

iAd Producer from Apple - joao
http://developer.apple.com/iad/iadproducer/

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Samuel_Michon
This is quite impressive. Combined with the codebase of Dashcode and Xcode 4,
Apple now has everything it takes to make the HTML5 authoring suite that we've
been waiting for. Imagine not having to code Canvas or SVG animations, just
point and click. Once such a WYSIWYG app exists, there'd be no excuses left to
use Flash online.

(EDIT) To clarify: what I have in mind is a pro app that is sold in the same
way Apple's other pro apps are (Final Cut, Logic, Aperture). No dev account
needed, pricing between $300-500. It would produce clean, readable code that
would run on any platform that has a decent JavaScript engine and support for
HTML5, Canvas, CSS3, SVG, and h.264.

~~~
oneplusone
Apple doesn't get designers and any HTML5 authoring suite they produce would
most likely be shitty. I know people think Mac is the designer's platform, but
that has not been the case for quite some time. Software such as Aperture is
an amateur version of Photoshop. Oddly enough I would look to Adobe for
innovation in the HTML5 space.

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Samuel_Michon
_"I know people think Mac is the designer's platform, but that has not been
the case for quite some time."_

Maybe you should send out a memo to set them straight, the entire creative
industry is still using those overpriced toys. Surely designers don't need
high quality type display, font and color management, and built-in multi-
language support.

~~~
oneplusone
Look, this is not a Mac vs. PC issue. It is merely Mac's target demographic
not being designers any more. It has not been designers for a very long time.

Mac displays are not very good. Their color range is poor. It is the middle-
top end of consumer displays, but it is by no means a professional display. I
wouldn't even dream of doing anything requiring accurate colors on an Mac
display. Their 30" is about as relevant as Xserve. It is not their target
demographic any more.

I am not knocking Mac hardware. Their mobile hardware is the best on the
market. However, the perception that Macs are design machines came from when
Photoshop was a Mac exclusive. This has not been the case for a very long time
and I would say the PC version of Photoshop is significantly better than the
Mac version as it stands. I have a MacBook, but I also have a PC largely
because I use Photoshop many hours each day and Photoshop on OS X is bad.

Color management, besides being supported by Windows, is more applicable to
print design and pretty much irrelevant when it comes to design viewed on a
screen.

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Samuel_Michon
Designers were never Apple's target demographic, even though Apple and Adobe
started the desktop publishing revolution. Education and home use have always
been the Mac's target demographic.

Ofcourse, the creative industry has always preferred Macs, and they still do.
That's why it's the designer's platform, not because Apple targets them.

As for Apple's displays: you're right, they're not as good as high-end
monitors from Samsung, Eizo or Barco. Apple's displays are not made for print
designers, they're made for multimedia. This has been the case ever since
Apple switched from CRT to LCD. However, the price is right: $999 for a 27"
screen with LED backlighting and IPS is hard to beat.

As for Photoshop performance on Mac vs Windows: are you using an older version
of Photoshop for Mac? Those weren't 64-bit, didn't utilize the GPU and didn't
make use of multiple cores well. Try CS5 on Mac, it's stable and fast.

~~~
oneplusone
Actually Mac monitors are OK for print since print doesn't have the range of
colors that a display has. What they are not ok for is designing for designed
intended for screens.

I wasn't really talking about performance on Mac vs Windows. Photoshop on Mac
is buggier, designed poorly, and very flakey overall. I have used both
platforms. I own both platforms.

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mortenjorck
Stealth launch in plain sight. This thing's true form, a full web app SDK with
built-in distribution and a podcast directory-like, sandboxed-widget version
of the App Store is going to be unveiled at WWDC. Seriously, I'd give this at
least a 50% probability.

This is Apple's preemptive assault against the WebOS Ares SDK. They know they
could have a situation on their hands if HP doesn't botch the next generation
of WebOS devices.

~~~
kj12345
Why would Apple create a serious competitor to their proprietary app stack
when it's doing so well though? Seems to me the last thing Apple wants is to
encourage cross-platform native-quality apps right now.

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Samuel_Michon
On apps sold through the App Store, Apple makes 30 percent. On free iAd-
supported apps it makes 40 percent.

Personally, I don't think iAd Producer (or its sibling) will create "native-
quality" apps. I can't imagine games like Infinity Blade being created in
HTML5. But surely, database viewers (like many apps in the App Store are)
should run fine.

~~~
mortenjorck
That's the point – it's intended as _anything but_ a serious competitor to the
native stack. The thing is, to make a simple widget app (comparable to the
built-in weather app), you don't need the kind of low-level access that a
complex game like Infinity Blade needs. When you're making something that
could be built in HTML5, why should you have to bother with an
NSAutoReleasePool?

There's room for a secondary, more abstracted dev environment for the iPhone.
Palm is proving it with Ares.

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modeless
Anyone here ever clicked on an iAd? The experience is reminiscent of an early
'00s Flash-based website, complete with 30 second loading screen, "skip intro"
button, poorly-designed non-standard UI widgets to puzzle over, and terrible
framerate. It's an experience I wouldn't put up with for a useful app, let
alone an _advertisement_. Not sure what Apple was thinking...

~~~
shock-value
I'm surprised Apple doesn't allow iAds to run natively as opposed to only
HTML/JS. I mean, I'm sure once they open it up to everyone there will still be
an approval process anyway, a la the App Store, so what would be the downside?

You could do a lot of cool, eye catching graphical stuff (3D, etc) that
wouldn't suffer slowdown and would probably even use less memory (if well
designed). Plus ad designers would have the full native UI library at their
fingertips.

Anyone know why they aren't allowing this?

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silvestrov
Native apps cost a lot more to develop, and WebKit frames are easier to
sandbox UI-wise and are easier to integrate into other apps. Native apps has
to be downloaded and installed and certificate-verified whereas html5 ads can
just be launched.

So the iAd market will have to get really huge before native ads are worth the
trouble.

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akamaka
As of the last time I checked, Apple still hasn't opened up iAd development to
outsiders, so this doesn't seem to be of much use to us.

Does anyone know if this will be changing any time soon?

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noisebleed
I think publicly releasing this application is pretty solid proof they intend
to open it up soon.

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akamaka
I'd love to think so, but they released their original and very basic
programmer-oriented JavaScript library back in May, and that didn't lead to
anything.

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futuremint
Can this be used to edit/manage _all_ HTML5/CSS3 animations? If this is like a
Motion for HTML/CSS that'd be awesome.

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cubicle67
my prediction - within 24 hours someone will have posted details on how to use
this to generate content for non-iAd purposes

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mshafrir
Note that you must be a member of the iOS Developer Program to download IAd
Producer.

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jrockway
I love how the first thing your eye sees is the phone with the map, and then a
Google logo. I guess that rivalry is not as tough as Steve Jobs' 140 character
email replies would lead one to believe...

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steveklabnik
So _this_ is what they're using SproutCore for.

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boucher
Nope.

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steveklabnik
Wow. It's not? That's crazy... it's all custom?

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maxawaytoolong
It looks like a rebranded and enhanced Dashcode.

