Its been an year since I started developing for iPhone platform. It has been a roller-coster ride since everything was new including Objective-C, cocoa framework, XCode, Mac and all related tools and concepts.
Developing for iPhone is really a great challenge for a programmer coming from Java background or any other programmer coming from non-Mac platform. iPhone applications need an excellent user interface to make its mark. When I say user interface it consists many things. First and most important is the ease of use. If user cant discover how to you use your app intuitively, you user interface design is a failure.
Second important aspect in UI is the graphics. The simpler the better, but to have a compelling graphics makes an iPhone app a winner. Users are now used to expect nice and rich graphics. The icons, the colors, the pictures and rest of the elements need to be sharp and vibrant. iPhone users’ eyes are now very well trained to distinguish between an app with lame graphics and rich graphics.
Third part is the sounds. Most apps are dumb. But those apps make their mark which use nice sound effect where it makes sense. Choosing appropriate sounds is a one the biggest challenge that I am facing. Its also true that not everyone likes sound effects, so having an option to turn off the sounds is always good.
Fourth is animation. I have wrote about it one of my previous blog. Life is animated and so must be iPhone apps. Those cool animations are what make iPhone user experience the best in its class. Its a great subject of study to when and how and what kind of animations need to be included in an iPhone app. Apple seems to have mastered this art.
If one has mastered all these aspects one has already become an artist!
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