Ask HN: Rate my iPhone app - Full version promo codes to give away
9 comments
DeusExMachina already gave you a good review of the busyness and first impressions of the app, so I won't revisit those. Instead I'm going to offer some critique of your website.
First, on the app store you have both the links for your company and for app support pointing at your company home page. If I'm looking for support on your product, I don't want to have to wade through your entire site looking for help. The support link should go directly to a page where the app is the main feature and the focus of the page is support.
Your home page looks a little cluttered too. I'm not sure what the "So nice to meet you" graphic and the picture of the masked stuntman is supposed to communicate. Since you only have the single app right now, it should be featured more prominently, like the first thing on the page. I see it at the bottom there, but the other stuff detracts from it.
I notice that you have a manual for your app featured on the home page, but I honestly missed it while looking originally. It doesn't stand out at all. It should be a nice big button and featured prominently with the actual information about your app, and also on your support page.
Speaking of support, you should not link directly to the pdf manual from the support link in your menu. Some people will get pissed when acrobat fires up and takes over their browser unexpectedly. I thought the link was broken and then realized I had downloaded 8 copies of the pdf in the background.
Some remarks about your "Latest News" feature on the home page. Two of them are dated for November 2009, and the last one is undated. This makes it seem like the app is a little stagnant. Also, what's the point of having links on the items if they're all going to redirect to the products page? I would update your latest news any time you add a new version, feature, get mentioned online, whatever. Anything to make it seem current. And if you're going to link, actually link to something related to the post. "Jobshare 1.0.1 What's new in this version" didn't tell me what was new in that version.
I'm not trying to be mean, but your app site is one of the most important marketing tools that you can use.
First, on the app store you have both the links for your company and for app support pointing at your company home page. If I'm looking for support on your product, I don't want to have to wade through your entire site looking for help. The support link should go directly to a page where the app is the main feature and the focus of the page is support.
Your home page looks a little cluttered too. I'm not sure what the "So nice to meet you" graphic and the picture of the masked stuntman is supposed to communicate. Since you only have the single app right now, it should be featured more prominently, like the first thing on the page. I see it at the bottom there, but the other stuff detracts from it.
I notice that you have a manual for your app featured on the home page, but I honestly missed it while looking originally. It doesn't stand out at all. It should be a nice big button and featured prominently with the actual information about your app, and also on your support page.
Speaking of support, you should not link directly to the pdf manual from the support link in your menu. Some people will get pissed when acrobat fires up and takes over their browser unexpectedly. I thought the link was broken and then realized I had downloaded 8 copies of the pdf in the background.
Some remarks about your "Latest News" feature on the home page. Two of them are dated for November 2009, and the last one is undated. This makes it seem like the app is a little stagnant. Also, what's the point of having links on the items if they're all going to redirect to the products page? I would update your latest news any time you add a new version, feature, get mentioned online, whatever. Anything to make it seem current. And if you're going to link, actually link to something related to the post. "Jobshare 1.0.1 What's new in this version" didn't tell me what was new in that version.
I'm not trying to be mean, but your app site is one of the most important marketing tools that you can use.
"I'm not trying to be mean" - this is awesome feedback tyvm :)
I have no time now to download it, so I won't waste one of your promo codes. Just a quick comment as an iPhone developer on what I see in the screenshots:
- the second one seems too messy to me. Usually on the iPhone you keep the visual clutter to minimum, while here you put too many stuff on screen. What's the point of having "today, tomorrow, due, etc." differing in both color and dimensions? - speaking again of the second screenshot, icons on the left are not aligned properly. The shadows on the labels in the upper part look awkward. What is that purple - up right? A button? It does not look like one and you are violating the Apple HIG. The segmented control looks awkward too. Did you customize it? Because usually segmented controls don't look like that one on the iPhone. - On the fourth screenshot you are violating the HIG again. Where did you take those checkboxes? These are not part of the SDK so they must be custom. But there is a reason you don't find them in the SDK. It's stated somewhere in the iPhone development guide that you should not use checkboxes. There are switches instead, or other interfaces. And again, the text here is totally screwed, with different dimensions for labels and weird spacing.
These are just comments on interface and not on functionality. But on the iPhone people usually expect polished interfaces. Look at competition: Omnifocus gets it right in my opinion. Yes, Omnifocus costs a lot more than your app, but it looks more like a quality product.
I'm totally not a good example of iPhone users demographic, but I bought Omnifocus because all the competition did not convince me. When I see screenshots like these, I skip to the next app, regardless of all the rest.
- the second one seems too messy to me. Usually on the iPhone you keep the visual clutter to minimum, while here you put too many stuff on screen. What's the point of having "today, tomorrow, due, etc." differing in both color and dimensions? - speaking again of the second screenshot, icons on the left are not aligned properly. The shadows on the labels in the upper part look awkward. What is that purple - up right? A button? It does not look like one and you are violating the Apple HIG. The segmented control looks awkward too. Did you customize it? Because usually segmented controls don't look like that one on the iPhone. - On the fourth screenshot you are violating the HIG again. Where did you take those checkboxes? These are not part of the SDK so they must be custom. But there is a reason you don't find them in the SDK. It's stated somewhere in the iPhone development guide that you should not use checkboxes. There are switches instead, or other interfaces. And again, the text here is totally screwed, with different dimensions for labels and weird spacing.
