iPad App Development - newbie

[NeverFade]

Let's see here.

I work for a large company, and I'm sure most of you have heard of them.

I'm an art director here, and they would like me - in 2011 - to develop atleast one iPad app. I'm not a developer, but I would really be interested in learning how. I know no languages or what not of how to code.

I've done a little bit of homework on it, while looking at some tutorials on youtube, and so on, but that's about it.

I've built a movie in After effects of what I proposed I would like the app to do, but that's a hugely different animal than actually creating one, I know! Lol

So, I know that I'll have to DL the SDK for $99/year and then I'm lost.

Again, I realize that this is going to be quite a huge undertaking for me not knowing how to code, but if someone could give me some refernce points, or possibly some books to purchase, that would be great. I don't need to make anything too complex, for starters, but just something to get my feet wet.

Thank you for any help on the matter.

-JJ

[Brad]

large company, and I'm sure most of you have heard of them.
I'm an art director
I've built a movie
-JJ

http://www.earthsmightiest.com/images/users/uploads/193/jjabrams.jpg

?!?!?!?!

Somebody please help out Mr. Abrams!

[NeverFade]

well, I wasn't expecting that sort of reply, more of one that could be beneficial.

** and no, that's not me - if I had the amount of money that JJ Abrams has, I wouldn't be attempting to create my own iPad app!

[Wyatt]

Okay, nobody try to be funny in this thread any more. It's not allowed.

How about you look at Apple's official info on iOS development (http://developer.apple.com/devcenter/ios/index.action) for info on how to get started? There's a ton of information there, including a page called start developing iPad apps (http://developer.apple.com/ipad/sdk/index.html).

[NeverFade]

Thanks Wyatt, for that. I'll defiantly look at the links.

Does anyone here have any first hand knowledge of creating an iApp?

[adamb]

Apple's documentation is pretty good. There's plenty of video content there too.

I had a Sam's Teach Yourself iPhone development book. It was for iPhone OS3 though so I'd go for the latest. I had a good bit of OO programming experience before starting, but I think it would be ok for beginners too.

[Moogs]

This looks like the right thread for me to post in as well. I signed up for the Developer network but haven't paid the $99 yet to join the iOS program yet. Seems like the documents that might answer my question are in that realm but I'm not ready to bring my products to market yet so just waiting so I can stretch my membership year as far as possible into next year.


Can anyone tell me, can/would an interactive PDF with click buttons and embedded movies be considered an iPad app? That is, something I could sell via the App store? iBooks is ePub based and until Apple adopts ePub 3 is strictly for basic text and still image publications so I need to use interactive PDFs for now. I'm assuming iPad will fully support such documents with built-in software? If not, that's pretty sad on Apple's part.

If a PDF does not meet their requirements of "app", how can I go about selling one on the stores available to iPad users?

[chucker]

iBooks is ePub based and until Apple adopts ePub 3 is strictly for basic text and still image publications

iBooks can do a lot of stuff, including video. That said, if you can do it in a PDF, why not just, uh, put the PDF online?

[Moogs]

My understanding is the only format iBooks accepts is ePub, and that Apple is using an older ePub spec. Until ePub 3 comes out with full support for CSS layout, HTML 5 video, etc, and Apple adopts said spec (sometime this summer at the very earliest) PDF seems like the more flexible format.

I've heard there are ways to jerry-rig your ePub to use HTML 5 video but the other thing about ePub is the automatic reflow, right? You can't define "pages" where copy will always accompany a video (let's say) no matter the orientation or font sizing the user chooses, right? I'm creating a "digital book" where I need certain stuff within the layout (buttons, etc) to "stay together" as a unit. So PDF has been my choice so far. I'm sure this time next year ePub will be a no-brainer but for now...

...why Apple? Simple: selling via their store puts my book in front of millions of people that would otherwise probably never see it if I just put it out on a few web popular web sites. That's worth the 30% tax when the economies of scale start kicking in. :) But none of that matters if they will reject a PDF as "not an app".

[chucker]

I've heard there are ways to jerry-rig your ePub to use HTML 5 video but the other thing about ePub is the automatic reflow, right?

Right; that's by design.

But none of that matters if they will reject a PDF as "not an app".

Given the triviality of your app, you do risk that.

[Moogs]

So ... it's not a matter of policy that PDFs cannot be considered apps / I have a shot? Put another way I am wondering if a dev has to build any app with their tools, and so as soon as you submit something other than compiled code, they reject.

[chucker]

So ... it's not a matter of policy that PDFs cannot be considered apps

No. There is, however, a policy against apps with little or no usefulness.

[Moogs]

Duly noted. I'm pretty sure I've got the "useful" part covered. Just don't want to get all the way there to find out "sorry, we don't consider PDFs to be apps; doesn't matter what kind of content it is." ;)

[Frisco]

You can start learning right now for free on the Mac using Xcode and the many basic tutorials available online, which will serve to familiarize yourself with Objective-C and the Cocoa frameworks.

Spend a couple days fiddling around and you will probably get an idea if this is within your skill set, and the knowledge will then transfer over to iOS development when you are ready. Any curious, motivated individual can learn this stuff, the only limiting factor is time. Just have fun with it.

[Moogs]

Thanks for the encouragement Frisco.

Not sure if would change your advice, but I have no coding experience or education, that's the problem. I have some self-taught HTML and CSS experience but that's it. You can only go so far with Interface Builder and piecing together a UI and linking things up before you actually have to start writing algorithms right? Is it possible to create a simple app where buttons just take you from place to place and playback media, etc without coding?

[chucker]

You can only go so far with Interface Builder and piecing together a UI and linking things up before you actually have to start writing algorithms right?

Yep.

Is it possible to create a simple app where buttons just take you from place to place and playback media, etc without coding?

I don't think so. AFAICT, you can't even tell Interface Builder what the initial PDF is going to be, much less hook it up to actions within the PDF.

[Moogs]

Right. And I was even envisioning creating the "pages" in-app, in response to Frisco's comments, just for the sake of discussion.

[Moogs]

Anyone heard good things about this company and service (or similar companies)?

http://redfoundry.com/tour