Monthly Archive: November 2013

Creativity… or more the lack of it…

Link November 24, 2013 0 Comments

Sigh somehow currently stuck at an app creation progress. I have the framework and global functioning done. Now I only need to get a certain thing right…but I can’t seem to get there for the last couple of days. Sigh…I can’t get the sentences right. I know what I have to say…. but I don’t know how to say it.
Do you know the feeling? I know what I need to do, but somehow I can’t seem to get it done. Like being in school again. I know that I have to do a certain report. Due date is coming…but when ever I get behind the computer…just blank. I can’t seem to put a sentence on the screen. Not even a single word.
What to do? What can you do? Me. I’m the person who then tends to start digging into myself. Which only leads to more questions and even more trouble. Sigh. Best thing then is to take a break, and have a kitkat. Like that line. Catchy and easy to remember. But anyhow, take a break. In this case step away from the computer. And do something else. Some say shift your focus on to something else. But isn’t this putting things off and how to say it? Avoiding work? But what can you do? Inspiration isn’t something that you can force…or is it? What you can do is minimize the distraction.
Mind is something weird. Sometimes thinking about something else and also doing something else, helps. You get something done. Give you a good feeling. And with that extra good feeling, you go back to that
big…
dark…
heavy…
something…

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ios creativity

Fixed AppStore Search Result

Link November 14, 2013 0 Comments

Today I discovered something disturbing about the AppStore search result. I used to get a listing of all my apps when I search for my developer entry name “mysteryfiles.nl”. So like always I type in the name and this time…my apps aren’t in the first search results. Look I’m a small time developer and don’t have tons of app downloads and ratings. I don’t do false advertisement, fake reviews, paid downloads or all the other stuff. And seeing someone else getting called first for the results of your own freaking name disturbs me…

On the iPad Results my apps are only showed on the second page of the results. On the iPhone Results my first app is Vitamins 101 in position 5. So Apple did something with their search ranking system. You can clearly see this with the first four apps in the iPhone Results, they have hundreds of ratings and mine have none. Does this mean that Vitamins 101 has no downloads & ratings? When I tap on it, the ratings sections shows nothing. But when I press the previous version, then I see my precious 48 ratings.

I don’t like the ratings system, with current app version having more influence on search results. As a small time developers it means whenever you update your apps: you lose your app ratings and have to hope, wish & pray that your app will be rated by someone. App visibility & ranking depends on app ratings nowadays.

Anyways I still can’t dismiss the uncomfortable feeling from searching for my own developer name and not seeing your own apps show up as the first results. This is wrong right? It smells fishy…

About things, Blogs, Uncategorized

AppStore iOS Ranking Search Result

App update: Vitamins 101 (2.4)

Link November 8, 2013 0 Comments

Like everything: it all starts with an idea. In this case an update for Vitamins 101. An idea for adding new features to it, like what about a compare option? Ok, I can do that.
What about some wiki info? Ok I can do that.
What about a DRI table? Ok, I can do that.
What about a conversion table? Ok, I can do…no wait a moment… I already did that.

Next question: where to put all this? A slide in table with buttons for all those option? A toolbar at the bottom? One button in the navigation bar that calls up a popover menu? A menu that comes up with a gesture?
Those are all possibilities. I guess it all depends on the taste and personal preferences. But I chose the separate button options…or more I started drawing a general layout of what I got from my previous update. Start at what you have. And from there I started to add the things I want. Draw a button there…and add an arrow. An new interface (which is just another square drawing). Put in some scribbles. No need for fancy things. Because it’s just me. I don’t have an independent developer who needs to read my scribbles & decipher the things I want. But sometimes I do need to switch between thought processes. Design issues in layout. I want it t look like this. But then the programmer in me thinks no… I can’t do that, it will lead to a crash. Or the Apple Human Interface Guidelines will reject that straight away. Yeah there is something like that. Anyways, where was I?

The creative process starts with an idea. And from there…it all depends on the person. I for one have to put it on paper first and visualize it in my mind. When I have the general picture. Then the coding starts. Sometimes fast and easy to execute. And sometimes painful with lots of crashes & error messages. Sigh…back to looking up through code examples and libraries. And the painful feeling man I don’t know anything. I don’t understand it. Why can’t I do it in one try? So needless to say lots of negative feelings. And some inner screaming. Arghh….

But why do you keep or choose this line of work? Ehm…don’t know. But one thing is for sure when I do find the answer I’ll let you know.
Live is full with ups and downs. Negative feelings…and positive feelings. All I can hope that it balances out in the end.
Anyways enough of my random thoughts. The update for Vitamins 101 is done. It’s at version 2.4 now. Let me know what you think….

The digital result:

About things, App Update, Blogs, Uncategorized

Blabla, Code Learning, coding, design, iOS 7