David Quinlan is a normal guy wire with day job and just a bit of coding experience . But he and a friend lived the dreaming and cranked out a wide-eyed iPhone app in a weekend . Here ’s how they did it :
“ Thai , salad or ramen ? ” It ’s lunchtime on a typical Thursday and it strikes us that millions of people all over the public are think over the same question . This question is our launchpad , making us part of the K of people who wanted to build an iPhone app for “ that . ”
I ’m a product and marketing guy cable with some design and cipher skills . Roy is a developer with some job savvy . merge , we make a great team and complement each other ’s acquisition well , but we only started working with Objective - C last year , like many others who are seek out iPhone development . We ’ve already build an app or two , so we ’re intimate with the language and model . However , as with all young labor , you usually have to do a little inquiry to understand how to approach the different challenges … peculiarly in a human race defined by 320×480 pel .
For the longest time , we ’ve play around with the idea of create an app for sport . After dispose a dyad of unspoilt ideas ( because they were too complicated or a quick search in the App Store showed that someone else already does it well ) , lunchtime bring down us on a mere , fun idea to help hoi polloi stuck between conclusion .
But while most people desire to make a dandy iPhone app , my ally and I go one step further , making a treaty to cease the project within a weekend — or realistically , our app would never get dispatch .
On a piece of paper , we scribble out two - three wireframes and acquire an outline for some basic screens . We determine on an app that put up up to three multiple choices . you may write your own answers — for case , Thai , salad or ramen — and you simply pick a randomise option to see the solution to your conclusion . We decide to apply playing cards as the theme . Immediately , we encircle the “ must have ” features ( first precedence ) , then the “ like to have ” features ( last precedence ) , and in the end the features that require more enquire . We pass on lunch on Thursday with a piffling homework and a programme to get together on Saturday .
My preparation let in watch the look , sense and fundamental interaction on each screenland . Roy needs to search some of the Xcode features we have n’t had a prospect to play with yet in our “ actual ” Job , in the main life and randomization .
On Saturday morning , we meet at a local coffee shop that had barren Wi - Fi , take a enceinte board so we can pose side - by - side and grab the first of many prominent cupful of coffee berry . Then we create a sharedDropboxfolder for this project — a Basic business relationship is gratis and comes with 2 GB of storage . The Dropbox is important because it permit us to multitask on the same projection with any / all changes synchronise in real prison term . For larger projects , you may want to considerGitHub .
We pluck up a more elaborate outline of what we want to execute for our app as well as basic wireframes . Given that we only have a weekend to complete this app , we decide to focus only on the “ must have ” features . A developer can always supply feature updates at a posterior day of the month to include the “ overnice to have ” characteristic .
work cover - by - filmdom , we detail the elements on the page , style treatments , layout , timing , etc . We also discourse what Roy learned about animating the card ’s impudent motion , since this was one of the core functionality of the app . We briefly retrospect the Quartz 2D and Core Animation libraries , since we had not previously done any oeuvre with those . We even hash out using a UIWebView to render the vivification within WebKit ’s CSS . finally , we chance a simple solution using received UIViews and UIButtons . The UIView course has some animation course method , and one of the built in transitions is a snotty-nosed event . As for the randomisation , we roll in the hay most speech provide a random function , and Objective - C is no exception . For use of this app , all we require was a simple method to randomize an raiment . Roy found a couple of examples of this , but one that digest out was over atDr . Touch ’s internet site . He describes an approach path with which to implement a family extension method acting so you could easily shuffle any array .
We dive into our respective MacBook Pros with a Borg - similar focus on our item-by-item region of expertise . I open up Photoshop and began building screens . The first screen is the default mental image . This is the very first screenland citizenry see when the app start and start adulterate . Apps can be built in either portrayal or landscape painting view . If you prefer to construct your app in landscape painting view like ours , you still call for to create a nonpayment image that exhibit in portrait panorama . Simply create your landscape painting view and go around clockwise or parry - clockwise ( depending on whether you need left or right landscape sight ) . Now the default image shipment in portrait view but since your images is rotated , the drug user will twist the iPhone to landscape painting position .
