New web app design and next steps
Happy New Year! I owe an update about the web app, so here it is.
First, we have Figma design for the web app. It is for the desktop mode for now, but it's a good start.
Second, it has been partially implemented already and you can try it at https://mybar.app/app. To get the full functionality you need to sign in with your Google account.
The UI is optimized for "big screens", so if you open it on your phone, it will be different and half-baked. Some screens are straight from the previous "alpha" version. This is something that I'll work on this year. Editing cocktails/ingredients is not supported yet, because I wanted to migrate all the existing functionality to the new design first. But it is the top feature to support next in the web app. There is also no fancy filtering yet and Search is not doing anything, this will be added later too.
It took a while to get here. I tried to find a person to implement the web app for a reasonable price. I was ready to pay more than average hoping that the project will attract good talent. I talked with more than 20 people, mainly from freelancer sites like Upwork and Fiverr, but honestly I couldn't find a good fit. Some of the developers I talked to implemented certain screens and small features given the design requirements, but the code quality wasn't good enough to make sure that the whole project is maintainable and adaptable for future needs. I think I'll continue my search this year, but if you know a good Flutter developer - please contact me directly. I'll also continue working on the app myself (both Web and Android), but I need help. I have a normal full-time job and 2023 was a demanding year both at work and family, and unfortunately I don't expect 2024 to be any easier.
Having said that, seeing positive reviews, feedbacks in emails and Coffee donations do help with motivation, so thank you all for your support!
Besides basic things like cocktail creation, people are asking for richer sharing options. For example, the ability to send a single cocktail to a friend, or to create a menu for a party and then create a PDF menu or send a link to the menu. This is very interesting and I hope I'll have time to add this functionality to both Android and web apps.
I also took some time to explore OpenAI API. I wanted to add a simple integration for recommending cocktails to try next taking into account what you marked as "favorite". I built a quick prototype, but not sure that it can be good enough to be released. I think I'll write a separate post about it, but here is a GIF showing how the basic version works in the Android app:
Lastly, the number of subscribers on this site has been slowly increasing (since I set up subscription settings correctly) and reached 230 by the end of 2023. Not a huge number, but it shows that there's some interest in the web app (or updates in general), and that's great! This is despite the fact that this site is not very discoverable and that the last update happened almost 2 years ago. I'll try to post updates at least every 3-4 months going forward.
Please let me know what you think in the comments or write an e-mail to contact@mybarapp.com. I don't respond to every email, but I read all emails.
Cheers!