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Show HN: My first iOS app, WriteDown - a Markdown text editor

6 points by vinhnx 13y ago

Hello everyone, I taught myself Objective-C late last year, and relentlessly working my first, real, production app since then. My app has been approved for sale last week, it is now on version 1.1, but I still very excited day by day since the launch day. :) About WriteDown, it is a Markdown down editor specifically for the iPhone. You can write your text in Markdown or just plain text. Syncing: It support Dropbox syncing. Optionally, you can upload your pieces of writing to Google Drive or Evernote as well, so you can keep it in your favorite Cloud service(s). You can email them to yourself, or to your family member, or your colleagues. It is a .writedown binary file that includes all your current note(s) so that you can restore and or add it to current note list in the app. Ofcourse there are many many features, to learn more, visit its landing page [1] or the iTunes link. Important Note: WriteDown is NOT iOS 7 compatible at the moment, but I'm working on this. Works well on iOS 6.x Check it out here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/writedown-markdown-text-editor/id670733152?ls=1&mt=8 Let me know If you have any question. Thank you! ### [1] Landing page: http://vinhnx.github.io/writedown-site/ PROMO CODE I'm giving away a few copies to you, so here are 5 promo code you can redeem to install. Feel free to let me know if you have used one of them so that I can delete it :) 4TL7RNEHH9TM W3XX9HMEFML9 NTWHNY9YFJP4 YPRKPEKP6WFT LKX7HN7A396X

vinhnx 13y ago
Clickable links: + Landing page: http://vinhnx.github.io/writedown-site/ http://vinhnx.github.io/writedown-site/ + iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/writedown-markdown-text-editor/id670733152?ls=1&mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/writedown-markdown-text-edit...
gbrhaz 13y ago
I like the colours and the general "look" of the app. I don't like how cluttered it is though. It seems like you've put in a lot of gestures and funky little tweaks just for the sake of it. You have instructions on every view in there it seems - I couldn't write anything for the first couple of minutes, and by the time I could, I had forgotten what the first instructions were. There was also something where I made a note, went back to the list, and tried to edit it again and couldn't. The little pencil icon was hidden. Seemed like clicking the table cell edit icon, as well as the main portion of the cell, takes you just to the "view/share note screen". Feels like a bug to me. I would've preferred the table cell edit icon to go to the edit view and then immediately edit the note. Is being able to change the screen brightness really necessary when looking at a note...? I'm not that familiar with markdown - what is reading time? Is it literally just how long you think it would take to read? When creating a note, I wanted to cancel, but instead I had to click the tick to save the note. I then went to "pull down" - not knowing what the gesture would do - and it created another new note, but not allowing the same title. To me, pull down refreshes. Maybe I'm stuck in my ways and it's now a gesture for many different things. Still, it'd be nice to be able to cancel out of the new note screen, or to even delete the note if no content has been added?
- vinhnx 13y ago
  Thanks for your feedback! > There was also something where I made a note, went back to the list, and tried to edit it again and couldn't. The little pencil icon was hidden. Seemed like clicking the table cell edit icon, as well as the main portion of the cell, takes you just to the "view/share note screen". Feels like a bug to me. I would've preferred the table cell edit icon to go to the edit view and then immediately edit the note. Noted. Maybe I put the table view cell accessory view too small to be tapable. Will try another way and I consider one click editing. > Is being able to change the screen brightness really necessary when looking at a note...? I think when your note is a long essay and if you are reading in a dark environment, this could be helpful. I will take note about this and consider it, thank you! > I'm not that familiar with markdown - what is reading time? Is it literally just how long you think it would take to read? Sorry, this reading time could be unwanted option. I will consider removing it. > When creating a note, I wanted to cancel, but instead I had to click the tick to save the note. I then went to "pull down" - not knowing what the gesture would do - and it created another new note, but not allowing the same title. To me, pull down refreshes. Maybe I'm stuck in my ways and it's now a gesture for many different things. Still, it'd be nice to be able to cancel out of the new note screen, or to even delete the note if no content has been added? To prevent duplicated file name, which could lead to syncing conflict on Dropbox, every note name must be unique. Funny though, I think the "pull down to create new note" would be useful in order not to stretch your thumb to the compose icon, think Clear :). You can disable this in settings, though. I think I need another kind of animation and icon to differentiate those gesture from the traditional Pull to Refesh. I think when user create a new note but not type content right away. They will come back later to do it. They can delete it manually. Thanks for your suggestion, I'll consider this! -- I'll look into these issues and bugs carefully and submit a fix soon. Sorry that it caused you those inconveniences. Thank you for taking your time to reply here! :)