I then pass the next match of hours make comps , backdrop figure , buttons , card ( front and back ) and information page . I also spend some clock time focusing on the app ikon . This is plainly the “ fount ” of your app — a badge of accolade — so you ’ll require to put careful opinion into the icon mental imagery . Remember , you ’ll need the icon in both the 57×57 and 512×512 sizes . Once completed , I upload it to Dropbox so that Roy could start using the creative elements .
By the clock time I glint back to Roy ’s laptop , he ’s make a new Xcode project and is already playing around with code to animate green boxes that alternate on a click . While he ’s act on the epitome in the iPhone Simulator , I grab the info.plist file and edit some of the configurations – remove status cake , app video display name , off gloss from icon , etc . We then adjudicate it ’s meter for us to supply some real images to our image . We put in the background figure , the front and back of the menu and the seafaring buttons . The location is off ( by a lot ) but the card look effective and it ’s flip out swimmingly . We do some bad maths , but eventually get the accurate spatial arrangement and positioning that we need for each card . We play around with the timing of the flip , set the on / off State Department for the sailing push and now it ’s feeling pretty good .
see the pieces add up together in the app show me that there are a twosome of images that need fine tuning . I make changes as Roy begins working on the customizing screen and information CRT screen . The customize screen is the place that allow for people to typecast in whatever they desire to show on the look of the calling card . We bound it to 25 characters … anything more than that and it writes over / exterior of the card . We talk through this screen a bit more in detail . The interaction in each sphere , how the keyboard acts , and how we save up before going back to the cards . We expend a routine of time in Interface Builder wiring up exactly how we want this Sir Frederick Handley Page to look and act . The info page is totally optional , but we like to have it because it include additional ways to reach us .
Wow , seven hours and fours big coffee berry later , we have a lot done , but there ’s still lots more to go . What we have now is an app that displace up ; displays a default load screen ; gets masses to a screen that shows three cards ( back of the card screening ) ; they can select any / all of the cards and the cards flip out to show the front of the identity card ; they can cluck on a push button label “ Try Again ” to readjust the cards ; they can tick on a push labeled “ Customize ” that opens a new screen ; the “ Customize ” concealment permit you to participate text into 3 freestanding fields with a goop of 25 characters in each field ; and you could get to the Info screen . We spend the last hour of the day together cleaning up code and discourse what we have left to achieve tomorrow .
On Sunday , we meet at another coffee shop with free Wi - Fi . Coffee first . We feel like we ’re about 80 pct done before we start lick again . The major workplace left for the day beforehand is save the custom textual matter , displaying the custom text edition on the face of the card , and randomizing the school text . We had additional functionality ideas , but we kept ourselves honest , and kept the scope creep to a minimum . One illustration of this was the method acting for storing / saving the customs text on each of the three cards . Roy could have create a sqlite database or used Core Data , but the easiest approach was to just use the build in standardUserDefaults aim incur in the NSUserDefaults class . Using this method memory board the values to the app ’s preferences just hunky-dory for our demand and saves us a lot of meter .
While Roy is make for on those token , it ’s a perfect opportunity for me to prepare some of the thing we ’ll demand afterward that day . When you submit an app to the App Store , it ’s not a simple upload of a file cabinet . Apple expect the following information for every app submission : program Name , program Description , equipment Requirements , Primary and Secondary Category , Subcategories , Copyright , App Rating , Keywords , SKU Number , program URL , Screen shots , Marketing Description , Support URL , Support Email Address , End User License Agreement , and Pricing / Availability .
So , I prep all the app submission information while Roy is officious coding away , first searching the App Store for similar apps and their name calling . We like “ Stuck ? ” and luckily no one else is using it , so we go with that name . I produce the app description , tot up some keywords , pose the cost and determine where we want to trade this app ( just in the USA , sure commonwealth or worldwide ) . Then I record a domain name ( stuckapp.com ) to be used for the program URL / financial support URL and linked it to a freshly created Tumblr account statement . I also created the required livelihood email address . The other item you ’ll want to prepare in advance are : screenshots ( up to five ) , a large icon ( 512×512 ) and , if this is your first time relegate an app , any certificate / provision profiles .
