I've spent a good few weeks looking at different options for creating an app for a magazine.
I've looked at Adobe Digital Publishing, Aquafadas, PadMan, WoodWing and Mag+ but haven't found a suitable solution.
My requirements are to take existing artwork (produced in inDesign) and produce
1. An iPhone App,
2. An iPad App
3. A cross browser compatible web version.
My question - is there one of these type of solutions that can produce all 3 versions that I require?
Another option I considered was to create a HTML5 / Javascript version of the magazine and hire a developer to make the 3 versions. This would be time consuming for me as, although I'd have the content for the magazine, I'd be coding from scratch. Any suggestions from someone who has created an app with a web version available too?
Our project on Kickstarter will export HTML5 directly from InDesign:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ajarproductions/indesign-to-html5
We hope to include web app functionality as well.
Related
Hi stack overflow community,
I'm a novice programmer in high school and have never written an app for mobile devices before so please bear with me. If I was to write an app using Flutter, will I only be required to write the code once and then be able to distribute different versions of it (iOS, macOS, Windows, Linux, Android, etc)? Or will I need to make small changes for each version such as using XCode to create the iOS version and Android Studio for the Android version? I know this is such a basic question but I've spent a couple of hours looking this stuff up and I'm still confused. Any help would be nice.
Thanks,
Daniel
In a product development environment, after writing the cross-platform code with Flutter, there are some need-to-do tasks related to Native environment.
In the case of Android, there are several cases when you'll need to touch the Native level such as config Firestore settings, Social authentication (Login with Facebook for example), changing the launch icons/ splash screen of the app or publishing to app store, etc
For iOS, the same case apply as well. So I suggest you start with small steps to develop the app first, then when running into something that seems impossible with just Flutter code, there are tutorials and SO to guide you through. It might seem overwhelmed at first, but we are all on a journey, so no need to rush it ;)
You should make small changes too. For eg when adding launcher icons and splash screen you have to edit the respective native folders. When distributing for ios you need to manually customize its Runner from xcode. There are many library that support either android only or ios only. In that case if you need that feature you have to make changes in native code like java ans swift.
if you're creating your own native plugins, you will have unique code to write. But if you're just using things out of pub, almost nothing will require change (unless you are publishing to the store).
Closed. This question needs to be more focused. It is not currently accepting answers.
Want to improve this question? Update the question so it focuses on one problem only by editing this post.
Closed 2 years ago.
Improve this question
I recently found in news that KaiOS has been used in 4G Volte Enabled feature mobile phones. I was wondering how to create apps for KaiOS. Any help on creating apps for KaiOS has been greatly appreciated.
You can find the kickstart here https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Archive/B2G_OS/Firefox_OS_apps/Building_apps_for_Firefox_OS but as KaiOS is B2G forked i would still suggest you to go to kaiOS official website to check the proper flow for the application development.
Below are the series of steps you need to go through if you don't want to get stuck in between of development:
First you should understand how applications actually work in kaiOS environment and for that you need to first understand the architecture for that. You can give a read to https://developer.kaiostech.com/introduction/architecture for more understanding.
Then comes setup for your application which you will find here at https://developer.kaiostech.com/environment-setup . Mozzila firefox shift+F8 will open the webIDE where you can see your devices connected but for that you should have proper drivers installed for your phone. You can use firefox emulator 2.2 (stable) as well for initial start.
Now its time to have your first application onboard to kaiOS . You can make your application in any of the client specific JS like angular , react or even plain javascript but the important part is to have manifest.webapp in root folder for compatibility.You can give a read to https://developer.kaiostech.com/first-app.
You are able to see your first application on your phone !! Now the real pain arrives when it comes to navigate through the application by keypad but thanks to naviboard library which will do this work for you to align your navigable items and navigate through it by simple API’s. You can find the library at https://github.com/amanboss9/naviboard.
When you are done with navigation part of feature phone, you can go through and develop as much as you can as if it is a web application and can develop a lot of things.
Check the sample project at https://github.com/amanboss9/kaios-angular-app. This Boilerplate can save lot of time when it comes to setting up everything from scratch.It included Angular1.6, naviboardJS(For auto handling navigation part of your application) and Gulp.
KaiOS is based on Mozilla's open source B2G OS. The apps are built purely with HTML/JS/CSS stack and any web application/website that is mobile friendly can be an app with just minor modifications. You can use the inbuilt webIDE to build apps for Mozilla OS, see more here.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Archive/B2G_OS/Firefox_OS_apps/Building_apps_for_Firefox_OS/Firefox_OS_app_beginners_tutorial
I used to build apps for Firefox OS before it was dead lets hope to see whether it's reincarnation succeeds.
