Saturday, March 3, 2012

I Made an App! (And you can, too)

Never, ever in a million years did I even remotely consider the possibility that I would create an app---but I JUST DID! Using this Free site:
All you have to do is register for a free account, then log in and begin building.

The interface is very easy to use. There are tabs and step-by-step instructions. It looks like this:
You basically just fill in the information in each tab (make sure to click save at the bottom of the page before changing tabs). Start with App Info and give your app a name, version, category, description, and picture. The picture you upload will be the actual app image on the Android device.

In the Activities tab, you choose what types of pages you want to add (RSS feeds, websites, etc...) I used websites and RSS feeds only. Later, when they add a Twitter feed, I'll add that to a newer version of our app. 


For each Activity, you can add an image. The image and the title will both appear on the app when it is downloaded. 

The Styles, Dashboard, and Action Bar tabs were a little tricky for me. These tabs let you design the colors in your app, but the only down side is that you aren't able to preview them as you're creating. (Which is why I edited my app five times before I got the final 1.0 version). 


When you're finished, click on the Generate My App! button in the Build tab. 


When your app is finished being built, you'll receive an email with a download link. Voila! You're done. That link should be opened on an Android device, as it is the download link for the app. It will download immediately. Just install, and enjoy!

*Note: They recommend uploading to the Android market, but since you have to pay a $25 fee to register, I didn't do that. I just shared my download link on Facebook, Twitter, and our school's homepage. 

*UPDATE* The link expires quickly! My husband told me to go ahead and pay the $25 fee and register so I could upload it to the Android market. I didn't want to, but I did because I thought I might make other apps as well, and because I didn't want to have to keep updating the expiring URL on our school's homepage. Here is is in the Android Market if you'd like to view it:
Ivalee School 1.0



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