chris.bailey

Behind every great Android app...

chris.bailey — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:23:40 +0000

... is an even better website (and behind all of my apps is Drupal)!

As a long time programmer I have dabbled in quite a few web frameworks over the years (and written more then enough sites from scratch). In the last couple of years I've become quite an advocate of the Drupal CMS. When it came to developing my Android apps I needed a website to support them. Users need a place to go to find out more then can be said in the 325 characters allowed on the Android market. In addition to letting me provide more descriptions, images, videos etc, I also wanted to better manage my apps. I needed a vehicle to help me keep track of app version numbers and change logs. I wanted something that would allow users to contact me, let me host a simple blog and help me publicise my work.

I chose Drupal for it's flexibility. Not only does it allow me to do all the above, but I can also integrate my apps with the website in the following ways:

Crash reports from my apps are posted automatically to my website (and from there emailed to me) allowing me to quickly and easily fix bugs - although finally Android 2.2 has go round to offering the same support automatically via the developer console
Having a separate changelog page for each release of an app lets the app query the website and find out if there is a newer version available (again a feature that has been superseded by the latest versions of android).
When an app is updated, the next time it runs, it pulls the changelog from the website and shows it to the user - this means I only need to record the changes for a given app in a single place.

There are many more possibilities to having a flexible website to back your application. For instance I could quite easily enable a feature-request/user voting forum along the same lines as UserVoice, or maybe even surface content from within Drupal directly into the App itself.

I think most developers find that the Android market just isn't enough. To remain engaged with, and fully inform your user community requires the services of more then just the market. For me at least, Drupal + Android is the perfect combination.

App download stats

chris.bailey — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:05:16 +0000

I was watching with eagerness a week ago while on holiday in Malta as the total number of downloads for the ToDo List Widget passed the 50,000 mark!

For those interested, here is a chart showing the first 60,000 downloads.

YouTube videos

chris.bailey — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:20:05 +0000

Here are a couple of videos I made demonstrating my app.

App makes it into the showcase

chris.bailey — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 09:52:56 +0000

Just 10 days after it's initial release, my ToDo List Widget app has already appeared on the android.com/market showcase (under Free Apps -> Productivity). This is great news and will hopefully lead to a rise in download numbers.

(It's interesting to note that the app description gets mangled a bit. New lines are lost and arrow angle brackets (>) appear as unicode values - android still has a way to go)

It's also nice to report that user comments for apps now appear on the developer side of the market - I can now read comments without having to get out my real phone and hunt for my apps :)

New ToDo widget app released

chris.bailey — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 08:12:56 +0000

Frustrated by the lack of a really simple note-taking todo list widget for android devices, I've written my own and released it on the market.

Using the KISS approach, I've deliberatly kept the app lean. There are no unnecessary features (such as calendar integration, import/export, alarms etc). It's just designed to do one job and do it well. Although it's mostly icon based, I've also added French, German, Italian and Spanish translations where needed.

If your after a simple way to keep track of todo items from your home screen, give it a go.

Review on YouTube

chris.bailey — Thu, 20 May 2010 13:48:34 +0000

Hemorrdroidsnet has posted a nice review of the free version of the WhatGas Petrol Prices app.

Pro version released

chris.bailey — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 08:42:23 +0000

The Pro version of the WhatGas Petrol Prices app has now hit the market.

This new version, priced at just £0.59, is completely ad free and contains a bunch of new features. If your a fan of the original app and want a bit more configuration at your fingertips, then check it out.

Petrol Prices app reaches 1000th download

chris.bailey — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 20:21:56 +0000

A couple of months after releasing the WhatGas Petrol prices app (and several releases, new features and bug fixes later) my application has now reached it's 1000th download today!

It's only in the last couple of weeks that the app has been made available outside the UK (Germany, Luxembourg and Portugal) and we're currently in the process of opening it up to more and more countries.

EuroDroid article

chris.bailey — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 11:33:36 +0000

It's good to see EuroDroid have a short article about my app.

They even list it as a "GOOD APP" :)

First android application released!

chris.bailey — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:31:29 +0000

After about a months worth of coding and testing, I'm please to announce the first official release of the WhatGas Petrol Prices app is now out!

Android users can follow this link, or simply search for 'petrol' in the Android Market.