iPixel Creative is a Singapore web design and development Company. At iPixel Creative, we provides web design solution which helps your company stand out from the competitors. Our Solutions includes web design, website development, cms development, ecommerce solution and hosting solutions.
Isn’t it frustrating to design the perfect webpage in your mind, but to be unable to create it for real? It’s time you found out about Qards, an awesome page builder plugin that you can use to create beautiful and responsive websites. Keep reading and find out how you can get your hands on a Qards license, worth !
Design infinite types of web pages without using a single code
The new Qards drag and drop WordPress plugin allows you to build awesome and appealing webpages or websites without having to write a single line of code yourself. Not only does this plugin let you build a page from scratch, but it also saves weeks of work time, otherwise spent on programming. If you know how to code, then Qards gives you the possibility to tweak CSS by accessing the CSS option and customize your page even further.
Qards works with any WordPress theme and helps you to design a wide variety of webpages, such as blogs, e-commerce sites, landing pages, case studies and many more. Moreover, you can enhance your project’s originality by using their easy to use visual editor and the TypeKit Integration, which allows you to select from an entire collection of fonts.
Add beautiful components to your website in no time
There are no more limitations for your creativity. You can add as many elements as you want: Qards comes with a drag & drop feature, allowing you to edit every aspect of your site and make changes easily before sharing the page with your audience. Choose your favorite elements from a wide range of pre-designed blocks, or adjust them to your design preferences.
You can use Qards to add images, videos, smooth scrolling effects and fixed menus to your page. Feel free to modify their styles and place them wherever you like on your website.
Win one of three Qards Plugin Licenses
All you have to do to win a license for Qards, the drag & drop WordPress tool for website design, is to enter the contest through the form below. But if you don’t want to wait any longer, feel free to try Qards now.
Design collaboration sounds great in theory. Gather up the gang, draw up some brilliant ideas, and create something that reflects everyone’s expertise.
In reality, it can be a total nightmare. People without design backgrounds force their opinions on design experts. Accountability is diluted across the entire team. Politics ends up killing good design.
This free ebook has been written for designers at larger companies who must strike the difficult balance between collaboration and design by committee. The book prefers pragmatism over ideology by including real-world advice and design exercises.
The ebook includes:
Techniques for better feedback, data-driven design, deciding features together, design studio exercises, empathizing with users, collaborative user interviews, and more.
A framework for planning design projects together to prevent last-minute surprises.
Examples included from companies such as Venmo, Amazon, Hubspot and Vice.
The key to collaboration is understanding that the design process can be as open as possible, but the output must be tightly controlled. That way, you reap the benefits of collective brainstorming and expert judgment.
If you find the ebook helpful, feel free to share with anyone who might enjoy it.
Are you considering making your own app? This is what you need to know. Learn about the app ecosystem, programming languages, toolsets, and time and effort involved. Let’s not tell you what you should know, but rather explain how you can actually get started today to get an app published in the App Store.
An app is just a piece of computer software running on a smartphone. It’s written by a programmer, and put together with graphic assets created by a designer.
Apps for iPhone are made with a Mac application called Xcode, and programmed in either Swift or Objective-C. Many apps are connected to the internet, which means that they have a back-end that allows storage of data in the cloud or functionality that interconnects users.
Xcode is the application you can use for making native iPhone apps, and it’s only available for Mac OS X. It includes Interface Builder, a tool to visually create the graphical foundation of your app. It’s a scaffolding tool: you can’t make a functional app with it, but you can lay down the groundwork for the GUIs of your app.
Xcode has many useful features, such as Auto Layout for making your interface work on multiple screen resolutions and an iPhone Simulator for testing your app without an actual iPhone.
In order to publish apps in the App Store you need a developer account from Apple. It’s available for $ 99 USD a year, and needs to be renewed each year. Apple has a comprehensive online toolset available for managing new and published apps, called iTunes Connect, as well as an extensive set of documentation.
Additionally, iTunes Connect now features a beta distribution tool called TestFlight. It can be used to distribute your app to beta testers.
2. The App-Making Process
Any app development process roughly follows these steps:
Design. Make a mockup of your app and layout all the components on the screen.
Develop. This step involves coding the app, tying up interfaces with if-this-then-that actions.
Test. Send the app out to beta testers and gather feedback on its performance. Then, solve any errors that arise.
Publish. Get your app past the review process and push it to production in the App Store.
Modern process management often work with iterations on a micro and macro level.
When you’re making a new feature, you always design it first, then code it, then test it, and then push it live. Whether it’s a small component or an entire new part of the app, follow this process.
3. On Swift and Objective-C
iPhone apps are all written in Swift or Objective-C. Swift is the new programming language invented by Apple, announced on June 2, 2014, and subsequently released as a stable 1.0 version on September 9, 2014. It’s a fairly new language and apps entirely written in Swift are just now hitting the App Store.
