Steve Troughton-SmithKeeping the minimal theme in mind, I haven't quite found a note taking app that works the way I want, so I'm prototyping something new for the first time in a while
What I'd like to see is something you could lock an iPad into kiosk mode with, and never have to worry about UI or settings or syncing or accounts. Just turn it into a permanent notebook, with no distractions or notifications
Working canvas and data store 👌
I have a very love/hate relationship with the PencilKit tool picker. I love the power it has, but I can't stand how floaty it is and how easy it is to accidentally fling it across the screen or minimize it into a circle when you're hitting the undo button. That said, the margins of a page are a perfect place to leave it
Always fun when you can use an app to plan its own development 😄
And just so nobody gets their hopes up: I’m only building this for me, no intention to ship it at this point.
I'd call that a successful phase 1 prototype. It's both functional and useful, and raises lots of questions as to what I would do next. It also highlights some pitfalls: writing on iPad mini just isn't very pleasant (the flexing is really getting to me), and PencilKit’s floaty toolbar is already annoying me, but it has so many features built-in that it's going to be tough to recreate. Maybe the solution is just to have 'pen', ‘pencil’, 'highlighter’ presets, and give up all the other tools
Little video demo, just because it’s a fun little app
PencilKit is a very different beast on macOS, but a 'viewer' app isn't unreasonable
It would make my life a lot easier if I could just pretend scaling doesn't exist…
Doing some last little changes before heading off on vacation — added pagination to the prototype (UI temporary). Now it's actually a fully-functional notebook. One that only works with the iPad mini, in portrait, but good enough for now!
Anybody got a quick fix for using tap gestures on PencilKit canvases to show/hide UI without bringing up the selection controls?
In the meantime, pretty happy with this UI. I will have to think long and hard about whether I want to pursue this as a product, or just keep it on the shelf for my own use. Making prototypes is easy, making products is hard
I mean, *yoink*? If nobody else is gonna claim it, I'm taking it 😂
Added multi-page PDF sharing and printing, because it was trivial anyway
I never do a TestFlight this early, but I wouldn’t mind some external feedback/inspiration in my downtime this week, so I’ve opened 100 slots on my Concept Validation Test of my little Apple Pencil/iPad notebook app. Pencil is *required* to function. It’s so early the app doesn’t even have an icon yet.
Please read the instructions (screenshot attached).
Friends/mutuals: if it fills up and you’d still like to try it, send me a pm with your testing email.
(And do share screenshots! Inspiration is always welcome)
Sim@stroughtonsmith Thanks for letting us try it! Initially I didn't know where to find the page controls, but then realised they were hidden behind the default layout for the pencil tools
Also the page doesn't seem to go flush under the status bar
Once I did find the page controls, the grey colour made me think the buttons were disabled
Otherwise love the simplicity of it
@simsaens page size is bugged (TestFlight notes should mention), hence the grey strip