Showing posts with label Desktop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Desktop. Show all posts

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Desktop & Mobile Tools For Creative Home Design

In this day and age, no architect or home constructor would consider designing a smart home without their set of power tools. The attempt to cut costs by using paper and pen for design purposes doesn’t have a significant impact on production ROI as compared to the increased productivity from software and mobile tools.


You can use such tools for creative home design, including 2D and 3D designs. They come with a plethora of features to suit the user’s needs. There are even features that can be used by those who are just starting out in home architectural designs and some options have sophisticated features for experienced architects.


The list below features the top desktop and mobile tools for creative home design that are easy to use and understand:


HomeStyler


Homestyler

This is a web-based interior design software that’s easy to use. It gives you the option to design your windows, doors, rooms, etc. as well as experimenting with placing products in the room and converting the design into 3D images. The user can drag and drop several shapes onto the grid, and more objects can be placed in this manner and then edited for different shapes and sizes. The software also gives you a wide range of tools for landscaping around the design.


Punch Home & Landscape Design


Punch

This software includes multiple features with different viewing options that include final view, aerial, and dollhouse. It also boasts exceptional construction tools, and superb quality. One advantage of using this software is a large object library, and a handful of customization tools make this tool unique. A unique feature is QuickStart Preview, which lets you design a floor plan without making individual walls for a room.


TurboFloorPlan 3D


TurboFloorPlan_3D

With this tool, you can visualize a new room with custom cabinets, bath, kitchen, appliances, lightning, and much more. The room design can be spruced up with flooring, light fixes, paint colors, etc. You can also view the pre-existing professionally designed home plan templates as well as 100 videos in the Training Center to boost your skills.


Mobile tools are important too…


Procore


Procore

This company has a mobile construction application that gives you and anyone on your team access to real time project data from any location. Constantly revising and updating paper-based drawings and documentation is expensive, time consuming, and difficult to manage in an efficient manner. With this app, you can keep your projects moving forward and have all the data at your fingertips. Its drawing management feature automatically splits your drawing sets and enables you to annotate drawings directly from a smartphone or tablet.


Home Design 3D


Home_Design_3D

This app lets you add 3D renderings to a visual home, and then fill it up with design elements. The user can even add texture to the color to make it appear as a wallpaper. Home Design 3D also has options to add hardwood or carpeting or tiled flooring, and fill the room with accessories and furniture.


Houzz


Houzz

Houzz’s mobile app lets you share design ideas with teammates and professionals, as well as save them to a virtual design ideabook. You can also use the app to find more design ideas and shop a variety of accessories and furniture to go along with the design.



Desktop & Mobile Tools For Creative Home Design

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

10 Linux Desktop Environments You Probably Don’t Know

Unlike Windows and Mac OS, Linux offers a variety of desktop environments for its users. Each desktop environment (interface) has its own appearance, style and features and a user can install any one of these desktop environments on the basis of his/her requirements. Some of these desktop environments are also suited for machines with low hardware configurations.


If you’re not sure which Linux desktop environment is the most suitable for you then don’t worry, we’ve put together 10 Linux desktop environments along with their features to assist you in selecting the best one for your needs.


More on Hongkiat.com:


1. Cinnamon


Cinnamon is based on Gnome library files and designed for Linux Mint. It is an easy to use powerful desktop environment which is flexible and combines the traditional layout with advanced features.


Cinnamon consists of 3 main things: a single panel located at bottom, a clock and system tray and various other things located on the right, and the application menu on the left side of the screen. You can also customize the application menu by adding applications of your choice. To ensure that this runs smoothly, your machine should have a powerful graphics card and updated drivers. [Get it here]



2. GNOME 3.x


A few years back, GNOME (GNU Network Object Model Environment) was the most popular and widely used Linux desktop environment. The transition of GNOME to GNOME 2.x series brought simplicity and ease of use that attracted a large number of Linux users to move to the GNOME 2.x series.


GNOME 3.x was introduced to provide easy access to all of your data by integrating it with online accounts. Some other important features offered by GNOME 3.x are Activities Overview, side-by-side windows to view several documents, and an easy way to deal with notifications comfortably. [Get it here]



3. KDE


KDE (K Desktop Environment) is one of most popular Linux Desktop environments and also a contender for GNOME. It resembles the Windows Desktop so if you want to experience a desktop similar to Windows OS, this is the option for you. While KDE comes with a visually intriguing GUI and a bunch of powerful features, the combo makes it a resource-hungry desktop environment.


This means you may not be able to run it smoothly on older desktop/laptop computers with low hardware configurations. [Get it here]



4. MATE


Despite its popularity with earlier versions, the simplistic design of GNOME 3 didn’t sit too well with many GNOME users. The Linux community decided to continue development of GNOME 2 and designers came up with MATE. MATE offers a GNOME 2 environment with new features and improvements to assure users of an improved computing experience. [Get it here]



5. LXDE


LXDE (Lighweight X11 Desktop Environment) is a fast-performing desktop environment. It’s designed for cloud systems that usually have low hardware configurations (less CPU power and less RAM) and older desktop/laptop systems.


Although it is a lightweight desktop environment, it still has a simple and attractive user interface. It also provides multi-language support and on top of that it supports standard keyboard shortcuts and allows tabbed file browsing among other things. [Get it here]



6. Xfce


Fact: the abbreviation for Xfce doesn’t really stand for anything. It’s a traditional desktop environment which is very lightweight but in terms of functions, it is similar to GNOME 2. Xfce has its own lightweight programs as well as some GNOME programs to provide a balance in between performance and functions. [Get it here]



7. Unity


Currently, Unity is the native desktop environment for Ubuntu, replacing GNOME. It comes with an application dock which can be scrolled if the number of applications exceeds the screen view area. You can also search a particular file or application by typing its name in the searchbar. Unity works smoothly on a system with good hardware configuration. [Get it here]



8. Openbox


Openbox is a desktop environment which is lighter than LXDE and Xfce due to its minimalistic design and appearance. It is a highly configurable desktop environment and has a completely bare desktop which makes the loading process really fast. Right clicking anywhere on the desktop to open the application menu.


