues. Looking at my “App Development” folder in Thunderbird (my email client), there are 48 messages from “Apple Developer Technical Support” just this year.

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Widgets – Version 1.8 Update

Contact Emoji – Solar ExplosionWow, that was rough! The Widgets app had a really nasty issue. The app would freeze on startup. If you had too many contacts – boom! The fix was not easy. The “Contacts” widget had to be redesigned and rewritten. It would have been easier to delete the widget and create a different widget from scratch. I’m not sure where the motivation comes from, as the challenge was bit beyond my level as a developer. But somehow, this project is different. I stuck with it until I figured it out.

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The Widgets War

Audio Widget ThumbnailWhile not as dire sounding as the title of this article, (I like alliteration.) I’m in the middle of a battle. The difficultly of creating widgets was severely underestimated. Every single widget (except maybe the clock) has been a struggle. What’s even more surprising is how much I love it. It’s an epic challenge of man-vs-machine. The thrill of victory, in this cerebral conflict, is exhilarating.

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