The Joys of Application Development
These days, I'm really enjoying what time I can spend building my desktop application, Snitter. Not because it's released me from the frustration of using the web site but because of the joy it's brought to other people from using it.
Creating Passionate Users
One of the first unexpected things was seeing the support and passion from the early adopters. A post about some twitter tool would pop up and someone (or two, or three) would pop up to drop mention of the app. That's wicked promotion right there!
People have been awesome at contributing to moulding the application and providing really good feedback. It's these great group of people that really inspire me to continue development. People like Marjolein Hoekstra, Bridget Stewart, Jason Tucker (thanks for the mimize to tray code), Daniel Johnson Jr, Jack Vinson and countless more. And certainly to Dan Rubin for working hard on making the app look good.
Creating Disinterested Users
But on the flip-side, there are those that try the application out and don't like it. Sure, that's fine but I usually never get to hear why. What is it that you didn't like? How can I make it better? I can see why many software applications have a survey after you uninstall them. How else would you find out that something just doesn't work.
Luckily, Twitter offers up a few ways to track whenever a keyword is mentioned. Namely, they have their 'track keyword' feature that will automatically text message you or send you an IM any time somebody mentions the keyword. I also use Buzztter and Terraminds to search for anything that might have gotten missed.
Create Something
In all this, it's just fun to create and whether it's an application or a web site, it's a great feeling to know that people enjoy what you create.
Conversation
I am loving Snitter, especially now with ability to min to tray and change themes. Keep up the great work :)
I would love for direct message notifications. Another feature that would be welcome is for the X to (atleast as an option) minimize to systray...I can't count the number of times I've hit X instead of _ only to look for it 10 minutes later or wonder why no one has tweeted.
It's the only twitter app I've used for more than a day, in use on my Macs and PCs :)
thanks for the honorable mention! i'm a fan of snitter. being on windows, there weren't any twitter apps that suited my fancy even though there were quite a few that existed. snitter has very, very quickly grown into THE app that i wanted all along.
thank you for making snitter!
As an "early adopter" I've seen Snitter change by leaps and bounds in a relatively short amount of time. I've tried other Twitter apps and have abandoned them all. Thanks again for your hard work and attention to detail. I can't wait to see what's next.
I use it and I like it :)
Loved the minimize to tray update!
Keep it going!
I am also a Windows user and envied the sleek look of Twitterific. Then along came Snitter and I could see immediately that it was better than anything I had used to date. Since then the frequent updates have improved the app considerably. The notification pop-ups when Snitter is minimized is excellent! Well done Jonathan!
Hi Jonathan,
Loving Snitter. Awesome interface. It works better than any other AIR Twitter app that I tried. My search has come to an end. I have definitely found the final Twitter application I will ever use.
Will chat again soon on MSN. Have a few questions I would like to ask and an idea to share.
Thanks again for the great app, and look forward to the future revisions!
Byron
I must say it has been a joy using Snitter. Defiantly the best AIR Twitter app out there.
Thanks for the great app.
Snitter rocks, Jonathan. Keep up the great work!
Webware recently did a spot on a few AIR-based twitter apps and snitter ended up as their top choice. Congrats, Jonathan!
It is obvious to be curious about disinterested users because you come from the world of the web where we have statistics and visitor tracking. This information provides you an idea of how visitors behave on a web site. On a desktop application things are different unless you send user behavior information somewhere where you can analyze and estimate user stereotypes.
To be honest, I downloaded and used the app once or twice. I never used it again because I realized that it will be another distraction from my work so I never got really into it on purpose!
It does look good though. It is a Snook interface!
I would love to create something. I want to give something back to the community that embraced me with loving (sorta') arms. Unfortunately I devote my time to creating nothing, files (and projects) that end up in the deep recess of my hard drive. But maybe thats creation too, eh?