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are the apps you write for yourself pretty?

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:13 pm
by daedalus__
everytime i make an application for personal use whether its web or desktop, it's always ugly as all things unholy. same for everyone else?

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:15 pm
by m3mn0n
Nah. Because personal stuff is like practice/training for me, so I try to emulate what I do when it's go time.

Same reason why pro ice hockey players don't practice playing field hockey... that wouldn't be much of a work out. ;)

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:59 pm
by Buddha443556
My code improves with age, call it refractoring or iterative development or whatever, but like Scotch it gets better with age.

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:07 pm
by Chris Corbyn
Oops, I answered the poll by answering the thread title, not the question. I meant, yes, my personal apps are only done to get a job done. I'll usually make a layout but ti'll be more ofa wireframe than a complete interface.

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:12 pm
by Buddha443556
d11wtq wrote:Oops, I answered the poll by answering the thread title, not the question.
Crap! So did I. :oops:

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:20 pm
by jyhm
yesyes to making it pretty if you mean the code.

Cause sometimes even when its pretty, it ain't pretty.

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:24 pm
by daedalus__
im talking purely about the interface, specifically a gui interface since i find it difficult to feel that a console is ugly.

the reason i was curious is because i just made a program that lets me clock in and out and output the stuff to a new or append it to an old csv file because sometimes i leave and can't get to the timeclock because the building that it is in is locked. the point is that it is absolutely the ugliest thing i have ever seen but dont care one bit because nobody is going to see it. i was wondering if i should :p

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:47 pm
by seodevhead
I may not be the hottest programmer on the planet... but I can for damn sure bet I got some of the best looking apps out there. I spend twice as much time probably on the looks of them... mainly because I use them all day long and I can't stand working in 'unholy' looking things 18 hrs a day. If it's pretty to look at, I find I'm a happier person. Kinda like if your wife is ugly... you don't want to go to bed with that stress.

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 9:03 pm
by daedalus__
seodevhead wrote:Kinda like if your wife is ugly... you don't want to go to bed with that stress.
bahahaha

worse things to stress about imo

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 9:11 pm
by Luke
I thought we were talking about how our application code looks. I guess it's the same answer though. I can't stand looking at ugly applications. Nor can I stand looking at ugly code... especially if I wrote it 8O

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 9:29 am
by onion2k
Here's my latest (unfinished) app: http://www.ooer.com/onion/ij_toon.png

Pretty? I think so.

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 9:52 am
by pickle
My personal apps are usually prettier than public apps. I take more time with the interface & try new, neat ideas. Public apps are pretty utilitarian.

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 10:09 am
by shiznatix
All my apps are always uglier than sin. When it comes to 'make this look pretty' i just draw a complete blank. I know how to write CSS and GUIs and whatnot but when it comes time to do something with them from scratch I never know what to do.

Thats why I feel the designer / developer relationship needs to be oh so very strong. Ill spend hours to make my code a fraction of a second faster or easier to read or whatever but beyond that I am hopelessly lost. Thank god one of my best friends is a awesome web designer or every personal website I have ever made would be black text on a white background.

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 10:25 am
by feyd
My personal stuff is often completely functional unless I plan on showing it off to someone.. in which case, I pretty it up.

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 10:34 am
by RobertGonzalez
I typically start with a look and fell that I want, then wrap it around the application I plan to build. Of course there is always refactoring along the way, but for the most part, I want a pretty environment to work in, so my personal apps usually have some visual appeal to them.