Thread: use the website as an app without the Internet

When building a website I have the option to publish my website (basically put the web files all in a structured folder using relative URLs) and just have a desktop icon that shortcuts to the index.html file. When the desktop shortcut icon is clicked on it operates just like a normal website, without need for the Internet. I would like to be able to something similar with the iPad.

The goal is to use the website like an app without the Internet.

I truly appreciate your input on how to do this. The next step would then be how to have it available for other iPad owners.

You can do this on the iPad, but be aware that it requires knowledge of Objective C and the iOS UIKit APIs. There is a class called UIWebView which let you embed a web browser view in your app (which you can run full screen if desired), and then you can package all your html and image files as part of your and display it through that.

If you don't already have experience doing native development with iOS, you may be able to pick it up yourself (if you've got experience with other OO programming languages it will take at least a week or two to learn) - otherwise, I expect it would be fairly easy to find a company who does contract app development who would be able to do this for you at a pretty reasonable price (it's technically very straightforward to do once you know how).

If you want to code it yourself, check out https://developer.apple.com for all the docs, and enroll in their developer program. It costs US$100 (from memory) per year to join and is required if you want to distribute apps through the app store. If you get a contractor to do it for you they'll already have a membership but you still might want to sign up yourself so the app is sold under your (or your company's) name.