Launched ©ompactApps feedback site!

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I found that the best way to hear from users and what they want to see in my Apps is the platform called UserVoice.

Whithout further explanations, please find the feedback site at compactapps.uservoice.com (for ©ompass360° for example).

©Tangram 1.0.0 - In the stores!

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©Tangram 1.0.0 - ©TapStack 1.0.5 - cross promotion

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The backside of the ©TapStack application is intended to be some kind of self-advertising space in the beginning. So here is the big time to tell the news about ©Tangram to ©TapStack users.

Made some sketches, then the more easily "readable" won, so I made the final images after that.

I really like the photo from the splash screen, but it
seems too dense to be a simple but effective sticker.

A more simple (let say ©compact) layout can be more effective/consistent I think.

So the final sticker rearrangement above.

The update has been submitted for review, hope will be released soon, so another bulk of ©TapStack promo codes will be available for christmas time (maybe I should make a free period again during the holidays).

©Tangram 1.0.0 - Submitted

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Celebrating the App Store submission of the ©Tangram project. It was started to develop a bit more than a year ago. At the time when I started to learn iPhone development. Magic moments. Hope Apple won't reject the binary, it should be released before christmas.

Stay tuned for promo codes @compactApps (free promo codes now can be redeemed worldwide).

©Tangram 0.9.9 - Final splash screen

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More lights, reflections, fine materials, a slight white balance adjustment, some chamfered border with shadows (straight from the game board), and a UIActivityIndicator (unfortunately since than I had to replace the UIActivityIndicator with a single loading label).

After this, the last thing is to test the App with iOS 4.2, and give the friction sound a final go (if I can't repair it, I'll skip it from this version). So tomorrow ©Tangram 1.0.0 will be submitted to the App Store.

©Tangram 0.9.9 - Lite Icon shaping

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My first intention was to avoid the "lite" label on the icon. I tried the grayscale version that seemed quiet ok near the green icon of the full version, but out from this context it was too boring. I decided to test the icon in the App Store environment (see the pre-visuals below), to see their charm, and in the end the one with the "lite" label won.

With a cute "lite" label?

Semi-Grayed?

Grayscale?

Simply the same as the full version?

©Tangram 0.9.8 - Application identy sketch

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I began to play around with the presentation of the application (that can be used as a launch screen, as a product site creative, or even in a promotional video).

This is a really rough render, but we can taste the feeling (something so clear, so realistic). The final image should contain some depth-of-field effect, and more sophisticated lights/material.

©Tangram 0.9.8 - App Store link to the full version/reviews (before even submit the application)

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Update: This post is really great indeed, but since than I've found out a far more simple method. You should set up a new Application anytime in iTunesConnect without even submit the actual binary, and an App ID will immediately assigned to it. After that you can use it to compose the links described below (or here - Dissecting iTunes links - at bjango.com). So you can place simple static URL calls after this in your App.

Non-paid advertisement, worth to click on.

As I created some buttons to refer to App Store links (link to the full version, link to review the application) I realized that the links I want to open just don't exist yet.

This is something like the chicken-egg problem. I want to refer from the application to something that is connected to the same application, but it has not submitted yet (so it don't have Apple ID), so there is not such a URL.

As I roughly browsed trough some forums on this issue I found a suggestion that says we should simply create a redirection page that we can change later without resubmit our application binary.

So it could be solve with a simple openURL: call that point to an empty HTML with a redirection META tag in its header. This could be result in a bad user experience as it would open up safari first, then the URL bar would show weird unrelevant links, then finally it would switch to the App Store application.

A more elegant way to solve this to set up a server-side script (a really small PHP file here) we can ask about the current URL. So pressing our button will ask this PHP file about the URL, then after it returned with the link, we simply open it with one openURL: call.

Another important thing is to format the returned URL as an iPhone compatible App Store link that won't open up Safari. See Ben Gottlieb's answer on releated question at stackoverflow.

So the xCode lines below.

//Get the remote URL when tapped the button. -(IBAction)beginProcess:(id)sender; { 	//Compose request. 	NSMutableURLRequest *request = [[[NSMutableURLRequest alloc] init] autorelease]; 	[request setURL:[NSURL URLWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"http://www.compactapps.eu/iTunesPage.php"]]];   	//Invoke. 	NSURLConnection *connection = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request delegate:self startImmediately:YES]; 	 }  //The delegate method of NSURLConnection. -(void)connection:(NSURLConnection*)connection didReceiveResponse:(NSURLResponse*)response { 	//Simply open the received redirection URL. 	[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[response URL]]; } 

Tapping the button starts an NSURLConnection request that points to our previously composed redirecting script. The PHP part is really a single line of code (this is what we call at the http://www.compactapps.eu/iTunesPage.php request, so it has to be uploaded there).

<?php header("Location: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=384527808&mt=8"); ?> 

It is redirecting to the application link in the mentioned iPhone-proof format, so the application will receive a response with a redirection URL that can be simply opened with the openURL: call.

So you set up this architect, then after the application has submitted, simply swap the Apple ID in the redirection link, and done.

The direct link to the review section is just the same, except the URL have to follow the format described at a bjango.com article for example: Dissecting iTunes links.

©Tangram 0.9.8 - Help view finalized.

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As some features have changed since I composed the help view, I had to rewrite some details. The final version has the images/semi-screenshots attached.

Now I have to merge the launch counter/days elapsed stuff to manage the rate reminder, rearrange the puzzle pack order, the it is ready to submit.

©Tangram 0.9.7 - Bundle display name

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©†angram
©ƚangram
©Ƭangram
©Ʈangram
©ȶangram
©ʈangram
©╥angram
©דangram
©τangram
©тangram
©ᴛangram
©ᵀangram

I like these gentle character tricks. So the final icon/typo goes like: