Show HN: Never-Bored - My first iOS App | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Never-Bored - My first iOS App

mide765.com

15 pointsmide76518 comments

Downloaded it and it seems as it could be really cool, especially with some more content and polish! Some feedback that I discovered right now: - The video view can't be rotated, not even in fullscreen. - Sometimes I got the same thing as I had before when pressing the shuffle button. - In the main view you should perhaps indicate what the different colors mean, with an icon or some text. - In the quiz section the layout is sometimes a bit awkward with long questions. There seems to be a lot of whitespace above the question, but you still have to scroll within a tiny scrollview. - The Pong-game seems to have a bit of a low frame rate at my iPhone 5. - The bee game seems a bit pointless to me, especially with the time counter having the hh:mm:ss format. It rarely took more than a few seconds for me to find the bee.

I however like the concept. And I think that if you perhaps focus your effort on a few of the categories and make them filled with nice content in a slick manner, this could really be a great app.

Hey, thanks for the feedback!

- I know the video view can't be full screen, I couldn't make it work. I even asked on stackoverflow with no success.

- The same thing when you press random is a bit annoying, I agree, but I didn't think that would be a big problem. I will definitely change that in the update.

- I wanted the main page to be as simple as possible, for the user to have that 'oh, what does this button do' and have the 'look what I found' moment. I will change that also since it didn't do what I intended.

- I honestly don't know what to change at the Quiz layout. If you can give me some suggestions, that would be great.

- Low frame rate? That's odd, I'll look into it.

- I wanted to have some games in the app as well and these are the simplest I could find and modify. The counter is a bit too much, I agree.

Thanks again, your feedback will surely be used in the update.

For sure you need better landing page, but I like the idea behind this app.I was thinking on similar web app in past but adding content manually was too boring to get it done.

Hey, thanks for the feedback.

I understand that I need a better landing page, but my real problem is getting users to see my app. I suck at marketing and when this HN post will fade out, I'm sure nobody will at least look at the app anymore.

I'm currently doing a video overview of the app and slowly making people to like my facebook page. Is there anything more that I can do? Writing a blog post is the next thing on the list.

You might consider using a smaller background image, the one you use is 2.3MB! (Some of us have Time Warner unfortunately...)

Hey, thanks for the feedback.

I will change the background image right now.

EDIT: Changed it.

What in the world does this app do?

My guess is that it gives you something to read/watch/play/learn when you are bored.

I was afraid that the description and the screenshots are not explanatory enough, but it seems you pretty much got it. Do you have any suggestions on what can I change for people to understand the app better?

You can add the sentence "Find something to read, watch, play or learn when you are bored" to the landing page.

Hey, thanks for your comment.

You can use it to read short-stories, watch interesting videos, learn facts and basic phrases for ten languages or play some simple games.

You use this app if you have 5 minutes to kill.

I'm working on an explanatory video of the app right now.

I think the "You use this app if you have 5 minutes to kill" is a genius marketing strategy and highly suggest you use this on the website.. it would add a lot of clarity.

Hey, thanks for the feedback.

I'll add it right now.

EDIT: I wrote: Used if you have 5 minutes to kill. Is that ok?

Will you have functionality for submitting / approving content? (YouTube videos etc)

Did not think of letting the users submit something. Probably not, since I want this app opened and getting to some content as fast as possible. I know it has nothing to do with what you asked, but it seems too complicated for this kind of app. If the app is liked and being used, content will be added.

Which language and tools did you use to create this app ?

Hey,

I used the basic, Xcode and Photoshop. The content was added manually, a big mistake on my part.

I hope that was the answer you were looking for.

Exactly ! thank you.

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