You could use a newbie-friendly app like AppGeyser, but it’s only for Android Apps. You could try Google’s App Inventor, but according to a NY Times article, “App Inventor will not, in fact, permit average, nontechnical people to write their own apps unaided.” How about GameSalad? Simple enough —vbut the “drag and drop” style of app building certainly has its limitations, especially if you’re looking to create something more than your average app.

Stepping into the void where users can create smart and easily designed apps is Temboo, which aims to change the way you think about app design, whether you’re a newbie or a veteran developer.

The designers, Jean-Baptiste Leonelli, and Trisalda Chandaria presented Temboo at the October NY Tech Meetup. Interestingly, neither Leonelli or Chandaria are programmers. Their goal? Simply to make building apps, “more available to regular people.” Temboo’s library offers over 100 application programming interfaces (APIs) — covering everything from social media to the United States Postal Service.

Those APIs are broken down by lines and snippets of code called “Choreos,” or code shortcuts. According to the website, they’re local XML codes that run in a cloud, and they make everything happen — from “[handling] common development tasks” to “[deploying] from your own code.”

There are over 1,500 of them. Although it’s clear from sheer numbers that Temboo leans toward non-profit and civic-minded apps; there’s also a solid collection of pre-made code for things like music and video functions.

“We’re trying to change the way developers work … using the language they do,” says Trisalda Chandaria, one of Temboo’s designers.

Because Temboo writes the basic code for you, you can focus on building “apps of a different magnitude,” adds Chandaria. Because codes are editable, you can tweak them to fit your needs.

What sets Temboo apart is not just its usability and power — it’s also the fact that the designers are highly attuned to the needs of their users. They make that clear on the website, where they say, “If there’s some way [they] can help you better develop your mobile app/software/however-you-use-Temboo,” they want you to get in touch.

Temboo’s plans start at free — for 10,000 calls/month, 512 MB, 20 credentials, and one application key. As apps gain momentum, users can move up to the $9 level (25,000 calls/month, 1 GB data/month, 200 credentials, 3 application keys), or contact the designers to create a custom plan that works with your unique needs.

Images courtesy of Cienpies Design/shutterstock

The Content Strategist is a daily magazine for forward-thinking publishers and content marketers, sponsored and created by Contently

User demand is for apps, in addition to stories, videos, infographics and slideshows. Who are these journo-programmers, and what can they tell us about staying relevant in the content industry?

Greg Linch is one of them. He wanted to learn code but grew fascinated by the theories and concepts behind programming. He recently took at new position at The Washington Post as Special Projects and News Apps producer, which allows his work to cross disciplines — he’ll do programming himself but also work with an array of web developers and news producers.

From fashion to news gathering, every industry has tasks that are repetitive or done manually, and Linch’s projects aim to partially or wholly eliminate these. But in the hybrid role, he explains, the conceptual understanding of programming is most important.

“The idea of what’s possible and the theoretical are really the most essential,” Linch said. “Even if you can’t code it will help you communicate what you are building.”

Educators are aware of these demands in the news field and are modifying courses to implement these new skills.

“The trick is to layer in these new technologies and disciplines into our curricula,” Adam Penenberg, journalism professor at NYU, explained in an email, “without taking away from the core skills we must teach — research, writing, interviewing and ethics.”

Penenberg sees more and more opportunities for people who can do basic coding or develop apps, along with social media, and that the goal is not necessarily being able to build something from scratch, but to effectively use programs like Storify, Quora and Twitter for journalistic purposes.

“Coding is as much a mindset as it is a skill,” Penenberg notes.

The idea that learning to code could somehow detract from investigative skills is simply false, says Matt Waite, journalism professor at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a pioneer of the journalism-programming movement.

Waite built Politifact, the first website to win a Pulitzer, and teaches both digital project management and investigative journalism classes.

The hybrid role brings a bridge to the “useless and counterproductive divide” between journalists and software developers. Waite said that all too often, ”nobody is able to articulate what it is they want so somebody can build it.”

And worse, without understanding the basics of what code is capable of, journalists may not know what to ask for. The ability to think in different kinds of structures will produce a different kind of narrative, not just the traditional inverted pyramid.

