I have to do some prototyping for an iPad app, and just realized why I was having so much trouble: this is an iPad app. I am used to design website pages/templates, computer interfaces, etc.. I have my usability rules, I know when and how to apply them, but these don't work on an iPad, mainly because it is not a computer (took me a while to figure it..).
The main problem I have is about screen size / sliding. For my usual designs, I would start a canvas of a standard resolution (usually 1024*768 or 1280*1024) and start throwing stuff at it. I create a page for each menu, and voilà. Websites have scrolling, but it is not too problematic as you still have on screen roughly the same arrangement of header/footer/sidebars/content
But on iPad, sliding is an integral part of navigation, and is even preferred over buttons navigation.
So I would like my app screens to rely more on sliding than button-pushing. What would be the best option for this (I am only prototyping/designing, not building the actual app)?
- start with a canvas bigger than an iPad screen, and say to the client: "so, the screen is actually displaying only this portion of the design at at time, and the user can slide it"
- create several pages, and assume them independant from each other, and the user will just slide between them
- some other options I am not seeing?
(don't hesitate to ask questions as comments before proposing answers, as it is pretty late, so I doubt my question is pretty clear; I'll correct and explain it based on feedback)