I'm asking for critique of my app, not the design but the functionality. It is a tool for graphic designers, specifically those that design mobile apps but may be useful for anyone needing to work on a mobile platform. I started this as just something that I could put on my resume for programming jobs. The more I've worked on it, the more I wanted it to be something of real use.
There are other design tool apps available. I'm hoping I've done something different in a couple of ways. I've based it on the idea of Google's Material Design recommendations. It's simple, expecting only 3 to 5 colors to be used. It also includes Google's color palettes as a method for choosing the colors.
As for the design of this app, it's, well... let's just say I'm not a designer. You're welcome to comment on the design but it would more or less be "casting pearls before swine". I hope it's better than most programmers would do but that's really setting the bar low
If I get the feeling from comments that this is not of use, then I'll wrap it up, use it as a resume item and move on to another app. If it seems designers may find it useful, then I'll continue to add features and support it including eventually having someone do a proper design.
I would like to hear all comments but to offer a bit of a guide, there's a couple of main questions that I'm hoping you'll answer.
"Would you use this app"?
"If not, is there a small change or two that would make it useful"?
"What features do you like/dislike"?
As for features, there are a couple that I know it needs before I fully publish it. However, I was trying to release the beta version such that no special permissions were needed so I left these features out for now. However, I will be adding...
-- Ability to save and recover color schemes
-- Ability to share (e-mail, SMS, etc.) color schemes.
Besides the two mandatory features listed above, a few that I'm planning are...
-- Sample layouts. A few basic screen designs that give some idea of how the color scheme looks.
-- Fonts. A few different fonts for the the text that can be shown it main color sheet.
-- Hexadecimal keypad. We don't want to have to bother with the full QWERTY keyboard when entering
24 or 32 bit colors.
-- HSV picker improvement. This is a great tool when using a mouse on a big screen but it has
limits when using a finger on a phone screen. I have some ideas that I hope will make it better.
So, if you're interested in taking a look, my app can be found at:
https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.gmail.mobswdev.colordesignnopermisssions
It's in "open beta" right now. That is, anyone with the above link can download it but it won't be found by searching or browsing Google Play. No special permissions are required for installation.
There's also a 2 minute demo video on Youtube.
Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Gary
There are other design tool apps available. I'm hoping I've done something different in a couple of ways. I've based it on the idea of Google's Material Design recommendations. It's simple, expecting only 3 to 5 colors to be used. It also includes Google's color palettes as a method for choosing the colors.
As for the design of this app, it's, well... let's just say I'm not a designer. You're welcome to comment on the design but it would more or less be "casting pearls before swine". I hope it's better than most programmers would do but that's really setting the bar low
If I get the feeling from comments that this is not of use, then I'll wrap it up, use it as a resume item and move on to another app. If it seems designers may find it useful, then I'll continue to add features and support it including eventually having someone do a proper design.
I would like to hear all comments but to offer a bit of a guide, there's a couple of main questions that I'm hoping you'll answer.
"Would you use this app"?
"If not, is there a small change or two that would make it useful"?
"What features do you like/dislike"?
As for features, there are a couple that I know it needs before I fully publish it. However, I was trying to release the beta version such that no special permissions were needed so I left these features out for now. However, I will be adding...
-- Ability to save and recover color schemes
-- Ability to share (e-mail, SMS, etc.) color schemes.
Besides the two mandatory features listed above, a few that I'm planning are...
-- Sample layouts. A few basic screen designs that give some idea of how the color scheme looks.
-- Fonts. A few different fonts for the the text that can be shown it main color sheet.
-- Hexadecimal keypad. We don't want to have to bother with the full QWERTY keyboard when entering
24 or 32 bit colors.
-- HSV picker improvement. This is a great tool when using a mouse on a big screen but it has
limits when using a finger on a phone screen. I have some ideas that I hope will make it better.
So, if you're interested in taking a look, my app can be found at:
https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.gmail.mobswdev.colordesignnopermisssions
It's in "open beta" right now. That is, anyone with the above link can download it but it won't be found by searching or browsing Google Play. No special permissions are required for installation.
There's also a 2 minute demo video on Youtube.
Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Gary