There's not an app for that
June 8, 2015 11:50 AM Subscribe
I wanted an app, thought there would be a bunch of options, I can't find any. Educate me on the realities of getting an app built. I'm not a total tech noob but I am not a programmer.
My idea is basically a database of a certain thing, structurally very similar to recipes (photo, ingredients, instructions), but in case it's not obvious the actual content is not food or recipes.
The core functionality would be:
The "recipes" could be sorted/searched/browsed on categories and tags. The user can mark which ones they want to do today/tomorrow/next week, the app would then provide a list of all the ingredients needed for the day/week. Recipes can be marked as favorites or as already tried.
There's a lot more that would be nice to also add in the lines of adding custom recipes, adding user tags and photos to existing recipes, journaling and sharing via social media.
I have a lot of experience with data, metadata, UI design and system development processes (functional specifications, user stories, etc.). I am passable with graphics (good if not particularly creative eye), and have some support in this area from family. I have an expert content producer.
I'm pretty darn sure the idea is solid and has a decent potential user base -- if done well. But I have NO idea what kind of investment in time or money it might take to get to a finished app.
My main question is, how crazy is it for a Jo Blow (me) to try and get an app developed? What kind of financial outlay might I be looking at? What kind of time would this require (assuming I'm doing most of the project management, functional design, testing and some content creation) -- is this more in the range of a hobby/part time job/full time job? Is this potentially worth all of this trouble?
My idea is basically a database of a certain thing, structurally very similar to recipes (photo, ingredients, instructions), but in case it's not obvious the actual content is not food or recipes.
The core functionality would be:
The "recipes" could be sorted/searched/browsed on categories and tags. The user can mark which ones they want to do today/tomorrow/next week, the app would then provide a list of all the ingredients needed for the day/week. Recipes can be marked as favorites or as already tried.
There's a lot more that would be nice to also add in the lines of adding custom recipes, adding user tags and photos to existing recipes, journaling and sharing via social media.
I have a lot of experience with data, metadata, UI design and system development processes (functional specifications, user stories, etc.). I am passable with graphics (good if not particularly creative eye), and have some support in this area from family. I have an expert content producer.
I'm pretty darn sure the idea is solid and has a decent potential user base -- if done well. But I have NO idea what kind of investment in time or money it might take to get to a finished app.
My main question is, how crazy is it for a Jo Blow (me) to try and get an app developed? What kind of financial outlay might I be looking at? What kind of time would this require (assuming I'm doing most of the project management, functional design, testing and some content creation) -- is this more in the range of a hobby/part time job/full time job? Is this potentially worth all of this trouble?
The first question to ask is whether it really needs to be usable offline. If not, just make a website that looks good on mobile, tablet, whatever.
posted by rhizome at 12:56 PM on June 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by rhizome at 12:56 PM on June 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Once in a while, Hacker News will have stories and discussions about someone learning to code by doing their first project. That might be helpful to you.
I will also suggest you look for an open source app that has similar functionality and see if you can't get a Minimum Viable Product working by fiddling with that (even if you wind up scrapping that and writing it from scratch later). Minimum Viable Product or MVA is a term you could search on Hacker News. That's the thing you are going to want to shoot for: Something that does one basic thing, without all the bells and whistles, but actually functions when it does that thing. Bells and whistles can be added later. Modifying someone else's source code to try to get the thing to do what you want is likely to be tons easier than coding your first thing from scratch and it's a good way to start learning.
Whether it is a hobby, part-time job, or full time job is partly up to you, partly up to market forces. You can decide whether or not monetizing it is important to you and work on making it fit a part time schedule or work on making it financially support full time dedication, as you see fit. Though, really, a single app is not typically full time long term. From what I gather, it typically becomes one of several apps plus some consulting supporting the coder.
posted by Michele in California at 1:00 PM on June 8, 2015
I will also suggest you look for an open source app that has similar functionality and see if you can't get a Minimum Viable Product working by fiddling with that (even if you wind up scrapping that and writing it from scratch later). Minimum Viable Product or MVA is a term you could search on Hacker News. That's the thing you are going to want to shoot for: Something that does one basic thing, without all the bells and whistles, but actually functions when it does that thing. Bells and whistles can be added later. Modifying someone else's source code to try to get the thing to do what you want is likely to be tons easier than coding your first thing from scratch and it's a good way to start learning.
