
Show HN: Ink for iOS - mcfrl
http://minimaltools.com/ink.html
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bennyg
To be honest, I feel like in your minimalist efforts you have created an easy-
to-draw-with app, but not necessarily one that's easy to use. The grabber
should take you to something akin to an action sheet (no real minimalism
inherent in that - design your own) and should have the save option inside
there, instead of two different functions (one unintuitive without reading a
description of the app, or you telling me on an internet forum).

Beyond that, I like the ease of drawing and the clean look of the app.

~~~
glhaynes
Yeah, I cringe at seeing a share sheet shown by a double-tap on a grabber. For
one, I strongly expect share sheets on iOS to be shown only by the normal
"share" icon; for another, I don't expect double-tapping on a grabber to do
anything. Inherent in a grabber is its "grabbiness": it's something tactile
that you drag, not something you tap on. (Yes, Chrome uses a clickable
grabber-looking-thing for displaying a menu; that's unfortunate IMO.)

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!

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yottabyte47
The app looks nice but it has usability issues.

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.

~~~
ay
The double-click menu is a bit non-intuitive, but I think the issue stems more
from the perceptual "flakiness" in its detection.

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!

~~~
mcfrl
Thanks a lot. I do consider pull to save the primary action. Double tap or
shake gives you the menu, but I agree this can be simpler. It would pain me to
put instructions in the app though...

~~~
ay
++ on the pull. What could help though is to display something transient-ish
while you are "flipping the page" (to not present the direct modal choice, but
to give a hint there's more). I am a relative noob in iOS coding, so not sure
how easy it is.

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.

~~~
mcfrl
Thanks for offering solutions. It can be improved I agree. We had thought
about some one off instructions like this and perhaps that's something we'll
think about.

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khangtoh
I know being minimalistic in your design is good but your app icon doesn't
really benefit from being minimal. It needs to tell the user what the app
does. I suggest having "Ink" in your icon using the same sketch style in your
first screenshot.

~~~
mcfrl
I think about the icon in the context of something that could live on the
homepage, rather than a device to sell the app or encourage downloads.

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notak
I've been looking for an app like this, and it fits the bill. I'll admit that
while I could sketch right away, it took me a second to learn how to clear the
screen. I skimmed through the site, and didn't know to double tap the grabber,
so I shook the phone, not expecting much. But I appreciate that that brought
up the menu as well.

Good job!

~~~
mcfrl
Thank you.

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jayair
I like it. It does what it says. I can see myself using it for sketching out
iPhone UI ideas because of it's size. And just quickly sketching something and
sending it to friends. Thanks, keep up the good work!

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sturadnidge
Nice. I used the original version of Adobe Ideas for exactly this kind of
thing (back when it was free + in-app purchase if you wanted layers).

I like the approach of a 'new napkin' rather than an eraser.

~~~
mcfrl
I'm glad you find it useful. Thank you.

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anu_gupta
Nice, really wish there was eraser, that's pretty much it.

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wmeredith
It's called Ink, not graphite.

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anu_gupta
Was there a reason you left this comment, beyond some innate need to feel
snarky?

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wmeredith
One of their stated goals was to eliminate all things unnecessary. Maybe the
Ink/no eraser thing is part fo their product. It's for quick and dirty
sketches/notes, no second drafts or masterpieces.

~~~
anu_gupta
Ok - I'm curious why you couldn't have said that instead of leaving your
initial snarky comment. This comment leads to a productive discussion - your
initial comment was just a bit demeaning.

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mvkel
One of the few Show HNs that are actually pleasing to the eye. Nice little
app!

~~~
mcfrl
Thank you.

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dkroy
I cannot download it, if you can, please make it for the iOS 5 also.

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mcfrl
I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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slash-dot
ok, without your website I wouldn't have figured out how to clear the canvas
and while trying I only found out how to save the picture. I actually went
back to the website to figure it out. Another thing i couldn't find is an
eraser. If you screw up a tiny detail you have to start over. But I like the
concept of quick ideas scribbled on anything you can get your hands on.

~~~
mcfrl
Thanks for your thoughts. I always thought a little effort to learn the
interface upfront is worth it to keep it simple for the long term.

~~~
slash-dot
Yes sure, but it could be fixed if you added a few hints in the app.

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mcfrl
We'll consider. Thanks.

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outside1234
looks nice. why double tap instead of a single press?

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mcfrl
In use the single tap was too easy to fire when you inked near it, and got in
the way of the pull a little.

Tip: Shake opens the action sheet too. You might find that nicer.

~~~
gdubs
Shake is often used for undo, which may be a nice feature in keeping with the
minimal feel -- you could even have an extra long shake prompt the user to see
if they would like to clear all.

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btbuildem
iOS 6 required?! Not so minimalist after all..

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mcfrl
Sorry, we require that for some things we're doing.

~~~
btbuildem
Fair enough.