I will try making apps when I get my hands on the Jio Phone and will update here.
Update:
KaiOS has released a newly updated their website with a new IDE called Kaiosrt which is much better and actually works.
KaiOS is a B2G OS forked from Firefox OS.
You can use Angular/React/Jquery or any JS lib/framework to develop apps on Kaios
Packaged app should have all js/image/html/css file packed locally, External link reference in index.html will not work. Blocked by default- CSP policy.
Mobiles (JioPhone/Nokia Banana phone) with keyboard needs to handle its own key events, Refer Kaios Sample app
This is in the FAQs of KaiOS offical website:
Can I develop apps for KaiOS?
KaiOS is a curated platform for apps and we are working closely with
app developers to provide the best experience for our users. At the
moment we are not accepting submissions into the Store, but will do so
in the future.
(https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-12)
Guess you could leave your contact email there and will get updates in the near future.
KaiOS have officially launched the KaiOS Developer Portal.
It's got everything developers need to start building and distributing KaiOS apps.
Furthermore, build your first app with JavaScript (Vanilla), React,
Vue.js and Angular with code examples herein. Then, testing your
apps with WebIDE or Simulator.
Tools and resources include:
A guide to building your first app, with sample code, reference guides, and software development kits (SDKs).
Instructions for ENV setup to configure your development environment.
A simulator running Gaia and web apps in a Gecko-based environment.
I have one html file, I will set the html file in iphone based application by using mgwt .. Please help me to set the html files in phone ...
Thanks in advance..
Based on what I was able to grasp from you question you have an HTML file and you want that file to act as an iPhone hybrid app using mGWT. If that's the case, then there is an huge abyss to cover before getting to that point. This is the list of general steps you would need to cover to get all the way there.
Get a grasp of GWT Basics
Configure a simple mGWT application with PhoneGap support.
Understanding the way GWT MVP works will also be very helpful but not required
Once you have that working its time to wrap the web app into a iOS cordova webview with PhoneGap
Please note that you will require an Apple Mac to acomplish the last step. You will also reequire to be registered as an Apple developer if you intent to get your resulting app into a real device. Also you will require a good understanding of Java application development and a good grasp on how Web applications work (HTML, JS and CSS at least).
You have a long way ahead of you.
This question already has answers here:
Closed 11 years ago.
Possible Duplicate:
Write once deploy on Windows Mobile 6, Windows Phone 7, Android and iPhone?
Currently I have created a 2 simple apps for iphone and 1 for windows phone. When I go to promote these apps they usually....well do you have this for android or blackberry or whatever.
Do I have to rewrite my applications in every environment in order to have them compatible across all the operating systems out there? Is there tools that address this or do you guys simply recreate the app in eclipse, xcode, visual studio etc..?
Complex applications generally need to be created with the native environment.
Simple applications can be created with cross platform tools like Titanium and PhoneGap:
- http://www.appcelerator.com/
- http://www.phonegap.com/
#Fraggle (see comment)
I have quite some experience with Appcelerator Titanium. The choice for native v.s. cross-plafrom completely depends on the kind of application you need and your knowledge. General considerations:
Can the application be created with web technologies like HTML, CSS and JavaScript?
What language / environment do I know the best (native vs web technologies)?
How much time and money can I spend?
Do I really need cross-platform compatibility?
Most mobile phone applications only provide an easy interface for internet services like news updates, traffic info, social media and video. Those applications can be easily written with web technologies. Therefor most mobile applications can be written with tools like Titanium. The great thing about Titanium: Get the native experience on multiple devices while only maintaining one code-base. Cheap way of developing cross-platform applications.
Many developers use Titanium because they don't know the native language (objective-C / java), but they have extensive knowledge about web technologies. This way they can create pretty nice applications without learning new languages. Titanium is actually used for many non-cross-platform applications.
Complex graphics, device specific tools and complex interfaces still require the native environment.
Native applications will always perform better and use device specific features, but do you really need that degree of perfection? Yes, develop native applications for every device. No, simply create one cross-platform application.
Check this page to see what Titanium can do:
http://www.appcelerator.com/showcase/applications-showcase/
You may be able to use a third party tool like http://www.phonegap.com.
There are many options for cross-platform app development, but I would suggest Adobe AIR as it is also supported on the Blackberry Playbook by RIM. As far as I know, it's the only cross-platform runtime that is supported by a major platform owner.
I have also seen it do well on Android, and iOS support is also advertized.
