I’m wireframing a small iOS app that I want to build (sometime in this lifetime) and I’m using Apple’s Keynote to do it. Imagine that.
Of all the great mockup and wireframing utilities and apps out there I’ve found a soft spot in my heart with Keynote – it just works and there isn’t anything incredibly complex about it.
I found that this template called Sketchit works just fine and is everything I need to get these basic concepts out the door.
I learned a lot with some of my previous iOS apps (a few that still sit in the stores) and I hope to apply a little of my learning from these previous apps if I can.
One of my biggest goals is to build it with no profit in mind. In other words, to build it without an intent on building a business or financial model – just build it because I want to use it myself.
My friends and partners know that part of my relaxation cycle is to simply tinker with technology and code – as I shared here in my 2012 Year in Review as well as here about closing down a previous OSX app I’m no longer interested in being a professional developer. Although I functionally gave this up recently (within the last year) it died years ago in my heart.
It just took a while for my actions to reflect what I actually believed as well as rolling out of them based on financial need.
But I still like tinkering, experimenting, and building stuff for myself – like a simple Chrome extension that simplifies my browsing experience that I created last month.
Building for yourself is incredibly rewarding and the process is the point, not the end product. With this in mind it’s worth noting that I have no idea when this will be finalized – I’m messing it when I have time which is typically right before I pass out for the day:
tinkering with some Xcode before i head to bed. hmm…
— John Saddington (@saddington) February 1, 2013
mmm… cocoa touch… … … objective-c… … …
— John Saddington (@saddington) February 1, 2013
… … snooze.
— John Saddington (@saddington) February 1, 2013
Lol. So don’t hold your breath.
I haven’t tried Keynote for wireframing, it’s something I have thought of using though. I’ve tried OmniGraffle and more recently started using Fireworks so I can easily built out from the wireframe to a full visual.
You may way to check out keynotopia.com for templates.
sweet! thanks for letting me know!
Good quote for this post: “We all have something we want to make for no other reason than that we want it to exist.” -Wilson Miner
this is the truth!
According to your tweets – you slept what – 2 or 3 hours?
Get some REST!
oh, but there’s great work to be done.
dude, I’m always up for beta testing. let me know where to send my UUID.
what’s the chrome extension you wrote?
LOL. ok. :O
It actually sounds like a lot of fun! Sounds like its a bit of time consumption though, but worth the time!
this is part of my downtime and relaxation. an enjoyable hobby, at this point.
Ever tried PopApp for iPhone prototyping? Pretty slick and works for someone who likes to sketch ideas out.
That’s great. I started using Keynote for wire-framing (as well as preliminary site-mapping) a few months back. There are great apps out there but I feel I spend more time using the app than actually doing the work I set out to do. It’s one of those cases where the machine gets ahead of the purpose if that makes sense