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brian gilham - essays
If you eagerly fired up iOS 9 and watchOS 2 yesterday you may have noticed something strange, at least if your app relies on NSURLSession.
→ 4:15 PM, Oct 13
Improve the Accessibility of Images in Your WatchKit App
While browsing through the WatchKit Framework Reference recently, I noticed an interesting class: WKAccessibilityImageRegion . Intrigued — and unable to find anyone else who had tried it out — I put together a quick example.
Quick WKInterfaceImage Tips
Now that users everywhere are firing up their brand-new Apple Watch, I’ve been extremely busy working on updating a few apps. But I wanted to take a moment and share two quick image-related tips with you.
Submitting Your WatchKit App
Now that submissions are open for WatchKit extensions, many developers are running into issues and bugs that didn’t present themselves when working in the simulator. This post is an attempt to aggregate tips and solutions to common problems.
How to use Handoff in your WatchKit app
Considered by many to be an optional feature in their iOS/OSX apps, I believe Handoff will play an integral role in our WatchKit apps.
How to get text input from the user
One of the most interesting features of WatchKit — collecting text input through dictation — is also one of the least talked about. Let’s get started.
How to debug an iOS app while the associated WatchKit app is running
Since the introduction of openParentApplication:reply: I’ve seen developers struggle to debug their iOS app while running a WatchKit app in the simulator.
One weird trick to “fix” openParentApplication:reply:
A quick perusal of the Apple Developer Forums shows more than a few developers have experienced strange bugs when calling
openParentApplication:reply:
in a WKInterfaceController. Most often, it seems, when making multiple requests in quick succession.
How to round the corners of a WKInterfaceImage
The Human Interface Guidelines recommend using black as the background colour across your entire app. Why? It allows the background to blend in with the bezel surrounding the display, giving the illusion there isn’t a bezel at all.
How to Display an Image Using WKInterfaceImage
If you take a look at the class documentation for WKInterfaceImage, you’ll notice there are three different methods for displaying an image. For many developers new to WatchKit this has proven to be a bit confusing. When should you use one over the other? Where are the images coming from? Here’s a quick guide.
Building DubDub: Part 1
tvOS offers two options for building Apple TV apps: UIKit and TVML .
tvOS: First Impressions
Finally. I’ve been excited by the prospect of creating apps for the Apple TV since 2012. After three years of rumours and hints from Apple execs, it’s finally here . After downloading all the things , I fired up Xcode 7.1 and started poking around tvOS.
Things to think about when planning an Apple Watch app
The first question to ask yourself is, “Just what the heck is this thing going to do ?”
For the average user, the Apple Watch will be joining an entire constellation of devices they already use in the course of a day. If they use their laptop for general computing, perhaps they use their iPad for reading books or blog posts on the couch. Or watching Netflix. They pull out their phone on the go to play games or catch up on Twitter. We’ve all seen someone browsing Instagram on the bus.
Despite how connected to our smartphones we’ve all become, the Watch will be even more intimate. It’s literally strapped to your body. You need to respect that.
How to Design an Icon Set for the Apple Watch
As I prepare to wrap up work on the first edition of Chronicons , my menu icon set designed for the Apple Watch, I wanted to share a few of the steps I took to (hopefully) ensure its success.
→ 4:21 PM, Mar 2
Adventures of a First Time Winter Cyclist
I’ve recently begun enjoying cycling as my full-time mode of transportation around the city. As temperatures began to drop, my mind naturally turned to winter riding. Can my bike handle it? Should I get new tires? What if I bail hard? After consulting numerous articles and blog posts, I decided to stick it out and figure it out as I go.
The Kevlar Tube
Your fiancé’s chest hurts. The doctors find clots. Big ones. You’re thankful they found them. She’s in the hospital for a week. Constant pain. Blood-thinning medication until who-knows-when. Trips cancelled. Time off work.
Journalism School
I always tell people I used to be a journalist.
That’s what they told us on the first day. From this point forward, we were all journalists. It was the first day of college and it felt empowering.
They also told us to say goodbye to our friends and family.
"Wait. You made Goalie?"
Back in April, I was fortunate to attend the inaugural NSNorth . The conference was amazing, of course. But the real benefit of any conference comes from time spent with fellow attendees.
→ 5:36 AM, Aug 27