As an Android developer, I have long been envious of XCode's ability to automatically generate rasterized images from a PDF. While there have been several attempts at replicating this behavior on Android with SVG images and the custom Android vector format, we at Vokal felt like something was still missing.
Read More6 years ago I committed the first draft of our coding style guidelines for Objective-C and Java. At the time Vokal was a mere 7 people and our client work was exclusively focused on delivering mobile applications for iOS and Android. Today our company is 10 times larger and our service offering has grown to match, capable of producing large-scale multi-platform digital experiences. The original code style repositories still exist today, but have grown and evolved to include much more - helping to define our engineering team's structure, process, and culture. We are now proud to share this documentation publicly at engineering.vokal.io.
Read More2015 was a big year for web development at Vokal. We took a lot of steps to create more modular components, and to support more technologies. These steps improved our quality while also increasing our velocity.
Read MoreWhen it comes to Systems Engineering, Vokal is primarily a Python shop. Since a significant amount of Python code is open source—what to speak of Python itself—our engineers strive to be active members of the Python community. Two of our Systems Engineers recently had an opportunity to give back to the community by serving as mentors under the Chicago Python Users Group Mentorship Program. And this January, the mentees coached by Senior Systems Engineer Chris Foresman and Systems Engineer Adam Bain earned top accolades in from the community for their efforts.
Read MoreIt's rare in iOS development to build an app without using UITableView at all. Anytime you see a view on an app that is a list of data, a developer likely used a UITableView to build that list. Think of your Contacts app, or the part of the Messages app that shows a list of your conversations.
Read MoreThere is never a shortage of product ideas. Whether good or bad, ideas come from anywhere. The challenge comes when deciding which ideas to pursue and which to postpone or leave behind.
Read MoreDesigning beyond the screen is the result of constant collaboration, keeping designers, and clients ahead of the curve.
Read MoreThe holidays are always a great time of year to reflect on accomplishments, key learnings, and the challenges and opportunities ahead. At Vokal, we do that too, but sometimes it’s equally important to focus on “us” and have fun with each other.
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