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iOS Good App making software for non-programmers?

M

Mr Knuckles

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 29, 2012
8
0
UK
Hi everyone.

I have produced an ebook but it would be better suited as an interactive app, that can be optimised for the iPad screen size. I plan for it to have pages of text each with images and maybe some sound effects (there are other apps that do the same).

I can't program but I have seen that there is software for the PC/Mac that you can use to make apps. But the problem is there is so little information on the internet about what is good and what isn't. Some software looks very basic and useless, and some of the better looking software charge a high commission. Sure free is better, but I don't mind paying a reasonable amount - but I don't want to give away a hefty commission of every sale

Does anybody have any experience or recommendations of software in this field? Do apple produce any tools for non-programmers?

Thanks :)
 
Thanks for the suggestion subsonix. I already have a book on the iBookstore so iBooks Author is not necessary. I want to create an app that is available from the App store.
 
Mr Knuckles said:
Thanks for the suggestion subsonix. I already have a book on the iBookstore so iBooks Author is not necessary. I want to create an app that is available from the App store.
Click to expand...

I was not referring to publishing the book, but the creation of a book with interactive elements per your requirements (sound, video, animations etc). iBooks Author let's you do that without any programming what so ever. Why would you want to create an app that is essentially an interactive book, when there is a tool and a forum already in existence to let you do what you want? Especially considering that you mentioned that you had no programming experience.
 
Last edited:
I already have books for sale in iBooks so iBooks Author is not needed. There is no point creating what I already have.

In my experience iBooks is a very limited market (for me). My Kindle books sell at least 10-20x better than on iBooks. From my own stats the majority of my readers read on iOS devices but using the Kindle app! This is significant. It means Apple users are shunning iBooks in favour of Kindle.

Apps sell much better than books on iBooks. I have colleagues who sell the same book on iBooks and an interactive version on the App store and sales are 50 -70% or better.

The Apps Store is a much bigger market.
 
"Good" app-making software

and

"for Non-programmers"



Are mutually exclusive terms.


iBooks author creates interactive books. Maybe check it out as suggested, rather than sticking your head in the sand and demanding something that doesn't exist...

If you're dead-set on creating an "app" that is actually an interactive book, good luck. You'll need to learn to code.
 
throAU said:
"Good" app-making software
and
"for Non-programmers" Are mutually exclusive terms.

iBooks author creates interactive books. Maybe check it out as suggested, rather than sticking your head in the sand and demanding something that doesn't exist...

If you're dead-set on creating an "app" that is actually an interactive book, good luck. You'll need to learn to code.
Click to expand...

throAU, no need to behave like a bitter queen.:D

Sticking my head in the sand? No you didn't read what I said. How many times do I have to explain? I already have books on iBooks. Interactive books embedded videos and audio files. How on Earth is iBooks Author going to be useful to me by making books that I already have? I'm sure its a great tool but the produce of iBooks Author only work with the iPad. Not the iPhone or iPod Touch.


There's nothing wrong with you not knowing the answer. But what I hate is when people think they know everything and they give out wrong information.

Actually I have found my solution. It is pre-made themes for Xcode.

Thanks for nerd rage. You've made my day!
:)
 
Throwing insults around pretty quickly aren't we?

Your solution doesn't match your search criteria...It's missing the 'Good' part.
I hate it when people ask for unicorns, then when you're told they don't exist, act out against the few people who were compassionate enough to try to respond to an inane request.


Mr Knuckles said:
throAU, no need to behave like a bitter queen.:D

Sticking my head in the sand? No you didn't read what I said. How many times do I have to explain? I already have books on iBooks. Interactive books embedded videos and audio files. How on Earth is iBooks Author going to be useful to me by making books that I already have? I'm sure its a great tool but the produce of iBooks Author only work with the iPad. Not the iPhone or iPod Touch.


There's nothing wrong with you not knowing the answer. But what I hate is when people think they know everything and they give out wrong information.

Actually I have found my solution. It is pre-made themes for Xcode.

Thanks for nerd rage. You've made my day!
:)
Click to expand...
 
Mr Knuckles said:
I have colleagues who sell the same book on iBooks and an interactive version on the App store and sales are 50 -70% or better.
Click to expand...

Have you asked your colleagues what they're using to produce these apps? What was their answer?


Mr Knuckles said:
Actually I have found my solution. It is pre-made themes for Xcode.
Click to expand...
For the benefit of others who come searching for information, please explain. Do you mean a specific product or tool? Exactly what is it?

When I search for keywords pre-made themes for Xcode all I find are color and font themes for use in Xcode itself. Basically, a theme is a set of skin options for Xcode. Unfortunately, skinning Xcode doesn't make it any easier to use: it still works the same, it just looks different. You'll still need to learn the same programming skills, regardless of what Xcode looks like.

