{"id":116182,"date":"2020-05-15T22:42:15","date_gmt":"2020-05-15T22:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/news\/?id=6qwc01iu"},"modified":"2020-05-15T22:42:15","modified_gmt":"2020-05-15T22:42:15","slug":"meet-the-developer-craig-hockenberry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2020\/05\/15\/meet-the-developer-craig-hockenberry\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the developer: Craig Hockenberry"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"inline-article-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/meet-the-developer-craig-hockenberry.jpg\" data-hires=\"false\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-caption\">Get to know the influential creator of Twitterrific.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>It took a while for Craig Hockenberry, principal at The Iconfactory, to realize his true calling. Although he began coding when he was 16, in 1976 (the same year the Apple I was released) his career took a detour into corporate management. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe originally made <em>Twitterrific<\/em> because all the folks at the Iconfactory wanted an easier way to follow what our friends and colleagues were doing,\u201d said Hockenberry. &#8220;<em>xScope<\/em> is another product in the same vein\u2014we built it because we needed it. We\u2019re our own best customers.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline-article-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/meet-the-developer-craig-hockenberry-1.jpg\" data-hires=\"false\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-caption\">*Twitterrific*\u2019s multipane view color-codes tweets by category.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>To say Hockenberry has been ahead of the curve over the course of his storied career is an understatement. <em>Twitterrific<\/em>, released over a decade ago, was the very first <em>Twitter<\/em> client for Mac. Hockenberry even helped coin the term \u201ctweet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And you know the signature blue bird everyone associates with the social network? Hockenberry created the first one: an icon he named Ollie. (<em>Twitter<\/em> later followed suit with its own variation.)<\/p>\n<p>While the apps Hockenberry has worked on are designed for a diverse range of customers, the philosophy behind them has remained the same.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When we create a new app, we\u2019re always thinking, \u2018What problem does this solve for the customer?\u2019\u201d he says. For Hockenberry, functionality and design are equally important. \u201cFunctionality overcomes the problem, and design makes it approachable.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline-article-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/meet-the-developer-craig-hockenberry-2.jpg\" data-hires=\"false\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-caption\">*xScope*\u2019s overlay tools give you a sense of how graphics will appear to those with red-green color blindness and other visual impairments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Ask anyone in the community for a shortlist of the best developers and Hockenberry\u2019s name inevitably comes up \u2014 no doubt because he\u2019s been such an active and generous member. Iconfactory.com gives away about 2 terabytes of icons and wallpapers each month. Hockenberry also blogs about development at furbo.org, where he\u2019s always willing to share his know-how.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It\u2019s something I learned from my dad \u2014 you need to help others in your community,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen I find something cool or have a unique insight, I love to share it with other developers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully, he has no intention of slowing down. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy grandfather always said, \u2018You\u2019re only as old as you act.\u2019 If that\u2019s the case, I\u2019m still my younger self!\u201d<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><em>Originally published on the Mac App Store.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Get to know the influential creator of Twitterrific. It took a while for Craig Hockenberry, principal at The Iconfactory, to realize his true calling. Although he began coding when he was 16, in 1976 (the same year the Apple I was released) his career took a detour into corporate management. \u201cWe originally made Twitterrific because [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apple-developer-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}