Swift is gaining rapidly in popularity and its features are highly acclaimed by both beginner and advanced programmers. The great thing about Swift is that it’s interchangeable with Objective-C. This helps the adoption of Swift by programmers, because they don’t have to rewrite their entire codebase to be compatible with the new language.
People that already have an intermediate-level proficiency in any programming language will need less time to pick up Objective-C or Swift. Especially those that have worked with languages that are similar to Swift, such as Java, PHP or Ruby, should have no problem learning Swift.
But which is better, Swift or Objective-C?
Objective-C is a little bit harder to tackle because it uses a unique syntax. For beginners, Swift is clearly the better option. It’s easier compared to Objective-C and removes overhead from the development process, making the barrier-to-entry for beginners considerably lower.
Despite that, Objective-C is still the standard in many firms around the globe, so legacy code will be Objective-C for the coming years. As an employed iOS developer, you’ll see more Objective-C than Swift.
4. Middleware: Build Once, Run Multiple
Middleware (or cross-platform) like Cordova or PhoneGap, is a popular choice for app developers, because it enables them to write code once and deploy it to both Android and iOS.
Apps for Android are written in Java and they’re not compatible with iOS apps. If you want to make an app for both platforms, but do not want to program the same app twice, middleware is a time-saving option.
Many of these cross-platform tools are based on web technology, such as HTML5, CSS and JavaScript.
PhoneGap is the most widely adopted: it’s being used by 400.000 app developers. PhoneGap has its own build tools and technically it exports an app that can be run and built inside Xcode, making it a "hybrid app" — native components combined with HTML5.
PhoneGap now features PhoneGap Build, which replaces the Xcode compiler with a cloud-based solution. PhoneGap is free and released under the open-source Apache Public License v2.
PhoneGap outperforms these alternatives by supported devices (iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry OS, Ubuntu and Firefox OS) and supported hardware (accelerometer, camera, etc.).
Downsides To Middleware
Using middleware such as PhoneGap has two major downsides.
Since such tools are all based on web technology, they’re unable to make use of hardware-accelerated native components. Animations, transitions and high-resolution graphics don’t work as well as in a native app, which makes it impossible to use for games or visually intense apps.
Also, using middleware requires good knowledge of compilers and build tools, which makes it an inconvenient option for beginner developers.
5. Design: How Your App Is Used
Not all that is apps is programming. Graphic design is big in the app industry; it’s a requirement for any app that wants to be taken seriously. Are you considering programming your own apps? If your budget allows it, hire a graphic designer. There’s plenty of those around on outsourcing sites like Elance or oDesk.
That being said, you don’t need a graphic designer if you’re just starting out. On iOS, you can work with the many pre-fab components that Apple is using in their own apps and throughout the operating system’s UI. The standard iPhone user interface components don’t look exceptional, but they’re not bad either. It’s a great way to get started without spending too much time on the graphical look of your app.
Icons: Consider using an icon kit such as Glyphish (commercial). They’ve put together hundreds of icons, optimized for iPhone apps, including social media icons, play/stop buttons, and symbols for app-related tasks such as new, edit, and send.
Mockups: Another tool you definitely must use is Balsamiq Mockups (free trial, commercial). It’s a point-and-click editor for making mockups of your apps. A mockup is a rough sketch and it shows and explains how your app works and what it does. Never just start programming: take a step back and rethink your apps UI and layout by making a mockup.
Did you make a sketched mockup, but can’t get a feel for how the app will actually look? Work with the design PSDs from Teehan+Lax (free). They’ve extracted all the GUI components from iOS and made them available as vector graphics. Perfect for making a graphical mockup!
6. How To Enable An App For The Internet
Is your app connected to the internet? Creating a custom back-end with server-side languages like NodeJS, Ruby or PHP can take up lots of time, money and effort. It’s easier to use a Platform-as-a-Service tool, such as Parse.
Parse is a cloud-based solution for storing data offline and online in your app. Say, you’re making a social app with a stream of pictures and status updates. You could use Parse to store that data in the cloud and use their SDK to get it from and to your users.
Using a tool such as Parse completely removes the need to build a custom back-end. Parse’s basic usage tier is free, subsequent tiers start at USD100/month.
Alternatives to Parse are Appcelerator (middleware + PaaS, commercial) and App42 (PaaS + analytics, free tier).
7. Going From Beta To Live
Before an app gets published in the App Store, you need to upload it with iTunes Connect. You enter your app’s basic information like a description, app categories and what app icon to use.
Your app then enters the review process, a requirement from Apple. A reviewer from Apple checks if your app adheres to the Review Guidelines and whether it has bugs. It’s a quality check to ensure only good apps enter the App Store, and from the point of uploading it takes about 2 weeks to get your app reviewed.