If there is a theme or toolset that makes Xcode vastly simpler to use, perhaps by adding scripts or other tools, that would be quite a breakthrough for beginners, so please identify exactly what this product is. These forums get lots of questions from beginners, so pointing them to something that gives them more bang for the buck would be a big win.
 
Mr Knuckles said:
There's nothing wrong with you not knowing the answer. But what I hate is when people think they know everything and they give out wrong information.

Actually I have found my solution. It is pre-made themes for Xcode.

Thanks for nerd rage. You've made my day!
:)
Click to expand...

What is a pre-made theme for Xcode? Pretty sure you have no idea what you're talking about here...
 
Lookup up pre-made book templates for Xcode. Most of the coding is done. One just has to plug in and customize the assets, the inter-asset links, and hit build, to get a native Objective C iOS app.

There are also several web sites, such as www.buzztouch.com, that will allow one to just plug in assets and asset connections and create a complete native iOS Xcode project for the user. For a simple app, these web sites will create all the Cocoa Touch UI element classes and method required for an Xcode build.

Does anyone have a current list of these template "app builder" sites? Some reportedly work better than others.
 
firewood said:
Lookup up pre-made book templates for Xcode. Most of the coding is done. One just has to plug in and customize the assets, the inter-asset links, and hit build, to get a native Objective C iOS app.

There are also several web sites, such as www.buzztouch.com, that will allow one to just plug in assets and asset connections and create a complete native iOS Xcode project for the user. For a simple app, these web sites will create all the Cocoa Touch UI element classes and method required for an Xcode build.

Does anyone have a current list of these template "app builder" sites? Some reportedly work better than others.
Click to expand...

Aha, a template makes much more sense than a theme.


buzztouch is the only one in my list. The others aren't programming-free.

My list:

PhoneGap - build apps in HTML + JS,
http://www.phonegap.com/
.. multi-platform, open source
.. links to Sencha Touch
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/11/introducing-the-ars-technica-reader-for-ipad.ars
.. example iPad app made using PhoneGap

QuickConnect - similar to PhoneGap
http://www.quickconnectfamily.org/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/quickconnect/
.. targets all platforms, even WebOS, Mac
.. uses DashCode for developing UI
.. search: quickConnect iphone

Sencha - JavaScript + HTML5 + CSS
http://www.sencha.com/
.. has drag-n-drop type builder
.. GPL is a license option, others also available.

Example of HTML5 "offline" iPhone app:
http://sixrevisions.com/web-development/html5-iphone-app/

"No coding" app builder:
http://www.buzztouch.com/


Appcelerator Titanium - JavaScript + HTML5 + CSS
Titanium Mobile:
http://www.appcelerator.com/products/titanium-mobile-application-development/
.. apps are written in JavaScript (+ HTML + CSS?)
.. free basic version, $49/month and $199/month premium
http://wiki.appcelerator.org/display/guides/Getting+Started+with+Titanium
.. written in JavaScript (+ HTML + CSS?)
 
A Google search also turns up these "app makers":

Buzztouch
tiggzi
RareWire
AppMakr
Appsbar
AppInventor
AppYet
Biznessapps.com

I haven't tried any of them except for a bit of poking around the buzztouch site. YMMV.
 
thanks for some good replies here, wish I d found the thread before spending the better half of two weeks educating myself on this. :eek:
 
@ Mr. Knuckles - We publish an iPad travel magazine using Baker, which is actually en e-book framework. Its free, open source, and we loved them. The guys behind it are very responsive. It does take HTML skills though, so I'm not sure how much of that you know, but if you can teach yourself a bit, I'd give it a try. Their example book is pretty easy to follow.

Link here: http://bakerframework.com/
 
Greencardman said:
@ Mr. Knuckles - We publish an iPad travel magazine using Baker, which is actually en e-book framework. Its free, open source, and we loved them. The guys behind it are very responsive. It does take HTML skills though, so I'm not sure how much of that you know, but if you can teach yourself a bit, I'd give it a try. Their example book is pretty easy to follow.

Link here: http://bakerframework.com/
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link! My html skills are very basic. To create epubs I used tools that took out most of the html part. But I've looked at bakerframework and some of the created apps and some are quite polished. I have to assess how much html skills are involved and how much of a learning curve. I just want to write!

I have no doubt that Apple could create an iApp Author. But if app making is too easy then there could be an influx of sub-par apps for them to review.

It is all very exciting though!
 
You should download the sample app Baker has up, I think its a copy of Sherlock Holmes. Basically, everything you need to produce a book is inside the sample, you just need a new cover and to replace the text with your own.
 
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