[Q] Could anyone point me in the right direction? - Captivate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I am looking for someone who knows enough about the smart phone apple and/or android development scene to be able to point me in the right direction.
Here is a bit about me and my problem. Unlike the majority of the flood of apps in either market, I actually have a productive and profitable idea to contribute to the mobile application scene. I am 29 and have been doing multimedia graphic design for over 16 years, but I have stayed as far away from code as possible. So, talk about floods, I am sure there are people like me that hammer forums looking to piggyback on people. I am not one of those guys. I am basically looking for a little guidance on where I should go next. I have done a ton of UI work but I have nobody to help me put it together. I want to make sure and go after this the right way. Anyone feel like showing me the way? haha
Thanks!

If you want to try your hand at working apps but are still unwilling to learn to code but have a good handle on common sense, you should check out App Inventor from Googlelabs. You can create apps through the java interface they provide and all the actions are kind of like putting together a puzzle, you just drag and drop the pieces in. It's a bit limited because it's not code oriented, but like I sad if you are looking to stay away from coding, this is likely your best option short of hiring someone else to code for you.

Related

PROJECT - Talented devs please Read

I want to create a theme, as no one here seems to have the same design sense as me; most are obsessed with trends from 2004 or something, and are fascinated by bright colors and the need for everything to be big and/or cluttered. as a minimalist, i'm basically exactly the opposite. i like clean, concise, small and unobtrusive.
Anyway, if a dalented dev and I could hook up, I could design a very nice looking exterior for Android so long as he could code it all into place. I'd be wanting to skin basically every skinnable object within Android; I want a full UI overhaul. I also want it to be the best looking thing released for the OS.
To give myself a little bit of credibility, here's a mock-up I was messing around with to provide an idea of what I'd be talking about.
http://img811.imageshack.us/slideshow/webplayer.php?id=homel.png
is no one replying because it doesn't look good enough, or because no one is interested?
The design is very bland, more work on it would make it look pretty nice. I see you're aiming for a simple look yet, somewhat elegant.
looks very nice and clean but...
notification bar is half the size,dont know if it is possible to edit the size of it.
and it wouldnt be easy to acess the drop down menu.
Same goes to lockscreen,a lot to change...
Perhaps this are the reasons no dev is interested in this,but it is a nice concept...hope you can manage to get it done.
ZED_pt said:
looks very nice and clean but...
notification bar is half the size,dont know if it is possible to edit the size of it.
and it wouldnt be easy to acess the drop down menu.
Same goes to lockscreen,a lot to change...
Perhaps this are the reasons no dev is interested in this,but it is a nice concept...hope you can manage to get it done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can change the status bar size from source: frameworks/base/core/res/res/values/dimens.xml and change the status bar dpi from 25 to "x"
that was just a mock-up. everything can/will be changed to meet the dimensions of the elements to the sizes needed for the phone. and yes, it'll looks a lot better after some more time is put into it. i posted just a barebones preview of what i hope to accomplish.
You came in here bashing many talented designers and then post that? Instead of 2004, you're going prior?
Good luck, and I hope your "new" idea (given that there are quite a few minimalist themes) turns out well.
how did i bash anyone? i mean sure my comment was a little snarky, but it wasn't meant to put anyone down.
i don't see how that's prior-2004 either way, though.
Instead of asking for "talented devs" to help you, it might work out better if you spend a little bit of time to get to know the roots of android theming, and hopefully get more going than a few minimalistic mockups. Read a few how-to guides to get things rolling and when you get to troublesome .9's and xml tweaks, that might be a better time to ask for help.
As much as all of us will be really excited to see what you come up with (I mean that seriously), I really think it would be better that you get some experience going on your own first. 'Employing' people to do the dirty work usually means the end result is nothing like what the concepts suggested (I think a lot of us remember a similar situation late last year).
Good luck, have fun. I'm looking forward to the results.
turn said:
I want to create a theme, as no one here seems to have the same design sense as me; most are obsessed with trends from 2004 or something, and are fascinated by bright colors and the need for everything to be big and/or cluttered.
http://img811.imageshack.us/slideshow/webplayer.php?id=homel.png
