Agreed.. I would buy a 30" iPad, if one existed, for the touch UI alone.
Tyler On Jun 1, 2010, at 6:15 PM, Saul Caganoff wrote: > One seemingly superficial - but I think important - aspect of apps vs web is > the touch UI. The big wow factor for me when the iPhone came out was the way > you could shuffle through photos and albums with your finger. Even the other > day using the Tweet App for the first time I discovered that you refresh the > Tweet stream by drawing down the list and releasing it...the UI then does a > little "Hookes law" spring rebound and refreshes. That really tickled my > fancy! > > After so many years of mouse and keyboard, the tactile newness of the touch > interface is a big plus. > > Regards, > Saul > > On 2 June 2010 03:30, Owen Densmore <[email protected]> wrote: > This relates to our evil empire thread: Tyler White, a designer/programmer at > sfx has built a sophisticated iphone app and tells the tale below. MANY > interesting details about the app development process and the app vs web-app > conversation. > > On the app/web-app front, my main disappointment is yet another failure to > gain a potential cross-platform development environment. It would be nice, > for example, for sfx to be able to have projects include a wide variety of > phones, but if the cost includes customizing the phone apps for each > environment (iphone, android, java mobile (non-smart phones), windows mobile, > ...) we will simply drop back to browser based solutions in general, and > pick-a-platform (likely android) for specific needs not available via > web-apps. > > Java tilted this windmill only to fail, at least in general. AIR, I think, > is the closest to a "rich client" .. i.e. what we used to call desktop apps. > It uses Flash and XML. A mobile version could gain traction on android. > > But how quickly the pendulum swings! I was amused to see that on both my > iphone and ipad the NPR app was built by a third party developer (bottle > rocket, nice name!) who has quickly specialized in taking a web site and > building a custom iphone app for it with many of the advantages Tyler > discusses below. > > -- Owen > > > Begin forwarded message: > > > From: Owen Densmore <[email protected]> > > Date: May 30, 2010 9:01:44 AM MDT > > To: SFx Discuss <[email protected]> > > Subject: Re: [sfx: Discuss] Re: Out Now! "The Reading Game" app for iPhone > > > > Tyler, this is fascinating .. thanks for the detailed response. > > > > This is also important to SFX future projects which will likely include > > more than laptops: phones and pads too, along with the whole ambient > > arsenal. > > > > One huge challenge is to have a development style that targets different > > technologies: iPad/Phone and Android for example .. thus the interest in > > PhoneGap. Clearly that approach suffers in quality, as you found out. > > > > So thanks a bunch! This is the first flashlight down a new, unknown alley > > and its nice to have a pioneer describe it so clearly. > > > > -- Owen > > > > > > On May 30, 2010, at 1:38 AM, Tyler wrote: > > > >> Thanks Owen, I do have some interesting observations: > >> > >> 1. 75% of the programming occurred over just 3 days of the 6 weeks. > >> > >> 2. Completing the last 3% of the app project took 15% of the total > >> time. > >> > >> 3. Native Obj-C apps work much better than the PhoneGap-type apps, > >> html web apps. Being a web developer before I became an app > >> developer, it was natural for me to investigate PhoneGap and the > >> prospect of creating a full-featured, media rich app using web > >> technologies. The drawbacks became apparent within the first few > >> hours of testing. These type of apps have to run in Mobile Safari (a > >> UIWebView), and although no web navigation bar is necessary, the > >> convenience of using html comes at the high cost of the UIWebView's > >> infrastructure, processing, and memory usage. When I started playing > >> with advanced CSS styling like gradients, transparent PNGs, and > >> Javascript animations, things started to crawl and the experience was > >> choppy - the bane of an iPhone app. I wanted my application to be > >> smooth, with fluid transitions and fades. Most of this cool > >> functionality comes for free with Apples SDK. I wanted it to be > >> lightweight and to run fast. There are Javascript libraries out now > >> that try to mimic the iPhones UI like the navigation controllers > >> (UINavigationController), but they are poor imitations and are just > >> not the same quality as the built-in UI Cocoa elements. Learning Obj- > >> C seemed like my best option. Another reason for learning the native > >> iPhone language may have been that I was accustomed to using PHP and > >> MYSQL to process and store data. Although the iPhone uses mySQL Lite > >> for data storage, the handheld device is not like a webserver (with > >> Apache and extensions) so using PHP/HTML/Javascript/CSS didn't seem > >> appropriate. iPhone uses Core Data to interface with the Lite > >> database. Another