Targeting a UI

I'm a fan of Don't Copy What You Can Steal, as long as doing so is legal. There are lots and lots of web apps out there, and UX is now a solved problem. We pretty much know what works and what doesn't. Rather than re-invent the wheel, I'm looking at successful web app companies for inspiration for my UI.

I'm very much in the pre-design phase. I've developed concepts of four different prototypes, just to see what feels rights. I think I've finally settled on one which is largely inspired by a successful web app to remain nameless.

Being Memorial Day Weekend, I don't plan on working on my business too much, if at all. My goal is to have a UI prototype and she UML docs ready to go before summer so I can start pounding away at code. All of the analysis for the app is done, except for a few details regarding users, accounts, and groups.

Journaling What?

For a long time, I've wanted to document my eating and exercising activities. My lifestyle is healthy, but without an objective record of it, it's hard for me to tell how healthy. I've signed up for a free online fitness tracker specifically designed for this purpose, but I didn't stick with it. It's easier to just write it down than it is to navigate someone else's UI design. So maybe this blog could be a place for that too. The daily updates won't start until school ends in the middle of June; updates will be occasional until then.

Daily Journaling

I like to write. I tried writing a blog in conjunction with my software business this year, but it didn't work out too well. I was always thinking about what results I'd get from each post, which pretty much defeated the purpose of writing for me.

For me, writing lets me sort through my thoughts, reflect and debrief on events, record notes to myself that will be useful later, and provide a record of what I've been spending my time doing. I plan on going back to daily posts on this blog this summer and using my business blog only for product annoucements and similar news.

Here are my plans for the summer:

1. Create a web application to be released in September. I have a very good idea of what the web app will do but prefer to stay in stealth mode for a while longer. It will NOT by any of these: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/websites_stop. It will provide actual utility to many people, myself included. It's best to write software that you will use yourself.
2. I have some writing projects in the pipeline. Again, stealth mode.
3. AP Computer Science training in June.
4. Two week road trip to the Grand Canyon in July.
5. Daily exercise, mostly mountain biking.
6. Hit as many airshows and fly-ins as humanly possible. Do as much water skiing as humanly possible.
7. Grow a garden.
8. Read three books.
9. Plan for fall classes.

The plan for this blog is to write short, daily entries to document the summer. Hooray. Yay for blogging fun.