I'm new to iOS programming and one thing I don't get. I have an app idea, I paid for graphic designer to make me a UI design. He sent me a layered psd with custom designed controls, layout etc. Everything is custom designed, not using standard iOS looking controls as I wanted.
The question is how can be this custom design converted to iOS controls, layout and so?
If I consider a Facebook iPad application or Foursquare iPhone application, are that just "skinned" iOS standard controls, or is it written in HTML5 and just wrapped by Objective-C? If so, how?
Thank you
I recommend that you use Objective-C for native applications. Most controls provide support for "skinning" by allowing you to provide your own images. For example, UISlider has methods to set minimum and maximum image, the track image and tint color as well as the thumb image and tint color. Ray Wenderlich often provides great tutorials on his site that are worth checking out.
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I have a client that adamantly insists on a solution with embedded camera in terms of having a ContentPage with an camera stream and custom buttons and icons, similar to https://github.com/pierceboggan/Moments, or at very least as I understand it seeing as it is a Snapchat clone. And my client wants similar swipe capabilities as to how navigation works in Snapchat.
However, as far as I can tell most of what is utilized in that solution has been deprecated.
I have suggested using the Media Plugin https://github.com/jamesmontemagno/MediaPlugin but they're not satisfied with the camera being pushed on the stack.
I've looked into implementing it natively and using dependency injections but it appears to be an overwhelming amount of work just to implement the most basic functions, particularly for Android's Camera2.
I'm hoping someone can provide me with good news of an easier alternative or an alteration to either Moments or Media Plugin or anything similar that will facilitate the requirements or if my only option is time consuming and complex?
From the code of Moment, you can do what you want to achieve. I did this for iOS.
You will have to create a custom renderer to display the camera page. You will be able to add buttons on top of it.
You could try this example which use custom renderer to add a take photo button and switch camera button on the camera view. Which is able to use on iOS and Android platform.
Main Page:
Camera View with custom button page:
Using Xcode it is easy to get create a skeleton app for OS X. However, Apple's skeleton code is rather old style with a single view and menu bar. I am looking for skeleton code / best practices which create an app that has the basic pieces such as left navigation panel, toolbar, right panel with format inspector and middle work area. I.e., the new UI style apple deploys with their keynote, pages and numbers.
I have searched but not found a comprehensive example that shows the major components and how these are linked/interacting. I don't see it in the Apple developer area either. I'd rather bootstrap my Mac OS X UI programming skills by learning from others than wading through new territory by myself.
Either Objective-C or Swift would be fine. I am targeting Yosemite.
There's not an Xcode template for this.
You just add an NSToolBar in IB
SUper easy.
Then the details of the rest can vary tremendously.
But, it can easily be a 3 pane NSSplitview with view controllers managing each pane's views.
A navigation pane could easily be an NSTableView or outline view. Or it could be NSCollectionView.
An inspector could be a conglomerate of view controllers swapped in based on context or interaction.
Take a look at github and cocoacontrols.com to find some ideas.
The center pane would most likely be at a minimum an NSScrollView with a custom document view.
I have a post on SO detailing an NSClipView subclass that handles centering right when zoomed out or when the document is smaller.
I've finished up my first iOS 5 app (and only third iOS app overall) and I'm wondering if anyone out there has any recommendations for adding that touch of class, polish, professionalism, etc. to a plain-vanilla iOS app. I've taken a look at an iOS 5 appearance tutorial but I don't find it extremely helpful. What do you do to add polish to your UI? For example, do you add a logo view in your UINavigationBar? Do you create custom UIKit control backgrounds/images? Do you remove rounded edges from controls? I would especially appreciate any input related to how you use the new Appearance options in iOS 5 to accomplish your UIX goals.
For inspiration, look at the apps featured by Apple in the App store. Maybe hire an artist or designer familiar with iOS devices and their users (if you are not one yourself). There seem to be lots of creative ways to potentially "delight" the user, customize things for your specific app's purpose or customer base, but still stay within the spirit of the HIG.
I designed a web app for iPhone and am now trying my hands at a native Objective-C version, and I'd like to retain some continuity with my original design. Since my web version uses CSS, I was able to customize the color palette, even though the UI was designed to imitate a native iPhone UI. I'd like to use a similar color scheme for my native app, but it doesn't seem so easy out of the box. I've gone through a couple tutorials and played around a bit with Interface Builder, inspecting the individual settings available for each control. My biggest questions are:
Is it possible to (or how do I) change the color of a Round Rect Button?
Is it possible to (or how do I) change the color of cells in a Table View?
Where in the Cocoa Touch Library can I find the standard iOS UI buttons, e.g. the green "Call Back" and red "Delete" buttons in the native voice mail?
Thanks
Nope, I don't think so. And you probably shouldn't anyways. In my opinion it's better to rather stay consistent with the OS and not the web... What you can do is to use a custom image.
UITableViewCell has a property named backgroundView, which is only present if you have a grouped style. This view has -- just like every other view -- a background color. If you don't have this and want to color individual cells, build a custom cell where you put in a view as background view.
As far as I know, they are not publicly available. However, you may find a lot of template images etc on the web that you can use.
I am just curious how facebook for iPhone application can display a list of icons with the text, then all the icons shake to allow user to change the position of each item.
What kind of control is that, and is there some sample code that do the same thing?
I think it must be standard because it exists as well in home screen of iPhone and iPod app to choose the tab item.
Thank you.
It's not a standard control. It's generally implemented with Core Animation and a rotation transform.
Apple discourages App developers from imitating the spring board, claiming it is confusing for the user. So don't expect standard controls for this.
You can of course implement it yourself with animation. Basic (property based) animation should be sufficient.