There's been a pretty big gap in the productions here, and it's mostly because I couldn't figure out what exactly to show. I also need to finish this thing - it's taking longer than I'd like! In this episode I go over some of the refactoring I've done and then show you my process for pulling the initial application together.
Outside-In
A lot of people have told me they want to see more "how another developer does something" so I've tried to focus on that with this episode. The theory of Unit Testing is that if you test your application completely against your requirements, you'll have a nice, stable application.
None of that matters unless you deliver an "experience". There really is no way to define what this means, nor a way to capture it with any type of test. Even a user-acceptance test - which to me offers a "this will do" kind of feedback.
At this stage of development (pre-alpha, almost alpha), there's usually a time consideration, and this time consideration will usually come with the requisite "I don't care WHAT font you use! Pixel-padding? Whatever get it DONE". This is understandable - we are building a business application here after all.
The thing I focus on at this stage, however, is the ability of the application to "sell itself". The best demos are the silent ones, filled with the user muttering good things mixed with the occasional gasp. This kind of thing goes far beyond usability, and beyond "acceptance" and dives more into digital sex appeal. Just how sexxy is your application?
I don't want to get ahead of myself here (I also don't want to suggest I know a lot about sex appeal). I just want you to know that this is how I think - I don't focus on technology as much as I do the experience - and hopefully you can see this captured in this screencast.
