The best tools to unlock your creativity
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Unleash the power of QML
We've adopted QML at the heart of a set of technologies to bring the Ubuntu experience to mobile devices. QML is an extremely powerful JavaScript-based declarative language for designing intuitive, natural and responsive user interfaces. Marrying stunning design with a high-performing framework, the sky's the limit.
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Crisp, integrated design
Our toolkit has been carefully designed to provide fluid and natural user interface elements that blend into Ubuntu without getting in the way. Now your applications can take advantage of it and be built on rich interfaces that seamlessly integrate with the OS.
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Native or HTML5, your choice
We recognize HTML5 as a core Internet technology often used to develop cross-platform apps. As such, the Ubuntu toolkit offers the flexibility to support HTML5 too. It’s your choice to decide whether you want to go native with QML and the best Ubuntu integration or HTML5 and less integration via Unity webapps.
Get the Ubuntu SDK preview
The first thing you'll need to do is to install the tools and its dependencies. The installation will take place from PPAs, which are archives of packages that enable rapid delivery of updates. It’s an easy step that should take just a few minutes.
Install the Ubuntu SDK preview
Follow these easy steps to install the Ubuntu SDK preview:
- Open a terminal by pressing the Ctrl+Alt+T key combination
- Enter the following command, pressing Enter at the end of the line and following the prompts
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:canonical-qt5-edgers/qt5-proper && sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-sdk-team/ppa && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install ubuntu-sdk notepad-qml
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:canonical-qt5-edgers/qt5-proper && sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-sdk-team/ppa && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install ubuntu-sdk
Congrats! Now you're all set to start writing a phone app.
Write your first app
Time to put your developer hat on and get onto business. The Ubuntu phone app tutorial will take you through the journey of writing your first phone application on Ubuntu.
You will learn about the different UI components you can use in your app, watch them in action in the Component Showcase application, how to set up your developer environment and use the tools. In summary, the whole lifecycle of a real-world app.
Design something beautiful
To enable you to design and build beatiful and usable apps for Ubuntu on the phone, we’ve also prepared a set of clear guides with everything you need to know about UX and visual design best practices.
The App Design Guides are a resource that keeps growing with new guides to make your apps stand out, so stay tuned for new content!
Learn more
Got a question? Ask!
If you’ve got any question about Ubuntu on mobile devices or developing apps for the phone, our experts are here to help. Ask Ubuntu is a free, community-driven Q&A site for Ubuntu users and developers.
After having completed the kickstart, you’ve now got a solid understanding of how to start using the toolkit for your apps. So now you’re probably eager to know more, and it’s time to delve into more detailed information about what each user interface component can do.
For your reading pleasure, we’ve prepared comprehensive documentation to get to know each component in detail.
Keep in touch
The phone and tablet are a huge milestone in the Ubuntu project. One that has generated a huge amount of excitement and received lots of attention. But this is just the beginning.
It’s all about creating the technology of the future for the leading free operating system. The same technology that will power the next million Ubuntu phones and tablets. It’s about being part of the action and providing input, review and working closely with the best experts in the design and development teams for Ubuntu.
We hope you think this is exciting and want to join us in this journey. If you want, tell us a bit about yourself and what you are doing and we can use your email to tell you about key moments along the way.
Keep up-to-date
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Virtual UDS starts today ›
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