Loading a URL in a UIWebView

4/27/2012

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This is a simple tutorial about how to load a web page using UIWebView.
The video describes how to: Add a UIWebview, make a connection to an object in the code, create a NSURLRequest with the google.com URL and load it in the UIWebView.
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How to build a simple countdown timer in Xcode

4/17/2012

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This is a video tutorial that explains how to create a simple project with a single view that displays a count down label.
Using NSTimer
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Application Development & Publish Overview

4/16/2012

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In this short article I will try to provide information that will give you an overview on some of the steps going from having an idea to having a product on the app store and make it work!

1. The Idea - "Know your idea"
So you have an idea for an iPhone App, great! that's the first thing you need.
What does your idea do? How does it look like?  What problem does it solve? Who are your clients? Does it exist already? if so, how can you improve it?

These are some of the questions you should ask your self once you have an idea that you want to develop, define your idea, give it meaning, decide who your clients are and find out how your product help your clients. your goal is to "know your idea" from start to end, the more information you can extract from your idea the better your development process will be.

Knowing your idea will help you know better what your app will need, once you know your target audience it is easier to decide which colors you will use, which functions you will need, how "big" your project will be and much more!. Try it out!.

2. How Does It Look Like ?
Another great (and very important) thing to do is to Sketch your idea.
Get a notebook and a pen, break down your idea into screens, how will the home screen of your app looks like? how does the last screen looks like? your drawings can be as simple as you like, this stage helps you figure out which features you will need in your application, it helps you prepare for development and gives you great information about how your UI (user interface) will function and will look like.

Plan a simple UI, use only the features that your app needs to deliver your idea, try not to add features that will complicate the app and make the UI harder to understand, remember that users won't spend much time on trying to figure out your application, the more comfortable and easy your app feels, the easier it is for your users to use it.

Once you have a good idea on how your app looks, take some time to pick the right colors for your idea.

3. Make Decisions:
Your application will be better and more focused if you make some decisions before development.
  • Decide how long you want the development process to take - This won't be a "contract" with your self but it will first give you a good idea on how long the development should take, allow you to know when to start preparing for other stages like advertisement, set boundaries for your self (we all need them) and allow you to focus on what's really important for you in this app instead of having no frame to work on.
  • Paid or Free ?
    Knowing your price before developing will allow you to know your expectations from your product, if you plan to sell your product for $4.99 your users will expect more then an app that being sold for $0.99, if your application will be free you might want to add advertisement (iAd, adMob).
  • Promotion
    There are many ways and approaches to when and how promote your app. some say it is better to start promoting your app before you even write the first line of code to build a bigger client list that may buy your application on the day it is published, others suggest that you will first focus on building a good app then make efforts to promote it. explore this subject and make a decision on which approach fits your application the most.

4. Develop
You know your idea from all aspects, you know how it looks like, you decided how long it will take and made other important decisions before developing, now you can start!
Arrange your files and folders on the project, make sure the project will be accessible for you, create folders that will help you get a "cleaner" development process.
A great idea is to create "Helper" folders, if you found a good example online on how to perform an action that your app will require, save it in a special "Examples" folder so that later you could easily go back to it without searching your computer too much. Save helpful links in a special development folder, create arranged folders both in XCode and also in your computer. accessible information is valuable and will help you get things done quicker and better.

Backup your files - Loosing everything you already did won't help you...

5. Test
Let your friends (and basically anyone that pass by you) try your application, even during development. getting feedback from people will help you create a better application, you can get many ideas from others about how your idea works and how good it is, don't let anyone bring you down, most will suggest that you improve this and change that and will generaly tell you how they will make this app better, remember that you are the developer, check other ideas and suggestions given to you and change only what you decided to be worth it.

There is no replacement to a field test of your product.

6. Upload!
Once you are pleased with your product, get it out there!
Here are few important things to remember:

  • Your app is rated according to amount of downloads - The more you get, the higher you are on the list.
  • Great Images capture the eye, people buy (and download) apps mostly by visual contact, make an amazing icon!
  • Present your App by what it does - Look at successful app pages on the app store and learn from them.
  • Control Publish Date - be ready with your advertisment for the day your app lunch.
  • Send promotion codes to your friends, bloggers, websites and anyone you can think of, ask for review!



When I think about the app store I like to imagine it as a giant shopping mall, I have a small shop in that mall and it's my job to not only create a great product but also make sure that shoppers get to see my product and want to get it.