6 points by vinhnx 13y ago

vinhnx 13y ago

Clickable links: + Landing page: http://vinhnx.github.io/writedown-site/ http://vinhnx.github.io/writedown-site/ + iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/writedown-markdown-text-editor/id670733152?ls=1&mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/writedown-markdown-text-edit...

gbrhaz 13y ago

I like the colours and the general "look" of the app. I don't like how cluttered it is though. It seems like you've put in a lot of gestures and funky little tweaks just for the sake of it. You have instructions on every view in there it seems - I couldn't write anything for the first couple of minutes, and by the time I could, I had forgotten what the first instructions were. There was also something where I made a note, went back to the list, and tried to edit it again and couldn't. The little pencil icon was hidden. Seemed like clicking the table cell edit icon, as well as the main portion of the cell, takes you just to the "view/share note screen". Feels like a bug to me. I would've preferred the table cell edit icon to go to the edit view and then immediately edit the note. Is being able to change the screen brightness really necessary when looking at a note...? I'm not that familiar with markdown - what is reading time? Is it literally just how long you think it would take to read? When creating a note, I wanted to cancel, but instead I had to click the tick to save the note. I then went to "pull down" - not knowing what the gesture would do - and it created another new note, but not allowing the same title. To me, pull down refreshes. Maybe I'm stuck in my ways and it's now a gesture for many different things. Still, it'd be nice to be able to cancel out of the new note screen, or to even delete the note if no content has been added?

vinhnx 13y ago
Thanks for your feedback! > There was also something where I made a note, went back to the list, and tried to edit it again and couldn't. The little pencil icon was hidden. Seemed like clicking the table cell edit icon, as well as the main portion of the cell, takes you just to the "view/share note screen". Feels like a bug to me. I would've preferred the table cell edit icon to go to the edit view and then immediately edit the note. Noted. Maybe I put the table view cell accessory view too small to be tapable. Will try another way and I consider one click editing. > Is being able to change the screen brightness really necessary when looking at a note...? I think when your note is a long essay and if you are reading in a dark environment, this could be helpful. I will take note about this and consider it, thank you! > I'm not that familiar with markdown - what is reading time? Is it literally just how long you think it would take to read? Sorry, this reading time could be unwanted option. I will consider removing it. > When creating a note, I wanted to cancel, but instead I had to click the tick to save the note. I then went to "pull down" - not knowing what the gesture would do - and it created another new note, but not allowing the same title. To me, pull down refreshes. Maybe I'm stuck in my ways and it's now a gesture for many different things. Still, it'd be nice to be able to cancel out of the new note screen, or to even delete the note if no content has been added? To prevent duplicated file name, which could lead to syncing conflict on Dropbox, every note name must be unique. Funny though, I think the "pull down to create new note" would be useful in order not to stretch your thumb to the compose icon, think Clear :). You can disable this in settings, though. I think I need another kind of animation and icon to differentiate those gesture from the traditional Pull to Refesh. I think when user create a new note but not type content right away. They will come back later to do it. They can delete it manually. Thanks for your suggestion, I'll consider this! -- I'll look into these issues and bugs carefully and submit a fix soon. Sorry that it caused you those inconveniences. Thank you for taking your time to reply here! :)