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Transparent gaps in UI Design allowed?

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Transparent gaps in UI Design allowed?

Postby roxanne628 » Wed Apr 09, 2014 8:40 am

Hi there,

I am currently updating the skin of an app. With this new design we have created an 8px spacing as the ‘golden rule’ between UI elements, buttons, etc.

The developers I am working with said that the transparent pixel spacing is a “no-no”. They are in Shanghai so I’m waiting a full day to hear back on why it is a “no-no”.

The idea of the UI design is to have the illusion of floating buttons, but in reality if the elements are exported with a transparent border of 4px (creating in reality a rigid structure) I don’t see why this won’t work. I’m not a developer so I understand I may be blind to rules or code that interferes with this.

Is this something that iOS has a rule about? I’ve seen in several design mock-ups online with people doing this so I am hoping for some clarity from some of you as to why this won’t work or if it could. I’ve attached two files to explain what the dev’s are saying won’t work and what the designers are proposing to create the illusion.

We’ve just done 5 days of tedious design execution so trying to figure out if we have to start over :banghead:

Thanks!
Attachments
-6.jpg
The blue square indicated a 4px border to be exported as part of the UI element to create the illusion of a floating element.
-1.jpg
The developers said the highlighted areas are not allowed
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Re: Transparent gaps in UI Design allowed?

Postby Christopher » Wed Apr 09, 2014 11:56 am

Is this a native app or web app?
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Re: Transparent gaps in UI Design allowed?

Postby pickle » Fri Apr 11, 2014 9:42 am

They likely said it was a “no-no” because the spacing can (and should) be done in code. What happens if after everything is done, the pixel spacing needs to be 4px, or 9px? If the spacing is set into the images, you’ll have to re-render them all, whereas the developers can just tweak it once in code.
Real programmers don’t comment their code. If it was hard to write, it should be hard to understand.
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