Rockbud Posted June 4, 2015 Report Share Posted June 4, 2015 Hi 17th sharders,I've been professionally developing Android applications for almost two years and am constantly looking for little challenges/excuses for myself to try new things to broaden my skill set, and a few weeks ago I decided to try creating a widget for my phones home screen:When ever I visit Brandon's site, I always without fail check out his "writing progress" status bars at the top of his site, and so have decided to attempt to build this as a something I can track on my phone at a glance, especially now I'll be hanging off every update to Stormlight 3!I'm about halfway and it kinda looks ugly as hell (getting the functional stuff right before the ascetics), but I wanted to ask some questions here to Android users who might be interested in also having this on their phones:1. Would anyone indeed want this?2. If yes, would anyone consider testing this with me before its finished?3. Does anyone know of any legal reason I can't make this publicly available, given its using publicly available data and its free to download and use?I'm not out to make profit, no fee or ads etc, and I'm considering posting the source code publicly for others to learn/suggest improvements. This is purely a side project of a learning developer, and a Sanderson fan. If all goes to plan I should have something functional and testable by the end of this weekend coming.Thanks for your time! Feel free to ask any questions too 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Young Bard Posted June 4, 2015 Report Share Posted June 4, 2015 (edited) Personally, I probably wouldn't use this, at least not unless it was in conjunction with something that tells you when Brandon has made a new post on his blog. I usually try to see what's going on with that, seeing as he's dropped important information there. The reveal that he had written Bands of Mourning in the December 2014 State of the Sanderson post, for one. I don't know whether this is possible/plausible, though. I have no coding experience, whatsoever (It's one of those things I've intended at looking at for years, now). Edited June 4, 2015 by TheYoungBard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
navybrandt Posted June 4, 2015 Report Share Posted June 4, 2015 That is a good idea, YoungBard. I'd probably use it for a while but delete it once the novelty wears off. What I care about the most is the books' release dates, and they are usually publicized well in advance. But if it had more info like Brandon Sanderson posts or tweets, etc. I'd use it more. That being said, since you're doing this as a learning/side project, I'd be glad to test it out for you on my phone. It's a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (T-mobile version). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockbud Posted June 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2015 Thank you very much YoungBard and navybrandt for the feedback! I agree that the information in the progress bars alone is fairly limited, and it does need something extra. There's a limiting factor which is the data unfortunately: I'd need an easily accessible and easy to process source, which I kind of have for the progress bars, but it might take some digging and luck for anything as good as blog post alerts etc. I'll have to think about this. Any suggestions and/or questions are welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterAhlstrom Posted June 5, 2015 Report Share Posted June 5, 2015 A note, we do have an official mobile app in the works. Isaac is most involved, so I'm not sure of its current development status. 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 5, 2015 Report Share Posted June 5, 2015 If it was a "Brandon updates" app with a Progress Bar widget, I'd likely use it. But it wouldn't be worth the space on my phone JUST for the update bars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockbud Posted June 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2015 Thanks for further feed back and info! I'll keep going with my little project but if there's something more official in the works I'm sure that will be much better. I'll still post progress here for any who might be interested. Any more details Peter? A mobile app could be awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unknowingly Posted June 11, 2015 Report Share Posted June 11, 2015 A mobile app of Brandon site or 17th shard? Because I would love a comprehensive 17th Shard app on my phone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockbud Posted July 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 Hi again 17th sharders! It's been a busy couple of months since I started this project, but i've recently had time to do some work on the progress bars, and here they are very ugly having not been styled yet, but working none the less! The next step is skinning it and making it look good over a number of sizes (most Android widgets allow the user to resize them). I've also been thinking about how to send notifications when there's a new blog, and I have a few ideas i'll try including after the styling on the widget is done. As always, feel free to ask any questions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erai Sedai Posted July 29, 2015 Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 this looks like it's coming along well!! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
navybrandt Posted July 29, 2015 Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 (edited) I notice the Refresh button. I'd like it is refresh automatically at least twice a day. More than twice a day or in real-time if it's not too taxing. I know I'm not exactly involved in the development, but you could consider me an end-user stakeholder.Another nice, but optional, feature would be the ability to choose different skins (or styles).Edit: looks like it's coming along great though! Edited July 29, 2015 by navybrandt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockbud Posted July 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 @Erai thanks! @navybrandt It does indeed update itself periodically. I've got it set to every hour at the moment and will make this adjustable in the settings. The refresh button is there mostly to help me force the refresh while developing, although I did have an idea to replace the boring button with various different themed symbols (the KR double eye, Aons, Mistborn symbols etc) and have them glow when tapped and checking for updates. This would enhance your themes idea nicely I think! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockbud Posted August 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2015 (edited) So after a few hours here and there over the last few days, I've made an attempt at theming the widget: (This looks a lot sharper on my phone :/) I've hit a few walls and I feel this project needs a rebuild. It works well, but visually and functionally it's lacking. I tried to animate the icon while refreshing but that will need some more research, and without it it's unclear what the icon is for... But for now I'm parking the project and will come back to it in a few weeks with a fresh mind set. It's been fun! As ever let me know if you have any questions or suggestions! (If there is interest I can post a link to my code on the off chance there are Android enthusiasts here) Edited August 3, 2015 by Rockbud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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