Alexandra Carmichael

July 24, 2010

If you know basic web development but haven’t got a clue how to build iPhone apps, Jonathan Stark has written a book you might want to read. It’s called Building iPhone Apps with HTML, CSS, and Javascript, and the full text is free (for now) at http://building-iphone-apps.labs.oreilly.com/

“Now web designers and developers can join the iPhone app party without having to learn Cocoa’s Objective-C programming language. It’s true: You can write iPhone apps quickly and efficiently using your existing skills with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This book shows you how with lots of detailed examples, step-by-step instructions, and hands-on exercises.

– Learn how to build iPhone apps with standard web tools

– Refactor a traditional website into an iPhone web app

– Hook into advanced iPhone features (e.g. accelerometer, geolocation, vibration, and sound) with JavaScript

– Do most of your development with the operating system of your choice”

Here is Jonathan giving a narrated screencast of how to take a garden variety web app built with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and convert it to a native iPhone app using PhoneGap.