Of course at this point you might still have some burning questions related to creating your very first iOS apps. We’re going to take a look at the top 10 questions new app developers are concerned about.
1. How much does an app cost?
The cost of development of an app can really differ from one contracting company to the other. Outsourcing freelancers can create a simple app for around USD3000. Bigger companies can ask from USD25,000 to USD100,000 for a complex application, including graphic design and back-end programming. Companies like Tinder, Pinterest, Facebook, etc. can spend hundreds of thousands to millions on developing and marketing one app. Just like anywhere else: you get what you pay for.
2. I’m stuck with a programming bug. How do I get help?
A lot of beginner programming questions have been asked already on sites such as StackOverflow. Search for the error message or bug you found, and you’ll most likely find a solution. When asking a question yourself, always search first, and make sure you explain your problem thoroughly and tell the steps you’ve already taken to solve it. Quora is a good medium for asking non-technical questions, such as about business and UX/UI topics.
3. I have a brilliant idea for an app. Where do I start?
If you’re serious about creating a business based on an app, don’t start with programming immediately. First, validate your business idea by pitching to your target audience.
Get in touch with potential customers and survey them, asking for feedback.
Keep in mind that most successful apps solve an immediate problem, in such a way that customers want to pay for it. When you’ve validated your idea, and created a relationship with your first customers, proceed with design and development of the actual app.
4. Do I need an iPhone to create apps?
No, but it’s recommended. Xcode has an iPhone Simulator, that runs your apps just like a physical iPhone would. Holding a real iPhone with your app in your hands is different from seeing it on your computer’s monitor, so testing your app on an actual device is recommended.
Keep in mind that Xcode only runs on Mac OS X.
5. I’m not good at maths, do I need it for programming?
Yes, and no. It’s an urban myth that to be able to code you must be good at maths. A lot of programming principles find their roots in mathematics, but they’re not required for a basic understanding of how to make apps. When you dive deeper and become more proficient at programming, you’ll find that you have picked up some maths skills along the way.
6. I work for a company. Do I pursue my app idea with the company, or in my own time?
It depends on the company and your position. Are you an engineer and is your company’s core business online, digital or closely related to apps? Then you might want to build a prototype and convince your supervisor or employer to pursue the idea.
If you think your employer won’t see the value, you can pursue the app idea in your own time. Be mindful of your contract with your employer. Inventions made during your time with the company could be regarded as the company’s intellectual property, not yours.
7. My app idea already exists in the App Store. What do I do now?
The fact that it exists doesn’t mean it’s a good app. You can always create a competing app and make it better than what’s already out there.
Likewise, the fact that an app doesn’t exist yet doesn’t make it a good idea to create it. It could well be that an app has been published multiple times, but was pulled from the App Store because there was no need for it.
Always validate your app idea by the problem it is solving and the value it has for its users.
8. Why is the iPhone sometimes called iOS?
There’s a slight difference: iPhone is the name for the actual hardware smartphone and iOS stands for “i Operating System”. Going back into Apple’s history, the iMac computer was the first product to have the prefix “i”. Later on, they’ve followed this style and created more products: iTunes, iPod, iPad and iPhone. It’s only natural to call the operating system that runs on the iPhone, iOS.
9. How do you effectively market an iPhone app?
Entire books have been written about this question! It’s a hard one, but not impossible to answer. All successful apps solve one problem, in such a way that people want to pay for it.
You can either come up with a problem and find people that need your solution, or find an audience and survey them for problems you could make a solution for. Keep in touch with this customer group and give them a way to tell others about your product. Referrals and word-of-mouth is an effective and cheap marketing machine.
10. What’s the worst way to learn programming?
Giving up is one of the worst ways to learn programming. Learning a new skill has ups and downs, and you can only keep going by celebrating the ups and seeing through the downs. Giving up is not part of the equation.
Also, find out what your learning style is. There’s no point in watching videos, when writing code and trial-and-error suits you better.
Finally, don’t randomly pick a book on programming from the library but find a proven learning method or path. When learning Spanish, you don’t start with reading a dictionary, right?
Learning Resources To Get Started
If you still want to go through with creating your first iOS app, this section is where you find all your learning resources to get started.
App development involves a lot of components, and when you’re new it can be quite a challenge to get acquainted with all the tools. Fear not! You can make your first app in a day at max, with no prior programming experience. The only thing you need is a good resource that shows you the ropes and focuses on one toolset at once. There’s plenty of beginner tutorials on the internet, as well as premium courses.
The Learning Process: In Brief
What’s your learning style? Consider that before you pick a resource.
When you’ve built your first app, it’s a great plan to briefly dive into a number of components after one another. Learn about:
Using navigation controllers, such as tab bars and hamburger menu’s
Using hardware, such as the camera and accelerometer
Using layouts, such as the table view controller and the page view controller
Working with animations and view transitions
The app lifecycle
Compilers and build tools
Most of these topics require a couple of days (24 to 32 hours) of tinkering, trial and error, and looking up resources.
