Marriage Map for #wp7 released! and a Windows Phone dev crossroads
Mood: thoughtful
Posted on 2012-04-05 13:26:00
Tags: essay windowsphone projects
Words: 504

First, the good news: a Windows Phone version of my same-sex marriage map is now available! (it's free and ad-free!)

It was tricky squeezing in all of the information on a phone-sized screen, but I'm pretty pleased with the results:

Countdown to the first inappropriate app rating in 3...2...1...
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I'm at a loss for what to work on for Windows Phone development next; I was working on a side project but was thwarted by OS limitations last night (grrr!), so it's back to the drawing board. Here are my options, as I see them:

• More porting of existing webOS apps: the trouble is that of my webOS apps, I'm down to the following:
  • Simple Alarms - this was written to fill a very specific need (no alarms on the TouchPad when it first released!), and it did so nicely, but WP7 has no such need.
  
  
  • LJ for WebOS - this is a possibility, as I don't see any other LJ clients out there, but it was a ton of work to begin with, and LJ keeps changing their page formats and I don't really want to keep up with that.
  
  
  • We the People - probably my best porting option, but there are already some pretty nice Constitution readers on WP7. I think they could be better (the ones I've seen haven't done the "tap on old text to see the amendment" feature), but I'm not thrilled about developing a whole app that's only one feature better than what exists.
  
  
  • Private Browser - again, this is one feature better than what exists (password-protected bookmarks), and there may be apps that even do that.
  
  
  • BoardGameGeek - a much better BGG app exists, and is free to boot!
  
  
  • GAuth - already exists
  
  
• Work on FlightPredictor more: A decent possibility, but I don't have great ideas for too many more features. Plus, I get nervous putting all my eggs in FlightCaster's basket - it's a great product, but they were acquired over a year ago which makes me wary about their future. I also like having a handful of apps for diversification instead of just one main one.


• Work on a Goodreads app: I like Goodreads a lot, and there is no app on WP7 right now (there used to be one but it stopped working and, I guess, got pulled?). The trouble is that it would be a big app - Goodreads does have an API but it's pretty big and complicated, and it says you have to get permission to charge for an app, which I would probably want to do.


• Make an app out of FitCalendar: The website works great for me, and I doubt the intersection of Fitbit users + WP7 users + people who track their steps this way is that big.


• Look for non-WP7 projects: Nah, I like making mobile apps, and I like WP7. (and my Nokia Lumia 900 arrives very soon!)


• Something else: I'm open to ideas!

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