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is absolutely true, most of the themes would make my phone look like a cheap knockoff. However, I don't find yours the most appealing either. Minimalistic is good, very good, but add some more life to it (again, in a minimalistic and clean way)
It kinda reminds me of this here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=662721&highlight=xperia
turn said:
I want to create a theme, as no one here seems to have the same design sense as me; most are obsessed with trends from 2004 or something, and are fascinated by bright colors and the need for everything to be big and/or cluttered. as a minimalist, i'm basically exactly the opposite. i like clean, concise, small and unobtrusive.
Anyway, if a dalented dev and I could hook up, I could design a very nice looking exterior for Android so long as he could code it all into place. I'd be wanting to skin basically every skinnable object within Android; I want a full UI overhaul. I also want it to be the best looking thing released for the OS.
To give myself a little bit of credibility, here's a mock-up I was messing around with to provide an idea of what I'd be talking about.
http://img811.imageshack.us/slideshow/webplayer.php?id=homel.png
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do get where you're coming from and a lot of the themes posted aren't to my taste, but your design is weak. If you're going to make something so minimal that it's just a gradient fill and a font, the font needs to be something so special it can carry the whole design, and that really isn't... italics.. seriously..? It looks very dated. I think you've shown a lot of arrogance to come in here disrespecting the work put in by some very talented people, and then put forward your own amateurish design as an example of what they should be doing. You're not going to recruit anyone to help you that way.
Personally, I don't have the time or the motivation to work on full system themes without any kind of reward or pay. This is difficult, time consuming work, as you will soon find out if you make the effort to learn for yourself. I will however be leaning much more towards the minimal style in my future GDE themes, as it's my own personal preference.
Minimal is a very difficult look to pull off in an interface without looking bland, but there are some fine examples around here. Take a look at Elegance for a start. I respect that theme a lot.
Forget changing codes and such, just go to Sweeter Home and build it yourself. There are tons of themes there that look like your example.
http://www.sweeterhome.com/
Hey man, I just felt like I needed to give you some words of advice from an artistic standpoint.
I don't know your design capabilities, I don't claim this is your best, and I don't claim you are a world renown designer.
But every designer I do know deals with battling what other people say about their work.
We can choose to be offended, or we can choose to take it as a way of improving.
There are two words for this. One is greatly different from the other.
One is Criticism, and the other is constructive criticism.
Some of these posts I have seen are just pure criticism. (Perhaps this is why I see a whole page of posts gone but others I see here are constructively trying to criticize the work so that you may gain humility towards others works, and improve in your own.
This is a true barebone theme my friend, but I see potential in it. It doesn't matter what other's think, it matters what you think. If you ever need some help with this man, feel free to e-mail me. I am no dev, but I am a designer, and I would love to help you in the artistic aspects of this project, so that you can have something to be strongly proud of in the end of this. Let me know what's up. Shoot me a PM.
A loving word from one designer to another,
-VolcomDesigns
volcomdesigns said:
Hey man, I just felt like I needed to give you some words of advice from an artistic standpoint.
I don't know your design capabilities, I don't claim this is your best, and I don't claim you are a world renown designer.
But every designer I do know deals with battling what other people say about their work.
We can choose to be offended, or we can choose to take it as a way of improving.
There are two words for this. One is greatly different from the other.
One is Criticism, and the other is constructive criticism.
Some of these posts I have seen are just pure criticism. (Perhaps this is why I see a whole page of posts gone but others I see here are constructively trying to criticize the work so that you may gain humility towards others works, and improve in your own.
This is a true barebone theme my friend, but I see potential in it. It doesn't matter what other's think, it matters what you think. If you ever need some help with this man, feel free to e-mail me. I am no dev, but I am a designer, and I would love to help you in the artistic aspects of this project, so that you can have something to be strongly proud of in the end of this. Let me know what's up. Shoot me a PM.
A loving word from one designer to another,
-VolcomDesigns
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
*applause* well said!

[Q] Hello, I look forward to developing with you.