Once you got the basics figured out, get straight into working with internet sources and cloud-based solutions such as Parse. All apps are connected to the Internet one way or another.
Regardless, those who are used to learning new things often can outline their own learning plan and do not necessarily need to follow a program such as a course or a book.
Wrap Up
Wouldn’t it be great to have your own app in the App Store? You now have a basic outline of the tools involved in making apps, and what it takes to learn how to make your own apps. Get started with Swift by reading a book or following a tutorial, craft a great looking interface with Balsamiq, get yourself a developer account and publish that app!
Editor’s note: This is written by Reinder de Vries for Hongkiat.com. Reinder is an entrepreneur and app developer, who believes that there are not enough app makers in the world. He has developed 50+ apps and his code is used by hundreds of thousands of users all over the globe. When he’s not coding, he teaches aspiring developers how to make their own apps at LearnAppMaking.com.
Are you considering making your own app? This is what you need to know. Learn about the app ecosystem, programming languages, toolsets, and time and effort involved. Let’s not tell you what you should know, but rather explain how you can actually get started today to get an app published in the App Store.
An app is just a piece of computer software running on a smartphone. It’s written by a programmer, and put together with graphic assets created by a designer.
Apps for iPhone are made with a Mac application called Xcode, and programmed in either Swift or Objective-C. Many apps are connected to the internet, which means that they have a back-end that allows storage of data in the cloud or functionality that interconnects users.
Xcode is the application you can use for making native iPhone apps, and it’s only available for Mac OS X. It includes Interface Builder, a tool to visually create the graphical foundation of your app. It’s a scaffolding tool: you can’t make a functional app with it, but you can lay down the groundwork for the GUIs of your app.
Xcode has many useful features, such as Auto Layout for making your interface work on multiple screen resolutions and an iPhone Simulator for testing your app without an actual iPhone.
In order to publish apps in the App Store you need a developer account from Apple. It’s available for $ 99 USD a year, and needs to be renewed each year. Apple has a comprehensive online toolset available for managing new and published apps, called iTunes Connect, as well as an extensive set of documentation.
Additionally, iTunes Connect now features a beta distribution tool called TestFlight. It can be used to distribute your app to beta testers.
2. The App-Making Process
Any app development process roughly follows these steps:
Design. Make a mockup of your app and layout all the components on the screen.
Develop. This step involves coding the app, tying up interfaces with if-this-then-that actions.
Test. Send the app out to beta testers and gather feedback on its performance. Then, solve any errors that arise.
Publish. Get your app past the review process and push it to production in the App Store.
Modern process management often work with iterations on a micro and macro level.
When you’re making a new feature, you always design it first, then code it, then test it, and then push it live. Whether it’s a small component or an entire new part of the app, follow this process.
3. On Swift and Objective-C
iPhone apps are all written in Swift or Objective-C. Swift is the new programming language invented by Apple, announced on June 2, 2014, and subsequently released as a stable 1.0 version on September 9, 2014. It’s a fairly new language and apps entirely written in Swift are just now hitting the App Store.
Swift is gaining rapidly in popularity and its features are highly acclaimed by both beginner and advanced programmers. The great thing about Swift is that it’s interchangeable with Objective-C. This helps the adoption of Swift by programmers, because they don’t have to rewrite their entire codebase to be compatible with the new language.
People that already have an intermediate-level proficiency in any programming language will need less time to pick up Objective-C or Swift. Especially those that have worked with languages that are similar to Swift, such as Java, PHP or Ruby, should have no problem learning Swift.
But which is better, Swift or Objective-C?
Objective-C is a little bit harder to tackle because it uses a unique syntax. For beginners, Swift is clearly the better option. It’s easier compared to Objective-C and removes overhead from the development process, making the barrier-to-entry for beginners considerably lower.
Despite that, Objective-C is still the standard in many firms around the globe, so legacy code will be Objective-C for the coming years. As an employed iOS developer, you’ll see more Objective-C than Swift.
4. Middleware: Build Once, Run Multiple
Middleware (or cross-platform) like Cordova or PhoneGap, is a popular choice for app developers, because it enables them to write code once and deploy it to both Android and iOS.
Apps for Android are written in Java and they’re not compatible with iOS apps. If you want to make an app for both platforms, but do not want to program the same app twice, middleware is a time-saving option.
Many of these cross-platform tools are based on web technology, such as HTML5, CSS and JavaScript.
PhoneGap is the most widely adopted: it’s being used by 400.000 app developers. PhoneGap has its own build tools and technically it exports an app that can be run and built inside Xcode, making it a "hybrid app" — native components combined with HTML5.
PhoneGap now features PhoneGap Build, which replaces the Xcode compiler with a cloud-based solution. PhoneGap is free and released under the open-source Apache Public License v2.
