Why do you want a StudioVeena.Com app?

Webmaster started this discussion · 11/14/2013

We get a tremendous number of requests for a StudioVeena.Com app, and as such I'd like to see what features our members our hoping to see so that perhaps we can accommodate them from our web interface. Just so we don't get your hopes up we are not planning an app at this point but we want to see why it is that people request apps in hopes that we can accommodate them within our current interface.

33 replies

chemgoddess1 · 11/14/2013
When aps are designed properly it just makes it easier to access a site. Currently I have to access a browser then go to my favorites and then finally enter the site. I am sure there is probably a way that I can put a link on my phone that may streamline that but I have not explored that option. I will however say that there are a TON of really bad aps that I thought would make site access better but royally BLOW.
Webmaster · 11/14/2013
You can add icons to your devices screen with the following instructions: For android http://mobile-pixels.com/pin-webapp-website-android-homescreen/ For iOS http://lifehacker.com/5809338/add-web-site-bookmarks-to-your-iphones-homescreen As far as making a site easier to access, UI design is all that really matters, not how its delivered. The big problem I have with apps is that since its an additional architecture to maintain most companies actually reduce functionality in their app.
LifehackerAdd Web Site Bookmarks to Your iPhone's HomescreenYour iOS homescreen isn't just for apps. You can put bookmarks on it, too, creating one-tap shortcuts to your favorite web sites.The process is super-
LorLynn · 11/14/2013
This is great! I just added the StudioVeena icon to my iPhone. Webmaster, you rock!
Former member · 11/14/2013
I was literally just thinking about an SV app tonight!!!! No matter what though, SV will always be the best quality teaching the web has to offer. Love you guys!!!
Veena · 11/14/2013
Sascha, can you tell us what you're looking for in an app? :)
PlatinumAni · 11/14/2013
I would rather use this option anyway. Very few site apps are worth the trouble.
CapFeb · 11/14/2013
Speaking generally, a well designed app usually takes up less battery power than a phone based web-browser. That's really my only personal, solid reason.
grayeyes · 11/14/2013
I thought an app would be quicker to get to but I'll try the link for the icon. Functions I would like in an app: -be able to search for a trick/spin/whatever by its name -be able to put lessons into different categories such as favorites, in progress, achieved. -group lessons by static or spin pole or trick versus a spin I'm new to Studio Veena lessons so maybe some of these things are possible on the website now and I just haven't figured it out.
Webmaster · 11/14/2013
CapFeb - In general there should be no difference in power consumption between your web browser and an app. However an app has the potential to burn much more power as rather than operating through a standardized piece of system software (your browser) it has complete access to the network interface and can create and use network connections willy nilly (yes I said willy nilly).
Webmaster · 11/14/2013
grayeyes - you can currently search for any of our lessons by their name and common aliases. - You can favorite a lesson or user video - You cannot currently make categories or groups of lessons or sort in a way the site does not sort The things you can't do is functionality that is not intrinsic to an app but simply something we would have to develop. I have added them to our idea list and we will evaluate it for inclusion in a future release.
chemgoddess1 · 11/15/2013
Sweet, Webby. I just never looked into it because a few taps is not a huge deal for me. I think people want an easy button and are so used to having 50 million aps for everything under the sun. The only ones that I really use like a true ap are my banking and maps. I would not even consider facebook an "ap" as it is just different design for mobile devices, and I might add that I hate their mobile ap.....but I use it.
Mary Nightingale · 11/15/2013
Even with a shortcut icon on the home screen, a web-app open in safari, takes up a tab there and does not allow any multitasking. If you open it again from home screen it just opens a new tab with the main page, and doesn't know where I was before (I have to go to the other tab it used in my safari). An actual app shows up on its own, saves it's state when you exit it, and easy to re-enter. This is not just with SV, it's my general complaint with sites that provide only a web app and think it's perfect this way.
Webmaster · 11/15/2013
Mary Nightingale - That is a very excellent point. Maintaining state is a nice feature and I wish I could recreate that for you. Let me think on this, there may be a way to do it inside the web interface. It's not that sites think its perfect this way, its that creating an "App" is a very expensive and time consuming endeavor. Creating an app that recreated the full functionality of this site and would work on both Android and iOS would be just as much effort and expense as creating the website itself. Then, once the app is created, you have to add features to and regression test three platforms every time you make a change. I would very much like to make an app but the cost would be so prohibitive as to make it functionally impossible.
ladydon2009 · 11/15/2013
I thought about the app since I use my phone, but after getting the webpage on my homescreen I'm cool.
Kobajo84 · 11/15/2013
I was going to say, I have been using studioveena like an app with the icon on my home screen on my iphone. It's direct access and the mobile version of SV is wonderful!
Webmaster · 11/15/2013
Thanks Kobajo we've put a lot of work into insuring that the mobile experience is complete and accessible.
Saphyre · 11/15/2013
Ah! Thank you for that icon trick!! I was just trying to figure out how to do that, yesterday!
Mary Nightingale · 11/15/2013
Webmaster, I'm a software developer and I'm well aware of the pain of maintain both the web and the app interfaces synced. Even big and wealthy companies like Facebook fail to do it properly. It's just from my experience with several sites that offer just the web based app as an app, it's usable but not comfortable, the functionality is there but it's awkward (I'm writing from my iPhone now, and the box is wider than my screen so I can't see the end of the previous sentence. I can't see the post I'm replying to, or what thread am I posting to and various UI bugs like in the screen shot). The limitation I described comes from the iOS itself, so except for making a silly one website browser app that opens SV, I doubt there's a way around this. But I don't like this solution, a well tailored app would make the worlds difference.
poledanceromance · 11/15/2013
I would use a robust mobile web version more than I would use any all that couldn't preserve the site's function. But that's just my personal preference. I'm usually the one on some random website trying to disable the mobile version because it doesn't do half what the full site does-not a problem here I should add, which is much appreciated especially because I don't have Internet access from my phone right now. I could see there being some cool companion features, like being able to make a workout calendar, pinning certain lessons to a day or adding notes, and syncing that back to the sv website....something that was almost like a "mobile trainer," an app generally meant to be used as more of a workout assistant/tracker/planner like myfitnesspal or fitocracy. That's the kind of app I tend to use most. Apps that attempt to replace a web browsing experience I tend to use with less frequency.
Webmaster · 11/15/2013
Mary Nightingale - Please reload the home page of the site then try replying to this thread. I think your concerns have been addressed.
Veena · 11/15/2013
It's fixed for me 💖
phedre · 11/15/2013
So webby will let a fellow coder help him work on it for realistic practice? >.>
Webmaster · 11/15/2013
Nope I just fixed the bug she was referring to.
phedre · 11/15/2013
I meant if you guys decide to make an app. Especially if it is in objective c or java for fairly obvious reasons.
onceuponapole · 11/15/2013
I would love to see a studioveena app to make using this site while on the go. I'm rarely on a laptop/PC outside of work so I'm usually browsing on my phone. SV already has a great mobile website but having that on an app would give users easier access.

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