How Do I App?

Because there's no *correct* way to build an app A-Z, many people don't talk about it, so it's hard to know where to start as a beginner.

This is my, opinionated, approach to building apps coming from my experience running a mobile development agency.

Talk given at A Swift Start (http://aswiftstart.com). Source can be found here: https://github.com/jpsim/talks

Transcript

1. How Do I App? Code not included
2. My Biggest Issues Starting Out 4 Where do I start? 4 Everyone's flow is different 4 What tools should I use? 4 What books should I read? 4 No correct/incorrect answer
3. FLOW
4. Modern Database for iOS
6. These slides are wrong
7. Process
10. App Checklist 1. Idea 2. User Stories 3. Screen Sketches 4. Design 5. UX Prototype 6. UI Prototype
11. App Checklist (cont'd) 7. Functional Offline Prototype 8. Build App (draw rest of the owl) 9. Lots of iteration & testing 10. Ship It!
12. 1. Idea
13. 1. Finding the Idea 4 Any time someone says "X" totally sucks 4 Any time you say "Y" could be way better 4 Talk to your (potential) users 4 Hacker News: Idea Sunday
14. 2. User Stories
15. 2. User Stories 4 About refining the idea 4 Not about what should the app do 4 About what a user should be able to do with the app 4 About Focus
16. 3. Screen Sketches
17. 3. Screen Sketches 4 About flow of the app 4 About accomplishing the goals from 2 on screen 4 PixelPad, Sketch.app, Briefs.app, OmniGraffle, Illustrator, +++
19. Pro Tip #1726 Staple your sketches together
20. 4. Design
21. 4. Design 4 Pixel design, brand identity 4 Read Bjango's iOS design articles: bjango.com 4 Read Design Then Code: designthencode.com
22. 5. UX Prototype
23. 5. UX Prototype 4 Stick your sketches directly into storyboards 4 Make sure your elements fit on screen and the flow is intuitive 4 Give it to users and tell them to do tasks from #2
24. 6. UI Prototype
25. 6. UI Prototype 4 Where you take your high-def photoshop/sketch mock ups and implement the UI 4 Look like it's fully working but doesn't actually do anything 4 Read-only 4 Give it to your users and see how they use it 4 Be creepy and look over their shoulder
26. 7. Functional Offline Prototype
27. 7. Functional Offline Prototype 4 Hardcode API responses 4 Nocilla, OHHTTPStubs 4 Useful for demos with canned data or when API breaks
28. 8. Build App draw rest of the owl
29. 8. Build App 4 Build in the business logic 4 The API client 4 Implement MultipeerConnectivity 4 Everything 4 Once you have the skeleton of your app, this should be super easy
30. 9. Lots of iteration & testing
31. 9. Lots of iteration & testing
32. 10. Ship It!
33. 10. Ship It! 4 Keep your finger on the pulse 4 Talk to your users often 4 Use analytics to understand what your users aren't telling you
34. Project Structure
35. liftoff
36. Watch WWDC videos Pay attention to what the title doesn't say
37. The Power of Open
38. Get chummy with this guy:
39. Open Source is your friend 4 Download and build open source apps 4 Tweak them 4 Use CocoaPods to build parts of your app* 4 Use CocoaPods to see how others have built things * Don't use something you don't understand
40. Cheddar
41. ASwiftStart().questions?.askThem!! ____________ JP Simard, @simjp, realm.io