PhoneGap outperforms these alternatives by supported devices (iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry OS, Ubuntu and Firefox OS) and supported hardware (accelerometer, camera, etc.).
Downsides To Middleware
Using middleware such as PhoneGap has two major downsides.
Since such tools are all based on web technology, they’re unable to make use of hardware-accelerated native components. Animations, transitions and high-resolution graphics don’t work as well as in a native app, which makes it impossible to use for games or visually intense apps.
Also, using middleware requires good knowledge of compilers and build tools, which makes it an inconvenient option for beginner developers.
5. Design: How Your App Is Used
Not all that is apps is programming. Graphic design is big in the app industry; it’s a requirement for any app that wants to be taken seriously. Are you considering programming your own apps? If your budget allows it, hire a graphic designer. There’s plenty of those around on outsourcing sites like Elance or oDesk.
That being said, you don’t need a graphic designer if you’re just starting out. On iOS, you can work with the many pre-fab components that Apple is using in their own apps and throughout the operating system’s UI. The standard iPhone user interface components don’t look exceptional, but they’re not bad either. It’s a great way to get started without spending too much time on the graphical look of your app.
Icons: Consider using an icon kit such as Glyphish (commercial). They’ve put together hundreds of icons, optimized for iPhone apps, including social media icons, play/stop buttons, and symbols for app-related tasks such as new, edit, and send.
Mockups: Another tool you definitely must use is Balsamiq Mockups (free trial, commercial). It’s a point-and-click editor for making mockups of your apps. A mockup is a rough sketch and it shows and explains how your app works and what it does. Never just start programming: take a step back and rethink your apps UI and layout by making a mockup.
Did you make a sketched mockup, but can’t get a feel for how the app will actually look? Work with the design PSDs from Teehan+Lax (free). They’ve extracted all the GUI components from iOS and made them available as vector graphics. Perfect for making a graphical mockup!
6. How To Enable An App For The Internet
Is your app connected to the internet? Creating a custom back-end with server-side languages like NodeJS, Ruby or PHP can take up lots of time, money and effort. It’s easier to use a Platform-as-a-Service tool, such as Parse.
Parse is a cloud-based solution for storing data offline and online in your app. Say, you’re making a social app with a stream of pictures and status updates. You could use Parse to store that data in the cloud and use their SDK to get it from and to your users.
Using a tool such as Parse completely removes the need to build a custom back-end. Parse’s basic usage tier is free, subsequent tiers start at USD100/month.
Alternatives to Parse are Appcelerator (middleware + PaaS, commercial) and App42 (PaaS + analytics, free tier).
7. Going From Beta To Live
Before an app gets published in the App Store, you need to upload it with iTunes Connect. You enter your app’s basic information like a description, app categories and what app icon to use.
Your app then enters the review process, a requirement from Apple. A reviewer from Apple checks if your app adheres to the Review Guidelines and whether it has bugs. It’s a quality check to ensure only good apps enter the App Store, and from the point of uploading it takes about 2 weeks to get your app reviewed.
Of course at this point you might still have some burning questions related to creating your very first iOS apps. We’re going to take a look at the top 10 questions new app developers are concerned about.
1. How much does an app cost?
The cost of development of an app can really differ from one contracting company to the other. Outsourcing freelancers can create a simple app for around USD3000. Bigger companies can ask from USD25,000 to USD100,000 for a complex application, including graphic design and back-end programming. Companies like Tinder, Pinterest, Facebook, etc. can spend hundreds of thousands to millions on developing and marketing one app. Just like anywhere else: you get what you pay for.
2. I’m stuck with a programming bug. How do I get help?
A lot of beginner programming questions have been asked already on sites such as StackOverflow. Search for the error message or bug you found, and you’ll most likely find a solution. When asking a question yourself, always search first, and make sure you explain your problem thoroughly and tell the steps you’ve already taken to solve it. Quora is a good medium for asking non-technical questions, such as about business and UX/UI topics.
3. I have a brilliant idea for an app. Where do I start?
If you’re serious about creating a business based on an app, don’t start with programming immediately. First, validate your business idea by pitching to your target audience.
Get in touch with potential customers and survey them, asking for feedback.
Keep in mind that most successful apps solve an immediate problem, in such a way that customers want to pay for it. When you’ve validated your idea, and created a relationship with your first customers, proceed with design and development of the actual app.
4. Do I need an iPhone to create apps?
No, but it’s recommended. Xcode has an iPhone Simulator, that runs your apps just like a physical iPhone would. Holding a real iPhone with your app in your hands is different from seeing it on your computer’s monitor, so testing your app on an actual device is recommended.
Keep in mind that Xcode only runs on Mac OS X.