Hello, I am new to this forum so I suppose I will give a brief bio. I earned an Associates Degree in Computer Science from the Community College of the Air Force while serving on Active Duty as a "Computer Programmer" from 2004 to 2010. Most of my duties on the job involved website development, server side scripting and databases. I started learning network engineering and security in the past 3 or 4 years. I'm familiar with being a go-to for fixing an unrelated FUBAR project from a random language where you have to just google the syntax and methods until you get the results your boss asked for. I've also dabbled in .NET and so on.
Anyway, it is safe to say I know enough to be dangerous or better with everything from legacy assembly code to the trends of today while I have no clear specialty of expertise at this point. I am going to use the Post 9/11 Montgomery GI Bill to go back to college. I should know what I want to do by now but it is a unique opportunity where I may as well do any one thing as another. I like to avoid personal conversations and keep it about the development on forums. I got a nook color 1.01 and came here for some tips on rooting it, now here we are. I am interested to know what particular needs there may be for an intermediate developer that has no strict preference with where I begin just as long as I don't need very expensive new hardware, unless I wanted it anyway.
So, hello and nice to meet you. I look forward to finding a way to contribute.
Canary19 said:
Hello, I am new to this forum so I suppose I will give a brief bio. I earned an Associates Degree in Computer Science from the Community College of the Air Force while serving on Active Duty as a "Computer Programmer" from 2004 to 2010. Most of my duties on the job involved website development, server side scripting and databases. I started learning network engineering and security in the past 3 or 4 years. I'm familiar with being a go-to for fixing an unrelated FUBAR project from a random language where you have to just google the syntax and methods until you get the results your boss asked for. I've also dabbled in .NET and so on.
Anyway, it is safe to say I know enough to be dangerous or better with everything from legacy assembly code to the trends of today while I have no clear specialty of expertise at this point. I am going to use the Post 9/11 Montgomery GI Bill to go back to college. I should know what I want to do by now but it is a unique opportunity where I may as well do any one thing as another. I like to avoid personal conversations and keep it about the development on forums. I got a nook color 1.01 and came here for some tips on rooting it, now here we are. I am interested to know what particular needs there may be for an intermediate developer that has no strict preference with where I begin just as long as I don't need very expensive new hardware, unless I wanted it anyway.
So, hello and nice to meet you. I look forward to finding a way to contribute.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can start from building yourself a most powerful i7 (Ubuntu, or whatever your flavor) Linux box your $500 can buy. Generate the tool chain(s) for emulator/TI OMAP36xx SDK. Pull every piece of code published by TI for OMAP 36xx. Study all the free Android/Java/JS development books you can find, subscribe to all Android development forums and to GoogleGroups of the topics and irc channels.
Then, start building the 2.6.32, 2.6.35, 2.6.36 kernels for Android 3.x.
XDA Devs is not exactly the place where the Gurus of Android development explain and do tutelage for newbies, it's the place where they show their results. Read in my blog http://fineoils.blogspot.com about developments for NC and other tablets in condensed form, plus about stuff that is usually of no big interest here. Start from approx. Feb. 2010, this will take some time, lol.
Thank you for the outstanding advice. I have an Ubuntu machine on a first gen Phenom quad core which was starting to collect dust that would be perfect. When I get setup I need to find out what some good starter projects would be. I bet that someone here has a need that has been overlooked because the pros are busy on larger projects and I could take a stab at it. Any ideas?
aludal said:
You can start from building yourself a most powerful i7 (Ubuntu, or whatever your flavor) Linux box your $500 can buy. Generate the tool chain(s) for emulator/TI OMAP36xx SDK. Pull every piece of code published by TI for OMAP 36xx. Study all the free Android/Java/JS development books you can find, subscribe to all Android development forums and to GoogleGroups of the topics and irc channels.
