Show HN: Ink for iOS
minimaltools.com
minimaltools.com
Beyond that, I like the ease of drawing and the clean look of the app.
Additionally, having "Clear" as an option in a share sheet feels really wrong too.
If something acts differently than another thing, generally it should look different, too. This thing isn't a grabber (at least not as far as I'm aware of from having seen the linked page) and the thing that it shows isn't a share sheet.
I do definitely like the idea of a quick, minimal sketching app like this that ruthlessly eschews feature creep to do one job well. I think you're on the right track and am interested in getting this!
I downloaded the app and used it for a bit but wasn't able to figure out how to do anything besides clear the page by swiping the grabber up and so I deleted it. I hadn't read the website nor the app description and there was nothing in the app itself to indicate that I should double-tap to bring up the action sheet. (Note that in iOS in general double-tapping is typically used to zoom.)
Here are two possible solutions.
(a) on first launch show a modal dialog that says something like "double-tap the grabber to access the menu"
or maybe a better fix:
(b) have the options "behind" the paper so when the user slides the grabber up the options become visible, then if the user continues to swipe all the way up the screen, the drawing is cleared.
I'd love to chat with you about the app. Post a link to your twitter/email/smoke signal/etc if you're interested.
Also, rather than showing a modal dialog once/doing it "under the paper", I'd track an incomplete save to camera action (incomplete swipe/swipe in progress) (btw, awesome abstraction with the full swipe!) and showing the 100->0->100% alpha transition hint "doubleclick the = area for sharing options".
Other than that little glitch this is an _awesome_ app with no extra bells and whistles. Totally keeping it for my napkin sketches!
The "real" problem that I perceived is the double-tap, and I have debugged my interaction a bit more.
What it looks like is that the triple-equal sign is a bit too small for my fat fingers. OTOH you do not want to waste the drawing space too much...
My thought would be: take a rectangle of 2x size the current triple-equal sign action area, then try to both use the drawing mechanism there, as well as to track the doubleclick-like events there - and if one happens, then undo the last drawing event (which was a part of the click, anyway).
I think this should make it easier for fatfingered people to deal with it :) And the translucent advertisement upon the swipe should take care of education, I think.
Good job!
I like the approach of a 'new napkin' rather than an eraser.
One of the great things about computers is that we can sketch in an ink style and still be able to erase mistakes. Ironically, the style in the app seems to be more pencil than ink.
Edit: Just saw that this was not the OP's comment. Apologies.
The issue with adding an eraser is that it would add a modality switch to an app that currently has only a single mode: you touch and it draws. If you have various modes, you'll probably end up needing an indicator for which mode you're in (and a cognitive burden, slight though it may be, of this modality). And, if you're gonna have all that, why not also allow various thicknesses of the drawing tool? And colors?
There are a million apps that do all those things, and rightly so: lots of people want all those things. But it seems to me that there's room for an app that tries to do what this one is doing, too: ruthlessly trade functionality for simplicity/minimalism. It isn't for everyone or for every use, by any means... but it's at the very least a good experiment. Maybe it's gone too far in the minimalist direction, but I bet it's exactly what some people want.
I understand that it is perfectly reasonable not to have an eraser in a sketch app but it is also perfectly reasonable want one. You have to see my comment in context (the incorrect assumption that the poster was the OP)
1. Firstly, glhaynes posted this comment after my edit (can no one see my edit!?). That means glhaynes posted a comment on a comment that I had retracted without acknowledging that. Why?
2. and the app is free You can still sell something that is free.
3. Simplicity can be difficult to achieve. I would argue that your app, would be simpler to use if it had an undo button. If I sketch a face and completely ruin it with one errant line, it is simpler for me to tap undo than to start from scratch. How is an undo button adding any more complexity than clear or save?
4. And, if you're gonna have all that, why not also allow various thicknesses of the drawing tool? And colors? Why have save, clear, share, print, copy or mail? I would argue that adding an eraser can be done in a way where that is extremely intuitive, certainly a lot more intuitive than double tapping a grabber.
5. The only reasons for not having an eraser or undo in this case (simplicity is not a reason in this case as the ux is already complex) is that it is a feature of the app to not be able to hide mistakes or change what has been done (`I agree that this is similar to sketching on paper) or some misguided use of skeuomorphism. The summary fails to go into this.
So That is why I disagree that it is a great summary.
To clarify, I had no problem with your post. It riled me up when the OP endorsed it while some of it was not valid (at the time of their post) but I responded in a ridiculous manner so please forget about the whole thing.
Tip: Shake opens the action sheet too. You might find that nicer.