Skip to main content

An iOS Developer Takes on Android


Recently, we released the Android version of Meridian, our platform for building location-based apps. We didn’t use one of these “Cross Platform!” tools like Titanium. We wrote it, from scratch, in Java, like you do in Android. We decided it was important to keep the native stuff native, and to respect each platform’s conventions as much as possible. Nick Farina

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Favorite Posts

Dark Theme (Dark Mode) in Android WebViews, WKWebViews and CSS

So your apps just implemented a shiny new dark theme and it’s looking 👌 There are lots of benefits to having a dark theme in your application, and having it consistent throughout your application allows for a great user experience. But what happens when the the user runs into a WebView in your app? Support: if (WebViewFeature.isFeatureSupported(WebViewFeature.FORCE_DARK)) { ... } Set: WebSettingsCompat.setForceDark(webView.settings, WebSettingsCompat.FORCE_DARK_ON) Current setting: val forceDarkMode = WebSettingsCompat.getForceDark(webView.settings) Joe Birch Assuming your question is asking how to change the colors of the HTML content you are displaying in a WKWebView based on whether light or dark mode is in effect, there is nothing you do in your app's code. All changes need to be in the CSS being used by your HTML content. CSS dark mode via :root variables, explicit colors and @media query: :root {     color-scheme: light dark;      ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Server-driven UI (SDUI): Meet Zalandos AppCraft and AirBnB Lona

A short WTF: Joe Birch:  SERVER DRIVEN UI, PART 1: THE CONCEPT Zalando seems to follow the SDUI principle as well - defining a common design language and construct the screens on the backend while displaying them natively on the clients. They even go one step further; they implemented a mighty toolset to enable non-technical stakeholders to define their own native app screens Compass: Web tooling to create screens and bind data Beetroot: Backend service that combines the screen layout definition with the data Lapis/Golem: iOS/Android UI render engines Crazy cool! Good job, guys (when you do an open-source release?) To even move faster a Flutter based UI render engine implementation was great! See also AirBnB Lona SDUI approach Building a Visual Language Why Dropbox sunsetted its universal C++ mobile project and AirBnB its React Native implementation
2 comments
Read more

UIDeviceOrientation vs. UIInterfaceOrientation

We stumbled upon a bug in one of our apps: - rotate the Homescreen to Landscape - go to some other screen - put the device on the table and go back - the homescreen is all messed up This behavior was similar with some other View controllers. The problem was in the viewDidAppear where the Interface should be rotated to Layout or Portrait- the UIDevice Orientation was used ( [UIDevice currentDevice].orientation ) an when you put the device on the Table the orientation of the Device is always "UIDeviceOrientationFaceUp". The Problem is that the Device Orientation could be FaceUp in Portrait AND Landscape mode so for this use-case this doesn't give you the proper information. instead determining the orientation by: UIDeviceOrientationIsLandscape([UIDevice currentDevice].orientation) you should do this (at least in View controllers) and use the interfaceOrientation property: UIInterfaceOrientationIsLandscape(self.interfaceOrientation)
Post a Comment
Read more

Alpha Apps vs. App Unbundling

Aktuell wird viel über das Modell der "Alpha Apps" und "App Unbundling" gesprochen. Hier kurz eine Übersicht und meine 5 cents: Alpha Apps Die chinesische App WeChat geht noch weiter: Neben einem Messenger, vergleichbar mit WhatsApp, bietet sie einen Lieferdienst à la Lieferando, die Möglichkeit etwa das eigene Konto zu checken (wie sonst bei der Bank-App) und gleichzeitig die Chance etwa Promis zu folgen, wie es Twitter bietet. Solche Alpha-Apps können dadurch verschiedene Aspekte und Möglichkeiten des Internets verbinden und werden so zum idealen Zugangsportal zum Netz – so wie traditionell der Browser am Computer. Den Tod des Browsers bedeutet das aber noch lange nicht. Der Browser ist tot, es lebe der Browser! Wirtschafts Woche App Unbundling Unbundling steht für das Unterteilen von Apps oder verschiedener Funktionen in mehrere, eigenständige Applikationen. Aber nicht jede Unbundling Aktion wird positiv von Usern aufgenommen. Facebook Messenger ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Unidirectional Data Flow Architecture (Redux) in Swift

In this post, I try to explain why using Redux with Swift is better idea [than MVVM]. What is Redux and Unidirectional Data Flow? Redux is a flux implementation but slightly better implementation, it makes your application’s state more predictable. It first came out in Javascript world as a predictable state container for JavaScript apps with the powerful javascript library React. Redux, simply makes your application’s state in single store object. So firing an action from your application/in view’s lifecycle state changes and your reducers for that action generate a new state. Seyhun Akyürek at Medium Replacing Redux in Swift with something better Being a fantastic framework for development doesn’t come without a cost. Every time you update internal state in Redux, the entire interface re-renders. This isn’t a huge deal in most cases. But eventually you might have a situation where one update to state needs to be instantaneous (like using the keyboard shortcut to move f...
Post a Comment
Read more

I show you mine if you show me yours first - Our current Android and iOS Stack

Something from our internal  WeltN24  native apps lab: We just setup a new app from scratch, which puts us in the nice position of incoroporating the latest frameworks an pattern. We go for a Reactive and MVP approach. Please find below some details. I would be happy to hear about your choices - please leave a comment! Android iOS OS Android 4.1 (4.0.3+) API Level 16 iOS 8 Language Kotlin 1.0, with fallback to Java where necessary Swift 2.1.1 Pattern Reactive & MVP Reactive and MVVM Libs AndroidRx Dagger 2 Retrofit 2 Dbflow Glide Crashlytics JW-Player Gson Interstellar Dependency Injection (custom) JW-Player Alamofire JW Player realm.io Carlos BrightFutures ObjectMapper (custom) Testing JUnit Mockito / PowerMock & Hamcr...
Post a Comment
Read more