The process of creating an app

Creating an app is a multi-stage process that often involves several people with different responsibilities. It starts with conceptualizing your idea and ends with a finished app that you can share with others.

Stage 1: Planning

Concept - what do you want to do?

  • think about goals and objectives
    • information
    • knowledge transfer
    • encounter
    • exchange
    • encourage participation
    • collecting
    • …
  • conceptualize how the users interact with the experience
  • think about the progression of the experience
    • How does the experience start?
    • How does it end?
    • How does it develop?
  • timing
    • How long should the experience last? Once? ongoing? Again and again?
  • define interactions among users (if there are any)
    • Multiuser chat?
    • Leaving or receiving messages?
    • Visiting same places at the same time?
    • Sharing content?
  • consider interactions between users and their environment
    • Where should the experience take place? In public space? Indoor?
  • think about your distribution process
    • Do you want users to find your app via a QR code or download an App from the Android and iOS stores?

Implementation - how can you do it with interkit?

Before you start building your app, you should think about how to structure it in the framework of interkit.

  • Check the templates for similar apps and how they are done
  • define your database
  • Think about the layout of your app
    • Which screens do you need?
    • Check if suitable components exist
    • Think about the interactions between the screens and components - what happens on which tap?
  • Determine if you need the Story section
    • User generated content? -> yes
    • Chat interaction? -> yes
    • Chatbot? -> yes
    • User log in? -> yes
  • Be aware of the privacy implications and responsibilities connected to the design choices of the experience [link to guide]

Stage 2: Building

Creating a project

Click Create project… to start the wizard, where you can pick between three ways to start your project.

  • If your server has templates pre-installed, you choose between them in the following step.
  • Advanced users might want to start with an empty project.
  • You can import an existing project from a git repository.
  • You can also duplicate a project to start a new project based off of it. This works for templates and regular projects.

Build the App Structure

Sections App and Data

  • setup components
    • Do you need a list of elements?
    • Do you need a single element view?
    • map, menu, chat, …
  • set up routing
  • set up component actions (optional)
  • set up database sheets
  • connect components to database sheets

Insert the Content

Sections Data and Media

  • add and edits texts
  • upload images
  • upload audio
  • upload video
  • upload 3d assets

Story (optional)

Section Story

Design Chat interaction and server-side actions.

  • write interactions in the chat interface
  • add chat channels and bots
  • add server-side actions
  • connect external services
  • use cron for global timed actions

Styling

Tweak visual appearance of the app, see the quick start guide on styling

Testing

It is a good idea to have people test your app, gather feedback and improve it.

Stage 3: Publishing

  • add imprint
  • add data protection declaration (if necessary)
  • add privacy policy (if necessary)
  • add terms of use (if necessary)
  • add license information (if necessary)
  • add credits (if necessary)
  • add contact information (if necessary)

Internationalization (optional)

See the Internationalization guide

Deployment

Decide if you want to distribute your project as

  • a progressive web app (PWA) that users can access via a URL in their mobile browsers and can install on their devices.
  • a downloadable app that users find and download through the app stores.

If you want to use a simpler url, it can be useful to make your project the default project on the server.

See the technical guide to package your project for the app stores.

Stage 4: Maintaining

Moderation

See the Moderation and Monitoring guide