TapThatApp. iPhone App Manager

[arn]

I spent a few hours working on the beginnings of an iPhone app manager/directory

http://tapthatapp.com

My javascript skills are rough, so it isn't that pretty - much of the javascript was based on David Cann's example. Just seemed like this sort of app was necessary.

As for the domain name... either the best or worst domain name ever... haven't decided yet :)

arn

[Me1000]

cool...

so when you look at it in the iPhone, will you see a picture of an iPhone on the screen? with the page inside the picture of the iPhone?

or will that be taken off when it comes out?

[arn]

cool...

so when you look at it in the iPhone, will you see a picture of an iPhone on the screen? with the page inside the picture of the iPhone?

or will that be taken off when it comes out?

the iphone would point to this:

http://tapthatapp.com/iph/index.php

who knows if it will render exactly right. Everyone's guessing at this point.

arn

[QuarterSwede]

You know, after seeing all the example apps for the iPhone I'm starting to think this was a good workaround for Apple. I'm really surprised. Of course we'll really see when we can start using them on the actual phone.

[Me1000]

oh, that is cool!!!

Good work... but you forgot the shopping list app. lol

[iMeowbot]

Looks like a neat idea. Would there someday be reviews/ratings when there are more apps floating around?

As for the domain name... either the best or worst domain name ever... haven't decided yet :)

First thought that came to mind was this page (http://www.zefrank.com/invite/swfs/index2.html) for some reason :o

[cdewitt]

looks amazing might be the best way to navigate to each app

[Daveway]

The name...

Oh never mind, my head is always in the gutter. :o :p

Awesome directory by the way.

[nospleen]

Nice job! It almost makes it feel like a 'real app'. I sure hope Apple releases the SDK, they could also use itunes for the distribution channel for approved apps...

Anyways, nice job Arn, looks great.

[arn]

The name...

Oh never mind, my head is always in the gutter. :o :p


Yeah, that's part of the good/bad of the name.

"TapThatApp: I'd tap that..." ;)

we'll leave it there...

arn

[loudestnoise]

Yeah, that's part of the good/bad of the name.

"TapThatApp: I'd tap that..." ;)

we'll leave it there...

arn

I think it is pretty funny, and great. I know one of the first websites I'll be visiting is tapthatapp.com. Your source for high quality iPhone applications.

[Twiztedklown316]

Safari 3 isn't supported on your webpage, when you try to use it, it comes up with "Internet Explorer is not supported," just thought I would mention it, it works fine with 2, however.

[dejo]

Safari 3 isn't supported on your webpage, when you try to use it, it comes up with "Internet Explorer is not supported," just thought I would mention it, it works fine with 2, however.
Works fine in my Safari 3 on Mac OS X.

[JNB]

Keep going! This will get it's own spot on my bookmarks bar!

Oh, and the url is perfect! Yeah, I'd tap that... :p

[junebug1]

i love it already. brilliant domain arn. this will definitely come in handy. thank you!

[SAMTATSICPRO]

I'd tap that app Up!

keep it coming ! nice!

[applehero]

Brilliant!

[kdarling]

Excellent, was wondering when someone would do this. Well done!

This brings up an interesting suggestion for Safari on the iPhone. It should have a special section (like Links on IE) for "applications". Instead of showing them as a list like on most bookmarks, it could just show application icons as in your page. Like Favicons, but larger.

[cjandnw]

I'm new to apple, safari and web apps...:confused:
Will I be charged for browser usage each time I use a web app, or is it the initial page load then the phone does the rest internally?
Sorry if I sound kindergartenish, but I'm just curious.
Thanks

[cmschmidt]

you will be charged as much as the app uses. if the app no longer needs to load anything off the server, then you wouldn't be charge. thats what i expect. however, most apps i'm sure will be constantly accessing the server on which they're stored.

[mkrishnan]

"TapThatApp: I'd tap that..." ;)

Dammit, beaten to it. :(

I like it, Arn. :) I think it's very nice.

[cornerdealy]

looks really great. if i ever get an iphone ill definitely use it.

Only constructive criticism i have is that i'd change the look of the "My Apps" and "Find Apps" buttons. They dont seem to really flow that well with the rest of the look. Maybe it's just the color of them, but they look out of place to me.

[hollerz]

you will be charged as much as the app uses. if the app no longer needs to load anything off the server, then you wouldn't be charge. thats what i expect. however, most apps i'm sure will be constantly accessing the server on which they're stored.

Hopefully it will be possible to store the page on the iPhone itself, so you could just open it locally instead of going on the web. That would work, right?

[fivetoadsloth]

Really nice app, much better than my putting links to all the iphone apps in a site I have. :D

[McCarron]

I see great minds think alike Arn!

http://iphonefanclub.com/

Too bad I haven't gotten the functionality for adding applications to the home page quite done yet. That's another day off or so. I rewrote it, because I wasn't happy how the first method was working.

How did you plan on adding new application data into your application? I have it set so people can post on our forums with special "meta" tags and my application queries the database and pulls/sorts them based on the data input there.

Hopefully it will be possible to store the page on the iPhone itself, so you could just open it locally instead of going on the web. That would work, right?

Wow nice idea, I wonder if iPhone's Safari has an option to save the page. If so this could be even more interesting for application developers.

With my similar application that would actually be possible. My information is all client side, with the database side cached and updated at a regular interval.

