(Link to Part 1)

I decided to mimic the game “Catch Phrase”.   I did so because its not graphical, so I figure my business-centric software background should suffice.  I’ve also decided to try to use JQuery Mobile as the basis.  A basic Google search comparing mobile browser applications seems to indicate this is still one of the leaders (I’d played with it before).  Plus, I really like jQuery.

I spent a day re-familiarizing myself with JavaScript.  I really like the language, but there are too many ways (patterns) to accomplish the same task.  I’m still learning the trade-offs, but have settled on some object creation and module patterns.  I will add, though, that there should be a special place in hell for the person who used a C-like syntax for JavaScript, but screwed with the notion of scope.

With the dust blown off my JS, it was time to tackle the interesting things in the app.  I’d like people to be able to choose previous/next words via a swipe gesture.  As with anything potentially hard, I like to understand them first.  I was able to get a stand-alone app working to demonstrate the swipe gestures work.  I had to use “alert” vs. console.log because I cannot for the life of me get the Chrome debugger to work on Windows when my device is tethered.  Stackoverflow/Google were unable to help me after an hour, so I went old-school.  Since most of the time I’m developing on Linux, I’ll let this one go.

Next up, I wanted some noises when the time runs out.  An exploding bomb is always fun.  I found this site with free sounds, then started Googling about the HTML5 Audio element.  Another stand alone experiment out of the way onto the last exploratory piece – getting the device to vibrate while the bomb goes off.

Vibrate was the sketchiest of the HTML5 tags.  Reviews were mixed based on Google searches, but I gave it a go anyway.  This time, my standalone test yielded mixed results.  Chrome on the desktop did not advertise the “vibrate” function as expected.  Chrome on my Android did, and vibrate worked!  However, when I got home and tried the iPad it did advertise vibrate yet it did not shake.  Bummer.

(Edit: Link to Part 3)