5. I’m not good at maths, do I need it for programming?
Yes, and no. It’s an urban myth that to be able to code you must be good at maths. A lot of programming principles find their roots in mathematics, but they’re not required for a basic understanding of how to make apps. When you dive deeper and become more proficient at programming, you’ll find that you have picked up some maths skills along the way.
6. I work for a company. Do I pursue my app idea with the company, or in my own time?
It depends on the company and your position. Are you an engineer and is your company’s core business online, digital or closely related to apps? Then you might want to build a prototype and convince your supervisor or employer to pursue the idea.
If you think your employer won’t see the value, you can pursue the app idea in your own time. Be mindful of your contract with your employer. Inventions made during your time with the company could be regarded as the company’s intellectual property, not yours.
7. My app idea already exists in the App Store. What do I do now?
The fact that it exists doesn’t mean it’s a good app. You can always create a competing app and make it better than what’s already out there.
Likewise, the fact that an app doesn’t exist yet doesn’t make it a good idea to create it. It could well be that an app has been published multiple times, but was pulled from the App Store because there was no need for it.
Always validate your app idea by the problem it is solving and the value it has for its users.
8. Why is the iPhone sometimes called iOS?
There’s a slight difference: iPhone is the name for the actual hardware smartphone and iOS stands for “i Operating System”. Going back into Apple’s history, the iMac computer was the first product to have the prefix “i”. Later on, they’ve followed this style and created more products: iTunes, iPod, iPad and iPhone. It’s only natural to call the operating system that runs on the iPhone, iOS.
9. How do you effectively market an iPhone app?
Entire books have been written about this question! It’s a hard one, but not impossible to answer. All successful apps solve one problem, in such a way that people want to pay for it.
You can either come up with a problem and find people that need your solution, or find an audience and survey them for problems you could make a solution for. Keep in touch with this customer group and give them a way to tell others about your product. Referrals and word-of-mouth is an effective and cheap marketing machine.
10. What’s the worst way to learn programming?
Giving up is one of the worst ways to learn programming. Learning a new skill has ups and downs, and you can only keep going by celebrating the ups and seeing through the downs. Giving up is not part of the equation.
Also, find out what your learning style is. There’s no point in watching videos, when writing code and trial-and-error suits you better.
Finally, don’t randomly pick a book on programming from the library but find a proven learning method or path. When learning Spanish, you don’t start with reading a dictionary, right?
Learning Resources To Get Started
If you still want to go through with creating your first iOS app, this section is where you find all your learning resources to get started.
App development involves a lot of components, and when you’re new it can be quite a challenge to get acquainted with all the tools. Fear not! You can make your first app in a day at max, with no prior programming experience. The only thing you need is a good resource that shows you the ropes and focuses on one toolset at once. There’s plenty of beginner tutorials on the internet, as well as premium courses.
The Learning Process: In Brief
What’s your learning style? Consider that before you pick a resource.
When you’ve built your first app, it’s a great plan to briefly dive into a number of components after one another. Learn about:
Using navigation controllers, such as tab bars and hamburger menu’s
Using hardware, such as the camera and accelerometer
Using layouts, such as the table view controller and the page view controller
Working with animations and view transitions
The app lifecycle
Compilers and build tools
Most of these topics require a couple of days (24 to 32 hours) of tinkering, trial and error, and looking up resources.
Once you got the basics figured out, get straight into working with internet sources and cloud-based solutions such as Parse. All apps are connected to the Internet one way or another.
Regardless, those who are used to learning new things often can outline their own learning plan and do not necessarily need to follow a program such as a course or a book.
Wrap Up
Wouldn’t it be great to have your own app in the App Store? You now have a basic outline of the tools involved in making apps, and what it takes to learn how to make your own apps. Get started with Swift by reading a book or following a tutorial, craft a great looking interface with Balsamiq, get yourself a developer account and publish that app!
Editor’s note: This is written by Reinder de Vries for Hongkiat.com. Reinder is an entrepreneur and app developer, who believes that there are not enough app makers in the world. He has developed 50+ apps and his code is used by hundreds of thousands of users all over the globe. When he’s not coding, he teaches aspiring developers how to make their own apps at LearnAppMaking.com.
The drag-and-drop has been the most appreciated approach by non-techies, when it comes to arranging web layouts. This is, perhaps, the reasons Wix, SquareSpace, and such services are so popular. Just to name a few more cool tools that let you do more with drag and drop, we have:
For designers and developers, we would love to have the drag-and-drop approach when building and organizing a page layout. In building a WordPress site, for instance, the drag-and-drop method would help save a lot of time. In this post, we have put together 7 plugins that add this functionality into the WordPress editor. If you know of more cool plugins let us know in the comments.
Page Builder is a plugin that allows you to build responsive grids by customizing the division of each column and row within the grid. The plugin also carries a handful of layout modules which allow you to add content like Gallery, Image, Video, Buttons, and even Price Boxes. The new layout modules can be added through the WordPress Widget API.
