skywox / ampersand

Mock up of the Ampersand iOS app

Ampersonate

• What is it
• What has been added
• What is "Slow Mode"
• What needs to be added
• How I made this

What is it?

This is a recreation of Ampersand's iOS app channel screen in Flutter. Flutter allows for quick platform-agnostic development. Android and iOS apps can be built from the same source code.

Try it on Appetize

What is "Slow Mode"?

Appetize can't run ARM code, so the app needs to be build in a debug profile. Debug has significant overhead (for hot reloading and checks) so the framerate is lower. One of Flutter's selling points is its fast renders. To see it, just build a release version by running flutter build [ios/android] at the project root.

What features have been implemented

• Stack to overlay the Profile with gradient over the Author's picture
• Functional components allowing infinite writing samples to be added
• Component-based structure allowing new features to be swapped in easily.

What needs to be added

• Import of Bundle information from JSON so we don't have to look at just Mr. Pearson's charming face!
  -- Currently details are hard-coded into the app since there is only one author
  -- Flutter has its own method of importing JSON that I didn't implement for this MVP
• Add navigation to other pages in the app
• Use custom fonts and match the app's exact shade of purple

How I made this

Prior to making this app I had no experience with Flutter or any iOS app development. This app was made in less than a day, including setting up the Flutter development environment on my computer. A rough breakdown of the hours spent:

Hour 0-1: Setting up the Flutter dev environment and familiarizing myself with the Flutter docs
Hour 1-2: Building the stack for the profile photo and information
Hours 2-5: Implementing the scrolling view, the sticky header, and individual components
Hours 5-6: Creating documentation, building app packages, uploading to Appetize, etc.