Anthony Tietjen

I created another app for the iPhone called  Lightning List . The app went live on the App Store two days ago. Lightning List allows you to create lists very quickly. You can also add a sublist to an item by double-tapping that item. Sublists can go multiple levels deep. Add icons to list items by using the Emoji keyboard available on your iPhone. I programmed the app using  Titanium Studio ; and I created the icon using  InkPad . See Lightning List on the App Store . Screenshots   

I created a blank single-view application in three different IDEs and compared the file size and startup time of the resulting apps once deployed to my iPhone 5S. Listed below are the IDEs I used, the file sizes and startup speeds for each app: IDEs Used: Xcode 5.02 with the deployment target set to iOS 7.0 Xamarin Studio 4.2.3 Titanium Studio 3.2.1 using Alloy File Sizes: Xcode: 216 KB Xamarin (for Release): 2.9 MB Xamarin (for Debug): 5.1 MB Titanium Alloy: 4.6 MB Startup Speeds: ( From home icon tap to after launch screen finished) Xcode: ~1.056 seconds (Average of: 1.06, 1.08, 1.03) Xamarin (for Release): ~1.056 seconds (Average of: 1.06, 1.11, 1.00) Xamarin (for Debug): ~2.49 seconds (Average of: 2.33, 2.58, 2.58) Titanium Alloy: ~1.07 (Average of: 0.96, 1.10, 1.12, 1.11)

One of the requirements on a Mac for creating a Native Client plugin for Chrome is to have Make installed. A version of Make comes with Command Line tools for Mac. I am using Xcode 5 on OSX Mavericks, but I found that under Xcode Preferences, Command Line tools is no longer listed to be downloaded. Luckily Alok Yadav at Computers And You has posted an article explaining how to install Command Line Tools on OSX Mavericks . I went this route and it installed easily. Also, "thekbb" pointed out on Stack Overflow that it can be downloaded from the Apple Developer Center.

For those who are not ready to take the plunge and buy the paid version, I am pleased to announce the availability of the Lite version for iOS. This version allows iPhone users to "try before you buy". Because it is the lite version, it comes with a limit of only being able to enter cost values of $2 or less. Download Lite (free) Version Now Cost Per Ounce Calculator Lite - for iPhone For those who are interested, here are links to the paid version: Cost Per Ounce Calculator (full) - for iPhone Cost Per Once Calculator (full) - for Android Also if you are interested in counting carbs or calories, please check out my Carb or Calorie Counter app for iPhone.

If you are considering developing cross-platform mobile apps, two of the platforms you may encounter are Xamarin and Delphi XE5. I created the starter application for a Master Detail app for iPad using Xamarin and Delphi XE5. My findings are outlined below. Xamarin: Generates what looks like exactly the same project as XCode. The app contains Add, Edit and Delete buttons that are hooked up and working. (Just like the Xcode project.) When you rotate the screen to portrait mode, the menu hides and can be shown again by tapping the menu button at the top left. (Just like the Xcode project.) After scrolling and stopping, I tap a menu item and it immediately opens that item on the right.  (Just like the Xcode project.)  This is the behavior I expected. This is how the email app that comes with iOS works. If I scroll and stop, then lift my finger, the scrollbar goes away almost immediately so I can tap another item.  (Just like the Xcode project.)  That is expect...

Today I used the demo version of Delphi XE5 to get a cross platform test app working on a Galaxy Note 2, an iPhone 5, and an iPad 4 all using the same source code from the same project. I was even able to perform animation to the dimensions of an image component and have it work across all three devices. If you are looking for an alternative to PhoneGap, Titanium, or Xamarin (MonoTouch) then I recommend giving Delphi XE5 a try. A few things I like about it so far are: The resulting app is native, unlike PhoneGap apps that run in a web view. The button click did not have a delay like HTML apps can have that you might use with PhoneGap. I was able to re-use 100% of the project for both platforms -- yes even the UI unlike the drawback that Xamarin has. The animation was very smooth on the iPhone 5 and iPad 4. It was also smooth on the Galaxy Note 2, but not quite smooth as on the Apple devices. I am a little concerned on how the animation would appear on an older Android device...

Today I started developing a jQuery plugin which is designed to eliminate the delay that the browser experiences on click events within mobile web apps. I wanted it to do the following: Trigger the onclick event sooner to feel more native. Highlight the button when the user started the touch. Unhighlight the button if the user started to scroll or when the user ended the tap event. I did get it to trigger the onclick event sooner, but I ran into some problems with the highlighting: On the iPhone 5 and iPod Touch 4, when scrolling (using -webkit-overflow-scrolling:touch ), and then tapping while the scroll is still going, the wrong button would get highlighted. (Removing -webkit-overflow-scrolling:touch resolved the issue, but then my list didn't scroll like a native app.) On the iPod Touch 4 sometimes when just tapping it would only highlight part of the button (either the top or bottom depending on where on the button I tapped.) (Removing  -webkit-overflow-scrol...