First this site is great, with loads of information. I have an idea and now a full drawn out plan for an app for iphones, ipads, and android devices. If anyone is familiar with theChive app, it is essentially like that only for my niche audience. I want to be able to have a set of new photos each day, videos every once in a while, a directory (people you can contact), a quiz/fact section (some quizzes may include pictures) and possibly a daily note section. My question is can I create such an app with buzztouch? Also I will be having a local business that is going to be a "sponsor" and they would like a small ad banner at the bottom (just like theChive's free one) can I do that also?

Well the answer is 'yes' but there are a few 'but....' statements... All of that 'can' be done, 'but' not everything is ready to plug and play. The best advice I could give is for you to peruse the BT Plugin Market, and see what is available for what you want, or 'close' to what you want. then make a task list of required resources that 'are not' available, and those that are 'close' to what you want. Start with the 'close' to what you want; easier to modify than to create. Then start searching for sample code to assist in the other stuff, or contract a BT Developer to assist you. Be sure to specify both platforms, if that's what you're going to want. I do local banners on my apps, using a modified 'MenuWithImage' and 'MenuWithImage Advanced'. Both can easily be adapted to accommodate your needs. As much as I like Susan's MWI plugin, Chris' new 'advanced' menu with image gives a lot of flexibility in cross platform situations, which is a real boon in several cases. When you go to search the BT forum for things that might have already been done, be sure to use Google rather than the BT Search; it allows more comprehensive searches. Use this string in the Google search box: site:buzztouch.com/forum quiz plugin "quiz plugin" is the terms for the search. replace those values with the ones you want. Hope this helps, good luck, and stop back when you get stuck somewhere! Cheers! -- Smug

Thanks for the reply and advice!! Is there certain plugins anyone suggests right off the bat? This app is more geared for educational purposes, that's where the quizzes come into play but want to have it appeal to others as well with the photos and videos that will be available.

I knew I would forget to ask a few things. I was curious if there would be away for users to submit their own photos/videos through the app to me so I can receive them to review and then share them??

Now I'm starting to get confused on the self hosting and whether I should do that or not? If so who should I go through?

Well, you can always use the "Email Image" plugin to do the former. Video? Not sure if it will handle that, but it might. Never tried it. Self hosted is great, but there are too many hosts to recommend any; I use network solutions, but I think they may cost more than some of the others. Find a good hosting company you can build a relationship with, and stick with it. Cheers! -- Smug

Well I have a few domains which I have registered through godaddy but do not have any of those built into websites, can godaddy do the hosting for my apps? If so how do you go about doing that?

Well I have a few domains which I have registered through godaddy but do not have any of those built into websites, can godaddy do the hosting for my apps? If so how do you go about doing that?

Well, it sort of works like this... You have two types of apps. Online, and Offline. Online needs a network, Offline does not. Most BT Apps are online, although not all of them are. And the kind that I work on are hybrid, with as many functions offline as possible, however I still want the app to be able to connect for updates and things of that nature. So my apps don't *have* to have a data connection, although sooner or later they will want to, if only for informational updates. A Lot of the data on your app can be 'cached', or stored, so that a data connection isn't always required. Certain functions of your app can be changed *after* the app has been released. This is done through the BT Control Panel. If you only use one screen in your app, it still makes sense to include all of the other plugins (although it's not required, and can reduce the file size of your app) because 'later' you may desire to add or change something, and if you compiled the binary without all the additional plugins, you won't be able to. Now we move to self hosting. As a BT Member, you can use the BT Control Panel to host up to 50 apps. If you self host (which you can do as part of your membership) you can have unlimited apps (unlimited = strength of your server). You can do it on GoDaddy, although I haven't heard that many good things about them connected with BT. I use a different provider, so I can't comment. When you become a member (hint, hint) you will want to download the BT_Server and install it in one of your domains. It installs similar to WordPress or other PHP/MySQL driven packages. There is an instruction document included, as well as many tutorials in the 'how to' section of this website, that can walk you through the process. Just remember that the documentation was written for 2.1.7, and with 2.1.8 comes extra configuration on your config.php file *after* you have completed your install. Hope this helps a bit. If you have other questions, feel free to ask! Cheers! -- Smug

Oh no worries I'm going to become a full member!! How could anyone not want to!!!! Do you have a suggestion for a good host that seems to work well with BT?

Some folks seem to like Hostgator. I hear odd things about GoDaddy. I've been with Network Solutions since ever since. I like their service, but they're not the cheapest on the block. It's about $14 or so a month, but there are many benefits and no bandwidth limit. I probably helps that I administrate a bunch of domains with them, and have a higher tier support number. Cheers! -- Smug

I was looking at Hostgator. If anyone has used them could you message me, I got a few questions.

Smugwimp got a question in regards to what you said about advertising. You mentioned, menu with image and advanced menu with image, when I was looking at them they just talked about being a header. I don't want a header advertisement, what I am looking for is the small banner advertisements you see in all the free apps at the bottom of the screen, however I don't want to use iAds just an image (when clicked on goes to the advertisers site or something) that I create.

Smugwimp got a question in regards to what you said about advertising. You mentioned, menu with image and advanced menu with image, when I was looking at them they just talked about being a header. I don't want a header advertisement, what I am looking for is the small banner advertisements you see in all the free apps at the bottom of the screen, however I don't want to use iAds just an image (when clicked on goes to the advertisers site or something) that I create.

MWI and MWI-A both have a header image in them. Advanced allows you a choice to have an image or not. Neither have room at the bottom for ads, however both could be modified to do so, if that suits you. Cheers! -- Smug

Okay I'll play around with it a bit. What I am looking really to do is just local in house banner adds located at the bottom above the different tabs exactly like if you ran iAds

That wouldn't be hard to modify, but you'll have to massage the code, and think a bit about layouts... You'd want to look at how they layout the image and the tableView below it, and basically 'reverse' the process so that it loads the tableView, with the Image below it instead. Both Chris' and Susan's plugins are 'close' so whatever works with one should work with the other... Cheers! -- Smug