Driven by Apple’s rejection of the Anthropomotron app, I looked into making it more iPad-y (iPaddy?). The first version I submitted just blew up the contents to fill the iPad screen, like so:
{ Rawr! }
Some internet searching suggested that what Apple wants is a sidebar that makes better use of the larger space, like in the bibliography app Sente (which is fantastic, by the way):
{ Image credit: Third Street Software }
One of the ways that I’ve picked up Javascript so quickly is that I’m rarely the first person to have any given problem. So, a search on the internet for my particular issue (making a sidebar for an iPad app using jQTouch) came up with a solution that was found last year. jQTouch’s internal architecture has changed since then so it took me a few days of fiddling to implement this solution, but eventually I got it:
{ Sidebar! }
There is also a custom startup screen for the iPad version that only shows on that device and nowhere else. The iPad features show up both in the Apple app and in the web version, which brings me to my next point.
I had decided that the iOS version would be 99¢ since there is a fee I had to pay for the honor of submitting an app to the App Store. However, on further consideration, I’ve decided to make it free since there is no function difference between any of the versions. In fact, the next thing I will add to Anthropomotron is the ability for the web version to work without the internet, following the advice I got in my rejection letter! I don’t think it’s fair to charge for something on one device but not on another. So, when I submit the iPaddier Anthropomotron to the App Store for review, it’ll be as a free app.