Modern Word Processor Discussion Thread

[goodintentions]

So, I sent out the update late last night and now it is in the store. That's weird, because it normally takes several days, especially during the weekend.

Anyway, please try it out and see if there's anything wrong. I'm a little scared because half of the code behind the app has been rewritten. And the entire formatting engine has been changed from rtf to html. I've tried my best to stamp out all the bugs that I can. But if you spot anything, please let me know.

Also, for those of you that has windows 10 installed, it would be great if you could test my app out on it.

Right now, I have an old laptop and an 8 inch tablet. I don't have the resources to test out 10. Many thanks.

 

[nnthemperor]

Thanks Goodintentions. Will definitely check it out. Loving the direction of the app generally.

 

[dniezby]

The logo is fine. Do you really think people buy Windows or Apple products because of their respective logos?

Weeeelllll, Yeah. A bad logo will cause people to glance past your app. Logo is how your app is associated. It's a visual identity that allows people to recognize you and your app at a glance. Logo is more recognizable than text.

I know I don't look at apps that have cheap looking logos.

 

[dniezby]

So, I sent out the update late last night and now it is in the store. That's weird, because it normally takes several days, especially during the weekend.

Anyway, please try it out and see if there's anything wrong. I'm a little scared because half of the code behind the app has been rewritten. And the entire formatting engine has been changed from rtf to html. I've tried my best to stamp out all the bugs that I can. But if you spot anything, please let me know.

Also, for those of you that has windows 10 installed, it would be great if you could test my app out on it.

Right now, I have an old laptop and an 8 inch tablet. I don't have the resources to test out 10. Many thanks.

I worry about WOSX because many of the people wanting the new OS are Touch Insensitive. I wonder what this is going to mean when it comes to App development too.

Especially since I'm JUST learning how to develop apps. (And now well)

 

[goodintentions]

Weeeelllll, Yeah. A bad logo will cause people to glance past your app. Logo is how your app is associated. It's a visual identity that allows people to recognize you and your app at a glance. Logo is more recognizable than text.

I know I don't look at apps that have cheap looking logos.

You know what, I agree.

Next update will present this new logo.

 

[dniezby]

Not bad. Gives me some good ideas on where you want to go. I do some graphic work. I could throw together a few versions. Give you some options.

Oh BTW, was testing out some more features again last night and would recommend sorting font styles by name.

It was a real bitch trying to find the font I wanted by name. Also might want to add the ability (if this can be done) to just type a letter when the for box is open and it moves to the first font with that letter.

For example, I want find Times, I type "T" it would take me to the first font that begins with "T".

Keep up the good work.

 

[goodintentions]

Not bad. Gives me some good ideas on where you want to go. I do some graphic work. I could throw together a few versions. Give you some options.

Please, do.

Oh BTW, was testing out some more features again last night and would recommend sorting font styles by name.

Yeah, I realized that yesterday. I threw in exactly 1 line of code and voila everything was alphabetized.

It was a real bitch trying to find the font I wanted by name. Also might want to add the ability (if this can be done) to just type a letter when the for box is open and it moves to the first font with that letter.

For example, I want find Times, I type "T" it would take me to the first font that begins with "T".

You mean auto-complete search box for the fonts? No problem. Will include that in the next update.

Keep up the good work.

Why, thank you.

 

[goodintentions]

Oh BTW, was testing out some more features again last night and would recommend sorting font styles by name.

It was a real bitch trying to find the font I wanted by name. Also might want to add the ability (if this can be done) to just type a letter when the for box is open and it moves to the first font with that letter.

For example, I want find Times, I type "T" it would take me to the first font that begins with "T".

Keep up the good work.

So, inspired by your post, I've written some code that takes care of this problem.

First of all, the list of fonts is now in alphabetical order. That's a given. I've added a search text box. The search algo will look for the sequences of input regardless of where it is in the phrase. So, say you want times new roman, you can just start typing "rom" and this font will appear. Cool, huh?

Here are a couple screenshots.

Added by edit.

I know this is just a word processor app. I know it's not angry birds. But by golly, I'm determined to make this app as high quality as I possibly can. I've been exchanging emails with a few other developers behind some of the text editing apps in the windows store. I hate to say this, but they don't appear motivated. No wonder their apps don't get a lot of downloads. And frankly, I don't think they care, either.

Right now, I spend whatever free time I have on 2 new big features. Will probably send out the update in the next couple weeks.

The 1st is the freakin' save-as-pdf. This is my 3rd attempt. The first 2 attempts were failures as I hit dead-end walls. After going back to the drawing board, I've come up with a new approach.

What's that? You don't think it's that hard? Try doing a search for a metro app that converts a doc/docx type document to pdf and see what you find. There are a couple right now, and they don't even do it as standalone. They use a web service. I'm aiming to make it a standalone, part of the app.

Anyhow, the 2nd big feature is a translator. Try to imagine this. You have a paper/essay in English and you want to translate that entire paper/essay into Spanish. Or Chinese. Or Klingon. You can open up that paper with my app, choose the language to translate to, and presto. The app creates a new tabbed document within the app and outputs the result in it.

I'm currently hammering out some bugs with this feature. But for the most part, it's ready to go.

Remember. Quality first.

 

[dniezby]

So, inspired by your post, I've written some code that takes care of this problem.

First of all, the list of fonts is now in alphabetical order. That's a given. I've added a search text box. The search algo will look for the sequences of input regardless of where it is in the phrase. So, say you want times new roman, you can just start typing "rom" and this font will appear. Cool, huh?

Here are a couple screenshots.
View attachment 4024

View attachment 4025

That is awesome. I'll check it out personally later. Hope I can learn to make apps like you've done.

 

[goodintentions]

That is awesome. I'll check it out personally later. Hope I can learn to make apps like you've done.

You can't check it out yet. I haven't sent out the update.

I'm still sitting in my office working my day job right now. It's a Friday night... so if you're drinking, send some positive vibes my way.

 

[goodintentions]

While I'm getting ready to go to work (today is Saturday) I just got an idea how to implement an idea of mine. What would you think if my word processor has a tool to write math equations?

Math equations is a sensitive subject when it comes to implementation in a word editor. Why? Because everyone does it differently. So, if you insert one in one app, if you open the document in another app, then the formatting is all screwed up.

I think I can implement it and have it appear the same way across all apps, including MS word.

 

[goodintentions]

Haha, I was digging through my old libraries and found a very old program I wrote a number of years ago. It generates BS essays that are grammatically correct but makes no sense. Just jargon. I'm going to adapt it to the modern coding and include it in the app. Should be a source of entertainment.