Introduction
“Ultimately design defines so much of our experience. I think there is a profound and enduring beauty in simplicity. In clarity. In efficiency. True simplicity is derived from so much more than just the absence of clutter. It is about bringing order to complexity. iOS 7 is a clear representation of these goals. iOS 7 brings with it the most significant set of changes to the user interface since the very first iOS. We see iOS 7 as defining an important new direction, and in many ways—a beginning.”
—Jonathan Ive, Designer of iOS
When the original iPhone was released in 2007, it began a wave of innovation in mobility that is far from over. Since then, the user interface has remained largely unchanged—until now, with the release of iOS 7. With this release, Apple has begun the next phase of mobile user interface innovation and has rejuvenated the already vibrant developer market.
If you haven’t built for iOS, there has never been a better time to start. This is, as Jonathan Ive mentions above, a beginning.
With this book in your hands, you have everything you need to start on the road to learning the essential skills for iOS 7 development. There are so many concepts that may be confusing to beginners, but when you follow the step-by-step tutorials in this book, you’ll begin to knock those concepts down, one by one, until, by the time you end this book, you’ll know what it takes to be an iOS 7 developer, and you’ll be able to approach online documentation, open source samples, or more complex tutorials confident that you’ve gotten the foundation down.
This book, like iOS 7 in its way, is a dramatic makeover of the series of “Absolute Beginners” books. It’s been rewritten from the ground up to make it more approachable, more intuitive, and more fun than ever before.
I hope you enjoy it, and I look forward to seeing what you can build on iOS 7.
—Laurence Moroney