You can also combine the functionality of GNOME or KDE with the speed of Openbox to make your desktop faster and cleaner. Openbox is ideal for Linux users with low power systems. [Get it here]



9. Razor – Qt


Razor – qt is a fairly easy and lightweight desktop environment for Linux users. It bears similarities with KDE but it is designed to offer simplicity with speed. It comes with minimal built-in applications; you can install the applications you need yourself (find the list of third-party apps youc an get on Razor-qt here. It should work smoothly with older systems with low hardware configurations. [Get it here]



10. Xmonad


Xmonad is actually a tiling window manager which means instead of overlapping windows on your desktop, it will automatically arrange them in a non-overlapping order, leaving behind an organized desktop. It does not come with too much of a decorated user interface but that makes it a fast, user-friendly and stable desktop environment. [Get it here]












10 Linux Desktop Environments You Probably Don’t Know

10 Linux Desktop Environments You Probably Don’t Know

Unlike Windows and Mac OS, Linux offers a variety of desktop environments for its users. Each desktop environment (interface) has its own appearance, style and features and a user can install any one of these desktop environments on the basis of his/her requirements. Some of these desktop environments are also suited for machines with low hardware configurations.


If you’re not sure which Linux desktop environment is the most suitable for you then don’t worry, we’ve put together 10 Linux desktop environments along with their features to assist you in selecting the best one for your needs.


More on Hongkiat.com:


1. Cinnamon


Cinnamon is based on Gnome library files and designed for Linux Mint. It is an easy to use powerful desktop environment which is flexible and combines the traditional layout with advanced features.


Cinnamon consists of 3 main things: a single panel located at bottom, a clock and system tray and various other things located on the right, and the application menu on the left side of the screen. You can also customize the application menu by adding applications of your choice. To ensure that this runs smoothly, your machine should have a powerful graphics card and updated drivers. [Get it here]



2. GNOME 3.x


A few years back, GNOME (GNU Network Object Model Environment) was the most popular and widely used Linux desktop environment. The transition of GNOME to GNOME 2.x series brought simplicity and ease of use that attracted a large number of Linux users to move to the GNOME 2.x series.


GNOME 3.x was introduced to provide easy access to all of your data by integrating it with online accounts. Some other important features offered by GNOME 3.x are Activities Overview, side-by-side windows to view several documents, and an easy way to deal with notifications comfortably. [Get it here]



3. KDE


KDE (K Desktop Environment) is one of most popular Linux Desktop environments and also a contender for GNOME. It resembles the Windows Desktop so if you want to experience a desktop similar to Windows OS, this is the option for you. While KDE comes with a visually intriguing GUI and a bunch of powerful features, the combo makes it a resource-hungry desktop environment.


This means you may not be able to run it smoothly on older desktop/laptop computers with low hardware configurations. [Get it here]



4. MATE


Despite its popularity with earlier versions, the simplistic design of GNOME 3 didn’t sit too well with many GNOME users. The Linux community decided to continue development of GNOME 2 and designers came up with MATE. MATE offers a GNOME 2 environment with new features and improvements to assure users of an improved computing experience. [Get it here]



5. LXDE


LXDE (Lighweight X11 Desktop Environment) is a fast-performing desktop environment. It’s designed for cloud systems that usually have low hardware configurations (less CPU power and less RAM) and older desktop/laptop systems.


Although it is a lightweight desktop environment, it still has a simple and attractive user interface. It also provides multi-language support and on top of that it supports standard keyboard shortcuts and allows tabbed file browsing among other things. [Get it here]



6. Xfce


Fact: the abbreviation for Xfce doesn’t really stand for anything. It’s a traditional desktop environment which is very lightweight but in terms of functions, it is similar to GNOME 2. Xfce has its own lightweight programs as well as some GNOME programs to provide a balance in between performance and functions. [Get it here]



7. Unity


Currently, Unity is the native desktop environment for Ubuntu, replacing GNOME. It comes with an application dock which can be scrolled if the number of applications exceeds the screen view area. You can also search a particular file or application by typing its name in the searchbar. Unity works smoothly on a system with good hardware configuration. [Get it here]



8. Openbox


Openbox is a desktop environment which is lighter than LXDE and Xfce due to its minimalistic design and appearance. It is a highly configurable desktop environment and has a completely bare desktop which makes the loading process really fast. Right clicking anywhere on the desktop to open the application menu.


You can also combine the functionality of GNOME or KDE with the speed of Openbox to make your desktop faster and cleaner. Openbox is ideal for Linux users with low power systems. [Get it here]



9. Razor – Qt


Razor – qt is a fairly easy and lightweight desktop environment for Linux users. It bears similarities with KDE but it is designed to offer simplicity with speed. It comes with minimal built-in applications; you can install the applications you need yourself (find the list of third-party apps youc an get on Razor-qt here. It should work smoothly with older systems with low hardware configurations. [Get it here]



10. Xmonad


Xmonad is actually a tiling window manager which means instead of overlapping windows on your desktop, it will automatically arrange them in a non-overlapping order, leaving behind an organized desktop. It does not come with too much of a decorated user interface but that makes it a fast, user-friendly and stable desktop environment. [Get it here]




10 Linux Desktop Environments You Probably Don’t Know