Then, start building the 2.6.32, 2.6.35, 2.6.36 kernels for Android 3.x.
XDA Devs is not exactly the place where the Gurus of Android development explain and do tutelage for newbies, it's the place where they show their results. Read in my blog Can't Quote Links Yet about developments for NC and other tablets in condensed form, plus about stuff that is usually of no big interest here. Start from approx. Feb. 2010, this will take some time, lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome! I'm new to Android, so I can't help with anything too deep just yet (used linux exclusively for 7-8 years, so I'm catching on lol), but I can give you a list of a few common issues that people are having that I haven't really seen solved yet.
1. Touchscreen bugs out sometimes, requiring a quick trip to standby and back to fix. Happens to me regardless if I'm OCed or not.
2. System seems to randomly shut off and/or reboot for many. Has happened to me a handful of times, almost always when doing something cpu intensive, like launching Winamp or opening too many DolphinHD tabs.
3. Wifi for many people seems really flaky. Mine works fine 99% of the time.
4. Youtube doesn't like when you log in, requires a cache wipe to relaunch.
5. Screen sensitivity gets weird near the edges. There is an adb method to force a blind recalibration, but seems to have widely varying results.
6. Pull up menus on many apps ends up with white on white text making it unreadable.
I have no idea if any of those are relevant to you or if anyone else is already working on them or not. Hell, some might already be fixed in Froyo or even Eclair. Those are just a few things I see many posts about. I should mention that I'm on 1.0.1 rooted with no other tweaks. I also have a horrid case of strep throat and have been quarantined in my room alone on heavy meds for a few days, so I could be way off or babbling. Anyways, welcome to the forums and sorry for typing so much. I know I'm not nearly the novelist that that blog pimpin dude is. ;P
This is all good information and I appreciate the reply. I hope you get well soon. Strep throat and strep meds are no joke and you are extremely lucid all things considered, so don't worry one bit about that. You are running the same system that I have so please feel free to keep in touch with me about any issues, and I will let you know if I find a fix.
If you have some spare time I'd like to ask you some questions about using Linux for an exclusive PC; I keep juggling it with Windows rather than taking the time to find a fix for common petty problems like running Netflix. Right now my lazy fix for that is virtualboxing Windows.
Thanks again and feel better!
miemens said:
Welcome! I'm new to Android, so I can't help with anything too deep just yet (used linux exclusively for 7-8 years, so I'm catching on lol), but I can give you a list of a few common issues that people are having that I haven't really seen solved yet.
1. Touchscreen bugs out sometimes, requiring a quick trip to standby and back to fix. Happens to me regardless if I'm OCed or not.
2. System seems to randomly shut off and/or reboot for many. Has happened to me a handful of times, almost always when doing something cpu intensive, like launching Winamp or opening too many DolphinHD tabs.
3. Wifi for many people seems really flaky. Mine works fine 99% of the time.
4. Youtube doesn't like when you log in, requires a cache wipe to relaunch.
5. Screen sensitivity gets weird near the edges. There is an adb method to force a blind recalibration, but seems to have widely varying results.
6. Pull up menus on many apps ends up with white on white text making it unreadable.
I have no idea if any of those are relevant to you or if anyone else is already working on them or not. Hell, some might already be fixed in Froyo or even Eclair. Those are just a few things I see many posts about. I should mention that I'm on 1.0.1 rooted with no other tweaks. I also have a horrid case of strep throat and have been quarantined in my room alone on heavy meds for a few days, so I could be way off or babbling. Anyways, welcome to the forums and sorry for typing so much. I know I'm not nearly the novelist that that blog pimpin dude is. ;P
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