reason I went for Obj-C instead of HTML was that I > >> dearly wanted to play with the accelerometer, the microphone, and the > >> multi-touch surface. Touches do not translate very well onto > >> traditional webpages (e.g. no rollovers, etc.). > >> > >> 4. I found that this project, The Reading Game, used most of my > >> programming background, including my web experience. The app is > >> mostly Obj-C, but I do use a web view to play the animated gifs (the > >> rewards) as the iPhone cannot decode animated GIFs for free unless in > >> the browser, the border and shadows on the reward are CSS too. The > >> GIFs were different sizes and my solution was to use CSS to evenly > >> stretch them into a universal DIV. I used string replacement to > >> dynamically change the local html to reflect the specific reward > >> image. > >> > >> 5. The project was fun! I had the an incredible time being > >> constantly amazed at what I was learning how to do. > >> > >> 6. XCode has some amazing debugging tools like Instruments. I was > >> able to track down zombies and leaks. > >> > >> 7. Having a partner to give feedback throughout the process, from > >> concept to creation to deployment to marketing, has been very > >> important. My partner does most of the concept, content, and > >> management. We both do the marketing. We both bring vastly different > >> skill sets to the table and together, we cover quite alot. > >> > >> During the process, I realized how important it was to have someone > >> who is not a programmer, who is not in the top 1 percentile for tech- > >> saaviness, to give feedback. After a few late nights and countless > >> hours of working with code and graphics, my comprehension of the app > >> becomes very different from what other people see. A sort of blind > >> spot in my awareness develops around "my baby" where I don't see the > >> subtle problems or confusions in the interface or flow. It's great to > >> have someone keep the project in check by lending a fresh set of > >> eyes. I would say that my partner, Lissa Reidel, has been the > >> instrumental factor distinguishing the quality of my projects before > >> and after the creation of Legend Apps. > >> > >> 8. The iPad's larger screen and 10 finger detection opens a whole new > >> world of possibilities. It's not an iPhone jumbo, it's an iPad. I > >> hear the 3G is where it's at but I've enjoyed my 1st gen quite a bit. > >> It's battery life, 175 degree viewing angle, it's brightness and > >> portability makes bicycling and hiking with a computation device much > >> easier. > >> > >> 9. We have several more ideas lined up. Lissa wants a reading app > >> geared towards women, I say it should be for everybody, but then it > >> might be to broad. Another idea, which doesn't have a name yet, but > >> is referred to as "Dare," is a constant feed of suggestions that could > >> make you a better you with an element of social networking and > >> realtime search. > >> > >> Another idea is a game, not sure what kind or style yet. > >> > >> Another is a music / painting / relaxing tool. > >> > >> 10. I'm really loving experimenting with these new technologies. I > >> never dreamed of any of this hardware when I was a kid and I had > >> always seen the future as mouse and keyboard. > >> > >> If you have any questions or feedback, please email me. > >> > >> Tyler > >> > >> On May 27, 10:53 am, Owen Densmore <[email protected]> wrote: > >>> Boy, the art work is abs fab! Bast of luck with your new venture. > >>> > >>> It reminded me of a comment made yesterday at wedtech: apps are becoming > >>> hugely popular, eating into browser based webapps. I thought it was odd > >>> until I looked into NPR's and a few others. The experience is far nicer > >>> with apps. > >>> > >>> I'm not entirely sure why. In NPR's case, clearly they were far more > >>> immersive and even small things like not having the browser controls in > >>> the way help a lot on a phone's small screen. > >>> > >>> Any interesting observations or experiences? Did you look at PhoneGap? > >>> > >>> ---- Owen > >>> > >>> I am an iPad, resistance is futile! > >>> > >>> On May 26, 2010, at 10:47 PM, Tyler White <[email protected]> > >>> wrote: > >>> > >>>> Hello Discuss! Please download my new app for the iPhone, "The Reading > >>>> Game" -which is also the first app of my new company, Legend Apps. > >>>> Learning the Objective-C programming language, XCode, programming the > >>>> app and designing the graphics took a total of 6 weeks. I'm glad it's > >>>> finally out! Thanks! If you have any questions or feedback, please > >>>> email me at [email protected]. > >>> > >>>> http://legendapps.com/get-the-reading-game/ > >>> > >>>> Now onto marketing... :) > >>> > >>>> Tyler > > > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > > > > -- > Saul Caganoff > Enterprise IT Architect > Mobile: +61 410 430 809 > LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/scaganoff > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
