Newspaper like App with Titanium

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Hello everybody, greetings from Mexico.

I have a client that want me to develop an iPad/iPhone App for a Local Newspaper and I was wondering if somebody here can guide me on what is the best way to accomplish this project.

I was thinking something like the Washington Post App or the USA Today App, where they have a grid with different news stories in a single page, and then you select the one you want to read.

Do I need to do everything in WebViews?

While in the front page, if I need to scroll up or down to see even more news, do I need to put everything inside a ScrollView?

I´m confuse on how to approach this project or if it is possible with Titanium, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot!

3 Answers

Avoid webViews if possible, they are very "expensive" in performance terms. Usually, you will need (sumarizing) a title and a body, which can be effectively done with labels and will be easier to work with. News doesn't need special formating, they are usually in plain text.

I think you will need scrollableViews instead of scrollViews. Take a look to the NBC app, which has been done with Titanium. Is not a newspaper, but can give you some ideas and feel more confident about Titanium capabilities.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nbc/id442839435?mt=8

I'm sure you can do a newspaper with Titanium, of course!. Good luck!

Thanks Javier... No webViews, got it!

The NBC App is an excellent example of what can be done with Titanium, in fact, when the App was announced, I suggested that someone from the Titanium Team, should make a tutorial on how they may have done it or the techniques used in it. That would be great!

I already did something for a news site on the iPhone and is working great, but I'm using a TableView with 2 labels and an imageView inside an X amount of TableViewRows, but I have no idea what to do for the iPad version, by looking at the other Apps, I don't know how to make the "irregular" grid that they are using (squares of different sizes inside an scrollableView maybe?... with text and pictures inside?).

Any other thoughts or suggestions? Thanks!

BTW, I haven't played with the KitchenSink for iPad, maybe there is something there that I haven't looked at. That's why I don't know how to accomplish this project.

— answered 2 years ago by Cesar Estrada
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2 Comments

  • I think you have the ideas, but is truth that start coding for iPad requires some practice. You will not know what to do with that huge screen! :) Before start coding, I suggest you to use some mockup software. I use blueprint for ipad and keynotopia, both are great for prototipe designs and develop the perception of space.

    Create yor own components based on views, with labels and images that you can setup from "outside", like if they were factory components. Divide each problem in smaller parts, I think is a interesting project to learn and enjoy so, go for it!

    — commented 2 years ago by Javier Rayon

  • Javier, you are right, I don't know what to do with the screen size! ;-)

    Thank you for your comments and programming tips, I always do the same thing: I divide each problem in smaller parts!

    But I wanted to start with a fresh or new concept on how to tackle this project, that's why I asked here and learn new ways. :-)

    And yes, I was looking at CreateView, I believe I can put 'stuff' in it like text and images and formatted (dimensions and location) however I need, right?

    I'm starting to get a better idea on how to do it. Thanks!

    — commented 2 years ago by Cesar Estrada

Hi Cesar,

We (www.imgzine.com) have developed a magazine-like App for newspapers. We are currently selling/licensing it to several Dutch newspapers and are looking to expand abroad. If you are interested in working with us on this instead of building from scratch, let me know at marijn[at]imgzine.com

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