Even if you don’t know any iPhone app development code, it doesn’t mean you can’t design your idea and find a developer to build it for you. For designing, this where iRise Studio comes in.
It is a powerful Mac and PC platform containing graphical tools and assets you need to create your mobile simulated app, where you can actually see how it works on your iPhone or other iOS device.
How It Works
I’m not an app developer, but I do know that a necessary part of creating a good iOS app, or any application for that matter, involves brainstorming and laying out the features and user interface before the coding process begins. With iRise Studio, you can use its drag-and-drop tools and graphics to design your app.
iRise Studio allows you to create and manage all your project ideas, where they can be saved on your computer and/or what is called a Definition Center. Once your simulation is developed, you can use iRise Mobile to view your simulation on your iOS device to see how it might work.
Create a Project
Similar to web design programs like Dreamweaver, iRise Studio opens with a Welcome page consisting of links to sample tutorial videos and projects, and your recent projects. To quickly see it in action, click on the “Explore A Sample Project” on the Welcome page.
When the project opens in the Studio, click the green run button in the menu bar and it will open the simulation in your web browser.
When you open a new project in the studio workspace, it creates the first page of your project. The left side of the workspace consists of various components for designing your simulated app. Below that are the properties of your first page – for example, a 320px by 460px iPhone 4 page, in portrait view.
As with other graphic design programs, iRise Studio contains numerous tools, such as text, images, tables, check boxes, zoom and moving tools necessary for laying out your project. If you’re totally new to iRise Studio or graphic design, you will probably want to follow the provided tutorial, linked to on the Welcome page. It will take some time to work through the tutorial, so when you need to re-open it, go to Help > Getting Started Guide, in iRise Studio. You can also click on View > Welcome Screen without needing to quit the application and start over.
The guide includes an overview of the anatomy of an iOS iPhone and iPad 2 page, including background styles, navigation bar assets, log-in form, etc. The tutorial also describes and shows how to create what is called an Action Sheet, which is a component that “displays a set of choices related to a task a user initiates.” Written instructions and video tutorials also walk you through how to add dynamic page actions, including buttons, sliders, multiple widget actions, and switch view actions.
Much of what you do in iRise Studio is similar to what you do in the Interface Builder of Xcode, except that you’re not doing the back-end coding.
Other Sample Simulations
You should also visit the iRise Studio website to view and download other live simulations which include a simulated Money App for iPhone, similar to the Mint.com app; Date and Time Pickers; a simulation for embedding a Google Map; and a iPhone Content Explorer that showcases all the standard iPhone controls and content.
If you’re not familiar with iPhone development, iRise Studio may appear just as difficult as the SDK coding application, but it’s not. The website has several overview videos, tutorials and community forum, and eLearning Courses for advanced simulation projects.
For other ideas about iPhone app development, check out these articles:
- How To Develop A Simple iPhone App & Submit It To iTunes
- How To Create An iPhone Or Android App Without Any Coding Skills
- 5 Model iPhone Apps You Can Create With No Coding Skills Required
Let’s know what you think of iRise Studio, in the comments below.
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Hide 6 Comments
The iPhone 4 screen wouldn’t be 320×460 because it has a retina display. The correct resolution should be 960×640.
Anyway, I wish I knew about this program sooner. I was looking for something like this to design my iOS app before I started but just ended up sketching it on a piece of paper and doing most of my designing in IB.
Thanks for the clarification, Lee. Good luck on your iPhone app. Do you plan to do the coding as well?
I already made it, so yes I did my own coding. I probably won’t release it though because it was mainly for a school project.
Cool, man. Congratulations. I’ve tried off and on to learn coding, but perhaps a good course or two on the subject would help. Thanks again for your feedback.
This looks like it might be easier than others I’ve tried. I’ve already released my first app but do you think it would be good to use to work through some updates for version 2 of my app? I imagine I’d have to start a project and build my app as it currently exists and then go about looking at making the changes and tweaks.
Mike, I’m not a developer, but it seems like having a markup of the changes you plan to make to your app might help with your workflow, especially if the changes might be a little complicated. Good luck in what you do. I envy people who can develop apps.