If you’d like to learn how to use Adobe’s Creative Suite tools to easily and portably create websites and apps for tablets, smartphones, and mobile devices there’s a new 2¼-hour course you’ll be interested in…
Guru Paul Trani teaches an extensive free class with 18 video chapters that will take you step-by-step on how to create portable content that will run on both Apple iOS and Google Android devices with a wide variety of screen sizes using a single code base. Basic usage of HTML5 and CSS3 is covered, as well as how to bring in Adobe’s recent additions PhoneGap (for building fast, cross-platform mobile applications) and Typekit (for delivering custom web fonts).
The first half of the video series employs Adobe Dreamweaver CS5.5 to develop both websites and apps, with steps on how to convert a website into a portable mobile app. The tutorials then move on to using Flash-based tools (with Adobe AIR) to build multi-platform mobile apps. We already know that Flash Professional CS5 can be used to build apps for the iPad and iPhone, but this takes it a step further. The videos guide you all the way through to how to publish your app to your device and to the Android Market (which shows immediately) or to the Apple App Store.
If you don’t own the Adobe software yet but would like to use it to follow along with the training, you can easily download the free trials, which will be fully-functional for 30 days. The tutorials also include downloadable sample files to use as you go along, so be sure to look for those.
The CS5.5 Web Premium suite is used in the demonstrations – which coincidentally we’re also giving away for free!
Here’s the 2¼-hour course:
| Creating Websites and Apps for Mobile & Tablets | ||
|---|---|---|
| Play this Free Class Now » | ||
| Ch | Topic | Runtime |
| 01 | Overview | 08:18 |
| 02 | HTML5 Content in Dreamweaver | 08:03 |
| 03 | Styling Web Content W/ CSS3 | 13:40 |
| 04 | Adding Custom Fonts Using Typekit | 06:35 |
| 05 | Adding HTML5 Video | 05:11 |
| 06 | Creating a Gallery | 05:40 |
| 07 | Customizing for Different Screens | 08:29 |
| 08 | Creating a Mobile Specific Website | 08:56 |
| 09 | Creating a Mobile Application | 13:08 |
| 10 | Creating and Testing Your First Mobile App | 05:13 |
| 11 | Quick Development with Code Snippets | 12:57 |
| 12 | Using the Accelerometer | 05:31 |
| 13 | Resizing Content for Multiple Screens | 07:07 |
| 14 | Optimizing Graphics for Mobile | 04:29 |
| 15 | Creating a Tablet Optimized App | 05:13 |
| 16 | Sharing Assets Across Files | 05:49 |
| 17 | Debugging the App on the Device | 02:49 |
| 18 | Publishing for iOS and Android | 07:24 |
And here is the first segment (the Overview chapter) to get you started:
Also check out a comprehensive set of free CS5 tutorials for all products and purposes. If you’re interested in longer-term design study (digital, visual, web, video), check out the free year-long Adobe CS5 curriculums for students, teachers, and all.
I’m using the Dreamweaver CS5.5 Trial at the moment and watched the videos yesterday along with many others on AdobeTV.
They are very good. I do really like what DW can do. I hope to win the CS5.5 Web Premium Suite, which would help more. I was surprised what Flash can do now regarding apps. Bear in mind that only Mac OS users are able to submit to the Apple Store.
However, as Windows users we can still build apps for iPhone and iPad in addition to Android. My idea is to use friend’s Mac computer, transfer all files there, download the SDK and voila.
Hi Adam, thanks for your comments. Glad the videos helped and you’re right about your last point… If you read Adobe’s step-by-step Guide for Apple App Store Submissions, in the last section about how to upload your final app, they note:
“The [Apple iTunes Connect] Application Loader utility is available only for Mac OS X 10.5.3 or later. In Windows, you can run Mac OS X inside a virtual machine.”
Thank you too. I didn’t know about a Mac virtual machine.
Hi, I want to follow your course for using Adobe CS5 to create websites and apps for mobile & tablets but the video for “HTML5 Content in Dreamweaver” is missing. Is there another link I can use to view it?
Hey Marli, not sure why that particular segment is now missing from the course, but looks like you can find the content here on YouTube instead: