Viewing 25 posts - 1 through 25 (of 25 total)
  • How difficult is it to build iPhone apps, if you're a complete idiot?
  • Elfinsafety
    Free Member

    As title. A possible money-making opportunity has appeared, but I’d need to be able to ‘build’ a simple app. All it would be for, would be to access a website service with one click on the screen.

    Is simple, or not? I am.

    ourkidsam
    Free Member

    If you know Objective C, then probably quite simple. If not, then probably not.

    z1ppy
    Full Member

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    IA
    Full Member

    Ditto ourkidsam.

    If it’s just a web shortcut, why do you need an app at all?

    I could code various languages at 14, doesn’t mean it’s simple. If I was 14 today, I’d probably be coding iphone apps for fun…

    Elfinsafety
    Free Member

    No don’t take the mick. 🙁

    I can do simple websites. Is it any more difficult?

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    I can do simple websites. Is it any more difficult?

    Yes!

    All it would be for, would be to access a website service with one click on the screen.

    You’d be better off doing a “web app” (i.e. basically a mobile version of the site that uses javascript and HTML5 to be a bit more app like). That way you don’t need any new programming skills (assuming you can already write a website) and you don’t need to submit it through the App Store.

    vinnyeh
    Full Member

    iirc the appstore won’t accept anything like that anyways.. GrahamS’s answer is the only workaround.

    muppetWrangler
    Free Member

    As far as I know for proper standalone apps rather than web apps you’ve two options. coding it in objective C or building it flash CS5 and using the publish options to compile for iPhone. If you’re used to simple websites then the flash option may be easier.

    Either way you’re going to need to become a registered developer which is going to cost you a few quid, can’t remember how much but it was less than a ton.

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    You might want to take a look at http://openappmkt.com/ (either on your iPhone, ‘droid or a modern desktop browser). Those are all “web apps”.

    On the iPhone* you can do “Add To Home Screen” from any web page in Safari and you will get an icon that looks just like any other app and takes you straight to the web page.

    *(Not being fanboish, I’m sure ‘droid has similar, I just don’t know it)

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    If you’re determined to have a go at a real iPhone app then have a read of this:

    http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#referencelibrary/GettingStarted/Learning_Objective-C_A_Primer/

    If your head doesn’t asplode by page 10 then you’re on your way.

    jeff
    Full Member

    Elf, there’s a few ways to create an app using web skills AND have it accepted onto the app store – PM me and I’ll give you some pointers.

    Elfinsafety
    Free Member

    Thanks for the advice. I’ve not yet spoken to the person wanting the thing done (basically they want an app thingy to go with their website service, so details are almost non-existant so far. They don’t own a Mac, I do. I don’t even know if this matters), so not sure what’s actually needed. I figured if it’s not that difficult, I could give it a go myself.

    Jeff, I may well do that. Thanks mate. 🙂

    molgrips
    Free Member

    I’ll work for you… I am a skilled developer and all.

    So I’m told, if you are already a developer it’s a piece of cake.

    jeff
    Full Member

    If you want to get it on the App Store, you’ll need to be a registered app developer ($99 p.a.) and have a Mac – I signed up a few months back and have a couple of apps in development.

    Once you’re a registered developer, you can install apps directly on up to 100 iPhones for testing bypassing the app store.

    Advantage of going via app store rather than web app is the ability to be able to charge for the app and ease of installation – many users don’t even know about web apps as an option.

    Elfinsafety
    Free Member

    Thanks again Jeff. I think the idea is to have something you can download from the site itself, which gives some sort of easy/privileged access to the service. Y’know, like how there’s a STW app. So maybe it can be done without going the AppStore route.

    I know very little so far. I’ll update this as and when I find out more info.

    CountZero
    Full Member

    Web apps are certainly handy, I regularly shortcut web pages to my homepage and collate them into folders, and I appreciate it when a ‘site actually creates a proper icon for the bookmark, STW being a very good example. Boingboing does it as well, and a few others as well. I believe there’s a marketplace for web apps, as that’s what the iPhone started out with.

    maxray
    Free Member

    Yeah, with a web app you don’t need to make 3 or 4 versions to cover iPhone, droid, nokia and windows.

    jimmy
    Full Member

    piss easy on Blackberry

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Hmph, I was making dedicated sites for mobile in 2000. It was my job for 18 months.

    I seriously will work for you Elf if you want 🙂

    ourkidsam
    Free Member

    So maybe it can be done without going the AppStore route.

    You’re allowed to distribute ‘in-house’ and bypass the store if you go for the $299 developer account

    jeff
    Full Member

    That’s right – developer provisioning profiles expire and are designed for testing and eval.

    mogrim
    Full Member

    molgrips – Member
    Hmph, I was making dedicated sites for mobile in 2000. It was my job for 18 months.

    Might have moved on a bit since then, apparently these young ‘uns don’t use WAP any more 🙁

    molgrips
    Free Member

    No, but I also am fully up to speed with xhtml, CSS and the rest of it 🙂

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    HTML5 (canvas, storage DB, microdata), CSS3, SVG, WOFF, AJAX, Geolocation and web sockets?

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Why? Are those the skills you need? 🙂

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