Time’s Up, Pencils Down!

If this phrase is not familiar to you, then I don’t know which part of the universe you are from! But most importantly, I would love to relocate there. So can you please give me the directions?

Hehe, I am saying that because of all the emotions that one usually experiences when those words are uttered; feeling like there is much more you should do or add has to be the worst! Conversely, there are those good days where one can’t wait to hear them since they symbolize the end of that particular activity and hopefully the beginning of a better one. Especially if it is a Friday!!

However, instead of ‘pencils down’, my case will be more like ‘codes down’ as today marks the deadline of the Technovation Challenge {Local}. Applications are to be submitted in a couple of hours!

I have been working on this app for a couple of weeks, but most of the work took place in the last couple of days. Previously, balancing my school work, my GSA events, my hospital visits (Le eyes are irritated. Must be the contacts. See Brand New Eyes) and work was proving a little bit overwhelming but after I was done with the semester, I was able to take it up seriously.

Application development was done by the use of MIT’s app inventor. Although it is a very simple tool to use, I felt like it constricted my app functionality a lot. I wanted to do so many things with my program but there are other things that were near to impossible with app inventor. I had to keep on altering my specifications all the time until I reached a point that I didn’t even know which part of the initial concept I still remained with! And if you have ever gone through that, you know just how frustrating it can get.

Then again, since I am no quitter, I had to keep at it. I wanted to give up on it so many times because even the people I was seeking help from were busy pulling a Houdini but I was constantly reminded that I had it in me to do this alone. And for the sake of not letting any of my people down, I braved long days, short nights and Repetitive Strain Injuries in order to come up with something somewhat tangible albeit crude.

 RSI - Source

I therefore decided to put a lot of effort on my user interface because sometimes I can be of the opinion that ‘Looks are everything’! And it is here that my perfectionism claws came out and my OCD kicked in. Changing, tweaking, resizing, photo shopping…Yaikes, I almost went mad! I literally changed my theme on a daily basis. I just had to find that flawless and seamless look. In this way, even if my functionality was lacking, at least I would have one thing done right! Better half a loaf, ey?

Screenshot just to give you a sneak peak of my theme :)

As much as I believe I gave it my all, I can’t help but feel like there is much more I could have done! Despite this, I think I am ready to submit it! The judging will take place next week and I will be sure to let ya’ll know how it goes. Let’s hope that what I was able to do was good enough. Fingers crossed guys!!

Thank you for reading. Enjoy your Friday

Doing Cool Things That Matter

#HappyDays