App Creation Questions

CreativeChris

Hi all,

First time poster in this forum...so be gentle please!

I am currently looking at creating a social network type site (and accompanying mobile app) for an event I am running where attendees can create a profile for themselves, share links to their various other social media accounts and direct message one another. Its a concept pretty much identical to the SXSocial site used at the SXSW festival (http://www.examiner.com/article/sxsocial-sxsw-s-social-media-portal for more info on that if you are unfamiliar with it).

However, I am also looking to add other features to this, namely an integration with Foursquare where attendees could check in at the various exhibitions. Ideally we would like the attendees to do this through our own social networking site without having to go through the Foursquare app (for convenience).

Another feature we would like to include is a DropBox/SugarSync type feature where we could upload various materials/videos etc for attendees to view before the conference and where they could upload their own docs which they feel may be relevant.

We would also like to build in a QR scanner to the app as we intend on placing QR codes at each of the exhibitions to allow people to be linked to relevant websites on each of the exhibitions and download contact details of other attendees to their phones (we intend on placing QR codes on all attendees name tags).

I am not from a technical background and have no experience with creating websites or apps. These are just ideas I have formed based on my knowledge and research of what tools have worked at other conferences.

Therefore, could someone please let me know if the app/website described above could be built and how difficult it would be for someone with the skills and knowledge to create it to make?

Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated!

Graham

Hi Chris,

first questions:

how far off is this event?
Is this app/event going to be a one-off thing or do you see it continuing beyond the initial event?
If you're going the app route have you considered what platforms you want to support?

I'm sure I'll think of more.

Atomic Pineapple

What platform? iOS? Android? Windows Phone? Blackberry? Or all of them?

CreativeChris

Thanks for the replies and interest guys.

The event is set to take place in November 2013.

Ideally we would like the app / website to continue living after the event, as a place where attendees can continue to interact and share documentation/materials, etc. The event is a one off event but we are hoping to create a community from the event.

The main platforms we would like to run it on are iOS and Android and then, if needs be, roll it out for the other operating systems.

Do the ideas I have proposed sound feasible?

Graham

Definitely feasible the biggest question is whether it's going to be economically viable for you.

Atomic Pineapple

As above it is a feasible application, everything you requested is doable on a mobile platform, however it is decent sized project and the cost to develop it may be more significant than you think.

CreativeChris

Would you guys have any idea of the cost of creating such a site/app?

Graham

Just did a quick search and contract rates for a mobile app developer are around the region of €300+/day.

From the brief details you've outlined you would be talking in weeks rather than days.

CreativeChris

Cheers Graham! Would you know of any companies that do this sort of thing, where I could possibly get a quote on this?

Also, do you think this would be considered a "hard task" for a app developer/web designer. Would a computer science undergraduate student be capable of putting something like this together or do you think it requires someone a bit more experienced?

Graham

CreativeChris wrote: »

Also, do you think this would be considered a "hard task" for a app developer/web designer. Would a computer science undergraduate student be capable of putting something like this together or do you think it requires someone a bit more experienced?

You will ultimately get what you pay for, the same as in any undertaking.

Consider though that you are talking about asking someone with limited/no commercial experience to be able to make up for your similar lack of experience.

That's not to say you couldn't do it that way, just remember to factor in the increased risks to budget, timescales and your companies professional image.

Ten years ago everyone with a copy of FrontPage could design you a website.

Twenty years ago anyone with a copy of PageMaker could put together publications for you.

ChRoMe

€20k to do this properly at least.

CreativeChris

ChRoMe wrote: »

€20k to do this properly at least.

Hi Chrome. Where are you getting that figure from?

ChRoMe

CreativeChris wrote: »

Hi Chrome. Where are you getting that figure from?

Working in mobile development companies as either a full time or contract employee.

€20k is rock bottom by the way. You could find a wet behind the years software engineering student or something to do it for a lot less. Ditto for someone cheap in India or similar, however as noted before, you get what you pay for.

Graham

Chris, I'd recommend you put together a more detailed list of your requirements before going any further. This list will go on to form the basis for your RFP (request for proposals) which you'll want to have if you you'd like anything approaching a reasonable estimate of timescales/cost.

It might even be worth bringing someone on board at this stage to assist you with the RFP.

The Corinthian

You're looking for a pretty substantial piece of work, that will require fairly advanced development skills in multiple technologies. To summarize your requirements:

• A social networking portal. This will require the Web development skills necessary for building a bespoke platform.
• Mobile app development. For this you will either have to find someone with the skills to build something using a multi-platform framework that supports all the functionality you're looking for, or more likely one or two developers with the skill set necessary to build native iOS and Android apps.
• Foursquare integration. Either your developer(s) will already have experience in this or they'll have to be experienced enough to be able to figure this out.
• A custom DropBox/SugarSync type facility. This is very ambitious, as (unless you're able to integrate DropBox/SugarSync, in which case see above) it would require the development of both the client and the server solution to manage this.
• QR Reader, plus management. These are not easy to get to work professionally, I can tell you from experience and you may likely need one or more developers able to do this for multiple mobile platforms. Additionally, there's the other side of the process, which is managing your QR codes and this has to be taken into account.

