Modern Word Processor Discussion Thread

[dniezby]

Good concerns. Just wondering if that line of concern is simply catering to the .05 percent of people that don't care enough to learn what they're doing.

Your target market is adults that use touch devices. Specifically the surface and phones right? I can't think of another market. Those people are (IMHO) smarter than the average Bear. They, from using every other app out there, will know there are menus to the top and the Charms.

Cater to your market not everyone. You will NEVER be able to satisfy the ones that can't figure out there are menus.

Again, just an opinion.

 

[Morgan]

Actually it was kind this kind of disregard for Windows users wishes on the part of Microsoft that lead to Windows 8 being perceived as a failure. The lesson they learned and addressed with Windows 8.1 was that touch use and mouse use require different methods. Analogously if there are users who benefit from the Settings button as a visual cue and others who prefer to activate settings from the Charms bar, make them both happy by letting them chose how they want to do. And for those users who are bothered by the settings button at the bottom of the screen create an option to hide/show the Settings button. You can even display a tool tip or message on first use telling the user that Settings can also be found in the Charms bar and that it can be removed. (Many good Android apps, such as Poweramp, emp0loy this very technique.

The bottom line here is that it's not about being right or wrong. It's about broadening the appeal of your app for as many users as possible. In fact, my advice to you is to never remove features you've already written. Some users might prefer to continue using the old way while others embrace the new way. Make them all happy. It costs you nothing to leave a superseded feature in.

You've got a good thing going here. I you keep improving Modern Word Processor at this rate you might be able to go to a subscription model at some point. As a former programmer I can assure you that that's the only way to get paid for all work that goes into maintaining a good app. And yours has the potential to be a great app.

 

[nnthemperor]

@goodintentions.
Not that it matters, are you a lady? Couldn't help picking up on the boyfriend line. Good job anyway.

 

[Tsurugaya]

Please don't go the route of subscriptions. I hate Spotify and Office 365 with a vengeance. I'm happy to pay a market price for an app, but I hate being charged a token sum a month just to realize that I haven't used it for the whole month.

 

[goodintentions]

Please don't go the route of subscriptions. I hate Spotify and Office 365 with a vengeance. I'm happy to pay a market price for an app, but I hate being charged a token sum a month just to realize that I haven't used it for the whole month.

Haha don't worry, my day job is a structure engineer. Middle manager. I work an average of 55hrs a week. Simply have no time to maintain a subscription service. And I currently have no idea how to do it anyway. Frankly, it sounds scary to me LOL.

 

[goodintentions]

@goodintentions.
Not that it matters, are you a lady? Couldn't help picking up on the boyfriend line. Good job anyway.

I'm a meat popsicle.

 

[Tsurugaya]

I'm a meat popsicle.

You go sweety, and if you ever feel like playing for the other team, come up and see me sometime.

 

[Morgan]

So I was typing up a document, and I wanted to use distinct color for certain passages. Unfortunately Modern Word Processor doesn't let me change the font color unless the text is already selected. So I have to type the text in the currently set font color first, then select the text I just typed to change the font color.

The I think it should work is: I select a new font color, and all text typed from now on should be that new color.

 

[Morgan]

Alright, it's the "Collapse Menu When Lost Focus" option that's giving me all the grief stated above. I guess I won't use it anymore.

 

[goodintentions]

Alright, it's the "Collapse Menu When Lost Focus" option that's giving me all the grief stated above. I guess I won't use it anymore.

Weren't you the one that wanted the collapse menu when lost focus option?

 

[Morgan]

I didn't ask for it, but I did like the feature for not covering the document once a selection is made. Until I discovered the problems cited above, that is.

 

[goodintentions]

So, I've been rewriting some code to make things flow a lot smoother.

One of the problems that I noticed with my app so far is the more crap you put in it (words, pictures, tables, etc.) the more lag you will experience. While I haven't heard any complaint from users about this issue, it's been bothering the hell out of me. This especially becomes annoying when typing becomes laggy as well. Very annoying to see myself typing super fast while the there's a huge delay of letters appearing on the screen... kind of like this very forum. Oh come on, don't pretend like you've never noticed the lag when composing large posts before.

Anyway, I've been "reinventing the wheel" by rewriting some of the code behind the formatting subroutines. And before, I've been using rtf format as the main formatting engine behind the document. I'm rewriting the whole thing to use html instead. Hopefully, a combo of making the code more efficient and switching to html will get rid of the lag.

One result so far from my rewrites is resizing inserted pictures ain't laggy anymore. You'll see what I mean once the next update is finally released. Another clear indication that the rewrites are working positively is the fact that global changes like document line spacings in large documents are taking place almost instantaneously nowadays. Before, if you have more than 7 pages of texts, you can literally watch the changes taking place from top to bottom. With the new code, everything takes place simultaneously.