iPhone and Android apps are no longer the domain of developers now that tools like iSites.us by GenWi. This tool makes creating a mobile app version of your website as easy as clicking through a series of menus and forking over a modest $25.
Because I can’t resist fiddling around with easy-to-use webware, I’ve begun the process of creating an iPhone version of ReadyMadeWeb in order to review iSites’s service and to give everyone another way to see what we’re up to.
The process of building out the applications was relatively simple as this app has only a few, basic options. The first step in the process is identifying your RSS feeds and your accounts at (micro)blogging, photo sharing, and video sites. Currently iSites supports Twitter, Wordpress.com, Tumblr, and Posterous on the blogging side of things; YouTube and Qik for video; and Flickr, Webshots, Smugmug, and Zooomr for photos. But, this “support” is really just a quick way of grabbing RSS feeds—in fact, there is no verification of ownership of any of these accounts—so the RSS feature really covers your bases.
I was impressed that the RSS function was able to grab the thumbnail images from the feed and turn them into great-looking icons for each post. This made the preview of the finished product look very professional—a lot like the New York Times mobile reader.
From the feeds screen you move on to the design and creative phases of the process. Have your site’s color palette handy for this as you’ll need to plug in some hexadecimal color values. You’ll also need a capable designer ready to crop, stretch and resize your logo into the rigidly defined dimensions required by the iPhone and the iTunes store.
Be sure to play close attention to the Menu section under the Design tab as your menu order will match the order in which you add your feeds to the menu. Hopefully GenWi updates this feature to allow users to drag and drop menu items around as I found myself having to delete items and re-enter them after seeing that the order couldn’t be changed post-entry.
Unfortunately, our app won’t be coming out very soon due to the incredible demand for these iSites-powered apps. A message at the publication screen as well as the front page of their site reads:
Currently we have been inundated with new app requests. Hence we have decided to temporarily stop activating and accepting payments for new apps until all currently paid apps are submitted to Apple for final review. Please note that you can continue to create new apps and publish – but will not be able to activate and submit it for review.
It’s not clear how long this embargo on new apps publication will last, which also makes the pricing scheme a bit murky. Because the publishing option is shutdown, I remain unclear if the $25 price tag will nab you an iPhone app or an Android app or if you get both as a package deal. Ben Parr of Mashable says that the Android apps won’t be available for publication until February, adding to the confusion.
Once the publication embargo is lifted and our app has made its way to the iTunes Stores, I’ll update this review. Until then I’ll just say so far, so good.
Cord is the director of new media at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He has been a web developer for over a decade, working with non-profits to rein in their web development costs and grow their online audiences through simple best practices.
