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Show HN: My Weekend Project - Progress App (Time Tracker)

justnorris.com

17 pointsjustnorris11 comments

I built something like this as a personal side project awhile ago: http://simpletask.davertron.com.

I tried to keep it dirt-simple as well: just let me add tasks, click a button to start timing and click the button again to stop.

I have a list of things I'd like to add (let people use it without creating an account, tags/categories, mobile support, etc.) but it works well enough for what I use it for now so I haven't gotten back to adding those features yet.

That's what happens when you don't monetize your projects, you never find the time to add the features you'd want to, because the initial enthusiasm has worn off. It looks nice btw :)

I guess you did not provide any LITE version. Are people taking risk to buy it?

I was thinking about the Lite version, and I know I probably should release a Lite version (I probably will...)I just didn't think that there is that much risk. What you see is what you get in this case - It's a pretty simple app, you'll get what you expect from it :)

This is where I like Google Play market more, where you don't have to take risks. You can just buy the app, and if you don't like it, you can get a refund. Apple should have done that a long time ago.

I rationalize not charging anything for it by saying "well it's free so I don't have to fix it if you have problems with it" :)

Actually though it was an experiment for me using Backbone and Mongo, so I wasn't sure it was even going to hang around very long, but it's been a useful tool for me as it is so I haven't felt the need to make any real changes to it.

Plus at this point, since I haven't promoted it at all I'm the only person who's using it so I'm not super motivated to work on it.

That's why developing an application and selling it for 99c is so nice. You build it for yourself, you get it out there, and if people like it, you'll still be motivated to update it later on!

Maybe you could open source it and let others add those features?

It's open already: https://github.com/davertron/simpletask

I've been using this one for a while because there was no good app for the iPhone. http://www.mytasktimer.com/

I'll check yours out tonight! I really love that it looks like a journal.

Have you considered making a demo app that only allows you to have one task at a time then unlock the full version with an in app purchase? In my experience IAPs convert much better than a full version paid app.

I'm so glad to hear you like the design :). We actually switched to the notebook style later on, the initial idea was completely different (more like a Metro style).

I did a somewhat simiar app a year ago: https://routinetap.com, I'm still struggling to find the time for a mobile version though. Currently using backbonejs, I'm satisfied with the performance but it's hard to build HMTL5 apps. Haven't launched it yet, though.

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