Tag: iPad apps

Create as many apps as you want – for free, from your Desktop?

Digital Publishing, How-to, Learn, QuarkXPress 20173 Comments

As you might have seen, Quark has introduced QuarkXPress 2017 with the ability to create and export “unlimited”* iOS Single Apps directly out of QuarkXPress.

The advantages of this are:

  •  No need to create a log-in or use a system or portal
  • You create the apps directly from your Desktop out of QuarkXPress
  • You can create the design within your app with the same tool – QuarkXPress – that  you use for print
  • You can even convert Print layouts to digital and show them in your app
  • You can add stunning interactivity
  • All content is 100% HTML5
  • You get the apps delivered to your Desktop as a single delivery, your content is “backed in”
  • You can transfer your app to your test iPad or iPhone
  • You can hand in your app to Apple and – once approved – have it being delivered to your customers via the Apple’s App Store

All you need is QuarkXPress 2017 and an Apple Developer Account. Don’t worry, you won’t have to develop anything, it is Apple’s prerequisite to submit apps to the App Store.

So yes, you can create single apps for iOS directly from your Desktop.

How does it work?

A detailed documentation and video tutorials will be available once QuarkXPress 2017 has been released (in second quarter of 2017).

Here are the steps in a nutshell:

1) Prerequisites

  1. Get a developer account with Apple, which is $99 per year.
  2. Go to Apple’s developer portal and create 4 things, a development & distribution certificate and a development & distribution provisioning profile.
    (On Mac oyu can do that using Keychain, on Windows you will need to install the free OpenSSL)
  3. Go to iTunes Connect, basically the marketing portal for submitting apps to the App Store, and create marketing descriptions etc.
  4. Create an app icon and splash screens for your app

2) Create your app

  1. Create a digital layout in QuarkXPress 2017 (or convert an existing Print layout to a digital one). Optionally add a second layout for the other (vertical/horizontal) orientation.
  2. If you want, add interactivity like animations, audio, video, slideshows (using the HTML5 palette)
  3. Choose File > Export As > iOS App
  4. In the dialog appearing, add the two certificates and the two provisioning profiles. Add all meta data needed, like the app ID provided by Apple in iTunes Connect, the icon and the splash screens you created.
  5. Export your app ( so you need an internet connection then, however no log-in into any system).

3) Test and submit your app

  1. Either wait until the progress bar finishes or let it run in the background. After a while QuarkXPress 2017 will save two apps to your Desktop (or the folder that you specified), a test app and a production app.
  2. On Mac, transfer your test app to your iPad/iPhone, e.g. using iTunes or – my recommendation – “Apple Configurator 2“. On Windows use iTunes please.
  3. Test thoroughly.
  4. If fine, submit your production app to Apple. On Mac, you do that using Application Loader by Apple.
    From Windows you cannot do that, as Apple requires you to use Application Loader, which is only available on MacOS. So you either need to find somebody with a Mac to do that for you or rent a Mac. Here’s an example of a services in the cloud that allow you to rent a Mac for an hour: http://www.macincloud.com/
  5. Wait until Apple approves your app.

Done. And now create the next one.

A video of this can be seen here:

 

 

*Quark’s EULA specifies what “unlimited” means. Basically it is a “fair use” policy, so you can create as many apps as you need for your own use or to create for your customers. Quark e.g. doesn’t allow you to build a system around it, so a service that you pass on to other customers. Also the use is possible as long as QuarkXPress 2017 is the most recent version or the version before the most recent version of QuarkXPress. Afterwards you need to upgrade to a newer version to be able to use app export. All other functionality of QuarkXPress 2017 of course doesn’t have any timed restriction. You need an Apple Developer Account, which costs you an additional fee. And to submit an app to Apple, Apple requires you to use a Mac.

Alternative options for Digital Publishing

Commentary, Digital Publishing1 Comment

First, Happy New Year to you!

And to start off the new year with some fresh thoughts, I want to share some discussions I had the last months discussing Digital Publishing options.

A common question is how to distribute content for the iPad. The obvious ones are of course Apple’s App Store (iTunes). However, though being the most powerful solution (technically), for some workflows and business models it is not the right option.

One typical reason to decide against Apple’s App Store is the 30% commission Apple charges for any purchase no matter what model you choose (selling app, selling content in-app, subscription etc.). Personally I feel that taking the infrastructure, the marketing possibilities and especially the ease of user experience Apple built do justify the cost. If you want to create native apps, there is also no other way (allowed) to distribute paid apps to the world.

So if you need to publish content that you want to charge for outside the App Store, you need to look for alternative technologies to (native apps). Some technologies that come to mind are HTML, PDF and ePub.

ePub is a promising standard and maybe the only standard for Digital Publishing. Its newest iteration (ePub v3) uses HTML5 internally and can be syndicated using many services (including amazon’s Kindle using a converter). However using such a syndication service (or bookstore) might mean that again you need to play by the rules set up.

Of course you could host an ePub also on your own website (like HTML and PDF). The biggest technical consideration you then need to make is how to protect your content (setting up a DRM or an eShop with log in) if you want to sell content. Another larger consideration is how you will promote it (that customers can find it).

Of course if you are a known brand, the marketing aspect will not be huge, though customers tend to navigate to the App Store first (“Is there an app for that?”).

As I am sure that the current technical limitations of web apps will be overcome soon and HTML5 will be the future, in my humble opinion payment options are biggest issue of selling your content yourself:

A typical iPad user knows that credit card information (or other types of payments) just need to be registered once with Apple and then the one tab shopping experience is easy. Now if you want to sell your app/content, you somehow need to collect user data (name, address, email) and payment methods (credit card). Beside the scare of phishing readers might have (a good brand will help build trust), it definitely builds a (small) purchase hurdle for registering and submitting personal information, maybe long enough for a spontaneous user to not continue with the purchase.

That I believe will also be the biggest challenge with the upcoming trend of HTML5 apps (or also known as “web apps”) and is today the major advantage of native apps. Maybe a combination of both (HTML5 wrapped in a native app) is the way to go in the future? We’ll see.

If you want to publish internally (an employee newsletter, sales tools, manuals etc.), then please read my next entry about the Enterprise program from Apple: http://www.planetquark.com/2012/01/03/publish-apps-internally/