

Making of an iPhone app design (Sharypic) - sgdesign
http://sachagreif.com/making-of-sharypic-for-iphone/

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xelfer
The app looks great. I was wondering how to create the facebook style side
bar, as I hadn't seen any API's for it yet. I stumbled upon this:
<https://github.com/BenHall/ios_facebook_style_navigation> \- anyone know any
others?

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nomadromrom
The sidebar isn't a stock Apple API. Before implementing it, I've been
benchmarking a few frameworks on github, none of them being appropriate for
the app needs. I wanted the facebook sidebar-like menu but being able to use a
standard UINavigationController for the rest of the navigation in the app. In
the Facebook app, they've implemented their own view navigation system.

So in the sharypic app, it's a custom implementation where the sidebar view is
added directly to the main UIWindow, but below the rootViewController. Tapping
the menu button triggers an animation to move the whole rootViewController's
view left/right.

It's not ideal because the sidebar view controller doesn't get the orientation
change info anymore and making all the views stay in place requires an
important amount of hacks (for instance presenting a modal view controller
while the rootViewController is shifted on the right causes the
rootViewController to be placed back to its original position). The code
actually can't be exposed as a reusable framework because of all the hacks
implemented here and there.

Since then, I stumbled upon
<https://github.com/edgecase/ECSlidingViewController>, which can be a good
candidate for a sidebar implementation, and I might switch to it for the
future of the sharypic app.

Romain, developer of the sharypic app

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xelfer
Thanks for the information!

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b3b0p
Looks very nice. Good job!

I'm curious how you created some of those menus, buttons. For example having
the 'X' at the top right corner and nice looking buttons with images at the
bottom.

Is there a resource for these things or a general process? My experience has
me in the belief that using anything other than the native widgets is a real
pain. At least in the past, has that changed?

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nomadromrom
It's still the same. It's a real pain :(

For instance the 'like' and 'share/invite' buttons are composed of several
labels and images, and their position is computed depending on screen
orientation, size of the button icon, internationalisation of the strings and
length of the badge item (the 'like' badge indicates a count). There's a
transparent UIButton which sits on top of all these widgets to get the tap
event. And we're changing the background image when the user taps
in/out/up/down the button.

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markerrett
Great app and hope to use it soon. Just have to find a decent event to go to!

One thing I'm wondering about is the Follow sharypic on Twitter and Like
sharpic on Facebook buttons in the About screen. Is it just using their
respective APIs or just a plain link?

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pefavre
Good job on the app. I don't see why copying the facebook menu is bad,
considering it is a simple and effective way to add tabs which has somehow
become a best practice. And as you say it's easily recognizable, so the credit
goes to facebook as well.

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mattmanser
Absolutely fantastic design/UX on the blog as well.

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sgdesign
thanks!

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kaishin
I really think that the vertical navigation menu is inappropriate for mobile
apps. It makes the user flow feel more clunky and encourages section overload.
It is also a sign that there hasn't been enough effort put into information
architecture.

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sgdesign
This is something that I struggled with myself during the design process. I'm
sure the app could be improved, but all I can say is that the current solution
is the best we came up with.

Also, the menu presents the advantage of leaving room for growth without
having to redesign the home screen.

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kaishin
That growth is exactly the worrying part of this pattern. It can get unwieldy
real quick.

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mdoerneman
There's something about beautiful design that gets me excited and sparks a
desire for me to create something beautiful myself. A great design like this
also pushes me to try out an app when I probably normally wouldn't. Great job!

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sgdesign
Thanks! I really appreciate your comment, it's feedback like this that makes
me happy to be a designer!

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dangero
Great concept! I've been waiting for a technology like this. Event based seems
like the right way to go and I've often wished an app like this existed for my
private events.

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phatbyte
Congrats on the app, it looks very cool.

I learned a bit of objc and cocoa awhile ago, but I never understood how you
can customize the app like this.

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christiangenco
Congrats on launching! Your passion for this project shines through the prose
of your article; I predict success in your future.

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cwe
This looks like a great app, will definitely check it out. Almost reminds me
of what the original Color could have been.

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joshcrowder
Wow this is fantastic! Congrats on the app

