

Create your own mobile app - AEtherSurfer
http://yapp.us

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randomdrake
Congrats on the launch! You've got a decent website but I didn't have a very
good first impression. Allow me to share what I went through to see if you can
make some improvements? After finally getting a chance to figure out just what
the heck this is, I can say I had a terribly frustrating experience.

1) Cool, a mobile app creator. Let's take a look and see what this one has to
offer.

2) Interesting, let's look at the tour. Oh, it's Vimeo. Crap, the video won't
load. Any other way to see? Nope, guess not. Oh well, lets refresh a few
times. Nope, still can't load. Silly Vimeo. Oh well, I'll ctrl+click and load
it in another tab while I click around.

3) Get started. Hrmm, these themes seem to all be pretty similar. Oh well,
let's see. Wait, what? Oh, I can just add invitations and event information?
Wait, I thought this was a mobile app creator? Let's go back to the homepage
and see what I missed. Oh wait: there is no link back to the homepage from the
creator. Not a single one. Help? Nope, goes to Zendesk. About? Nope, goes to
blog. How about the top left? That always goes to the home page, right? Nope.

4) Guess I'll see if the video will load. Oh, the video finally decided to
start. OHHHH, it's made for events. "Introducing Yapp Events" and it's
completely clear from the video that it's totally about events. Surely the
homepage said this and I just missed it? Nope, the word "event" appears in a
not so legible image (not actual text) along with "And many other events,
gatherings, and groups..."

So, allow me to comment on my problems.

1) This creates event apps for mobile devices. It is a far cry from a
generalized "mobile app creator." In my opinion, "Mobile App Creator for
Events" is not only more accurate but more interesting as it's solving a
particular problem and not just claiming to be another "app creator."

2) Provide some kind of tour that isn't video, please. I want to be able to go
through a tour without having to rely on Vimeo (which works sometimes, but
often doesn't). Can't I just read through a simple set of images and
instructions to browse how this thing works?

3) Providing a dead end for me to be able to get back to the homepage is
pretty bad. I got into it and because it wasn't clear this wasn't an event app
creator, I got lost and couldn't find my way back home.

4) Why does your introduction video so clearly say that this is to help make
apps _for events_ but your homepage appears to advertise it as a generalized
app creation tool? If you are relying on the gist or the important part of
your application to be described in a video that may or may not be loaded,
then you're not conveying your intentions clearly enough.

I hope I didn't come across as too negative. I like the idea and the service,
but just wanted to share what I went through in case others may have gotten
lost along the way as well.

~~~
timmm
Good information and generally an awesome review ha.

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iamstef
I'm a developer on Yapp.

Thought some might be interested in the tech stack:

The Editor and Dashboard are built with Ember.js, which we love.

Rails on the backend, with Postgres and Redis.

We get a little help from Pusher, Transloadit and URL2PNG. The Android and iOS
apps are PhoneGap with an Ember app inside.

Feel free to ask questions about our experience with any of the above.

Happy to share.

~~~
thetrumanshow
Thanks for offering.

If you're building an app maker and not just an event app creator, I might
assume you're shipping JS code and storing in the db or something along those
lines. My question is, how much of your code is bundled with the app in the
store and how much of it is fetched and eval'd at install/run time?

~~~
iamstef
Currently all our executable code is bundled. We only transmit meta-data,
content data and media.

~~~
thetrumanshow
Does it make sense, given your architecture and business plans, to move in the
direction of shipping/eval'ing the js for each type of app? I ask because we
have considered doing this and would like to know any pros/cons that you're
aware of.

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AEtherSurfer
\- <http://mashable.com/2012/11/13/yapp-public-launch/>

\- [http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/video/yapp-app-making-
app-1...](http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/video/yapp-app-making-app-17701520)

\- [http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/13/let-the-app-creation-era-
be...](http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/13/let-the-app-creation-era-begin-yapp-
events-app-builder-launches-out-of-beta/)

\- [http://allthingsd.com/20121113/yapp-launches-roll-your-
own-m...](http://allthingsd.com/20121113/yapp-launches-roll-your-own-mobile-
app-maker/)

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dendory
This seems fairly limited in what you can add. I personally like Andromo since
it offers so many 'activities' but I guess this one could be fine for simple
event apps.

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gdilla
wouldn't have this been better if it was a web app? Then you could service
most smartphones, and not require people to get a host app from the store.

~~~
iamstef
Although this may change in the future, our current goal is a uniform
experience for our users, this includes some features not available to many or
all mobile browsers, such as push notifications, photo upload, and an all
around quality experience.