Research the web and find information that will help you create better products, there are many great web-sites out there!


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How complicated is my idea ?

4/6/2012

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Many people who wants their apps to be developed are not really sure on how complicated or easy it will be to develop their idea into a real-working application. There is not a lot of information out there that will answer this question and most of the times the search will end up making you feel that your idea will be expensive to produce.

There is no real price for developing an iPhone app beacuse the price range is large and varies so much from country to country  and from developer to developer, it is not simple to find the right person for the job and have them working with your budget but searching online while knowing what you want and how complicated it should be will give you a much better idea on how long your project will take to produce and how much money you can expect spending on that.

How to start ?
The first thing you need to do is to get  your idea in writing. take a notepad and simply write down all of the features your app will contain, what is it suppose to do ? who is it targeted to ? how will it help others or solve others problems, how will the user interact with the app, which kind of information will be there and basicly all the information you can extract from your idea.

Next, try to summerize all those points into one sentence that will represent your main idea and the purpes of your application, once you have that you already took a big step to get your application out there!.
Having your idea in like that will give you (and the developer) a much clearer view of your app development needs.

A simple application
There is no way to really define what a simple application is, from developer to developer this definition will change. And what about graphic design? User Interface (UI) design? Audio files included? how would that work in your application?

You will be one step furter if you will have answers to all those questions, knowing your app capablities will allow you to know what you want better and will help you find a developer that will fit your requiements better.

Here are some features that will take longer (and will be more expencive) to develop:

Using a web-service (your own, RSS Feed, Dropbox etc..)
Using social media (Facebook, Twitter)
Using a design and componets that are not part of the iPhone SDK (Diffrant Buttons, Toolbars)
Having a large or complex data source (a big employie list that needs to be edited for example)
Having more the 5 diffrent screens to display (Views)
Using Push Notifications Service (Local and Remote)
Downloading data from your server (Pictures, Videos)
Using the camera

And the list goes on.

If you want your application out there, regardless to its compexity and your programming skills, you will have to spend time, money and mind space for that, there is no replacment to having thousands of people downloding and using somthing that you have created.

Focus on your idea needs and get it written down, sketch your idea on paper and figure out which components it needs and how many views it will have, find a great developer for the job, set a budjet and go for it!


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iPhone Development

4/5/2012

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Who can develop applications for the iPhone ?

Well, if you are an apple fan you probably already have to right tools for it because all you really need is a Macintosh computer, an Apple Developer ID and some free time to learn.
You will also need some dedication and paitience and your not far from having your own application or game on the app store.
More and more people are getting into that business, from big compenies with an army of developers to indeviduals with an idea that invest time and money developing their ideas into real products.

You have an idea but your not really sure what to do with it.
First, there are some things your can do regardless to your programming / design skill levels. Here's a few suggestions:
  • Check whats out there - search the app store and online for applications that you think might do the same thing you are trying to accomplish, sometimes you can have a great idea and a quick search on the app store will make you feel like "some one already done that" and abandon your idea, sometimes you will find applications that remind you of your idea but you will feel that you can do it better!, and sometimes you will just find an original idea that just might work.
  • Draw a sketch of your idea - A lot of iPhone and iPad applications share the same objects, a quick Google image search for iPhone UI will result many common iPhone components like "Table View", "Picker View", "UIButton", "UIToolBar" and more, you already have the basic tools design, draw it on your notebook and have a clearer view of your idea, this alone will allow you to estimate your project size better. Try to describe the relationship between one screen to another, one button to another.
  • Figure out how your application idea will be helpful to others - This will help you identify the strength and weakness of your idea, making it more solid. if you know how your application help others, you know more of what you want it to do.
  • Ask for others opinion - Getting other people's opinion on your idea or parts of it can give you a good perspective on your idea, while the response may vary from one person to another it will still be better to know what other people think rather then not knowing, learn from other people, they are your clients and users.
Hire a developer or develop on your own? searching for information on that online will bring great results for both approaches, on one hand, many people search for either individuals developers or developing companies to get their idea into the app store, big brands do that, television, restaurants, parents, gaming websites and many more. on the other hand there are many people, in many groups of interests and many countries that want to learn how to create their own application, the online world is full of articles, blogs, tutorials and books on how to get your application out there.

If you are interested in learning how to do it on your own then you better prepare your self to a journey, there are many things to learn, actually, there are so many ways to go in this world that you won't have enough time to learn most of what's out there.
The approaches are endless and the resources are out there for you to learn.

Good Luck!
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