I have a menubar app wherein I would like to make some of the elements that appear live in the menubar animated for user feedback, etc. Do Apple App Store guidelines or does their policy prevent a developer from being able to do this?
I have searched, but have not been able to find any policy or statement regarding this.
guidelines are guidelines and not rules. Yes they allow.
Related
I noticed that a few applications like Candy Crush, Paper, Star Wars:Uprising have a theme and a cover photo on the App Store.
I tried looking on Apple's guidelines but couldn't find anything related to it.
Does anyone know how it is done or if someone could direct me to where I can find the guidelines for using a theme or cover photo, that would be great!
Any help is appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
Only featured apps can have cover image or theme for customization. These applications are selected by Apple based on popularity, media coverage, proper implementation of WWDC rules, Good UI/U experience. This isn't on the developer's hand to change cover image or theme.
Official confirmation about this is found on this site -
Applications that have custom background art on the App Store are
selected editorially by Apple. If your application is selected to be
receive custom art, you will be contacted by an Apple representative.
I'm curious, is the standard "Share" dialog you see throughout a lot of iOS apps a standard SDK dialog or is everyone just mimicking the ones that Apple created for their apps like Safari? Or perhaps everyone is using ShareKit?
For instance, on iPhone you get a nice 3/4 modal dialog which does a vertical cover appearance, containing a bunch of shiny buttons:
While on iPad you see a "speech bubble" type dialog appear:
This seems too standard across apps to just be coincidence/people ripping off the look and feel.
The situation you presented in this specific case is caused by the fact that on iPad, the UIActionSheet is always presented within a popover controller, and on the iPhone it displays as in your example, withouth a Popover Controller (which is only available on the iPad)
I've written my own code for sharing using Facebook's SDK and the iOS5 Twitter integration so I've never used it but I believe there is a library you can use called ShareKit that will create the action sheets and sharing capability that you'd like. The "up-to-date"/"2.0" (I believe the original is no longer maintained) version is available here:
https://github.com/ShareKit/ShareKit
Apple provides the tools to make UI objects. The one you are looking at is "UIActionSheet".
Developers can bind methods to the tap events of the actionsheet.
Apple encourages developers to keep a consistent UI in order to make the overall use easier on the user.
Check out the Apple Human Interface Guidelines.
link
Does Facebook offer guidelines or some kind of CSS style library for Facebook canvas apps? Something that a developer could use to make the look and feel of their canvas app compliment Facebook? I'm speaking along the lines of fonts, colors, dialog box styles, etc.
I guess, in theory, I'm looking for something along the lines of interface builder in iOS development.
Understanding the Platform Policies will help you better design and develop your app. Check the examples and explanations too.
Facebook has published a social design guideline. They also have a brand permissions guideline for when you want to use their logo, colors, etc. But they don't have a specific css/stylesheet guideline like you are asking for.
The following is a link to everything that facebook offers a developer, it does not include any stylesheet guidelines:
https://github.com/facebook
The only thing I could think of is when I was implementing Facebook credits, Facebook had guidelines regarding the image to use and a best practice for the flow of purchasing a virtual item with Facebook credits besides that you should be able to develop your app however you like.
You said you where looking for something along the lines of interface builder in iOS development, but I would compare facebook more like the interface builder for Android, everything goes.
I will be publishing an App in a few days. Initially I don't want to add advertisements, but can change my mind anytime, so I've thought this. Add a WebView to application and set its image to a dynamic web content. If no ads; I will display a simple logo, but when ads are available, replace the content with them. So there will be no modification to iPhone compiled binary.
Do you think it is allowed by Apple, and a good approach?
If you follow that approach, you will need to at least explain to Apple when you submit the app for review that ads may be enabled via a webservice.
Apple won't like it if you don't tell them that you might modify the apps feature set or behaviour after its approval.
You should be OK as long as you tell them about it.
In my app, I want to give the user the opportunity to add some comments to a listed item.
Rather than showing a "add comments" button, I want to show a little icon.
Being lazy, but also, using the visual language of a Mac user, I would like to use the the icon of the TextEdit application.
What would Apple think of this?
Obviously, I could design something myself, but that is another topic.
I would absolutely stay away from this. Since apple runs the approval process for iPhone apps they might reject your app for infringing on what would probably be copyright or trademarked work.
From a visual perspective, I do not think the TextEdit icon would be best for an "add comments" icon. It seems too general. I think your best bet would be to design something yourself or find a royalty free image online.
Apple rejected an update to my application because this icon (center), drawn by a designer for me and having no copyright whatsoever by Apple, depicts an iPhone.
I wouldn't push your luck. Stay far away from Apple's IP.
I believe this would be copyright infringement unless you had written permission from Apple. They have a copyright and trademark policy posted.
Yes!!! You CAN use their icons and they encourage it:
https://developer.apple.com/ios/human-interface-guidelines/graphics/system-icons/
System Icons
iOS provides lots of small icons—representing common tasks and types of content—for use in navigation bars, tab bars, toolbars, and Home screen quick actions. It’s a good idea to use these built-in icons as much as possible because they're familiar to people.
Provide alternative text labels for icons. Alternative text labels aren’t visible onscreen, but they let VoiceOver audibly describe what's onscreen, making navigation easier for people with visual impairments.