Well there are definitely some supposed "write once, run everwhere" solutions out there. Here is one from RhoMobile which specializes in this space. But that is just what a quick Google search turned up. I haven't tried any of them.
I had an app that was developed for Android, and I ended up essentially re-writing it in Objective-C when I wanted to port it over to iPhone. It worked out pretty well and took less time than I thought (considering I hadn't done any iPhone programming prior). But now of course I have 2 code bases that I have to maintain and when I add features I'll have to do it for both the Android and iPhone version.
So having a single code base that lets me build apps for multiple platforms would be great. Do any of the tools out there work well? Not sure. Do they give you full control to make your app look and operate the way you want it, and make us of all the OS's features? Not sure.
Qt (now owned by Nokia) is another provider of a cross platform mobile framework
http://qt.nokia.com/
Even though iphone and android seem to be missing from their official Supported Platforms list I think there is an Android 2.3 release just around the corner. Qt for Iphone also seems to be in the works.
HTML5 may be one solution if the app you providing is simple enough. Google is doing it this way. Otherwise, even you have anything "cross-phone" it may still feels alien.
This question already has answers here:
Closed 12 years ago.
Possible Duplicate:
Technology to write iPhone, BlackBerry and Android phone at the same time?
Edit - guys, we need one more vote to close this. This question is a dup (read the comments)
I've heard that Apple banned such tools. Ok, so Apple lifted their ban in September. Still, the question holds - is there a sane way to develop apps to these two platforms without writing nearly everything twice?
Is there something I'm missing, or is the current state of affairs really that every company that develops a cross-platform legally has to maintain two code bases?
Apple reversed their ban in early September after receiving some pressure from the FTC and EU. However, unless you plan on using a third-party tool such as Adobe Flash Pro CS5 (I believe you can create AIR apps that will run on Android this way, as well as the much publicized iOS functionality), you'll have to maintain two codebases anyway, as Android apps are written in Java and iOS apps in Objective-C, two vastly differently languages with vastly different APIs.
You can always use standard HTML5 technologies to make a pure web app. Apple has two tracks for apps: native apps through the App Store written in Objective-C, or web apps that have only the restrictions of the underlying HTML5 technologies.
If you don't like pure web apps you can even merge the two and make a custom app that displays heavily customized web-like content in an embedded browser view (UIWebKit on iOS). Android and iOS web browsers frameworks are from WebKit and very close in features/appearance/conformance.
Instead of starting from a viewpoint of "I can't do X on Apple's closed iOS" start with "Can I do this in any supported application technology, even if its web-based or a web app hybrid, available across all platforms?"
I've done some research on this recently and have found a few companies that can to do this for you.
Appcelerator Titanium Mobile. They make a product that allows you to write your code in Javascript. I've found that the business logic, like networking, files, etc are write once, but the UI has quite a bit of if(android) else \iphone logic to get right. Apps will look native.
FeedHenry. They are more of a HTML based solution, but have a broader support of devices. More than just iphone and android. The sdk is still pretty early, and work can only be done in their special ide that is web based.
Phonegap. A javascript/css/html based framework that targets the iPhone, Android, and the Blackberry.
There are plusses and minuses to all of the solutions. Depending on your app's complexity, it may be a good decision to pick a platform like those to develop on. Coding an app could be much faster if the features they support are right for your app. Right now, it seems that they are all in early release phases and don't support a full toolkit that a developer would be used to, like a debugger, full IDE support, etc. Also, many of them build to a lowest common feature set, so you may not get all of the new release features as they come out, you would have to wait for a particular version of the platform to be released in order to have them.
XMLVM: Android to iPhone
XMLVM can translate your Android code to Objective-C for iPhone. But as what I know you still need a Mac to compile the iPhone application.
Android has the NDK (native dev kit) to allow C and C++ code to be included in APKGs and called from Java via the JNI. Apple's toolchain will also deal with both; the code that will be different will be the platform interface code, mostly in Java on Android and ObjC on iOS.
This is only useful when the bulk of your application is in C or C++.
An alternate would be to go with MonoTouch and the upcoming MonoDroid, if everything works out you could basically code C# on all platforms including of course Win7 Mob.
It looks promising but haven't tried it myself yet.
In September, Apple lifted some of the restrictions in the iOS license that had made it difficult to do cross-platform development. See this press release. I'm not familiar with the details of the current license, but you can get a copy through their developer program.
Another possibility that would be the Rhodes framework, if you like MVC, ORM, and Ruby.
take a look at the System.getProperty() values with android the vendor shows as The Android Project. I haven't looked at the iPhone or the IPad since I don't have one but hopefully they have something changed for their's too. But this will only work with java that I know of.