xkcd

by **Positronized** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 8:04 pm UTC

I've been developing a (native) app for the iPhone/iPod Touch to read and archive xkcd comics on the device. I'm planning to release it as a free app on the iTunes App Store (subject to Apple's approval, of course) at some point in the future when it's more stable.

Implemented features are:
- Locally-stored list of comics, automatically updated upon app launch
- Image downloaded and stored locally on device on first view
- Visual cue to distinguish between cached and uncached comics (uncached ones are greyed out), and between read and unread comics (red bullets)
- Alt (title) text toggling
- Supports zooming and device rotation
- Searching by title or comic ID

I will probably push out a few more features before release if I have time.

Here are some screenshots:

The project's also still up on SourceForge.net with MIT License. I would like to request that if anyone really wants to build and test it, please don't release it for Installer/Cydia/whatever. (It actually won't run properly without being installed by iTunes anyway due to the different directory structure so you will need to modify it if you want to test it for yourself)

I will probably release a codesigned binary for testing properly through iTunes at some point soon as well, and if that happens I will post here. (Although I think I can only register up to 100 devices for ad-hoc testing distribution through Apple iPhone dev programme)

*PS: There's still an issue with image zooming, which I just discovered today. It only happens after a few zooms are done on different comics. Basically, I had to slice the image up into smaller pieces because UIImageView bugs out when loading large images entirely (like Depth or Height). This means that the UIScrollView's default zooming behaviour doesn't work properly anymore and so this needs fixing/perfecting.

*PPS: If anyone do build and test out the app, I would very much appreciate your feedback and suggestions.

*PPPS: Feature requests are welcomed, although there's no guarantee that I'll have time to implement it. (Although, please PM if you do want to contribute some code :mrgreen:

)

by **laserbeen** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 12:36 am UTC

Cool, I'm looking forward to trying it out.

by **Zer088** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 3:22 pm UTC

Sounds like a great idea. I'll be downloading it for sure, but wouldn't it be better to make an app that worked with any webcomic?
Will it support reading and checking if there's new news or a new blag?
What do you plan on using for an icon?

by **Splodgeinator** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 4:21 pm UTC

This thread makes me wish I had an iPhone.
Does the alt-text scroll on its own or can you scroll through it yourself?

by **Hawknc** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 8:42 pm UTC

Hell, I'd pay a few dollars for it if you're willing to release it on the Australian iTunes store. I like supporting independent projects like this and it combines two of my favourite things - my iPhone and xkcd.

by **SirHoundalot** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 8:45 pm UTC

This looks cool - I'm looking forward to trying it out.

by **Positronized** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 10:19 pm UTC

Zer088 wrote:Sounds like a great idea. I'll be downloading it for sure, but wouldn't it be better to make an app that worked with any webcomic?
Will it support reading and checking if there's new news or a new blag?
What do you plan on using for an icon?

Yes, I would "generalise" the app to other webcomic sites IF I have time to do so :mrgreen:

With respect to the news or blag, I've got no plan on doing that yet, but I assume it shouldn't be too hard. As for the icon, this is what it looks like, at least at the moment:

Splodgeinator wrote:This thread makes me wish I had an iPhone.
Does the alt-text scroll on its own or can you scroll through it yourself?

You can (in fact, you have to) scroll it through yourself.

Hawknc wrote:Hell, I'd pay a few dollars for it if you're willing to release it on the Australian iTunes store. I like supporting independent projects like this and it combines two of my favourite things - my iPhone and xkcd.

I'll almost definitely release it on Australian store, and definitely on NZ store

It'll be free but I'll probably put a donate link on it (one for myself and one for xkcd, I guess)

by **Jos** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 12:02 am UTC

Isn't there a copyright issue hiding in here just waiting to snap your head off?

by **GuitarFreak** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 12:08 am UTC

For the icon, how about BHG and the girl?

by **Positronized** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 12:45 am UTC

Jos wrote:Isn't there a copyright issue hiding in here just waiting to snap your head off?

The comics are released under CC-BY-NC license so that should be fine. I make it quite clear that the app is merely pulling the images from the xkcd server and save it locally for personal use.

And the app is to be released for free as well!

(Hypothetically, even if that isn't the case, I could rename the app to something else and make it so that users have to enter the URL of the website to pull the comics from themselves, that way the app becomes just a comic reader, if you know what I mean)

But yeah, may be I'll have to rename the app. I don't know.

by **joshz** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 2:59 am UTC

You could have it grab the search index from OhNoRobot as well, so we could search the text of the comics (maybe eliminate dupes from that while you're at it, too.)
But it looks like a good idea.

by **Arantor** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 2:49 pm UTC

Grabbing the index from OhNoRobot would be awkward, since there are some gaps, many duplicates and one that isn't even an actual comic. (The very first one in the archives, listed as being http://www.xkcd.com/NUMBER/)

I would suggest grabbing it from WordOwl.com instead which is more accurate in some places though it's missing yesterday's strip at present, not that there's a convenient API for it. (Though there could be, email the developer, email address on the WordOwl.com About page)

by **keozen** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 3:03 pm UTC

This looks like an awesome idea. I'll be getting it as soon as it's out. Also, if you need a tester to try it out via ad hoc distribution please feel free to PM me.

by **Vaniver** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:27 am UTC

If you aren't connected to the internet, how does the program respond to not being able to update?