2. PixGridder
PixGridder allows you to divide your page content into grids easily. After creating the columns, you can add text to the content in each column, customize it with the WordPress default text editor, or fill it with content through shortcodes. The plugin also brings all the functions available in the WordPress default text editor for each column.
3. Aqua Page Builder
Aqua Page Builder lets you create unique variations of templates to be applied for your content. Drag one or more available blocks into the template builder, name and save the template. Use the generated shortcode to apply the template to your pages or posts.
4. WR Page Builder
With WR Page Builder, you can add layout modules such us buttons, pricing tables, progress bars, alerts, and more into your post or page. This plugin provides tons of customization options in each of the modules — you can change the colors, text or images, among others. New modules can be added easily through the WordPress Widget API.
5. Live Composer Lite
Live Composer Lite allows us to build page layouts from the frontend of the website. Once this plugin is activated, simply go to page you want to edit, and click activate editor button at the bottom right. Now, you can easily drag elements such as text, button, images, tabs, from the bottom to the page area.
6. Minimax
Minimax is a page builder tool that allows, even those who cannot code, to customize their WordPress page or post. Divide the page up by defining the number of columns you want to use with the Cols button, then add elements to each column from predefined modules including Image, Accordion, Tab, Text, and a lot more. Lastly, export your ready-made layout for use on your site.
7. Beaver Builder
Beaver Builder [demo] is another good plugin that lets you build layouts on the front-end. The plugins comes with 15 preset page templates that you can use out of the box. Basic modules such as heading, separator, a text editor along with some advanced stuff like contact form, pricing table, and slideshows are also included.
The drag-and-drop has been the most appreciated approach by non-techies, when it comes to arranging web layouts. This is, perhaps, the reasons Wix, SquareSpace, and such services are so popular. Just to name a few more cool tools that let you do more with drag and drop, we have:
For designers and developers, we would love to have the drag-and-drop approach when building and organizing a page layout. In building a WordPress site, for instance, the drag-and-drop method would help save a lot of time. In this post, we have put together 7 plugins that add this functionality into the WordPress editor. If you know of more cool plugins let us know in the comments.
Page Builder is a plugin that allows you to build responsive grids by customizing the division of each column and row within the grid. The plugin also carries a handful of layout modules which allow you to add content like Gallery, Image, Video, Buttons, and even Price Boxes. The new layout modules can be added through the WordPress Widget API.
2. PixGridder
PixGridder allows you to divide your page content into grids easily. After creating the columns, you can add text to the content in each column, customize it with the WordPress default text editor, or fill it with content through shortcodes. The plugin also brings all the functions available in the WordPress default text editor for each column.
3. Aqua Page Builder
Aqua Page Builder lets you create unique variations of templates to be applied for your content. Drag one or more available blocks into the template builder, name and save the template. Use the generated shortcode to apply the template to your pages or posts.
4. WR Page Builder
With WR Page Builder, you can add layout modules such us buttons, pricing tables, progress bars, alerts, and more into your post or page. This plugin provides tons of customization options in each of the modules — you can change the colors, text or images, among others. New modules can be added easily through the WordPress Widget API.
5. Live Composer Lite
Live Composer Lite allows us to build page layouts from the frontend of the website. Once this plugin is activated, simply go to page you want to edit, and click activate editor button at the bottom right. Now, you can easily drag elements such as text, button, images, tabs, from the bottom to the page area.
6. Minimax
Minimax is a page builder tool that allows, even those who cannot code, to customize their WordPress page or post. Divide the page up by defining the number of columns you want to use with the Cols button, then add elements to each column from predefined modules including Image, Accordion, Tab, Text, and a lot more. Lastly, export your ready-made layout for use on your site.
7. Beaver Builder
Beaver Builder [demo] is another good plugin that lets you build layouts on the front-end. The plugins comes with 15 preset page templates that you can use out of the box. Basic modules such as heading, separator, a text editor along with some advanced stuff like contact form, pricing table, and slideshows are also included.
If you aren’t familiar with the term, a hybrid app is a mobile app written using languages such as HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript, then compiled into native iOS, Android or other mobile platform code using wrapper technologies such as PhoneGap/Cordova. Additionally, these frameworks have APIs allowing access to native functions such as the camera, GPS, etc.
The allure of HTML5 is hard to deny. If you’re proficient in building web apps, you’re 90% of the way to creating hybrid mobile apps. You can spend weeks learning Swift or Objective C to write your first iOS app or starting building something today that will also run on Android.
Native proponents are quick to say there’s no substitute for natively written apps. Aspects such as speed, stability, smooth transitions and ease of maintenance are major selling points.
