Starting an iPhone® Application Business For Dummies®

Chapter 11. Building Your Application Specifications

In This Chapter

• Drawing up your application blueprint

• Sketching to illustrate the basic functionality of your app

• Verifying data flow by creating mock-ups of your app's screens

• Documenting your app's full feature list

• Writing an application testing plan

• Choosing valid success criteria for testing your application

Much like an architect's blueprints are used when building a new home, when it's time to start building your iPhone application, you should focus on creating your own set of "blueprints" based on your application specifications. These "specs" describe and outline how your application should look and operate. After you have the specs, you can hand them to any iPhone app developer, as well as to a graphic designer, so that the person can start building your app.

In this chapter, we offer several suggestions to help you create your application specs. We illustrate (pun intended) how sketches of your app help you verify its basic functionality. After you draw your basic operations, you can draw for users mock-up versions of different screens in your app and create a comprehensive list of the features you want to include. After you have your sketches, mock-ups, and list, you can decide what your app will look like, in terms of graphic design, so that the app is easy to use. You then need a specific testing plan to ensure that your developed application is tested thoroughly so that it works and looks the way you specified.

Creating ...