Making it just not update will help the iPod Touch users out quite a bit.

by **Positronized** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 2:27 am UTC

Sorry, I've been busy lately so haven't updated the app/checked the thread :mrgreen:

Anyway, if it cannot connect to the Internet, it'll just show a popup alert telling the user that it can't get the updated comics list and then work in local mode. I'm trying to implement a sensible system to batch-download comics which will be especially important to users using it on the iPod Touch. Mindless batch downloading (i.e. just pull every single one known and cache it) is easy but not very practical, since it will consume quite a bit of bandwidth, takes a lot of time, waste battery and storage space.

A bit more thinking is required :shock:

P.S. finally had an opportunity to update my iPhone to 2.2.1 today... the new SDK is annoyingly large... almost 2GB packaged, 4.7GB installed

by **HawkDesigns** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 10:22 pm UTC

Great idea. Any thoughts on the cost?

by **Positronized** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:58 am UTC

I think I've done quite enough for the time being and the app is good enough for release, for FREE, completely ad-free! (Hopefully people won't mind if I add a donate button in future versions)

I'm applying for distribution through the App Store right now, will keep this thread updated throughout the process!

*PS if enough people show interest in the meantime I can do an ad-hoc release. PM me your email address along with your iPhone/iPod Touch's Identifier, which can be found in iTunes by following the instructions below from Apple:

When I have a few of these identifiers I'll create a distribution certificate and email this with the app and you'll be able to install it on your device!

(Either that or you can grab the source from SourceForge; I updated the trunk to the release candidate today. If you have the facility to do this then by all means do so but be aware that it will not work without a bit of editting, specifically the path from which the app loads the plist and sqlite DB from.)

by **Positronized** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:50 pm UTC

An update on submission to Apple. I've received an email from Apple today:

Please include the line below in follow-up emails for this request.

Follow-up: 69619921

Hello XXX YYYY,

Thank you for submitting xkcd to the App Store. We've reviewed xkcd and determined that we cannot post this version of your iPhone application to the App Store because it contains objectionable content and is in violation of Section 3.3.12 from the iPhone SDK Agreement which states:

"Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple's reasonable judgement may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users."

Please refer to the attached screenshots as examples of objectionable material.

If you believe that you can make the necessary changes so that xkcd does not violate the iPhone SDK Agreement we encourage you to do so and resubmit it for review.

Regards,

iPhone Developer Program

The attached screenshots are a quite cunningly chosen selection of comics:

So as of this moment the app will never make it to the App Store without some modification. I'd welcome any suggestion from people here. (Frankly, I'm kind of pissed off at this but I can't see any way around it at the moment, plus I have other work to do as well, sadly.)

It does seem that the guy who did the review of the app either already knew what he was looking for, or had a lot of fun reading through the comics to pick those out.

by **RealGrouchy** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 8:06 pm UTC

I suggest you re-submit it, but that the only comic displayed is comic 137

- RG>

by **laserbeen** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 10:15 pm UTC

The only thing I can think of is to flag the comics that contain "offensive" material/language, and for those ones show a message with a link that opens the comic in safari. Hmm I wonder if they'd object to you linking to offensive material?

by **Positronized** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:18 pm UTC

laserbeen wrote:The only thing I can think of is to flag the comics that contain "offensive" material/language, and for those ones show a message with a link that opens the comic in safari. Hmm I wonder if they'd object to you linking to offensive material?

Well, that'd create so much more work on my part and I'll have to maintain it as well, which I don't think I'll have time to do so.

by **Awia** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:20 pm UTC

A user submitted system? Where you have a button that says "Mark this comic as offensive"?

by **joshz** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:35 pm UTC

Awia wrote:A user submitted system? Where you have a button that says "Mark this comic as offensive"?

