Reflection 4

Reflection #4 — A Second Start

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Reflection #4 — A Second Start

Defying the goals from my previous reflection, I did not end up working much on the coding aspect of my project. However, this came with a good excuse; I could not possibly work on coding the app, when there was no app to code. Meaning that the physical display of my app was a mess. When I first started building it, the design specifically, I wasn't exactly sure what to do, and what functions contributed to what output. This itself granted my app to obtain a variation of different entities that even I was uncertain of their given purpose. Imagine this: there were arbitrary buttons everywhere, labels with no text, pages with no purpose. Moreover, the useful functions that I genuinely needed, and that were necessary to the success of my app, were lost under the mess that was called my 'project'. Because of all of this, I decided to step away from the world of my first attempt at the app, and made a new project on Thunkable. Using this new template, I was able to scavenge for the functions that worked well in my first design and exploit their benefits in my second start. I would self-proclaim this as a strategic and adaptable move on my part considering how great the app truly turned out. Although I wasn't conforming to the textbook profile of a resilient, persistent, and adaptable achiever by starting a fresh template for my app, it was adaptable considering the fact that I understood my issue (the disorderly appearance of my app), and I adapted in order to find a realistic solution (starting a fresh template and adding in the necessary functions).

The first task I took on was to attempt to make my app look less sketchy. Now, when I say sketchy I mean some website made in 2002 and that hasn't been updated ever since.

Well, I did some research on how to make your app look more professional, and I came across this godly website. One of the most interesting topics that it discussed was to not simply succumb to the default shapes that "Xcode and Android Studio give you." Although I am not using either for my project, I got the gist of the tip. Another one of the topics mentioned in the article, was to have a set color palette which I previously thought about but never had the artistic eye to accomplish. Anyways, with all of this information in mind, I went ahead and researched a bit more on how people make their apps more professional and I saw that it was possible to make the background of your app on Canva and simply place invisible buttons on you screens to help you code what each place had to do. I also made an Adobe Color account in order to make a decent color palette for my app. So, I spent a single class making sure my app was easy to work with and decent to look at. Below I have what my screens before and after the visual upgrade. Also, because I thought it would be helpful to others, I made a youtube video describing how to properly insert the images from Canva onto Thunkable. This is a side note but I also learned how to blur parts of of a video as well.

At first I had a bit of difficulty with making the screens fit, and eventually I simply made the screens the background of the app instead of a picture on the app.

During winter break is when I really want to work on the coding of my app. I also want to put in the proper invisible labels and tools into the pages of my app so it will be easy to code. As for a long term goal, since it is going to be a vacation, I will be able to have large chunks of time where I can just focus on the coding aspect of my app. My goal would be that by the end of winter break, I will have the coding of my app done, or mostly done. The weeks leading up to winter break, this week and the one before, were simply preparation to make the coding part go as smoothly as possible.