Mind the Gap

In this London-themed example, I’ll take you Underground, as we explore accessing device accelerometer data to control the basic motion in a simple game.  Along the way we will take a look at a few considerations around relative tilt, CSS3 transforms, and decoupling processes.  But watch out!  You don’t want to fall onto the rails, or get trapped between the platform and the tube.  Mind the gap?  Yeah, buddy.  Mind the PhoneGap! Accelerometer Accessing the accelerometer with PhoneGap is a relatively straightforward process.  The main function you will want to call is “navigator.accelerometer.watchAcceleration()”.  That sets the ball in motion to poll the device for accelerometer data at a given frequency.  The parameters you’ll want to pass to...

Posted by on Nov 3, 2011 in Development | 1 comment

PhoneGap Goes to London

Last week I went to London, England to present at HTML5 Live.  The topic was “Building Mobile Applications with PhoneGap.”  Even though Adobe recently acquired Nitobi, largely the main drivers of PhoneGap, I had presented this topic a number of times before.  Even before PhoneGap was integrated with Dreamweaver CS5.5 I was out there giving presentations on the technology.  But while I knew what to present, I really didn’t want to show the same old demonstrations again.  I wanted something new.  But what? About a week before the trip, as I was reviewing the presentation, and updating to all the latest bits, it hit me.  “If you’re going to London, why not have a variety of London-themed examples?” I set to coding, and before long found myself with...

Posted by on Oct 24, 2011 in Development | 3 comments

Going Sans Server

Well, that’s not entirely accurate, but bear with me.  Here is the pitch.  You are a client-side developer with mad user experience skills.  Whether you came up with the idea for the application, or were drafted into the project, you have sunk countless hours into making sure every interaction is as smooth as butter.  You have successfully bent your choice of SDK to your will, and the demonstration, with the dummy data, looks like it will be the next big seller.  Before you hit the markets though, you will need a server to store all that glorious user data – and that’s when you hear the brakes.  Squealing.  Churning your gut at the monster task that lies ahead.  Time to market in this innovative space means everything.  What will you do?...

Posted by on Sep 26, 2011 in Development | 6 comments