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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Frustrations of an Uninformed Developer

When a developer develops an app, he tries to design the app with what the target audience, not just himself, will want in that app in mind. When a developer puts a program out on an app marketplace, he (or she) hopes that the app will do well. However, when a developer tries to improve the app, there is only so much that he will recognize that needs to be improved. To help close this gap, this is where the end-user comes into play.

We all know that the developer is human and every person is different. When the end-user uses the app, the person might see something that needs to be changed or improved in the app that the developer didn't catch. It is VERY IMPORTANT that users notify the developer about changes or possible improvements to the app. If not, improvements to the program can't happen. It is very frustrating when a developer finds that he is getting a decent number of downloads of his app, but there is little to no feedback (whether it be positive or negative feedback) from users of the app.

I will mention that when users are giving feedback on changes and improvements of an app, users need to be as clear as humanly possible as to what they want changed or improved. Stuff like "this app crashes" is not very helpful. Restating that as "this app crashes when ... happens" or "this app crashes when I do..." is much more helpful to the developer. Ratings are also important as well. Ratings can give a developer a gauge of how well his app is doing.

Developers, you need to be accessible as to how your app's users can issue support requests to you. It is also important to reply as quickly as humanly possible to those support requests. Honesty is another big thing. If there is something that users are wanting that just isn't possible with the current environment, just be honest with the users about it. People always appreciate honesty.

Now you may be wondering what this has to do with me. On the windows phone marketplace, I have an app called Mobile Media Manager, which is a media player. I have been getting a good number of downloads but I have been getting Very Little feedback on the app. With little feedback, I don't have a strong idea of whether people enjoy my app or not. I can only assume that with a good number of downloads of that app, people enjoy using my app. If  you have downloaded either the paid version or the free version, please rate and review the version you tried. If you have a support issue, please see http://catholictechgeek.blogspot.com/p/mobile-media-manager.html.

To find my Apps on the windows phone marketplace, just search for "Nowaksoft". You can also use the following links to get to it:
paid version: http://bit.ly/y3rf6V
free version: http://bit.ly/xGCsWE

I should have an update for both the free version and paid version of Mobile Media Manager out soon, depending on how fast the update passes certification. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me via the comment box below or via e-mail at catholictechgeek@gmail.com. You can subscribe to my rss feed or follow me on Twitter (username is @rctechgeek).

1 comment:

  1. Hi,i recently downloaded the free version of your app, although its good, navigation is not intuitive..

    i found some bugs which i am posting here...i think they might help.
    1. media buttons are spilling out of the screen in landscape mode (when there is album art and the song details are displaying on the screen usually when the song starts playing.)
    2.No visual indication whether shuffle and repeat are on or off (until user pops up the lower bar).
    3.Improve UI along with first splash screen
    4.Reduce the time taking when user skips a song
    5. remove the text "search text" in the search bar the user has to delete it manually after selecting the box to enter name its not intuitive.
    5.If user clicks back key on (album playlists)first screen, the user is diverted to media controls instead of closing the app.
    6.If user selects a playlist, clicks back key while playing, returns to the app again he can ntoice that the settings (repeat, shuffle) are not getting saved and the same song continues (when user tries to play next or previous track)
    7. Implement dragging on the progress bar.

    Hope the feedback helps..
    I am a professional tester and my native language is not English so please dont mind my writing skills

    ReplyDelete

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