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Ask HN: iPad web app ideas?

19 points by jason_slack ↗ HN
Hi All,

I want to get up to speed on developing iPad apps using WebKit, but I just don't know what would be a worthwhile app. I would release it free, but I want to do something worthwhile to learn, not just some cheesy app that nobody will use.

Ideas?

15 comments

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talltodd
What app would you use? That's the best kind to write.
watmough
Scratch an itch, and build something you'll use, because if you don't use it, it's much less likely that anyone else will!

I do have one suggestion, that I'd use... a really minimalistic Twitter web client, with beautiful typography and some balanced whitespace.

Watch Rick's List on CNN for when they show the Tweets for what I mean.

TomOfTTB
The iPad's app library basically breaks down into two categories. Games and Date Front Ends. If you don't want to write a game than what I'd do if I were you is to find a website that doesn't have a good iPad experience and write a parser for it (icombinator.net is a good example of this type of thing)
knipknap
How about a usable recipe-database, diet tracker, fitness tracker, ...

I am serious. I know that there are tons of those, but it always strikes me how even the most basic/obvious apps still suck usability and design-wise. I believe that somebody who's good at designing easy UIs could easily outinnovate these and take some pretty good markets. And one of these days, I will.

raptrex
I havent used this, but the one by Epicurious looks good. http://www.epicurious.com/services/mobile/ipad
proexploit
It's ok, but really not what you'd hope for. Searching is impossible and a good portion of the screen is taken up by "Missing image" images. Very hard to find new stuff (in my brief experience).
grandalf
I thought of three great ideas but I realized I just want to make those apps :) Good luck. I'll try to post more later.
ccarnino
Yeah! I am the cofounder of a startup HiNii http://hinii.com Have you ever asked your self: "What I can do today?" or with some friend "Where we can go to have fun?" HiNii give you some proposals to have fun into your leisure time. You can realize the HiNii iPad app! We have private Apis, but we can give you access to them.

Give it a try!

wehriam
I like the Google app's feature that transcribes spoken search requests and Stumbleupon's app that unifies the "go to semi-random page" experience. Creating a specialized browser that uses a clever mechanism to find content (as opposed to URLs, bookmarks, and an address bar) could be a great project.
bradgessler
An awesome PivotalTracker.com interface. When multitasking comes out, I want to be talking to my team on Skype while I move around stories and check stuff off.
adam-_-
Do you need a developer license to make apps with WebKit?
Raphael
You need the license to sell in the app store. No license needed to put up a website.
JoshCole
I had considered making an app to create decision trees, but decided against it.
sambeau
Drag and drop scrum board