Category Archives: iOS

UIButtons with pseudorealistic perspective

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For a little side-project I wanted buttons to look like they’re being pushed ‘inside’ the interface when active. To match the overall look of the project the first step was to create two embossed images in Photoshop. One with emboss direction ‘up’ and one with emboss direction ‘down’. Then assign these images to the relevant control states of the button. Simple enough – and already looking the way I want it to. (Hover over the image to see what I mean.)

Embossed Button Continue reading →

The WINGStand

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A while age I saw a ridiculously cool project on Kickstarter (the world’s largest funding platform for creative projects) but totally forgot about it until recently. Yesterday it was delivered – the WINGStand. It’s basically a docking-station for you iPad so you can type effortlessly on your Apple Wireless Keyboard.

It consists of just two plastic elements which slide onto the Keyboard. On top of those two elements you can rest your iPad or iPhone and type away. Their website advertises that it also fits with the Samsung GalaxyTab, Blackberry Playbook, HP Touchpad, Acer Iconia, HTC Flyer and Droids. But honestly… who cares?.

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Mega Man X for iOS

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A week ago I learned that there is a Mega Man X port for iOS and being a Mega Man veteran it was simply a must-buy. Another reason was that I have recently watched @Egorator’s excellent “Sequelitis – Mega Man Classic vs. Mega Man X“. You should definitely watch it! It’s really good. In that video he explains why Mega Man X is a prime example for good game design. Another perfect excuse for me to spend a few bucks.

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Better get it right the first time

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I am doing a complete revamp of my second app – SweetTooth – a Match-three game. I know lots of people hate Bejeweled clones but it was fun to develop and a good learning experience. There are even some people who like it!

As I said, this was my second app. In other words, it was my second-worst app. I did not follow the MVC pattern to the letter. In part because I thought I could take shortcuts without any ramifications and in part I guess because I did not understand the concept fully. I did follow it where necessary, but I did stray from the right path more than I should have. I knew that I could have done better, but I was lazy and cocky. I also knew that it could come back to bite me in the ass if I ever had to update it or create another version of it. Continue reading →

Custom UIViewController transitions (updated)

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Update: Um yeah… I can see now that there was a mistake in the code. I replaced self.mainNavController with self.navigationController and removed that nonsense with the delegate. Now it works.

Today i tackled the task of creating custom transitions between UIViewControllers. Before i started i thought this might be hard, but far from it! All you have to do is subclass UIViewController.

Please note that I am creating a FadeIn/FadeOut Transition. If you need something else, the process is basically the same, you just have to change the properties that are animated.

Step 1: The Basic Idea

At first I subclassed UIViewController. Lacking creativity in that department i named the class MyCustomUIViewController :)

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