Things to Remember for Making a "Good" App
Take a look at our MSP Shreyans Dhaddha’s advice when making a good app. Make sure you don’t fall in the ever increasing scope pitfall.
Most developers have a question on how to create a good app so that people will find it worth purchasing. It takes a serious amount of analyzing before even creating the app. There are always some rules that you need to follow in order to create something "Good".
Before even developing the first concern should be on the value of the product. And no I don't mean value by price. By value in this case I mean, is there even a market out there for the app that you are creating. Is there any previously created app already on the app marketplace. What can I do better from an already published app? You need to answers all these questions to define the value of your application.
The second thought of the developer should be regarding the app's focus itself? Who will the application focus as their major consumer. Will it target a person who is always on the run or a person who just wants to keep a daily log and so on... Using this idea you can break down and target the exact end user to improve the user experience even more and increase the value of your application.
Most startup developers run into a problem that haunts them during their development phase which is Scope Creep. In simple terms scope creep usually means when a developer keeps adding requirements which makes the project's scope grow continuously. This is one of the main reasons for new developers that their projects don't get completed on time. In order to avoid this situation, design how the application will flow between screens and define the logic in a simple flowchart before implementing it. This rough design technique before the actual implementation would keep you more focused on the current goal. See the sample below for how to create a rough screen design.The third and last topic is creating the user interface.
As we all know that the heart of an application is the functionality it provides. Even thou the functionality is a crucial part of an app, the user interface may have a big role to play as well. If the user interface is acceptable then your users will switch to another application that does the same thing but better looking. There should be an equal tradeoff between the functionality and the design of the application. Some things to remember when creating a user interface is to create a consistent flow for the app. There should be a very small learning curve to the application. Things should be very easily be accessible. Keeping the layouts consistent between each other. Once these targets are met, you will know for certain that you are making a "good" app.
Shreyans Dhaddha
Microsoft Student Partner at Algonquin College