Dismal early experiences developing hybrids placed me in the native camp. In 2010, smitten with the promise of “write once deploy everywhere,” I led a team that decided to give PhoneGap a whirl. It didn’t take much time to realize PhoneGap’s limitations. Our client wanted that “native feel,” but it wasn’t possible. Scrolling, fixed headers and transitions were an issue. Performance was awful. The entire project felt like swimming upstream.
That experience forced me to accept that unless we were willing to compromise aspects native apps take for granted, hybrid wasn’t ready for prime time.
Fast forward to 2013. PhoneGap 3 was released. Smartphones such as the iPhone 5 and Nexus 3 demonstrated exponential advances in processing power. OS support of CSS3 had come along considerably. It was time to give hybrid another try at bat.
The result? Mixed. We produced two apps. The first was a relatively simple calculator-style app with some reporting. We purposely avoided transitions between views and other processor-intensive actions. It turned out well—outputting to both iOS and Android was mostly painless. Unless you’re a seasoned mobile developer, you wouldn’t know it was a hybrid.
The second attempt was more challenging. The app was complex and the client had specific requests on how it needed to work. In hindsight, it wasn’t a good hybrid candidate. Despite this, we successfully completed the project. We also learned a ton along the way.
Having since been part of numerous native and hybrid projects, I’ve gained a pretty good perspective on the Do’s and Don’ts of taking a hybrid approach.
First, the good news: yes, hybrid is a viable solution (sorry, native evangelists). Advances in smartphone processing and memory, along with improved frameworks have helped level the playing field. However, there are guidelines one should follow when considering hybrid. Let’s start with the Don’ts.
The Don’ts…
1. Don’t Use Heavy Libraries, Frameworks or Plug-ins
If avoidable, Don’t use heavy libraries like jQuery. If you must use jQuery, opt for the much lighter Zepto.js. Completely avoid jQuery UI and jQuery Mobile. Both these libraries are performance hogs when compiled into mobile apps. jQuery Mobile in particular imposes a lot of rigidness.
2. Don’t Use HTML5 for Apps that are Multi-purpose or Complex
When it first launched, Facebook used a hybrid approach and it was a dismal failure due to performance. Facebook crammed a lot of functionality into the app, weighing it down considerably. When considering hybrid, your concept should be simple.
3. Don’t Load Views All at Once
If your views are a mix of text and graphics, load the text first and the graphics as separate data calls that load sequentially. Speed and performance are paramount to creating an engaging user experience.
4. Don’t Use Hybrid for Animation or Graphic-intensive Apps
For example, interactive games or rich-media.
5. Don’t Expect Your App to Run Perfectly in iOS and Android Out of the Gate
We’ve consistently developed for iOS first, and then re-factored for Android. The “write once run everywhere” mantra just isn’t that simple. Prepare to spend time adjusting your CSS and other formatting to accommodate each OS.
The Do’s…
1. For Data-driven Apps, Do Use Javascript MVC Frameworks Like AngularJS Angular is particularly well-suited for hybrid apps because it doesn’t rely on heavy libraries like jQuery. Backbone.js has some nice helper libraries like Thorax and Marionette. App.js is a lightweight framework designed for hybrid apps.
2. Do Consider Using a UI Library such as Ionic
Ionic excels at delivering native-like transitions and pairs well with AngularJS.
3. Do Minify HMTL/CSS/JS to Reduce File Size and Improve Performance
Use tools like jscompress.com for Javascript files, and cssminifier.com for CSS. Will Peavy’s HTML minifier will compress your HTML nicely. Be sure to test your app thoroughly after minimizing to ensure everything works.
4. Do Crunch All Your Graphics
There are plenty of graphics optimizers out there. Tinypng.com is great at reducing PNGs without compromising quality.
5. Do Test for Performance
Clunky or inconsistent view transitions and slow load times make an otherwise great app unpolished. If you’re using PhoneGap/Cordova, test your hybrid apps using a tool like Browser-perf. Third-party services like New Relic’s mobile monitoring pinpoints issues across response times, errors, carrier performance and versioning optimization.
6. Do Use Chrome Canary to Emulate Different Environments Canary’s Developer tools will emulate different devices and network speeds when testing your app.
7. Do Take Advantage of Local Storage
By leveraging local storage, your app can re-render views and reduce service calls. Speed is a big issue for hybrid apps and local storage increases performance.
8. Do Consider Learning a Hybrid Development Framework
There are numerous frameworks and platforms out there for developing hybrid apps. I’m particularly impressed with the offerings from AppGyver. Their platform uses a mix of native and hybrid components and is rooted in AngularJS. In evaluating several hybrid frameworks, I’ve found AppGyver’s Steroids platform produces incredibly responsive, native-like apps.
Conclusion
Native has clear advantages, but hybrid apps have come a long way. Recent platforms and frameworks have brought powerful new ways of building apps to the forefront of mobile development. If you’ve tried hybrid in the past with less than spectacular results or are considering it for the first time, there’s no better time in history to give it a try!
