iPhone webapp icon - iphone

I want to create an icon on an iPhone to link to a web app, but assuming my users won't know to find "add to home" I think it's better to have an html link saying "click here to add an icon to your desktop" (or something along those lines).
I know the code for the icon is
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="touch-icon-iphone.png" />
But what's the code for the "click here"?
Thanks!...any time you help me you save a kitten!!

There's unfortunately no way to add a bookmark to home screen by code, you have to indicate to your users that they need to do it manually.
To do this, there is a neat little JS library: mobile-bookmark-bubble.
The Mobile Bookmark Bubble is a JavaScript library that adds a promo
bubble to the bottom of your mobile web application, inviting users to
bookmark the app to their device's home screen. The library uses HTML5
local storage to track whether the promo has been displayed already,
to avoid constantly nagging users.
The current implementation of this library specifically targets Mobile
Safari, the web browser used on iPhone and iPad devices.

You have to write the code for the 'click here' yourself, it's not a standard part of the operating system or anything. It's just HTML/CSS/JS.

Related

Can't get hyperlinks to work on iPhone

I'm using Microsoft Outlook to build html email with inserted pictures (jpgs). When I apply a hyperlink to the images, they work fine on PCs running Outlook, Nook and iPod Touch. They don't work on iPhones. What happens on the iphone is when the hyperlinks are pressed, a screen comes up with several options like Copy, Print, Facebook..., but no Open like I see on an iPod Touch. I don't know how to correct this. Can anyone help?
Thanks
Have you checked the image type? Maybe it's not supported by iPhone.
Where does this image appear (web browser, email)? Some apps require specific command to fire an event on clicking.
If it's in mobile safari, is it a simple <a href link? http: protocol? Is it going anywhere that apple redirects (google maps, itunes, etc). or is it dependant on Javascript or flash?

iPhone Configuration Utility - Add webclip for webapp

I'm using Apple iPhone Configuration Utility to configure in-company mobile phones. I'd like to add to home screen an icon for a in-house web application we have developed. Using the Web Clip section, it's easy to add the webclip to home screen, however, we have two issues:
The webclip doesn't show up the png icon defined for the page (in meta tags).
The page loads up in Safari but is not "stand-alone" (fullscreen) (same thing, this property is defined in meta tags).
Note these issues are not encountered when adding the webclip to the home screen directly from Safari Mobile on the device.
Best
Use the iPhone Configuration Utility. There, in the section for web clip you can set full screen and and the icon. As far as I remember, you need to have those things set there and in the meta tags.
We use this feature quiet a lot and it works very well.

Launching a native application from a link of website on iPhone

I have a query regarding launching a native application from a link of website on iPhone.
I will explain.
Generally a web based application is used to work online without using any feature of iPhone device (such as GPS, Camera, Accelerometer etc.)
I have a iPhone specific website which performs many tasks online.
Now while keeping all the functionality same, I want to add a feature of taking a picture from iPhone in-built camera.
i.e. when user clicks a button on website "Take Picture", my native application should be launched, which will take a picture and do specific tasks..
How to capture a event of button click which is performed on website?
Should I use UIWebView or Safari?
I know that using URL Scheme we can launch Safari from native application.
But how to achieve the opposite as explained above?
All other functionality works great on website, so I don't want to convert the whole website into native application.
(Otherwise I will have to deal with web services). Only this functionality needs to be added.
Register a URL Handler, then have a link on your site to myapphandle://some.parameters.here/
A la: http://iosdevelopertips.com/cocoa/launching-your-own-application-via-a-custom-url-scheme.html

Custom iPhone Icon

This is not a technical question, but given that there are a few iPhone developers on here I figured I'd ask. Are there design firms advertising services for designing custom iPhone icons?
I'm sure that you can find plenty on the web, just google it.
Icon Factory and IconShock are one of my favorites, but there are individuals that can make you what you need for a price, just ask them, take a look for example at the icons made by Made By Sofa company, I do love them, and I would suggest you to contact them directly, they made pretty famous icons on the market!
but for the iPhone, you will need a 75x75 pixels icon in PNG format, the round curves are made automatically by the iPhone OS.
you can test it using a webpage, just add this line of code in your HTML page (Head section):
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="myIcon.png" />
and bookmark it to the homepage with an iPhone or iPod Touch
Any graphic designer can make an iPhone icon. There's no specialised skill required.
A quick google found SoftFacade and FastIcon. Though, I don't think you'd need to look for only "iphone icon" artists. If you can find and icon you like, it's pretty easy to give it the iphone look.

Add bookmark to Safari on iPhone when an application is installed?

I'd like to add a bookmark to a users Mobile Safari bookmarks when they install my iPhone application.
I don't want the user to have to do it manually, i'd like my iphone app to install the bookmark (actually a javascript based bookmark, e.g. javascript:)
Does anyone know of anyway to do this?
Not currently possible. The best I've seen is launching a page in mobile Safari with instructions on how to manually add the bookmark, or telling the user to add it on desktop Safari and sync the bookmark back to the iPhone.
This is not currently possible. If it's something you'd like to see, you should file an enhancement request with Apple.