Whether it is a hobby, part-time job, or full time job is partly up to you, partly up to market forces. You can decide whether or not monetizing it is important to you and work on making it fit a part time schedule or work on making it financially support full time dedication, as you see fit. Though, really, a single app is not typically full time long term. From what I gather, it typically becomes one of several apps plus some consulting supporting the coder.
posted by Michele in California at 1:00 PM on June 8, 2015
You could certainly do most of this with Drupal without having to write any code.
posted by rachelpapers at 1:42 PM on June 8, 2015
posted by rachelpapers at 1:42 PM on June 8, 2015
The first question to ask is whether it really needs to be usable offline. If not, just make a website that looks good on mobile, tablet, whatever.
Yeah- this is really the key- figuring out exactly what you mean by "app." It would definitely be easiest to do it as just a website that also works on mobile, because it would only be one set of code.
However, if you're picturing people finding it through the App Store and the google equivalent, you need native apps for each phone, as well as possibly a website in HTML/JS, if you want people to be able to use it that way too.
posted by drjimmy11 at 2:47 PM on June 8, 2015
Yeah- this is really the key- figuring out exactly what you mean by "app." It would definitely be easiest to do it as just a website that also works on mobile, because it would only be one set of code.
However, if you're picturing people finding it through the App Store and the google equivalent, you need native apps for each phone, as well as possibly a website in HTML/JS, if you want people to be able to use it that way too.
posted by drjimmy11 at 2:47 PM on June 8, 2015
Response by poster: I'm thinking ios and android apps, not really wanting to do it as a web serivce. This is partially based on what I want as a user (as I said, this was something I was hoping to use myself) but also because this would only be worth it if I could make a little money from it and I think a paid app is probably the best option for me, and this particular content.
I'm also not really interested in (or more correctly, have time for) learning to code, and my goal is to do this in the easiest way possible. I did some searching based on Michele in California's suggestions, and what I guess I was hoping is that there would be some basic database app template/framework (open source or purchasable) that "I" could put original content in and skin. So cheap and quick but with the right skin, attractive. Most of the functionality is pretty common (at least in ios devices/apps), and what's not could be deferred as a bell and whistle if it actually got some uptake.
posted by pennypiper at 3:51 PM on June 8, 2015
I'm also not really interested in (or more correctly, have time for) learning to code, and my goal is to do this in the easiest way possible. I did some searching based on Michele in California's suggestions, and what I guess I was hoping is that there would be some basic database app template/framework (open source or purchasable) that "I" could put original content in and skin. So cheap and quick but with the right skin, attractive. Most of the functionality is pretty common (at least in ios devices/apps), and what's not could be deferred as a bell and whistle if it actually got some uptake.
posted by pennypiper at 3:51 PM on June 8, 2015
I am pretty sure this will not serve your needs, but it came to mind as the kind of thing you are looking for in terms of something that can build a thing for you when you do not know how to code: LiSE. So it is possible someone is developing such thing or has developed it in a form that would serve your needs.
I am not knowledgeable enough to tell you how to search for such a thing. But perhaps others here know what terms to use in Google or while searching Hacker News to try to find out if such a thing exists.
posted by Michele in California at 4:06 PM on June 8, 2015
I am not knowledgeable enough to tell you how to search for such a thing. But perhaps others here know what terms to use in Google or while searching Hacker News to try to find out if such a thing exists.
posted by Michele in California at 4:06 PM on June 8, 2015
Best answer: Spend months writing it yourself and you too can join us app store developers and earn the big bucks! I made more than $8 this week, with only 4 apps in the store.
posted by w0mbat at 4:16 PM on June 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by w0mbat at 4:16 PM on June 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
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Not crazy.
eLance or similar $10,000
Lots of time but could be hobby.
No, prob not.
posted by Xhris at 12:55 PM on June 8, 2015