Author Archive
How to Memorize Block Syntax
Since block syntax came out alongside iOS 4, I’ve struggled to memorize it. Sure, blocks without return types or parameters = ^{ return @”super easy to recall”;}, but once you factor in arguments and want to accept a block argument in a method, thingsBecome:(CGFloat (^)(NSInteger way, id more, CGRect complex))dontYaThink? It’s no wonder that Fucking […]
Don’t Write a Class, Write a Category!
As an iPhone freelancer, I develop a lot of iOS apps. A lot. And one of the most important things to my business is that I leverage as much of my past work as possible when it comes to new projects. I have several strategies, but today I wanted to share one of my favorites: […]
My Concise Introduction to CocoaPods
CocoaPods is now the industry standard for managing third-party frameworks and dependencies for iOS. There’s such a demand to make libraries work with CocoaPods that, even in its very early days, I actually received 5 requests to add a Podfile and tag before I even knew what CocoaPods was! Nowadays, I love it, and I’d […]
Skinning the UIPopoverController
The UIPopoverController was introduced in iOS 3.2 as part of the initial iPad release. An exclusive to the iPhone’s big brother, it’s seen a lot of action. Needless to say, if you’re reading this tutorial, you’ve probably already used the UIPopoverController dozens of times! But, have you ever needed to change its appearance? In this […]
Asset Catalogs: Love Em or Leave Em?
I’ve never been to a WWDC, but each year I get positively gitty when the session videos become available. And what do I get the most excited about? No, not Passbook, iCloud, or the big-ticket stuff. No, I like the small stuff. The simple stuff. The stuff that improves my day-to-day and fixes things I constantly find annoying.
This year, that something was Asset Catalogs.
Why Asset Catalogs? Well, simple. Ever since we got the iPhone 4 in all it’s retina glory, I’ve always found it frustrating to manage keeping TWO versions of every graphic. (The original and it’s double-resolution version.) There’s so much monotony in it:
- I need to keep all the files paired together in Xcode, in the right order. (Partly due to OCD, partly due to basic organization.)
- I need to make sure they’re both named EXACTLY the same.
- If I want to rename an image, I GOTTA DO IT TWICE.
- I hate how much space it takes up on the Project Navigator when the folders inevitably all expand.
- I need to make sure the @2x is exactly twice the dimensions of the original. (Designers always flub this.)
Sadly, Asset Catalogs don’t fix #5, but they do help us a ton with the other four, and hey, that ain’t bad! Still, not all is rosy in a catalogued world, so let’s take a look, shall we?
John Blanco
I've been writing mobile apps professionally for 10 years: Blackberry, Java, ME, iPhone, Android. I've gotten dozens of apps into the various App Stores for dozens of clients, big and small.
My current specialty is in iOS and Xamarin development. If you need an app written at a fixed price or just need a hourly developer to give a boost to your current team, I might be your guy.
Let's make an app!