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Ask HN: iPad web app ideas?

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 | 19 points | on HN )
Re:Ask HN: iPad web app ideas? by knipknap on Saturday June 05, 2010 @01:17PM (#1407119)
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.

Re:Ask HN: iPad web app ideas? by raptrex on Saturday June 05, 2010 @01:58PM (#1407186)
I havent used this, but the one by Epicurious looks good. http://www.epicurious.com/services/mobile/ipad
Re:Ask HN: iPad web app ideas? by proexploit on Saturday June 05, 2010 @03:13PM (#1407289)
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).
Re:Ask HN: iPad web app ideas? by TomOfTTB on Saturday June 05, 2010 @12:31PM (#1407047)
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)
Re:Ask HN: iPad web app ideas? by bradgessler on Saturday June 05, 2010 @02:16PM (#1407205)
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.
Re:Ask HN: iPad web app ideas? by talltodd on Saturday June 05, 2010 @12:24PM (#1407037)
What app would you use? That's the best kind to write.
Re:Ask HN: iPad web app ideas? by watmough on Saturday June 05, 2010 @01:17PM (#1407118)
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.

Re:Ask HN: iPad web app ideas? by wehriam on Saturday June 05, 2010 @02:09PM (#1407197)
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.
Re:Ask HN: iPad web app ideas? by JoshCole on Saturday June 05, 2010 @05:26PM (#1407476)
I had considered making an app to create decision trees, but decided against it.
Re:Ask HN: iPad web app ideas? by adam-_- on Saturday June 05, 2010 @03:56PM (#1407351)
Do you need a developer license to make apps with WebKit?
Re:Ask HN: iPad web app ideas? by Raphael on Saturday June 05, 2010 @04:43PM (#1407412)
You need the license to sell in the app store. No license needed to put up a website.
Re:Ask HN: iPad web app ideas? by bradgessler on Saturday June 05, 2010 @04:42PM (#1407410)
No.
Re:Ask HN: iPad web app ideas? by sambeau on Tuesday June 08, 2010 @10:15AM (#1413970)
Drag and drop scrum board
Re:Ask HN: iPad web app ideas? by grandalf on Saturday June 05, 2010 @01:18PM (#1407121)
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.
Re:Ask HN: iPad web app ideas? by ccarnino on Saturday June 05, 2010 @01:59PM (#1407187)
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!