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Questions
Answers
What is AppFurnace?
AppFurnace is a set of online tools that help you to create all kinds of apps without having to be a programming genius.
You can produce simple interfaces, location-aware apps and extend beyond our in-built functionality with your own JavaScript and make your app the way you want it.
Who's using AppFurnace?
AppFurnace has been used by designers, artists, games designers & educators, and has been used to make apps for people like the Tower of London, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Vision Conference Bristol.
What can I do with AppFurnace?
AppFurnace isn’t just a template, it gives you control to design interfaces, create location-aware experiences and, if you want to take it further, add your own JavaScript and produce exactly what experience you want.
Some of the apps that have been created with AppFurnace are location-based games, like Prisoner Escape from the Tower and MShed’s Fortunes.
How do I use indoor location?
As soon as there is a cost effective widely used technical solution for instrumenting indoor spaces we will make sure our tools will be able to use it. For now the easiest and cheapest solution is to use QR codes as a way of delivering rich media at a specific indoor location. The printed codes can also be attached to physical objects and signs making them the most precise way of locating your story. Here’s a tutorial on how to use QR codes in AppFurnace.
Can I use AppFurnace for teaching?
Yes. We would love it if you wanted to use AppFurnace as an integral part of your course. If you are using AppFurnace for teaching, why not let us know about it?
Can I use AppFurnace to make Android apps?
Yes. Since December 2011, you can use AppFurnace to design apps for both iPhone and Android platforms. This post explains more about using AppFurnace for Android Development.
How large can my App be?
If you want to distribute your app through Apple then you need to keep the app under 50MB. If an App is over 50MB then you can only download it over WiFi which does tend to cut down the number of people who might try it (this is Apple’s policy).
We recommend keeping your Android apps below 50MB as well, as keeping apps small means that more people are likely to download them, regardless of their WiFi connectivity, which is much more important if you’ve got a location-based app that may be away from WiFi hotspots.
What happens if I use up my AppFurnace storage quota?
All users get 1GB of storage, which should be enough for most people, but if you would like more space, we’ll be launching our Professional Account soon.
What language are the AppFurnace tools written in?
At Calvium we believe in the right tool for the job and choosing the right language is an important part of that. That is why as a user of AppFurnace you write all your code in JavaScript. But for us making AppFurnace it wasn’t as simple and we had to draw on a number of technologies and languages to create these tools. The AppFurnace editor is written in HTML5 – that is a combination of cutting-edge JavaScript, HTML and CSS. We’ve pushed the envelope on this and even had to submit some bugs back to the browser makers. Our servers are mostly written in tried-and-trusted PHP but we are also starting to use Node.js (server-side JavaScript) in some of our processes.
To make the AppFurnace mobile apps we’ve used the native language for each platform so that you don’t have to, that’s Objective-C for iOS and Java for Android. These apps also benefit from incorporating the industry-standard PhoneGap engine.
When you make an app in AppFurnace the result is a blend of mobile HTML5, PhoneGap and extra native code that we have crafted to make your app stand out, such as great audio playback and QR reading.
Why should I register as an Apple or Android Developer?
Only registered Developers can publish apps on the App Store or Android Market, and the App appears under that developers name. Calvium are of course registered developers and if you want us to publish a free app for you then we can – it would just cost you more.
If you want to charge for your app then you will need to be the publisher so that the revenue from the app flows directly to your bank account.
Being a registered developer also has other advantages in that you get direct access to analytics, documentation and you can easily change the details about your App if you need to.
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