One strength of an analog notebook is its simplicity. The times in my life when I’ve used a notebook regularly, I would always keep a pen attached to the notebook so that the process of writing involved just two simple steps: open the cover, and press pen to paper. Many digital notebook apps forfeit this simplicity due to overly complex interfaces and toolsets.
Moleskine’s new app, Flow, is a digital notebook that understands what it takes to succeed as a notebook replacement – giving you the tools to customize your experience to your own preferences. It’s available on both iPad and iPhone, and offers an elegant balance of convenience and flexibility that make it my favorite digital notebook to date.
Sketch, the popular design app from Bohemian Coding, received a big update today, but perhaps the most interesting aspect of the update is the incorporation of Apple’s official iOS 11 design template. An earlier update of Sketch added Libraries, sets of design assets that can be saved, reused, and shared. With the new version of Sketch released today, those Libraries can be stored in Sketch Cloud and shared with other Sketch users who can download and subscribe to them.
The utility of the new feature is highlighted by the inclusion of Apple’s official iOS 11 UI Assets as a Shared Library.
We’re really excited to say that we’ve integrated Apple’s iOS 11 design template into Sketch, and can now offer this invaluable resource as a built-in Library.
The Apple iOS UI library has all of the components you’ll need to start working on your next project, carefully crafted for Sketch. This expansive Library includes everything, from tab bars and status bars to buttons and switches, ready to be inserted into your latest designs.
Users can download the iOS 11 design template from the Libraries tab of Sketch’s Preferences. Once downloaded, users will receive notifications of updates to the templates.
Sketch’s latest release also adds prototyping. The feature allows users to link artboards and add animated transitions. Prototypes can be previewed in Sketch, using Bohemian Coding’s Mirror iOS app, or using Sketch Cloud.
To get a sense of what can be done with Sketch’s new prototyping feature, check out the video below by Sam Beckett, who has worked with MacStories in the past on Federico’s iOS concept videos.
In Sketch 40, you can now simply press the Enter key on [a complex shape with multiple subpaths and points] to reveal all the points and paths contained within it, no matter how many layers are there. With multiple points selected, across different layers, you can adjust them at once without the need to select each layer individually.
Bohemian Coding also improved existing text transformation features, which are contained behind an Options button in the Inspector, by making them non-destructive. Complete release notes describing other enhancements and bug fixes in Sketch 40 are available here.
