[Merged] Interest in an iPhone or iPad App for MacRumors.com

[RedTomato]

You could try and be a bit more understanding. MacRumors has been without an iPhone app for a long time, but I haven't been working on one for all of that time. This app has been in development for months, not years.

Hey Saladinos, I do apologise if I upset you. It was a humourous comment given the number of times you've posted 'it's nearly ready' here.

It's not being released until it's ready

That's a valid stand to take - and this is the first time that I was aware that this is your release strategy. You might have said it before but I probably missed it.

My iPhone got stolen

Eeek! I certainly understand the delay better now. If I was coding an iPhone app in my spare time, and my iPhone got stolen, I'd be totally hacked off and would probably stop coding for a while.

I've still got to implement favourite articles, add article sharing buttons (really? do people actually use those? say no and I'll gladly leave them out!)

Leave out! Less coding work for you. You or someone else can add them later.

My iPhone dev account's about to expire

What happens to this app and your coding when your dev account expires? Will nobody else be able to take over and the app will die with no updates?

 

[Saladinos]

Making an app without an iPhone isn't all that hard. Build+run on a device takes more time, so most developers create using the simulator and only bring the devices out later, when real stability has to be tested. I've already sent an AdHoc build out to test this (don't ask - already got 100 UUIDs), and AFAIK it's good.

MacRumors always needed its own dev account if it were to publish an official app, so I don't think there will be any problem regarding that, but I still have to talk to arn.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

How is the progress for this going?

 

[Saladinos]

How is the progress for this going?

Well, thank you. I've tried a bit harder to make the front page look nice. Here's a picture. The big top bar shrinks after you jump in to your first article of each run.

My problem is that I can't find (in the MR colour scheme), 2 nice colours for an alternating list. This means I have to use a light-coloured list (and I think that part looks OK. It's like reading a really vertical newspaper). However, in order to bring some colour to the page, I need to give the navigation bar a vibrant colour. In the MR colour scheme, the only one that I like the results of is red. However, the red nav bar clashes with the red in the article title.

I'm open to suggestions.

 

[xxSpudxx]

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Fellow members, please pass this on to any other forums you view. It is free for the owners.

Thanks

 

[koopa35]

native macrumors iPhone/iPad app

I think its time macrumors had a native iPhone/iPad app. Complete with front page stories and fourms. What do you men and women of MR think about this. Yes or no?

 

[H00513R]

I think its time macrumors had a native iPhone/iPad app. Complete with front page stories and fourms. What do you men and women of MR think about this. Yes or no?

I would love it and use it daily but I'm not doing the work.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

I would love it and use it daily but I'm not doing the work.

already being worked on. should be finished soon....

 

[dmr727]

already being worked on. should be finished soon....

It'll be released next Tuesday.

 

[leomac08]

HURRAY!!!!!!!!

2 years in the making.....

 

[RobertD63]

It'll be released next Tuesday.

Some how I think this is a stab at Apples release schedule?

 

[redgaz26]

was it submitted to apple yet?????

 

[DoFoT9]

ssiiiicccckkkkk!!!

now to get an ipad!

price?

 

[edk1511]

This looks great! I can't wait for it to be released. Saladinos - could you give us an update on a release date for this. Since you are the one creating it, you're the only one I'd trust to hear that it's complete. Thanks.

 

[redgaz26]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

already being worked on. should be finished soon....

It'll be released next Tuesday.

Any news on this??????

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

Any news on this??????

Yes. dmr727 was being facetious. It is just best to assume that it isn't coming out anytime soon. People have been talking about an iPhone app for two years for this place and nothing. People have been talking about wanting a redesign for the webpage for longer than that, and nothing. The progress here at MR moves very, very, very slowly.*

*I am making no comment on whether that is a good or bad thing.

 

[Saladinos]

I'm still working on it although I'm really busy atm.

I know you guys really want an app soon, and I know how hard it is to read the news on the iPhone's safari. The first version of the app is close (a few bugs to fix and a couple of colours to tweak, but that's it).

I've been working on the design a bit. I've attached a shot.

Also, WildCowboy's been running a build on his iPhone, so he can attest to any doubters that it's real

EDIT: I've also included a shot of the article view. Now, before you say it, I know that nav bar is ugly, and it's going to go (that's one of the things I've got to do before release). It'd be a big help if someone with more design experience could come up with colours for the bar that look better in both screens.

 

[RedTomato]

I've also included a shot of the article view. Now, before you say it, I know that nav bar is ugly, and it's going to go (that's one of the things I've got to do before release). It'd be a big help if someone with more design experience could come up with colours for the bar that look better in both screens.