[aria505]

I see great minds think alike Arn!

http://iphonefanclub.com/

Too bad I haven't gotten the functionality for adding applications to the home page quite done yet. That's another day off or so. I rewrote it, because I wasn't happy how the first method was working.

How did you plan on adding new application data into your application? I have it set so people can post on our forums with special "meta" tags and my application queries the database and pulls/sorts them based on the data input there.



Wow nice idea, I wonder if iPhone's Safari has an option to save the page. If so this could be even more interesting for application developers.

With my similar application that would actually be possible. My information is all client side, with the database side cached and updated at a regular interval.

I spent a few hours working on the beginnings of an iPhone app manager/directory

http://tapthatapp.com

My javascript skills are rough, so it isn't that pretty - much of the javascript was based on David Cann's example. Just seemed like this sort of app was necessary.

As for the domain name... either the best or worst domain name ever... haven't decided yet :)

arn

Hey Arn and McCarron,

Seems like I was think the same thing you two were as well.

http://matthewpeach.com/iphone/

I've been working on an iPhone App Manager the past few days as well and just released it with what I feel is a complete first version of features.

There are other features I have in mind such as, a rating system, and an easy way to identify newly added "apps" on the "available apps" list.

I'm going to add filtering by category, and a way to submit apps to the full list of available apps, but I felt that they could wait until more "apps" were available.

I like your versions as well. We should put our minds together to come up with a wonderful complete list of features.

[arn]

Hey Arn and McCarron,

Seems like I was think the same thing you two were as well.

http://matthewpeach.com/iphone/

I've been working on an iPhone App Manager the past few days as well and just released it with what I feel is a complete first version of features.


Ah.... very nicely done. :)

arn

[McCarron]

Wow yeah that is really nice Matt. Better visuals than mine as well.

I agree with combining features. I've been doing nothing but coming up with more and more ideas to add to this. Actually I was thinking an extensible framework for iPhone web-apps would be a great tool for developers. Something with a set of functions and extensibility to mimic the iPhone interface as close as possible in web-form.

[Me1000]

aria505 very nice, but I think it would be nicer if you stuck to the iPhone interface colors.

and it would also be nice if you could check several apps at one time. and later when the list gets longer, filter your apps via a text input field.
:apple:

[aria505]

aria505 very nice, but I think it would be nicer if you stuck to the iPhone interface colors.

and it would also be nice if you could check several apps at one time. and later when the list gets longer, filter your apps via a text input field.
:apple:

Thanks. I was going for the spirit of apple's design that is displayed on the back of the album artwork in coverflow. I also wanted it to be a dramatic difference in color from the regular white of the Safari bookmarks on the iphone.

I originally had it so that you could check several apps and then go back to the favorites list and they would just be there, but I liked the idea of seeing the link actually getting added to the list. I will probably change it back once more apps become available.

[kdarling]

http://matthewpeach.com/iphone/

http://iphonefanclub.com/


Gentle reminder: landscape mode is just a flip of the wrist, gentlemen.

Make sure it looks good either way, with as little scrolling as possible. None at all would be best.

No width hardcoding allowed. Use percentages please. Let the HTML flow.

If you have lots of instructions to give, put in a button to pop them up from the bottom or something.

Thanks for your kind attention. It'll all become second nature soon.

[/dev/toaster]

Ya know what, I really like how this is done. Its simple, and does its job well. Not only quick access to some cool apps, but a great idea to have a list of the apps I want. I also like the idea that I can search for other apps without knowing about them. I like the different sections like most popular, etc. I also like the animations for the page displays.

The one thing I would recommend is using a details button on the right right of the app row. If I want details, I click there. Otherwise, the default should be load the app and let me try it! I am big at playing around with an app to see if I like it.

Anyway, I like the direction. An iPhone app directory is nice, but an iPhone app that is well optimized for an iPhone is what I want.

[McCarron]

Gentle reminder: landscape mode is just a flip of the wrist, gentlemen.

Make sure it looks good either way, with as little scrolling as possible. None at all would be best.

Yeah I'm starting to move any changes to allow %age widths in my design. I made some final tweaks tonight and now it's all up and running at 100% width. Now to redo my Blackjack game to fit that way.

The one thing I would recommend is using a details button on the right right of the app row. If I want details, I click there. Otherwise, the default should be load the app and let me try it! I am big at playing around with an app to see if I like it.

Yeah I have the same instincts, so on iphonefanclub.com I added the options to view info on the far right on the app row. To launch the program, click on the name or it's larger icon on the far left. Just now to format the "info" pane a bit better. I threw it together rather hastily.

[Flowbee]

I spent a few hours working on the beginnings of an iPhone app manager/directory

http://tapthatapp.com

Looks good. All that's missing are the Adsense ads.

(I kid, I kid.) :P

[/dev/toaster]

Looks good. All that's missing are the Adsense ads.

(I kid, I kid.) :P

Use AdBrite, it pays more then Google and doesn't have a $100 minimum for them to cut a check.

[mkrivanek]

Hi to Arn and McCarron and Matthew,

I'd like to add yet another app manager concept to the list--LaunchPad (http://matthewkrivanek.com/launchpad/). I've been working on this for a few days and have mainly focused on the UI aspects of the app. I'm writing the backend as we speak but that will come in time.

Kudos to everyone thus far! We, (app developers), might just be able to make this whole web app development for the iPhone a successful concept.

Let me know what you think so far about LaunchPad.

- Matthew

[fivetoadsloth]

Hey, Hate to dig up an old thread but, Did development stop on this app?