Why we don't use iOS Storyboards and you shouldn't either

stackoverflow.com

2 points·jfahrenkrug··3 comments

Interface Builder encourages rapid prototyping and iteration, and I personally prefer modifying a storyboard someone else wrote than deciphering a wall of layout code that typically contains a ton of magic numbers.

Xcode's refactoring tools will handle updating the Storyboard's connections for you. Also, you can use multiple Storyboards in your app to keep things organized and simple to deal with.

A code review should be easier with Storyboards, because there should be a lot less code! A design review would be good, to make sure the view appears the way its supposed to.

Check out Apple's WWDC session from a couple of years ago where they show how they built iPhoto using storyboards. It's definitely possible to build rich UI using these tools.

Totally agree - a while a go I posted a tutorial on HN about how to create Apple's "Your First iOS App" without using storyboards or IB. It started a pretty good discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5559216

That is really cool, thank you for sharing! I also fully agree with the guy that said that the Autolayout support in IB is a nightmare to work with. Plus, IB does _not_ show you exactly what your UI will look like: You have to Build & Run anyway to really see what things will look like, esp. with autolayout.

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