This could work very well.

by **Arantor** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:29 am UTC

You could hook it up against my data in wordowl.com - that has both auto and manual flagging (auto based on inappropriate language, manual based on my own judgement)

(It's also up to date as of today's comic, too)

by **joshz** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 1:38 am UTC

Arantor wrote:You could hook it up against my data in wordowl.com - that has both auto and manual flagging (auto based on inappropriate language, manual based on my own judgement)

(It's also up to date as of today's comic, too)

I would use this, and then provide an in-app option to "show inappropriate content". If Apple still doesn't like that, then just link to it to open in Safari, I guess.

by **Positronized** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:44 pm UTC

Thanks for the suggestions guys! I'll be away for a week-ish but when I get back if I have some time I'll try to implement something into the app, fingers crossed. (Unfortunately I've also got exams coming up so that gets the top priority)

If anyone feels particularly keen the code's always on SourceForge in case you want to play around with it

by **Gordon** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 3:38 am UTC

Two parter post:

First is that since the app has been nix'd by the iStore (or whatever Apple has dubbed it, I will give them credit for creating a naming convention that allows anyone to guess the names of 99% of their products / services), I'll move this to one of the techy forums.

The other is that I recently got one of the Blackberry Storms. These things are damn cool, I got this mypoynt (mypoynt.com) app and found that there are 34 Tim Horton's within a 20km radius of my work. I'm going to try and make a point of hitting all of these locations at some point in the next 34-68 business days.

Edit: Picked coding because he mention he put it on sourceforge. I won't be upset if someone moves it somewhere else

by **darkspork** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 4:39 pm UTC

I don't see how Apple can have a problem with such an app. It's used for BROWSING THE INTERNET. You can watch porn on Safari. Should Safari be banned? also, is there a way to get this app without jailbreaking? I've been looking for a way to view the alt-text.

by **OOPMan** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 7:03 am UTC

If I recall, Apple tend to nix apps which duplicate functionality of their apps. So, because you can browse xkcd on Safari, they'll give an app like this the finger.

This kind of thing makes me really hate Apple.

by **joshz** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 1:39 pm UTC

OOPMan wrote:If I recall, Apple tend to nix apps which duplicate functionality of their apps. So, because you can browse xkcd on Safari, they'll give an app like this the finger.

This kind of thing makes me really hate Apple.

But they specifically rejected it for "obscenity". If it was for "duplicating functionality", they would have said that. That's what they did with another app (Podcaster, IIRC). It's still dumb, don't get me wrong. I think they rejected a Twitter (IIRC) app for the same reason. It's dumb. But not because of "duplicating functionality"--that wouldn't make sense in this case.

by **kernelpanic** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 8:21 pm UTC

I may be about to make an idiotic/sinful suggestion, so tell me if I'm just insane.
Have you considered releasing this for cydia/other similar app?

by **stephentyrone** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 8:50 pm UTC

You *have* tried resubmitting the app with an explanation, right?

Some twitter app was rejected for essentially the same reason, and was accepted when resubmitted with an explanation.

by **Positronized** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 11:57 am UTC

So you're suggesting that I tell them the comics are not part of the app, but simply third-party contents that the application pull from. Hmm, that may work, will try that soon.

If you want the App on now without jailbreaking, give me a PM and I'll send you an ad-hoc testing copy which you can put on your phone through iTunes.

by **rj42492** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 1:46 pm UTC

Using the new FML app as a precedent would be a pretty compelling argument, as it does pretty much the same thing, only with the FML text, which is in the same genre as the "worse" comics.

by **joshz** » Wed May 06, 2009 11:18 am UTC

Apple will apparently loosen restrictions in iPhone 3.0, so it's worth resubmitting after that comes out, probably. (From what I understand, they'll put in parental controls, so that some objectionable content will be allowed. xkcd'll probably fall under that.)

by **darkspork** » Wed May 06, 2009 2:53 pm UTC

joshz wrote:Apple will apparently loosen restrictions in iPhone 3.0, so it's worth resubmitting after that comes out, probably. (From what I understand, they'll put in parental controls, so that some objectionable content will be allowed. xkcd'll probably fall under that.)

Good to hear

As of now, the app works very well. I've found one or two minor glitches, but it still beats Safari by a longshot.

by **iamevn** » Mon May 25, 2009 3:53 am UTC

Just Dl'd from source forge and am messing around w/ the iPhone simulator (im not jailbreaking my iphone)

Looks nice, works well.

The only thing i can think to add is some sort of favorites system where the favorited comics will show up in a separate list

cant wait for it on the app store

by **joshz** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 1:21 am UTC

And apple now has ratings on the App store.

Try resubmitting, and maybe they'll approve it, with a rating.

by **antimatter15** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 3:37 pm UTC

Is there an easy way to cache all comics? I'm currently using an extremely limited, xkcd viewer from Cydia, with no alt text -_- Though I hacked together a shell script to fill the cache directory (I bet the servers hate me).

by **darkspork** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 8:43 pm UTC

antimatter15 wrote:Is there an easy way to cache all comics? I'm currently using an extremely limited, xkcd viewer from Cydia, with no alt text -_- Though I hacked together a shell script to fill the cache directory (I bet the servers hate me).

Yeah. His app has a button on it labelled "download all comics."

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