Now it’s finally March — here comes the iPad. To prep for the big reveal, developers are scurrying to build and announce new apps and accessories for Apple’s tablet computer. With so much shouting in a crowded room, it’s easy to get lost in the buzz. Here are a few key aspects that may make a sizable splash.
iPad devsugar: Letting go of iPhone visual design patterns
So what does this mean to you as a developer? First of all, it’s time to give up what I’ll call the “Cover Flow mentality”. On the iPhone, when you flip the iPod music application to its side, the presentation changes. It goes from a standard UITableView navigation controller to a Cover Flow view, where you can select an album and browse through it. The iPad kills this design convention. When every way is up, every interface must be consistent. (Update: Apple software demonstrated at the media event shows differences between landscape and portrait presentations.) Sure, you can still use Cover Flow but it’s time to switch to that view by introducing a button or gesture rather than by reorienting the device.
For developers, check it out here.