iPhone Web Development Guidelines

[bignumbers]

1. You'll be surprised by what you can do with AJAX...stay tuned.

2. Apple has intentionally and deliberately closed off 3rd party apps. It was closed in January. They said so. it wasn't in the cards. and i'm betting at least on 80%+ odds that there will never, ever be a general developer sdk.

They need to do two things:
-Allow users to load web "apps" on their iPhones (basically mini-site bundles just like Dashboard widgets)
-Provide some mechanism for local data storage (WHATWG/HTML5 etc)

If those happen - and they probably will - there won't be a need for a true XCode SDK.

 

[dr_lha]

They need to do two things:
-Allow users to load web "apps" on their iPhones (basically mini-site bundles just like Dashboard widgets)
-Provide some mechanism for local data storage (WHATWG/HTML5 etc)

If those happen - and they probably will - there won't be a need for a true XCode SDK.

Unless you want to do something like write a Skype/VOIP client of the iPhone, which of course is Apple's actual motive for not opening up the real iPhone OS to developers.

 

[nagromme]

they actually have a new url scheme for this; its not a page-scraper.

Whether the scheme is new or not, are there any examples online I could follow to make such a link?

TIA

 

[eijsenga]

you are aware that this is way more than any current phone out there, right?

SE W960i has 8 GB too: www.sonyericsson.com

 

[CoreWeb]

Don't quote me on it, but I don't believe SVG is part of the browser feature set. Nor is Canvas.

SVG is in Safari 3, and Canvas is in Safari 2, so why would they not be on the iPhone?

 

[Stella]

No, he is not.
He and I were ONLY talking about storage, nothing else ;-)

In the short term, iPhone will have more memory. However, I believe N95 etc maybe able to support larger SD ram capacity than just 2Gig. When SD Ram does, iPhone will appear lackluster in this department too - no removal memory.

No user-replaceable battery either.

 

[RnSK]

I doubt it. I'm sure we'll see some cool AJAX stuff, but you're deep in the RDF if you believe that AJAX apps can get anywhere near the flexibility of a real SDK..

And if you believe that, I, of all people am "deep in the RDF" you are...mistaken. All I'm saying (for now) is that while there will not be a skype client or whatever...there are many, many products that can and will be made that will take advantage of this horrible tragedy via some creative means...because some very smart people are looking at the "problem" in completely different ways.

And for the record...there *is no real sdk*...there never was...and devs that understood this and weren't holding out and hoping will be...fine.

 

[akac]

Its worth mentioning that Apple did say that one of the best features of the iPhone was they could add features LATER after release and in fact just recently announced that major new features will be added after release.

While I'm not holding my breath, its possible that Flash will come later.

 

[RnSK]

Whether the scheme is new or not, are there any examples online I could follow to make such a link?
TIA

its tel://

 

[Random Ping]

Java - don't expect Java. Possible, but not likely. Didn't Steve say "Java is dead" at the D5 conference?

I have been very disappointed with client-side Java. I would tend to agree that this is pretty much dead, or, at best, moribund. There is still a lot of server-side Java going on.

A few complain about the lack of Java on the iPhone, but a lot complain about the lack of Flash. I think I will miss not being able to play Flash-based games to whittle away the time while waiting for a flight.

 

[dr_lha]

And if you believe that, I, of all people am "deep in the RDF" you are...mistaken.

Note: Usage of phrases like "I, of all people" only carry any weight if I had a clue who you might be. I don't.

 

[scottlinux]

say goodbye to yahoo games, and nintendo emulators online.... for now.

It's a phone.

 

[artalliance]

SE W960i has 8 GB too: www.sonyericsson.com

sigh. yes, future phones will have 8GB too. I said specifially "currently out yet". the sony, just like the iphone, hasn't been released yet.

once again, i just made that comment to disprove the argument that the iphone's storage is "watered-down".

 

[sjo]

They need to do two things:
-Allow users to load web "apps" on their iPhones (basically mini-site bundles just like Dashboard widgets)
-Provide some mechanism for local data storage (WHATWG/HTML5 etc)

If those happen - and they probably will - there won't be a need for a true XCode SDK.

what about true chat apps, flash, voip, word, excel, image manipulation, games, company specific apps that require high level of security, etc etc...

 

[dr_lha]

It's a phone.

No, its a pocket computer that has the ability to act like a phone. It also has the ability to do almost anything else, but sadly that ability is being retarded by Apple's insistence on limiting its potential.

 

[DanB91]

dont forget people, the iphone has an update utility, so hopefully apple takes full advantage of this feature

 

[Random Ping]

Apple needed to finish the iPhone before Adobe could start writing the plugin. Just my guess.

I would be very surprised if there wasn't a very large list of "to do"s for version 1.1, 2.0, and so on. When trying to get a big product out the door, you need to start making hard decisions as to what is absolutely required and what is merely desired.

After all, Apple has already announced that they plan to add functionality over time with software updates -- just as they plan to do with AppleTV.

 

[twoodcc]

i don't this affects me too much. still looking forward to getting one though

 

[Evangelion]

160 MB--expandable to only 2GB--on a phone that costs far more than an iPhone (even at discounted street prices), is nearly twice as thick, has a tiny screen with no touch-based UI, lacks anything approaching iPhone's Safari... and gets half the talk time I like the GPS... except the Nokia also lacks WiFi and Bluetooth which I like even more.ell.

um, the nokia most certainly has wifi and bluetooth. hell, are the any phones out there today that do not have bt?

 

[dr_lha]

um, the nokia most certainly has wifi and bluetooth. hell, are the any phones out there today that do not have bt?

Plenty!

 

[Counter]

How can it not be the Kinda Sorta internet or the Watered Down internet if it doesn't support flash?

Disney.com wont display on the iPhone at all.

Great example of a full Flash site. Think Steve Jobs owns most of that company.

This is the Reality Distortion Field Internet.

I hope that the purpose of Apple's "design considerations" is how to optimize the use of a website on an iPhone, rather than how to make the site work at all.

Now this is a scary thought.

'What about developers' *cheeeeeeer*. 'Well, we have come up with a Sweet solution. You can't develop apps for the iPhone period. You can make web pages to go to browse to with Safari, to our guidelines.'

This phone blows every other phone out of the water but the reality distortion field is also in effect.

 

[Asar]

It's a phone.

your point? its a $600 phone. a $50 blackjack will play flash, which means monopoly online. that must NOT be a phone though right?

 

[Umbongo]

This is mildly annoying, but if there's no technical reason it can't be done I imagine we'd see a flash update eventually.

I don't believe Flash apps could be regulated in the same way as HTML/Javascript/CSS can. Many Flash apps are already processor intensive, this would surely drain battery power, and cause them to malfunction on iPhones that couldn't handle them. Without crippling flash in a number of ways developers basically would have far more control on the iphone, heck you could have a VOIP client. I'm sure Apple want flash on iPhones, but it's the technical limitations and AT&T most likely hindering them.

 

[bignumbers]

what about true chat apps, flash, voip, word, excel, image manipulation, games, company specific apps that require high level of security, etc etc...

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to write in ObjC for the iPhone. That would be the best solution, and someday maybe it'll come. But if they add local storage of "apps" (widgets) and data, most app needs can be met. Modern HTML and Javascript can do wonders, especially once coupled with HTML5/WHATWG.

For June 29th, it'll be a nice browser but certainly not a development platform.

 

[bignumbers]

dont forget people, the iphone has an update utility, so hopefully apple takes full advantage of this feature

They've actually said they will be amortizing the sales of iPhones over two years. That's only required if significant features are planned, as free upgrades.