App developed

I have what I think is a great idea for an app but no clue what to do with it. I'm by no means a programmer or even that great with computers. I've done some searching and there doesn't seem to be an app like this. Any help is greatly appreciated. From what someone told me on another forum it could be complicated. If your up for a challenge hit me up and I'll tell you the idea.
programmers don't program for free - so you'll need to offer some $$$ if you want to retain the copyright - in an ideal world. and if it's commercially viable, your idea will be taken and sold. simple as.
If a talented programmer wants to message me, we can talk numebers.
I need a developer to tell me what it would run to build this app.
Depending on what it does I might be able to help. PM me with the details and we can talk from there. The main reason I'm asking you to PM me is because, as I said, I might be able to help, I'm not a super-programmer but I do what I can.
you may want to also give a hint about what type of app it is - messaging, phone, map related etc. that way a programmer with those skills would be able to contact you. though really, most of the good ideas will have been done by now! maybe your idea hasn't for a reason
What platform is this app?
Also, are you sure there's not already an app that does what you're thinking?
Ok so what the hell. Here's the idea.
Everyone dreams of winning the lottery so how about an app where you've won the lottery. However you win doesn't matter because the fun starts after your "numbers" come up. Let's say you win 100 million. Now you get to start spending it. You could also invest. It either grows or dwindles. You could also have all kinds of marketing involved from Ferrari to Neiman Marcus anywhere people spend money. There should be options to buy houses in all kinds of locations. Maybe the background that shows your money status could be animated while the items you shop for are real. Like got to Realtor.com and buy a dream house. You can buy cars or give money to relatives. Anything you might do with your winnings.
I think it'd cool to see what people would do if they won the lottery. Maybe there is an option to take friends on vacation and buy them cars. It'd be interesting to see how fast the money goes. Say you bought a house and cars. Then a certain percentage of the purchase price would determine the upkeep of said houses or cars. So every month a percentage gets deducted from the winnings. Of courses taxes too since we all enjoy that. What do you think?
So there it is. Please don't steal my idea! Honor system people.
Its quite simple to program, really. Like most videogames, content is where it gets complicated. You have absolutely no game yet. You need to really pin down the design, how the game is ACTUALLY going to work; beyond your basic idea there. Then you'll have to design the interface, gather/generate the audiovisual content, adapt it, figure out licensing issues, etc. It goes on and on.
CptAJ said:
Its quite simple to program, really. Like most videogames, content is where it gets complicated. You have absolutely no game yet. You need to really pin down the design, how the game is ACTUALLY going to work; beyond your basic idea there. Then you'll have to design the interface, gather/generate the audiovisual content, adapt it, figure out licensing issues, etc. It goes on and on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd actually like to learn
You can try freelancing portals like freelancer.com, elance or odesk...
CptAJ said:
Its quite simple to program, really. Like most videogames, content is where it gets complicated. You have absolutely no game yet. You need to really pin down the design, how the game is ACTUALLY going to work; beyond your basic idea there. Then you'll have to design the interface, gather/generate the audiovisual content, adapt it, figure out licensing issues, etc. It goes on and on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tend to agree the idea is only a fraction of the battle... there are numerous ways you could put that idea into practice. Problem with a game is that if you want to mix it with the big boys and make mega bucks it is going to take forever to code and even more money to produce.
If you want to make it simple then you face the problem of people not being interested because of its simplicity. Games generally work best on a PC platform due to the extra screen space / processing power to deliver the graphics and deliver the rich content experience.
If you want to deliver it on a mobile device you will need to scale your expectations accordingly. Can you still get a decent game with limited screen space and HDD space? Hard to say, but it will take a talented programmer...
If you wanted to port a copy of that old classic “Street Rod” across to a mobile device I would be interested in a copy
The tutorial within android sdk page would be a good start point.
I figured it was way beyond my skill level. And you're right, the idea was the simple part it seems.

[Q] Self taught or not?