“Journalism in the future will require working with fundamental building blocks of the web, back end and user interface,” Waite says.

The goal is to make things people want and to interact with people’s wants and needs.

Journalism, and content strategy, are interdisciplinary fields, which means solutions can be borrowed from other fields.

Linch says he continues to define himself by what he produces — journalism — rather than the tools he uses. Code is just one of many tools in his arsenal.

Image courtesy of Photosani/shutterstock

The Content Strategist is a daily magazine for forward-thinking publishers and content marketers, sponsored and created by Contently

image via banderdash.net

1. Know the Common Building Blocks

Learn the basic design elements. You might not use them all (perhaps you don’t run ads, for example). But you need a header that says who you are, an area for your content, navigation, headlines for each post, a place for reader comments, social network and subscription links, a footer (the bottom-most area) for each post, and a site footer.

Also consider smart design from other publishing areas, like the magazine deck — the single sentence below the headline that both summarizes and sells an article’s content. It helps draw people in and works better than running each first sentence in a list of posts.

2. Plan It Out

Designers start with a plan. Create a list of what needs to appear on your blog. Do you plan separate sections for original and curated content? Will there be a blog roll? A feed from your Twitter account?  Next, take pencil and paper and do a rough sketch of what the blog should look like in the browser.

Don’t worry about your drawing ability. Just block out the major areas you need and label them. One-column, two-column, and three-column layouts offer trade-offs — additional columns give more options of where to put elements of the blog, but can look more cluttered. Try different arrangements and see what seems most appealing while making changes only means using an eraser.

3. Find Inspiration

Look at successful blogs, such as Problogger, Copyblogger, boingboing, or Gawker. Find  blogs you admire that address a similar audience as yours. Consider why the site works visually, doing a block diagram as part of the analysis.

Gawker's layout provides maximum opportunities for reading content

What appeals to you? Compare these layouts to the ones you previously sketched. What changes could improve them? Why do you like one header over another? Maybe it conveys an image of calm or, contrarily, excitement. You might respond to the color scheme or a powerful image. What does the use of fonts say to you? Modern? Solid and rooted in tradition? Eccentric? View the page source. See how large images are set and what typefaces the designer used.

Boing Boing's approach is more visual then Gawker's

Don’t simply copy the site. Success comes from finding your own voice and look. Remember the famous saying: Good artists copy; great artists steal.’

4. Learn the Code

This step may take time, but the investment will be worthwhile. It’s easy to use a preexisting template or theme in a blog, but what you get isn’t unique … isn’t you. To adapt something already existing or to create your own using examples you can find means you’ll need to write some code.

Simple tutorials like the ones at W3 schools can help you visualize your code, and help you fix your mistakes

You should start with learning some HTML, the basic language of the web. There are free online tutorials like this one. Next, you’ll want to go through atutorial on CSS, which stands for “cascading style sheets.” That will become the critical design layer for your blog.

You’ll also need to learn how code for your particular blogging system goes together. WordPress offers its codex, which is the online manual. The lessons section has tutorials for developers. There are many other online resources as well, including this guide to modifying WordPress themes. Very handy.

Similarly, there is extensive documentation on Movable Type and Google has information on customizing Blogger.

5.  Time to Implement

You know what you want your blog to look like. Now you’re ready to actually put everything together.

Start with an existing theme or template that’s as close to your idea as you can find. Match the number of columns, basic layout, and typography if possible. This puts the essential code into place. Save a backup copy and then edit your working version. Find the images you want for the header. Change colors of everything to what suits you. Shift the column widths and header height. Swap out widgets. Soon enough, you’ll have made the design your own.

Yes, it’s a fair amount of work. But you’ll save money and be proud to know that your blog is really yours.

Related articles

• The Best Tools on WordPress to make your Content Look Great (contently.com)
• 25 Must-Haves for a Remarkable Website (hubspot.com)
• How Big Should Your Blog Be? An Informal Formula (contently.com)
• 10 Tools For Converting Your Blog’s New Visitors Into Fans (contently.com)

The Content Strategist is a daily magazine for forward-thinking publishers and content marketers, sponsored and created by Contently