Before actually starting the development of the first AppErgo software, I am still spending time correcting, improving and stabilizing version 0.4 of the website. This step is important, because the site will later serve as a foundation to present projects, publish versions, collect feedback and track bugs.
The first utility being considered could be a color picker: a small tool that seems simple at first, but practical, allowing users to capture a color on screen and get its values in different formats.
An idea born from real use
The idea also comes from my experience with small tools I used when I was learning HTML and CSS. Some of them were very useful, but I sometimes felt frustrated by a few usability details.
For example, capturing a color on screen is not always enough: you often need to copy its value quickly to the clipboard, ideally in a single click, in the desired format. Similarly, some useful options should remain easy to access, without forcing the user to go through several submenus to enable or disable them.
These small ergonomic details are exactly what interest me. A utility can seem very simple at first, but become genuinely pleasant to use when it saves a few seconds, avoids repetitive actions and keeps important features within easy reach.
This is not about criticizing those older tools, which were useful to me, but rather about using that experience to think about my own way of designing such a utility.
A project still to be defined
I had already looked into this idea a little before starting the development of the website. I had noticed several points that would require special attention, especially multi-monitor setups and DPI modes, which can make it harder to precisely retrieve the pixel pointed at by the mouse.
I had also made a few early interface sketches to think about the possible ergonomics of this project. I will not share them here, because if I actually start this development, I will not necessarily build from those first drafts.
Nothing is therefore fully decided yet: the exact behavior, the interface and the supported formats may evolve. For the next few days or weeks, my priority still remains the AppErgo website itself. The goal will then be to build a first usable version of a software application, and progressively improve it based on the experience gained and any feedback received.