Martin Normark's Blog

Let's focus on the Interface Layer

It's not unusual to see ideas for different interactions for products that already exists in abundance. Everyone kinda wants their own little ideas baked in, and it usually comes from

marketing

SaaS marketing – scratching the surface

This is primarily my beliefs around how to create distribution for a SaaS product, packed with links to what I regard as the go-to resource for each topic. This is

iOS

Presenting iOS View Controller as bottom-half Modal

Presenting view controllers in iOS is a trivial thing. At least if you can do with the capability provided by iOS out of the box. But sometimes it makes sense

design

Overwhelmed by the Full Width

I almost always prefer adding stuff to a page with a constrained, fixed width. Of course the width will adjust to the device viewing the page, but building a page in a web app that uses the full width of the browser often ends

Apple TV

Playing video in an Apple TV App with tvOS in Swift

So yesterday I did a small little experiment with tvOS, namely a TVML based app which was fun to see how Apple is trying to make it more accessible to

Apple TV

An experiment with client-server apps on Apple tvOS

I've spent a little time digging into the SDK for the new Apple TV - tvOS - specifically using the client-server app architecture. In about an hour I got a

API

APIs are the new Business Development

Back in 2008 I spent months and months on integrating with a new partner that the company had hit up. Literally hit up. Talk, meet, go out for lunch, out

business

Things without substitutes

In the business of software, there are no substitute for a great product if you want to truly succeed. Look at all the companies you admire - the one thing they all have in common, are great products! It's so easy to get into

Azure

Adding SQL Azure database as Linked Resource to Web App

The so called Azure Preview Portal, that has been in preview for ages and ages, is less than ideal or should I say confusing in a few places. One thing I particularly find difficult to grasp, is the concept of linked resources. In the

Azure

Be aware of how Azure auto-assigns Resource Groups

Resource Groups in Microsoft Azure is used to structure all your apps, databases, services, VMs etc. into logical containers that you can manage at once. But when you create new resources, the Azure Portal often makes a guess about which resource group to use

design

Adding more depth to modal View Controller Transitions in iOS

The default modal view controller transition in iOS is something that I've become a little annoyed of. If the view controllers (the one being presented, and the one presenting the

design

Prototyping your iPhone app idea

You have an idea for an iPhone app. You believe it's great. You can think of so many ways it will be successful. In fact, you can only think of

iOS

iOS 9 news - Notes from following WWDC 2015 remotely

I'm not at WWDC 2015. Unfortunately! But this year Apple has made it a much better experience to follow along without a ticket. They release WWDC 2015 videos on a

iphone

Home Button gestures on iPhone

Since the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, the increased screen size has caused new issues for single hand navigation around the OS that I notice on a daily basis. The worst impact is the go back edge pan that pops a view controller off

iOS

Text Recognition in iOS with Tesseract OCR

OCR is an old technology. I remember from my early days with my own computer that I bought a handheld scanner that featured OCR capabilities, and I experimented with handwritten notes to see if it could recognise my hideous scribbling. As far as I

iOS

Easily display different formats of your logo in Swift

I constantly make very small UI sub classes in my iOS apps to make it easy to display a certain type of label, button or text field. I'm using Swift in my current project and when I wanted to make a sub class of

iOS

A Vibrant Background Image View in Swift

A while back I wrote about how you could make the transition from Launch Image to root view controller look smooth with a background image as large as the iPhone 6 Plus resolution. I recently found myself using the background on a few screens

design

A Weird Case of UIVibrancyEffect on iPhone 6 vs. iOS Simulator

I've often seen a couple of differences between how a real iPhone device and the iOS simulator renders some advanced stuff. But it's often the iOS simulator that is acting out, and everything is good on the device. I was adding a background image

ideas

Allowing an Idea to go Out of Control

By natural instinct, most people and organizations tend to get defensive and protect their ideas and products when they start to go beyond their control. I'm not talking about Blockbuster

iOS

Present iOS 8 Share Extension as Modal View

I was having a little fun creating a share extension for iOS 8 in Swift. One problem I quickly stumpled upon was the need to get rid of the storyboard so that I could just setup the view inside the view controller. Share extensions,

design

Fall in Love with the Problem - get over the Solution

We've all been seduced by the awe of a genius and beautyful solution to a problem. As developers and entrepreneurs we just love new technology and simple solutions, and we often jump right into the beauty of the solution with little to no consideration

iOS

Is $19.99 the new $3.99 for iOS apps?

A lot of data has recently been shared about revenue numbers of popular iOS apps. Overcast, Manual, Dash for Mac, Unread and Monument Valley to name the articles I've bumped into the most. Charles Perry wrote an excellent peice called The Shape of the

integration

Integration as Marketing

In regard to iOS apps, this is not as relevant as it was before the app-to-app integration features of iOS 8. Basically instead of just integrating another app/product with your own, you contact the vendor and ask them for a promotion on their

programming

Programming books

Programming books or just books on the topic of developing software, are a great source of inspiration. If you’re a software developer or you work at a software company, maybe this reading list have some exciting books for you too. My reading list

iOS

A couple of iOS and Mac developer tools I can't live without

I just updated my config on GitHub and added a few iOS and Mac developer (and design) tools that I can't live without. First of all there's PaintCode - the name is pretty much self explanitory. You importort a PSD file and it generates

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