Building stunning mobile apps has always been a daunting task for app development professionals.
With the availability of a wide array of operating systems, screen sizes and offline access challenges; these app developers find it really daunting to compile apps that can meet the expectations of the end users. It is due to this reason that a remarkable count of developers is opting for cross-platform HTML5 coding methodology for building apps that can be easily sold in numerous app stores and markets. This blog of mine is dedicated to all those app developers who’re in search of tips that can aid them in improving the workflow. Here, I’m sharing some amazing tips that would put you in complete control of the entire mobile app development regime.
Tip#1- Maintain a responsive data
Since every contemporary mobile app uses data in some or the other capacity, it’s your responsibility to include only accurate and highly relevant content into the applications. In simple words, your app must be able to paint your user interface to showcase the same onto the screen. It is recommended to design your app on a local copy of data that can be effectively synchronized over the World Wide Web.
Tip#2- Don’t forget to take advantage of the mobile constraints in order to come up with creative app design ideas
During the app development process, you must ensure to take the full advantage of mobile constraints that have been bothering perfect app creation. For example, if you want your app to include the facial recognition feature then instead of manually building the views within the app’s asset gallery, opt for setting the auto-crop on the central focus of the concerned image.
Tip#3- Opt for sophisticated data handling
If you’re inclined on persisting the app data between different sessions on the mobile device, then it is recommended to use WebSQL. The WebSQL enables you to store and retrieve data using a sub-set of SQL. Moreover, you can even opt for JSON for creating of tables that can further be populated within the WebSQL database. All this simplifies the queryable daa and the AJAX results.
Tip#4- Working with Lists is a great add-on
With an incredible count of mobile apps allowing users to navigate through lists, it is recommended to define lists using the listview. For these lists, you can choose to populate data fetched from simple string templates. Groupon is the perfect example of a mobile application that allows the users to navigate lists comprising of daily deals. Yet another example is the Gmail app that allows users to define lists of emails with simple swipes of the finger. The use of listview isn’t restricted to providing lists of text, instead it can also be used for creating listings of products, pictures, animations and much more. Also, for a larger list, you can choose to configure the listview so as to include the search box that offers find-as-you-type feature.
Tip#5- Building forms the right way
Mobile app developers have any easy access to jQuery mobile toolkit that allows them to build forms using the drag and drop function. They also opt for modifying the HTML code in order to build forms that include a set of fields. In addition to this, the process of adding validation to these forms is considered as simple as adding new attributes to the form tags. Custom validation and theming is also possible once the form is being created. Once the form has been built completely and the user’s input has been validated, jQuery mobile would allow you to arrange the form data in a serial format, which is AJAX ready.
Tip#6- Equip the app with right kind of multimedia support
Make it a point to embed audio and video support into the mobile application. You can choose to embed Vimeo and YouTube videos using the embed tags for gathering the attention of targeted audience.
Tip#7- Hitting app stores the right way is vital
After you’re done with designing and debugging the app, it’s time for you to head towards deploying it to different app markets and stores. For this, you’ll need to create a developer account at all the app stores/sites where you wish to publish your app. There are small app stores that would expect you to pay a registration fee for allowing you to make the app available for the users. Make sure you’re well acquainted with all the costs associated with submission of the app on different app stores across the globe.
Winding it all up
Getting started with building mobile apps using the right tools is quick and easy. Whether it’s about building the forms or getting the app into market, if you’ve just delved into mobile app development world then these tips would surely serve as the right strategy for building better performing mobile applications.
