How can I learn how to design a good iPhone interface, beyond the few docs provided by Apple. Also, what the best way of testing the interface especially when the application is original?
You could try watching the videos of WWDC. They have some on both of your questions. It seems Intruments can do a lot of interface questions right now.
Related
It's the first time I have done anything like this but wondered what the best way to approach this would be.
I need a web interface which I could enter text, photos and videos, once submitted this can then be seen by users using the app through different feeds and things.
I know its a common thing but what techniques and things should I be learning? I'm not sure where to start.
Any help would be much appreciated as any information would be helpful, thanks.
Some links on documentation:
URL Loading system programming guide
UIWebView class reference
NSURLConnectionDelegate Protocol Reference
There is also NSURLConnectionDataDelegate
I would also recommend you great book by Vandad Nahavandipoor.
The book iOS 5 Programming Pushing the Limits seems great to me.
Good luck.
I'm attempting to create an application for my iPhone to enable the phone to act as a hardware interface to control software on my computer through midi mapping. For example to assign cue buttons in software such as Ableton/Traktor onto a GUI interface controlled on the Phone.
I am aware that previous versions of this have been created, such as the ITM Matrix http://www.itouchmidi.com/?q=node/5. I have been using this application but I have some variations i wish to implement so figured the best way to learn would be to start from scratch. Though my programming skills are limited I'm hoping this task shouldn't be too difficult and would appreciate any advice in how best to get this up and running.
Cheers
Mike
You are going to have a difficult time with little programming experience. But here is the documentation on the Core MIDI Framework in iOS which you are going to need.
I decided to write my own iPhone MIDI Controller app too.
What really helped the most was this five part blog post series that really helped to understand how Core MIDI works on iOS.
There is a bit of open source code called PGMidi (http://goodliffe.blogspot.com/2011/02/pgmidi-updated.html) that is a good example of sending and receiving midi on iOS using core midi. He has a working example that you could try tinkering with.
I've read through Aaron Hillegass's iPhone Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide and I feel I have a solid understanding on the fundamental design patterns/APIs of UIKit. After searching on both here and on Google, it seems that to take the 'next step,' I should practice by writing apps. But: I have no design experience, and I feel that unless I'm doing some work that involves custom controls or any sort of other custom elements, re-writing apps with the same standard controls isn't helping me get better at iPhone dev. So, here are my options:
1) Learn design
2) Find a designer who has some app ideas (note that this is just in my spare time, and I'm not yet looking to make it my full time job, so finding a designer who would just give me free controls/designs would probably be hard)
3) ???
Anybody have other ideas?
TL;DR: I want to get better at iPhone dev by writing more apps for practice, but I'm not good at visual design.
EDIT: To be clear, I am not trying to make these apps with the intention of releasing for the App Store. I am writing these apps to practice iPhone dev and to get better at it.
I'd personally start looking at what other apps are creating as far as custom controls go. Trying to reverse engineer, so to speak, what they are doing will give you insight into what some of the lesser known APIs like CALayer can do for you as far effects, animations, etc. Getting comfortable outside the standard set of controls and APIs will give you the skill set you need so when someone comes to you with a design idea, you can easily translate that into reality. For the next version of my own app I did just this, really digging into cool things you can do.
This blog does just this. His posts come at an angle from how to do custom things that both Apple and third party devs do:
iDevRecipes
Also, here's a reference to really get a sense of some of the cool Core Animation APIs. This guy includes videos demonstrating the effects, as well as Xcode projects:
Subtle Effects With CALayer
Complex Interpolation With CAShapeLayer
3D Objects in Objective-C with CATransformLayer
Combining those with blocks based animations introduced in iOS 4.x can produce some real eye popping and easy to program creations.
I'd suggest, you just start to create some apps. Skill comes with practice.
You will surely have ideas for some apps. Just start with a simple idea.
Even if you are just using the standard UIKit classes you will learn something new. It's easy to think you have understood everything you just read, but in practice you will be facing some little problems you wouldn't even know exist, before.
Also, you can create some good-looking apps, using just the standard UIKit classes, even if you don't have a design background. Interface Builder helps a lot to stick to the iOS Human Interface Guidelines (which you should read).
I have seen apps in App Store that have really attractive UI.When i make an app i use only the default set of control provided by Interface Builder and my app(even though good in functionality)does not have a UI that can attract people.Is there any ref or sample code that teaches us how to design good UIs for iPhone apps.
Also I want to place a control in my App similar to one in iPhone(i.e the way we unlock the iPhone by sliding a button and the iPhone gets unlocked)how can we do this.Please provide some ref or sample code for it.
There is no simples step by step description of how to make really attractive ui's. It takes both time, skill and a sense of esthetics. However, a good starting point is to thoroughly read your way through apples iphone human interface guidelines:
http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/documentation/userexperience/conceptual/mobilehig/Introduction/Introduction.html
Does anyone have any suggestions for a site that potentially has some inspirational user interfaces for building my own iPhone Apps. It's straight forward to continually build out applications with the conventional UIKit widgets, but it does not set you apart from the competition. Some resources on how to build attractive interfaces is highly desired for inspiration. This is for someone with minimal Photoshop/Illustrator skills, but doesn't mind using sites such as iStockPhoto and working with custom views.
Apple is historically well-known for the user interfaces of its products and programs written for them, but in recent years it has come under fire for seemingly allowing its Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) to lapse. Some of the best Mac and iPhone applications are actually those that deviate from the HIG, but not so much that usability (or acceptance into the App Store) is sacrificed (see link text).
Examples of such innovative iPhone applications can be found in the iPhone app and web app showcases of Apple Design Award winners. These apps have been judged by Apple itself to be creative, inspiring, and exemplary of the iPhone platform's potential as a mobile computing device.
Go to your local best buy, game stop, or any other store with xbox360s, wiis and playstation 3s lying around. Play every single demo on these machines and rate them solely on UI experience. Triple A console games still lead the interface world in my opinion. Soft synths are a close second and also often have beautiful UIs (as Chris Schreiner pointed out). A quick trip through logic will give you a glimpse of apple's own work in that direction.
You might want to check out this article by Matt Gemmell about his process in designing the UI for his Favorites app.
10 Gorgeously Designed iPhone Applications has some very nicely designed apps.
I spent a long time getting this one together, it's a full list of every single ios inspiration / mobile css gallery I could find on the internet. Let me know if you find any others so I can add them!
http://www.kintek.com.au/web-design-blog/iphone-mobile-css-gallery-listing-ios-inspiration/
Maybe this will help: My source of inspiration comes from the software-synth domain. Circle from FAW comes to mind. Ableton Live is (in my book) something to look at.
Heres a good article about designing the Convertbot application. A very simple app that stands out because of its UI.
I hate to burst your bubble, but great design is not something you will get from finding a "site" to look at. Major universities have graduate design programs, that's the kind of place where some people learn to be great designers. Multiple courses and textbooks on design and all the related areas (art, architecture, psychology, biomechanics, etc., etc.) I've seen too many engineers, without at least some of this training, routinely suggest some really bad UI design ideas. Don't be another one of them.
Treat learning great design as something far bigger than finding a site (or learning another programming language, etc.), more like a multi-year endeavor, and you might have a chance.
Or find and team up with someone who's already an experienced designer.