Just wondering how all you experienced developers on here started out. I know you have probably been asked many times before but I am genuinely interested.
I am by no means any sort of developer. I first came to this site about two years ago when I first learned of rooting. Prior to that I had no knowledge whatsoever of developing or programming.
However I cant keep off here. Is it something that can be self taught. I would really love to delve into this so that I can start to have a little input into what goes on here and even if its just testing at least I could maybe be of help to someone. I have picked up little bits on how things work but my main question is where would be a good place to start self teaching??? It is becoming somewhat of an interest for me.
Any pointers would be hugely appreciated.
Thanks
If it's apps your interested in then AdamOutler has recently done a great video/article combo which would get you started. Check the portal / youtube channel....
Sent From My Fingers To Your Face.....
I suppose anything really just to get a basic understanding to start with. I would love eventually to be able to create/modify custom roms ect, but yeah thanks for the pointer.
hammoliam said:
I suppose anything really just to get a basic understanding to start with. I would love eventually to be able to create/modify custom roms ect, but yeah thanks for the pointer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well for roms, check if your device is supported by Dsixdas kitchen, if so that's a great place to start tinkering...
If you want to really start making changes to things though your going to need to learn to code to some extent...
Read and search, read and search...
Good luck
Sent From My Fingers To Your Face.....
If you want a great beginning developer environment, wp7 is the easiest and most user friendly one to dive into.
I taught myself python with old boxed up books from the back rooms of my high school library. Didn't have a computer and did all my work on notebook paper. My first language. So, yeah, you can teach yourself anything.
I'm reading this right now.
http://www.amazon.com/Communications-Electronic-Warfare-Adrian-Graham/dp/0470688718
Has tons of practical applications.
Might get a kick out of what I'm reading right now:
Communications, Radar and Electronic Warfare
Frontiers in Antennas: Next Generation Design and Engineering
Advances in Cryptology 2011
Digital Forensics with Open Source Tools
Philosophy and Simulation: The Emergence of Synthetic Reason
boborone said:
I taught myself python with old boxed up books from the back rooms of my high school library. Didn't have a computer and did all my work on notebook paper. My first language. So, yeah, you can teach yourself anything.
I'm reading this right now.
http://www.amazon.com/Communications-Electronic-Warfare-Adrian-Graham/dp/0470688718
Has tons of practical applications.
Might get a kick out of what I'm reading right now:
Communications, Radar and Electronic Warfare
Frontiers in Antennas: Next Generation Design and Engineering
Advances in Cryptology 2011
Digital Forensics with Open Source Tools
Philosophy and Simulation: The Emergence of Synthetic Reason
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well i'm done with the list and ready to take over local frequencies with my own propaganda. read, play good music on pirated radio
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Nowhere near an experienced developer, but with a couple of apps and a ROM WIP, the only thing that taught me was xda-tv
Learning to me is just when somebody puts a puzzle in front of you with no clues or guidelines. But you are surrounded by 50k people that you may ask questions (xda).
I just keep trying to solve the puzzle and if I really don't get something I just ask xda.
That's just how I learn. Its how I've always learn. Just dive into it and rip it apart. Think as logically as possible and listen to some cool dub step while doing so for extra learning points.
Sent from my Wildfire S A510e using xda premium

Quick Intro

Figure I'd make an introduction so my new slew of posts in other areas of the forums didn't seem so random.
My name's Kyle, and I've actually had other accounts on here and made use of a lot of the information made available. I used to be a hard core root junkie back when the s3-5s were hot. I have a more goal oriented life right now so I'm trying to actually stick with things. So hopefully I won't lose the password and information for this account right?
I like to play video games, always have. Always dream of being a designer/programmer and as hobbyist I guess I've had my fun and success there but I realize that maybe solo game design wasn't what I was cut out for.
I am a mediocre programmer at best and these days, coming from the days of visual basic and that sort of thing, I'm 32 and a little behind.
What actually has me signing back up for the forums is a interest in hardware side of things.
Anyway, that's about it. Good to be here thanks for the welcome.
LasTWorD-AlivE said:
Figure I'd make an introduction so my new slew of posts in other areas of the forums didn't seem so random.
My name's Kyle, and I've actually had other accounts on here and made use of a lot of the information made available. I used to be a hard core root junkie back when the s3-5s were hot. I have a more goal oriented life right now so I'm trying to actually stick with things. So hopefully I won't lose the password and information for this account right?
I like to play video games, always have. Always dream of being a designer/programmer and as hobbyist I guess I've had my fun and success there but I realize that maybe solo game design wasn't what I was cut out for.
I am a mediocre programmer at best and these days, coming from the days of visual basic and that sort of thing, I'm 32 and a little behind.
What actually has me signing back up for the forums is a interest in hardware side of things.
Anyway, that's about it. Good to be here thanks for the welcome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice intro, welcome to XDA
orb3000 said:
Nice intro, welcome to XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the quick response. Really hoping to find a home base for my future efforts. I'm hoping to broaden my understanding of mobile hardware(i.e. boards, switches, modems, etc) in their relationship to the programming that goes into them. Like down to the binary, the ones and zeroes of it. So I'll be sitting through the forums and the archives looking for stuff but I don't know exactly what I'm looking for. If any one could point me in the right direction I am all ears.

Categories

Resources