ColorRef and iPhone OS 3.0

The iPhone OS 3.0 will be released soon. From my experience with the beta of iPhone OS, ColorRef version 1.0.1 should still be usable with iPhone OS 3.0. You are going to notice some quirks, but no real show stoppers.

An updated version of ColorRef will be available soon after the release of the iPhone OS 3.0. Currently the internal build is working fine and could already be released … if, well … actually Apple does not allow any application built with the beta SDK into the App Store. So all I can do is test but not release.

I guess, during the WWDC we are going to learn about the time schedule of the final SDK and the iPhone OS 3.0. I am going to release an update as soon as possible. Hopefully the App Store review team will not drown under the torrent of apps rebuilt for iPhone OS 3.0. But with over 35.000 applications available I see some long shifts coming for the review team during the next weeks.

ColorRef 1.0.1

Due to my day job, I’m a little bit late with my announcement — ColorRef 1.0.1 has changed to “Your application status is Ready for Sale” on March, 2nd 2009. At least this is what the e-mail from Apple claimed. To be closer to the truth, ColorRef is still priced at zero $, so there isn’t much of a sale. The changes and added features are described in my previous post, just in case you want to look at it.

Some of you might have been a little bit confused last week because the screenshots and description at the App Store showed the 1.0.1 release while the actual binary was still the 1.0 release.

I don’t know if I made a mistake within iTunes Connect, but the description and the screenshots have been updated nearly immediatly, while the binary took some time for the review. Only the text describing the changes was updated at the same time as the release of the binary. This happened although I entered all information into the sections for “update”. Well, you live, you learn.

So my advise for using iTunes Connect and updating your app: Change the images and the description not before the release of your updated binary. It might confuse your customer if the sceenshots and description don’t match your application.

soonish: ColorRef 1.0.1 – Missing Features Release

ColorRef 1.0.1 was submitted to the App Store today. Usually it takes it takes Apple only a few days to review an app. You can expect to get the update via iTunes by the end of the week.

What has changed from the initial release? A brief run down:

• Themes can be renamed.
• Themes can be reordered.
• Colors can be edited.
• Colors can be reordered.
• The color picker has a new RGB/Hex control.
• No more built in themes.

To be honest, I gave ColorRef 1.0.1 the codename “Missing Feature Release”. The omission of editing controls — reordering, editing names or colors — was quite obvious. Adding these features got high priority on my to do list for ColorRef.

In order to implement these features, controls are required to activate the editing mode. The natural place for this is a toolbar at the bottom of the screen. So I dumped the idea of the tab bar — which actually brought ColorRef closer to the recommendations of the HIG.

A tab bar gives users the ability to switch among different modes or views in an application.

For my understanding emphasis should be placed on “modes”. If you look at the iPod application on your iPhone, the black tab bar switches not only between views but between play modes. The clock application uses the tab bar to switch between different modes – not between different data sets.

The tab bar is gone, the toolbar takes it place and there is the space for additional controls. Like — for now — the edit button. From this button features like reordering, deleting and editing of tables and their entries can be accessed. All these features have been implemented as standard controls — this should reduce the amount of learning to use the controls to zero. One of the benefits of using standards.

So, I hope you like the “Missing Feature Release”. Actually the screenshots at the App Store have already been updated. The binary file … well, soonish. You can preview the ColorRef 1.0.1 release at the App Store. If you encounter any errors or unexpected behaviour please send me an e-mail or leave a comment.

ColorRef – Feedback

First things first – because my target audience is international I use the english language from now on in the blog entries.

OK, next up: I succeded on the second part of Aaron Hillegass’ Challenge No. 35. Feeling kind of proud – and very motivated.

Finally: Thanks for the feedback on ColorRef. There are some valid issues I’m going to address in a upcoming release.

• An option for editing theme names and editing colors will be added.
• The reordering of entries will be implemented.
• Adding colors in hexadecimal format — should be possible.
• Moving the EM/SE-Theme to the favorites — very likely.

About the EM/SE-Theme: These are from my employer and originally I used ColorRef only for the purpose of having a handy “digital color reference” app. It evolved into a little more usage scenarios. This evolution left some traces, like the Tab-Bar at the lower section. This will very likely change soon.

Again, thanks to everyone who took her/his valuable time and supplied me with feedback. Your help is very appreciated.

P.S.
You can delete a theme name or a color with a horizontal swipe. I expected this to be obvious — but in fact I was wrong on this. I added a note to the description in the App Store.

ColorRef 1.0

Meine erste iPhone Anwendung hat es in den App Store geschafft: ColorRef. Hier ist der Direktlink zum App Store.

ColorRef ist ein kleines Programm zum verwalten von Farbpaletten. Es können Farbpaletten – sogenannte Themes – angelegt werden. Einem Theme können Farben hinzugefügt werden. Der eigentliche Nutzen ist, dass zu den Farben die entsprechenden RGB-Werte angezeigt werden können. Über einen Klick auf eine Farbe wird die Anzeige des RGB-Wertes zwischen Dezimal-, Hexadezimal- und CoreGraphics-Format umgeschaltet.

Warum das Ganze, wenn doch alle Programme von Adobe ein gutes Farbpalettenmanagement mitbringen und Mac OS X die Farbpalette sogar Systemweit bei Cocoa Anwendungen anbietet? Die triviale Antwort: Die ganzen anderen Anwendungen. Es ist leichter, die Farbwerte schnell auf dem iPhone nachzusehen, als erst Anwendung A zu starten, dort Farbwerte herauszusuchen, Fenster passend auf dem Monitor verschieben oder sich Notizen zu machen, um diese Farben in Anwendung B zu verwenden. ColorRef ist der digitale Notizzettel für Farbwerte.

Daher hoffe ich, dass dem einen oder anderen ColorRef gefällt. Verbesserungsvorschläge und Hinweise zu Bugs sind gerne gesehen … ein paar Ideen habe ich auch schon.

P.S.
Chapter 35 – Challenge: Teil I habe ich geschafft, Teil II wird die Download Statistik zeigen.