Show HN: Idea to App store in 1 month using JQuery Mobile + PhoneGap

10 points by toblender ↗ HN
This is a side project I made with the help of JQuery Mobile and PhoneGap.

Design (1 week) Actual coding was about (2 weeks) Release to apple roller-coaster ride (1 week) Content came from my business partner.

I was so worried Apple would reject the application because it's 90% javascript, but to my surprise it passed with flying colors!

I ended up rewriting the app a few times because jquery mobile was so slow. I wrote it again using Zepto but it wasn't any faster. Turns out the web view in iOS uses an older version of the mobile safari, and as a result a slower javascript engine. Apparently this will be corrected in the next version of iOS.

After trying it on a few other devices I realized the root cause of the slowness was my 3G iphone and not jquery mobile. A hard reboot of the device made the app run smoothly.

You can check it out at this link.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/astro-dating-2012/id467097635?ls=1&mt=8

or

http://defyent.com/#astro-dating

1 comment

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From my experience, using the webview in iOS becomes painful quickly.. It would be better if you slowly started learning objective-c, because that gives you more options once you become a little familiar with how things work...

And, just curious - you have priced the app at 1.99 - how are the sales so far?