There's quite a range of technologies there, and much of it would be fairly advanced in complexity. Additionally, the whole project is a architectural minefield, because of how everything should fit into everything else - not only technically, but also operationally.

As such, I would strongly advise against going with a graduate or student; it's simply beyond what one would be capable of technically, let alone the architectural and analysis skills that would be required. You're pretty much guaranteed to end up with a clusterfsck if you do.

Offshoring is one option, but if so, the aforementioned complexity is something that I would suggest will demand very careful and experienced management of any offshored team involved. As such do not do this yourself, if you are not technical and have little or no experience in managing such teams. Again, you're pretty much guaranteed to end up with a clusterfsck if you do.

Either hire a development house with the necessary and demonstrable skill sets to do this, or hire a BA/PM who can manage any offshoring. Either way, as Chrome suggested, you're easily looking at a healthy five figure budget.

Which route is better, I can't say without closer analysis.

Whatever you do, however, detailed analysis of the solution, distilled into a professional technical specification will be required - and is probably the single most important thing you'll need. This too can be expensive as finding someone or a development house who can handle any BA beyond a Web site can often be difficult - so you're likely to spend a fair bit of money even before you have a single line of code written.

If you don't, you're almost certainly not going to get anything close to what you actually want and, again, pretty much guaranteed to end up with a clusterfsck.

HTH

SalteeDog

Previous poster's advice is correct. Building something like that from scratch will be a big project that will cost you tens of thousands of €.

Have you considered an off-the-shelf solution such as sched.org instead?

The Corinthian

SalteeDog wrote: »

Have you considered an off-the-shelf solution such as sched.org instead?

Probably the most practical suggestion to date, TBH.

If the OP is willing to severely compromise on what functionality they're willing to accept, then there are numerous such solutions available at more modest price points.

Or they could severely compromise on what functionality they're willing to accept and it could bring the price down substantially and/or bring it within the grasp of a student to build.

CreativeChris

Hi all,

Thanks for all the feedback, really appreciate it. As I said at the start I'm a newcomer to all this so appreciate the feedback. Will take all considerations on board before proceeding.

Thanks!

stesaurus

Not trying to hijack the OP's thread but I have a related question. Would a site like www.theappbuilder.com/ be any use for something like this or are these kind of build it yourself sites just not powerful enough.

Anybody with any kind of experience of them?

Graham

s.welstead wrote: »

Not trying to hijack the OP's thread but I have a related question. Would a site like www.theappbuilder.com/ be any use for something like this or are these kind of build it yourself sites just not powerful enough.

OK for building a relatively static App that doesn't do much, a mobile optimised version of your website would probably give you as much functionality (if not more).

Things to watch out for:
You're stuck with including a free advert for theAppBuilder unless you pay a monthly charge.
Apple may reject the App -
an app that doesn’t provide any real functionality other than displaying their website. Such applications will certainly be rejected, and the content is probably a better candidate for a mobile-friendly web site than for downloading

http://blog.shoutem.com/2012/12/12/acing-the-app-store-approval-part-1-understanding-the-nitty-gritty/

maxmarmalade

If you want to build a social network then building on an existing framework is the way to go. The 2 big ones are elgg and oxwall. This site was built, relatively cheaply, on top of the elgg framework http://www.socialbusinessworld.org/

You could also build it with a responsive design. You wont then have an app on iphone store or google play but your site will work nicely through phones and tablets. It's a cheper option anyway.

This irish company does elgg customization http://www.webintelligence.ie/

Francie Barrett

CreativeChris wrote: »

Also, do you think this would be considered a "hard task" for a app developer/web designer. Would a computer science undergraduate student be capable of putting something like this together or do you think it requires someone a bit more experienced?

Almost no student would be able to take on this project and complete it to satisfaction, there's just far too much in what you're requesting that they won't know anything about. Like someone else stated, you would really need to be getting an experienced mobile developer, and from my experience, the quality of contract developers is very hit and miss (notwithstanding the fact that the going rate for a good developer will be more like €400 a day). Considering that you'd be looking at 2 months to get such an application developed, a base case estimate of €20k looks like a good guess.

Tar.Aldarion

s.welstead wrote: »

Not trying to hijack the OP's thread but I have a related question. Would a site like www.theappbuilder.com/ be any use for something like this or are these kind of build it yourself sites just not powerful enough.

Anybody with any kind of experience of them?

I'm curious about what is the best way to make something like the OP wants with multiple devices. Is it to natively code an app in both ios and android..with the possibility of adding other OS', or is it to use some framework that can be used to make apps for multiple OS' or what?

The Corinthian

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

I'm curious about what is the best way to make something like the OP wants with multiple devices. Is it to natively code an app in both ios and android..with the possibility of adding other OS', or is it to use some framework that can be used to make apps for multiple OS' or what?

My guess it you'd need to do so for each OS natively as things stand, as I don't think that any multi-platform framework presently comes with QR API support for multiple platforms (although I may well be wrong).

It may be possible to write the bulk of an app using a framework and access a natively written module for the QR functionality, but again I'd want to do a fair bit of research to see if that's possible, let alone desirable.

Graham

Titanium has a couple of QR readers, can't say I've tested any of them though.