Using a screenshot is no cheat. The screenshot is an useful visual cue for user, helping her grasp the GUI as soon as possible, and direct her finger towards the right widget to be clicked. App loading becomes asynchronous, with user able to (start to) perform meaningfull navigation very soon. The user thus makes a good use of the screenshot.
I'd like to put similar feature in my HTML/JS application.
[[EDIT: a web-application for desktop computers; no relation to iOS]]
Currently in my app, any click that pops a new dialog waits for server to HTTP reply and only then draws anything on the screen. What I'd like to have, is to show the dialog right away, with empty fields at first, and inject contents once it arrives from the server. The idea being, the user can grasp the GUI and start moving mouse cursor to the right widget a bit earlier; i.e., less wait after the click.
Btw., Nokia N900, with Maemo Linux, behaves exactly like iOS in that regard -- shows app screenshot very quickly, and loads the app in background. It shows clearly on XTerm app, for example.
Especially true with new users as they flick between several apps quickly to transfer or gather information. (Such as phone numbers and addresses.) There is often no immediate need to manipulate the screen, but there always a need to see what is on it.
The screenshot thing is very disconcerting in HTML webapps: when you click on the app to go back to it, you are shown the screenshot and think you can interact with it, but the webview and app are then (visibly) cleared and reloaded. It looks and feels horrible. I'm not sure if there are ways to improve this with their meta tags.
You can specify apple-touch-startup-images that load on web app startup. These ideally consist of your app's chrome with any dynamic or textual elements removed.
What if they were to desaturate the screenshot to give it that 'disabled' look and/or overlay a 'loading' caption? It would be less deceptive - the user would be able to distinguish it from the app being ready for interaction while still familiarizing themselves with the UI so that they can immediately take action once it's ready.
I'd like to put similar feature in my HTML/JS application. [[EDIT: a web-application for desktop computers; no relation to iOS]]
Currently in my app, any click that pops a new dialog waits for server to HTTP reply and only then draws anything on the screen. What I'd like to have, is to show the dialog right away, with empty fields at first, and inject contents once it arrives from the server. The idea being, the user can grasp the GUI and start moving mouse cursor to the right widget a bit earlier; i.e., less wait after the click.
Btw., Nokia N900, with Maemo Linux, behaves exactly like iOS in that regard -- shows app screenshot very quickly, and loads the app in background. It shows clearly on XTerm app, for example.