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iPhone-optimized web app (demo)

N

neven

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 10, 2006
815
0
Portland, OR
Since there will be no third-party apps for iPhone in June, I thought I'd try creating a web app that would run like a widget on iPhone. You would surf over to it in Safari on iPhone, and it would fill the screen nicely to look like a "real" iPhone app. By that I mean, it shouldn't get scaled down, and it's small and compact

Here it is:

OneTrip - an iPhone shopping list.

It will only work in Safari (obviously). Comments? Do you think it will be a worthwhile effort to create such iPhone-ready websites?
 
i dont think people will go out of there way to create web pages just for the iphone, but i would like to know wha it does look like on the iphone
 
I don't think existing websites should be made iPhone-friendly, and it probably wouldn't be worth anyone's time to create an iPhone-optimized blog or online store, but I really hope that it's easy to make things look and feel "native" on iPhone. I can think of a number of simple widgets like this that I'd really like to have on my phone - so until we get actual widgets, I hope this will do.
 
Silver-Fox said:
i dont think people will go out of there way to create web pages just for the iphone, but i would like to know wha it does look like on the iphone
Click to expand...

Why not? A whole "ecosystem" of web pages has sprung up for the Wii, why not the iPhone?

And, I love the app. Very simple, elegant, and easy to use. I'll be sure to use it when I get my iPhone. :-D
 
Thanks for the feedback. I hope this sort of dynamic JavaScript will run well on iPhone. I can think of a number of simple apps like this I could put together. Ideas for anything you'd really like to have on a phone?
 
this looks really cool, and i agree optimized pages for iphone could be amazing. explain to me though why i would use this list instead of say notepad.
 
sprescott1974 said:
explain to me though why i would use this list instead of say notepad.
Click to expand...

If you mean instead of a paper notepad...

- I don't always have one on me. Pretty much the only things I can guarantee to have on me are my phone, wallet, and keys.

If you mean instead of iPhone's Notes feature...

- You can add, check off, and remove items with one click

And these go for both:

- It's less work to click a few (common) items than to write them down or type them in
- They'll be sorted by category
- When picking from a list, you might see things you wouldn't have thought to write down. "Oh yeah, I also need garlic."
- It's cooler :)
 
Now if only you could make this into a widgit.

I know within a few days of the iphone being out someone will hack it so that we can add our own :D
 
Wow, that looks really handy. But say you exit out of Safari to answer a call or change the now playing song, everything gets deleted? That could be irritating. But still, very neat app. Good job. :)
 
psycoswimmer said:
Wow, that looks really handy. But say you exit out of Safari to answer a call or change the now playing song, everything gets deleted? That could be irritating.
Click to expand...

I don't believe Safari will close open tabs if you just exit the browser to go to the iPod or phone module. That would be irritating for more than just this app :)

However, if you close the tab manually, you'll lose your list, true. It would be near-trivial to store that on the server so you could restart your session, but this would be complicated for the user. You'd have to create an account, log in... that defeats the purpose of it being a really small, handy app. I'll think about it though. It remains to be seen if it'll be usable on iPhone at all.
 
Would be cool if you could tap into the Basecamp/backpack API to read/write these lists.
 
neven said:
I don't believe Safari will close open tabs if you just exit the browser to go to the iPod or phone module. That would be irritating for more than just this app :)

However, if you close the tab manually, you'll lose your list, true. It would be near-trivial to store that on the server so you could restart your session, but this would be complicated for the user. You'd have to create an account, log in... that defeats the purpose of it being a really small, handy app. I'll think about it though. It remains to be seen if it'll be usable on iPhone at all.
Click to expand...

Right, I see what you mean. Good point about the saving-tab part. Hopefully Safari will keep tabs open as long as you have your iPhone on.
 
I guess once we get our iPhones (I tear up just thinking about it) I'll update this thread letting everyone know if there are any issues with the app, and if I plan on moving it to a better-hosted server.
 
That's awesome. Very well done. Simple and it does what needs to be done. Unfortunately it will become obsolete if Apple allows any type of homemade widgets.
 
I have no experience with Mac software development, but I'm reasonably skilled with web development. I haven't looked at Dashcode yet (I'm afraid I'd be intimidated) - does anyone know how hard it would be to make this into an actual widget?
 
neven said:
I have no experience with Mac software development, but I'm reasonably skilled with web development. I haven't looked at Dashcode yet (I'm afraid I'd be intimidated) - does anyone know how hard it would be to make this into an actual widget?
Click to expand...

with dashcode its incredibly easy.... i made one lmao
 
Well, I tried loading it on my Palm OS device with the rather lackluster "Palm Web Browser 2.0.3", and it doesn't load. :-( I figured it would be a good resolution test, since it's a 480x320 device.

Unfortunately, the only other web browser that works on my Palm OS device is a paid-for piece of software that, while more competent than the Palm offering, isn't worth the money to me.
 
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