Features of the Week: New Graphics & iPhone App Submission
This week, I’m glad to announce two new features:
- New graphics for the home page and for the iPhone app, and
- Submission of Mealstrom to the iTunes App Store!
I spent some time this week developing a new flow for the home page to replace the old text-based description of how Mealstrom works. The site has gotten more complicated and powerful, and it was about time the home page reflected that with a cool image. (I’d hoped to make this week’s feature a complete update of the site’s information, but have chosen to push the rest back to another week.) You can check it out the home page. In a subsequent feature, I’ll make each link clickable so you can learn the details about each step in the process.
(before)
(after)
Along similar lines, I built new graphics into the iPhone application. Gone are the days of horrible black loading screens and Apple-released application backgrounds: say hello to some logo-inspired graphics featuring my IKEA-brand table, three utensils, and some strategically-placed lighting. I haven’t rebuilt the iPhone page on mealstrom.com yet, but I will soon. In the meanwhile, the change in the login page should give you a sense of the before-and-after.
And on a related note, I’ve submitted the application to the iTunes store! It’s still very beta — stable, but not by any means done — but after a lot of thought I decided it was time to draw a line, call what I have now the core feature set, and publish. (Otherwise, I’d just keep iterating and it would never get to Apple.) It should take a week or two for approval, then the whole world can download and play with the project. (I hope the world likes it!) Keep your eyes peeled — I’ll post an update here once it’s approved.
In the process of readying the app for submission, I made a few critical improvements to how it talks to the website; those are going to be at the core of a subsequent feature of the week, one that will substantially improve the level of flexibility and customization of the application (and the website). Other near-future projects include:
- Facebook Connect for the iPhone integration: this came out yesterday and I’m very excited to add it to the app. Look for that over the next week.
- Implementation of a tabbed view for account management, and improved look and layout for tabs both there and in the profile.
- Updated informational pages on the home page centered around the new site flow image.
That’s it for this weekend — have a great week and happy eating!
Alex