These are just comments on interface and not on functionality. But on the iPhone people usually expect polished interfaces. Look at competition: Omnifocus gets it right in my opinion. Yes, Omnifocus costs a lot more than your app, but it looks more like a quality product.
I'm totally not a good example of iPhone users demographic, but I bought Omnifocus because all the competition did not convince me. When I see screenshots like these, I skip to the next app, regardless of all the rest.
I sincerely apologize for not getting back to you sooner, my week was a bit crazy towards the end of last week and I took a four day weekend this past week.
My very, very initial impression is that it's an app I'm initially interested in, but some of your UI choices are rather odd - a few that stood out to me:
* Unlike every other app on the iPhone, your app does a card flip whenever you tap on a tab. For something I'd like to be able to flip through quickly, it just bogs things down.
* Same thing with your slides - why are they half the speed of everything else?
* You have a button for projects at the bottom. You also have a button for projects on the front page. They initially appear to go to the same place. Why is this duplicated?
* Why are you using ISO dates instead of my locale's preferred date format? As a programmer it doesn't bug me that much, but it is different than every other app on the iPhone.
* On the locations screen, why do you have plus and minus buttons? There are universally recognized gestures already used on the iPhone for zooming in a Google map area.
I agree with a lot of what DeusExMachina wrote, too.
To sum up: As somebody that's tried to use Omnifocus I could try to use something a bit simpler, but your app's interface is too non-standard and weird feeling - and the constant slow transitions would drive me batty. Please don't take personal offense (you've done far more than I have on the iPhone), but I think you need to rethink your UI a bit to make it faster to get around and take more advantage of standard iPhone UI elements.
My very, very initial impression is that it's an app I'm initially interested in, but some of your UI choices are rather odd - a few that stood out to me:
* Unlike every other app on the iPhone, your app does a card flip whenever you tap on a tab. For something I'd like to be able to flip through quickly, it just bogs things down.
* Same thing with your slides - why are they half the speed of everything else?
* You have a button for projects at the bottom. You also have a button for projects on the front page. They initially appear to go to the same place. Why is this duplicated?
* Why are you using ISO dates instead of my locale's preferred date format? As a programmer it doesn't bug me that much, but it is different than every other app on the iPhone.
* On the locations screen, why do you have plus and minus buttons? There are universally recognized gestures already used on the iPhone for zooming in a Google map area.
I agree with a lot of what DeusExMachina wrote, too.
To sum up: As somebody that's tried to use Omnifocus I could try to use something a bit simpler, but your app's interface is too non-standard and weird feeling - and the constant slow transitions would drive me batty. Please don't take personal offense (you've done far more than I have on the iPhone), but I think you need to rethink your UI a bit to make it faster to get around and take more advantage of standard iPhone UI elements.
This might not be the right thread to ask... I'm soon going to put up my android app. Is there such a feature on the android market where I can offer promo codes to users like apple's app store? Or do I have to bake in such a feature into the app on my own?
I like the direction in which your taking things. I feel that your work.. is just a good herculean effort away from being very mainstream.. I just wanted to comment to let you know.
Keep working on it man, It is looking good. there may be things that are off (from what I can tell) but I also can tell that your well on your way to having a very nice polished product.
Keep working on it man, It is looking good. there may be things that are off (from what I can tell) but I also can tell that your well on your way to having a very nice polished product.
This looks rather awesome. I can't redeem a code (am in UK) but checked it out, i was tempted but felt the UI wasn't slick enough.
If you get any early users that love what you're upto I strongly suggest getting a designer on board to prettify it :)
If you get any early users that love what you're upto I strongly suggest getting a designer on board to prettify it :)
Cheers for all the comments guys its great to get feedback - will get back to fixing up the not so good bits
I redeemed code #5. I'll write up some impressions and post them later.
Redeemed #3. I'll be back with thoughts.
Just some bullet points as I go through it:
* Kind of intimidating on launch. Maybe a couple intro slides?
* Seems powerful (multiple projects, locations, repeating tasks)
* Why do I have to double tap a project in the project list?
* Sync to Google account is clutch!
* A task due today is overdue?
* Priority management is good.
* Icons feel a little... standard?
* Location is cool. Might be the best feature
* Kind of intimidating on launch. Maybe a couple intro slides?
* Seems powerful (multiple projects, locations, repeating tasks)
* Why do I have to double tap a project in the project list?
* Sync to Google account is clutch!
* A task due today is overdue?
* Priority management is good.
* Icons feel a little... standard?
* Location is cool. Might be the best feature
Thank you so much for your comments. Btw - am adding push for locations so you will know when you are close to a tasks location
It would be awesome if some of you could review our iPhone app called 'Jobshare'. No Catches these are for FULL versions
Features include:
- Create simple todo lists or setup more complicated projects
- Export tasks and projects to Google Calendar
- Filter your tasks however you want by due date or importance or progress or project
- Make your jobs recurring automatically
- Attach a location to a task so you always know where you’re going
- Manage and prioritize tasks via projects, status, priority and due date
- Status: Mark task status as pending, in progress, completed or canceled
- Tasks can be ordered and grouped into projects - Sharing and Collaboration
- Use Bluetooth to send your jobs to a friend
Seven codes to give away
1)YYX3WJNNNEMA
2)T4A4R3AMM9PW
3)9HLARYRT7KEN
4)KNJHRAWJT47R
5)PLMKEF3M3MWK
6)W6AY9XRJ3KR4
7)L679L4RLAHKN
Comments appreciated :)
Many thanks