Yesterday morning I installed the first test build of my stitch dictionary app on my phone. It wasn’t entirely a success, but its a start! I can see that in time, with a lot more work from both me and the developer, it will be excellent.
This is a new process for me, creating an app. It is also the first time in a long time that I have been someone else’s client. Normally I work by myself on a project, so working *with* someone is a bit different.
I still have to extract the text from my book files, and re-save every single picture from the book into a format that the app can use. It is a time-consuming and dull process, but it has to be done! There are no minions I can palm it off to!
The developer is working on translating my design ideas into fully functional parts of the app. I am learning about the limitations of app design – there are some things you just can’t do. Learning what is and isn’t possible is part of the process.
We have a long way to go yet, but we have a tangible start!
White Threads is the blog of Yvette Stanton, the author, designer, publisher behind Vetty Creations' quality needlework books and embroidery products.
Hi Yvette,
The process of learning a new technology can certainly be frustrating at times. But, am sure that providing a stitching app will allow for an exponential increase in your “book” sales, as well as being so tremendously convenient for stitchers!
A technical question: do apps have to be built separately for different vendors – i.e., Apple (ipod/ipad, Android, etc.)? Or, does “one app fit all” O/S platforms?
I remember writing a specification for a cross-stitch design programme once – it’s an interesting process, isn’t it, learning to translate between such different worlds as embroidery and computers!
Hi Sharon, The main thing that affects the different type of phones and tablets is the screen size. Each Iphone has the same screen size, and each Ipad has the same screen size. This means that from Iphone to Iphone, and from Ipad to Ipad, it will look the same each time. Android is more difficult because there are so many different screen sizes, and the app needs to be designed for each of those screen sizes. This is why apps for Android are much more difficult to make, and unfortunately means that one app does not fit all!
Rachel, the difference for me isn’t so much the difference between embroidery and computers – they’re two worlds I move between quite happily all the time. Its the difference between designing for print e.g. books, and designing for screen e.g. apps. Designing for print requires laying things out in a WYSIWYG program (I use QuarkXpress), and designing for apps requires a designer to make it look pretty, and a developer to make it functional. App development uses object oriented programming (I think that’s the right term) and it is something that is completely foreign to me!
I currently use excel for my hardanger designs. It isn’t pretty but it is functional and helps me with my patterns. I would love to have a simple app that I could design in, save, modify, and store shapes to place on a pattern board as I do in excel but something that better mimics a stitch. There are are plenty of cross stitch apps but hardanger isn’t cross the same. I am very excited to hear someone is taking the initiative to write a program for this style of embroidery!