Great to see progress, and great that teh Wild Cow is onboard.

About the red menu colour, I remember you said you got it from the MR logo. That's a spot colour (incorrect jargon but you know what I mean) for use in small doses, which is why it's so strong. Used for a whole menu bar, it becomes too much as you've seen.

Have a look at using the same pale blue that MR uses for page headers. I believe it's #d4dbe4 or #cbd3de. I'm sure you've already tried it but didn't like it for some reason. Maybe you could put a image up using the pale blue for us to look at?

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Thanks for your hard work Saladinos, looking good. Yeah I think a light blue might be a good suggestion as well.

I know it might be a little late to suggest this (and probably something that you can't control directly) but might it be an easier, and perhaps more user-convenient, solution to make an iphone friendly mobile website? I can't really see any reason that a mobile version, or web app, would be a worse experience. Plus then everyone would get the benefit of the refined look without needing to download an app (and update when needed) and then be forced to have an additional icon to click on. Then if they wished to create an icon for it on their homescreen they would be able to do so. I would think this would create less bugs and possibly be easier to make, while maintaining all functionality.

Just a (late) thought. But I'm no developer so I might be missing something, it's just something I observed.

 

[redgaz26]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

Mad mac there is a mobile website of MR!!

http://mobile.macrumors.com/

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

Mad mac there is a mobile website of MR!!

http://mobile.macrumors.com/

ok will i feel silly

Well I guess I feel that macrumors should re-direct to the mobile site automatically, because I can't be the only person that doesn't know about it! Plus I feel it can be improved on, I just spent some time browsing it and it feels a little unfinished.

Whats the advantage of an app?

 

[Saladinos]

ok will i feel silly

Well I guess I feel that macrumors should re-direct to the mobile site automatically, because I can't be the only person that doesn't know about it! Plus I feel it can be improved on, I just spent some time browsing it and it feels a little unfinished.

Whats the advantage of an app?

I thought about this topic before I started building the app. A native app gives:
- Better performance
- Better experience
- Access to the full platform (e.g. push notifications, which are the #1 request from readers and staff)
- Immediate access to new platform features
- Ability to expand to the iPad and even OSX

At the expense of some cross-platform compatibility.

I don't think the answer is native OR web, I think the answer is native AND web. Apple's iPlatforms are a big part of this site's userbase, and for those users, you can't do better than native. For everyone else, there's the mobile version of the site.

I don't see this app as replacing the mobile version of the site, I see it as the next step in giving iPlatform users a better experience.

This is similar to the approach Engadget took. They had a web-app for ages (and still have it, at i.engadget.com). It was when they took the app native that it was really able to deliver an amazing experience. They still have the web app if your platform isn't supported by their native apps.

BTW: How does the app make an extra icon to click on? Surely it's easier to tap an icon on the home screen than to open MobileSafari and type the address or search your bookmarks folder? That just makes no sense.

 

[RedTomato]

BTW: How does the app make an extra icon to click on? Surely it's easier to tap an icon on the home screen than to open MobileSafari and type the address or search your bookmarks folder? That just makes no sense.

Open a page in Safari on the iPhone. Tap the + to add a bookmark. It pops up with 3 options 'Add Bookmark', 'Add to Home Screen' and 'Mail Link to this Page'. The second option creates an icon on the iphone home page, using the website's favicon or a miniature screen shot, and you can rename it. Quite nifty.

IIRC it was part of Apple's original plan to have no AppStore and all apps would be webapps.

 

[Dmac77]

I would just like to request that there be an option to turn auto-rotate off. I find that when I'm reading news articles in apps like this, I'm laying down on the couch or in bed (those are the only times that I have time to read articles on my phone), and auto-rotate becomes a major issue then. So an option to disable auto-rotate would be much appreciated, well at least by me.

Also, thanks for putting the time an effort into finally making a MR app!

Don

 

[Saladinos]

Open a page in Safari on the iPhone. Tap the + to add a bookmark. It pops up with 3 options 'Add Bookmark', 'Add to Home Screen' and 'Mail Link to this Page'. The second option creates an icon on the iphone home page, using the website's favicon or a miniature screen shot, and you can rename it. Quite nifty.

IIRC it was part of Apple's original plan to have no AppStore and all apps would be webapps.

Yes, but in that case, it's just as cumbersome to launch as an app (i.e. home screen -> launch). In fact, with OS4 it'll go in your recent apps list for quick switching.