The iPad is a magical device. Anyone who has handed one to a luddite grandparent and watched them use it with very little explanation can testify to that fact first hand. But for Spanish-speaking iPad lovers everywhere, that magic tended to stop the moment they searched for ebooks on any of the available platforms. Ever tried searching for a book in Spanish on the iBookstore? Try it! The best you’ll get is an unreadable edition of Don Quixote. In April 2010, we approached a multinational corporation headquartered in Sevilla, Spain called Publidisa about developing a platform for buying and reading ebooks in Spanish for their catalog of more than 13,000 digital volumes. After closing out a contract and defining the functionality of version 1.0, we began the Todoebook App Project in July of 2010.

The challenge for us was in engineering and designing an iOS application within a limited budget and in a tight timeframe that would interface effectively with the client’s existing .NET web services. We had the added challenge of creating an ebook reading interface that would handle the peculiarities of both ePub and PDF document standards. No small task, right?

As the overall goal of the project was quite clear (create a platform through which the client org could commercialize their content catalog via iOS devices) and the timeline was already defined, we began work on planning the functional architecture of the device. We knew that we would need to pull in additional software engineers to be able to get the app developed, tested and in the App Store before the end of the year, so good documentation of the functional flow of the app was essential to making our expanded team work effectively together. Our team generated more than 50 pages of flow charts with an additional 50+ wireframes that clearly illustrated the intended behavior of the application.

After having defined strategy, scope, function and layout for the project, our design team proceeded to generate several different theme directions for the client to choose from. As the design process unfolded, the idea of creating an “old, bound book” look and feel became a staff favorite. Although we explored each alternative equally, we thought that utilizing a motif that evoked the idea of a physical book would go a long way to capturing end users within the spanish-speaking market.

We also discovered that the majority of the control interfaces used by ebook readers on the current market weren’t really made with a reading posture specifically required by iPad in mind. iPad as a device only really has one big unsolved problem (as far as we are concerned!). Weight. Try holding it in one hand and reading on it. It becomes very uncomfortable very quickly. Depending on your situation, two hands are almost always required to hold the device. We wanted the control of the reader within the application to be capable of being controlled with the only appendages that are free when holding the iPad with both hands: thumbs. So we developed the reader to offer all the user controls necessary to be able to read a book within easy reach of thumbs! Within Todoebook App, the user can access all the user controls comfortably, without having to hold iPad with one hand at any time. After having tested it thoroughly, we can attest that Todoebook App is especially great for reading in bed!

Once the planning and design phases were over, we were ready to program. We pulled together our programming team over 3 time zones, rolled up our sleeves and got to work. Although the interface with the client’s web services was more complicated than we thought it would be, the iOS side of the programming came together quickly and easily. We worked together with the client’s IT department on a daily basis for a solid month to get the flow of data from their servers to the application functioning correctly. The day we got the application to sync correctly with the .NET servers, we were ready to throw a party!

After a brief private beta period, the app was submitted to Apple in mid-november. We now await it’s release!

Responsibilities

Research and development (iOS/SOAP/.NET/PHP5/HTML5/CSS3), usability testing, information architecture, graphic design, user interface design.