Bringing iPhone sketches to life
Posted: June 15th, 2009 | Author: suzanne | Filed under: prototyping | Tags: interfacebuilder, prototyping | 2 Comments »Now that I have a feel for iPhone sketching tools and templates, I’ve been considering alternate ways to bring my sketches to life. Apple provides iPhone developers with a tool called Interface Builder but I fear it will require more programming than necessary in the early stages of design (Note to self: play around with the builder & test this assumption). Another option is to post my linked Fireworks files online and view them via Safari on my iPhone, but the browser chrome and zooming features get in the way. Here’s where the folks at UNITid design come in–they created a nice little script that hides all of the Safari administrative debris. You won’t be able to test iPhone interactive elements such as transitions and scrolling, but you’ll have a nice click-through prototype on the iPhone and can evaluate visual design choices, such as type size and colors. Get the full tutorial at the UNITiD blog. (One small tip: make sure your index file name is lower case; mine started with a cap which prevented the initial screen from displaying.)
Yeah, you need to be pretty precise with what we have made. We probably need to change the script a bit and add some default error messages. If you make a small mistake, like not using the correct page names or not putting images or files in the correct folder, you now just get a blank screen. We will post an update of the script soon, keep you posted!
I’d recommend getting to know the Interface Builder, it’s very easy if you just want to make static screens, and creating clickable walkthroughs is not that hard, really. It does require a few lines of code and an understanding of how the Apple provided controls are supposed to be used, but knowing that is ultimately going to make you a better UX designer for the iPhone.
There is also the added benefit that when you’re producing the interface and interactions for the real App, you’ll be able to work closely together with the devs as they write the code.