Things lean to take longer than you expect , and even though we ’re basically finish with the app by early Sunday good afternoon , we still spend a couple of more hours fine-tune it and preparing everything for the App Store submission — cleaning code and fine tuning as we go along . We spend the majority of the 24-hour interval on one computer pushing pel , formatting , and ensuring the timing and user interaction was exactly as we both wanted . After almost five hour of body of work on Sunday , we have the app that we both envisioned . We begin testing in the iPhone simulator and then on equipment ( both iPhone and iPod feeling ) for stableness and functionality . Again , being a simple app , it was easy and quick to essay .
After rise its stability , we adjudicate to issue Stuck ? to the App Store . My first attempt at publishing another app by myself take two Clarence Day — attempt , fail , Google , effort , fail , Google more , etc.—until it finally worked . But the second time around was much well-situated and faster . We re-create / glue all the school text fix earlier and then tote up the screenshots and images . All in all , we have our app uploaded in about 15 minutes . At this point , we ’re excited , thirsty and timeworn , but also quite proud that we complete a upstanding app over a weekend in a coffee bean shop .
We had our finger crossed that the App Store would approve our app . And , as stunned as we were that we could finish an app over the weekend , the real surprise came after we reconcile to the App Store . We submitted the app on Sunday evening . It changed condition from Waiting for Review ‚ to In Review , on Monday . On Tuesday , we received an email inform us that our app was Ready for Sale . Approved in two mean solar day ! That has to be a book ‚ especially before the holiday .
Especially after talking about building an app together for so long , like so many people reading this article , I must say , the fulfillment is huge . We finally did it .
TIPS FOR COMPLETING AN APP OVER A WEEKEND
1 . You ca n’t do it yourself . you may , but you would n’t desire to . Ideally , you desire to partner with someone with a different , complemental set of attainment . Partner with someone who knows and prise your area of expertness , but is even more surefooted and knowledgeable about their own skills . honorable communication is inculpate in an effort such as this so you ’ll go through geological period of rapid fire question resile ideas off each other and then periods of secretiveness as you bring on freestanding tasks . There ’s a flock to get done and multitasking will be key .
2 . Multitask . As suggested above , work with someone who complements your own skills admit you to multitask . What do I mean ? For example , in the beginning , once you itch out a wireframe of an approximation , one someone can begin rally – put placeholder push and blocks into place . At the same time , the other person can create comprehensive and then cut out each element to use when they get to the right phase . Also , at the buns end of the project , one person can wrap up up the project and clean the code while the other prepares all the images and marketing copy for the App Store submission process .
3 . Do at least one thing well . Unlike most desktop applications or web project , you have to remember that most sound mobile apps fulfill a motive that can come anywhere , any clock time . Your app idea does n’t have to be rarify , but just apps seem to do one or more of these things well :
– solve a problem ; – Is entertaining ; – function a specific niche ; – Engages the substance abuser ; and/or – Takes advantage of the unique feature of speech of the iPhone .
4 . primed goals and milestones . Whether your goal is amphetamine to market , just to gain experience , or to build the best damn app that does ( white ) , distinctly express your goals . Initially , it will facilitate you sharpen on the field that are important / critical for success . It will also avail you subsequently down the route as you face hard decision about “ must - have ” features and “ care - to - have ” features . Remember , you may always write out feature updates so focus on the “ must - have ” items and do whatever is necessary to take on that end .
5 . Get a Dropbox account . For small- to average - sized projects , you could not thrum Dropbox . It allows you to store , partake and synchronize files with others . Stop sharing files back and forward on your USB memory spliff . Get a Dropbox account and portion out file cabinet in real time . We abused the hell out of our liberal , partake in Dropbox folder and it work flawlessly . For larger project , you might want to give GitHub a effort .
6 . Test . Test . trial . When you see the finish course , it ’s easy to annotate over the significant step of testing your app . quiz in your iPhone simulator , but also seek to get your hand on an iPod touch and of course of study on an iPhone as well . depend on the complexity of your app , you might desire to make a mental testing design to make certain all the use case and functional tasks are covered . The last thing you want is to have an app in the App Store that crashes or does n’t work as anticipate . You may never recover from all the self-importance - shattering feedback .
7 . Understand the App Store meekness procedure . Apple provide a PDF document detailing to compliance process . But that document is only available for registered developers . If you ’ve already register , scan that document soundly before you start the upload process . It will give you a good thought of what ’s involved , but also what you ’ll need to prepare in procession . Apple also provides somegood pourboire for app store submission and approving .
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