Hi Everyone,
I'm working on a prototype with a few guys and gals and we are using the Nexus S. In this project we need to open text documents on our smartphones.
One of the team members has the very strong opinion that the text documents must all be converted into jpegs. The reasoning for this is because all smartphones nowadays have cameras and the necessary software to open pics. In turn, this will enable and allow for a positive customer interaction. Your ready to go straight out the gate!
As for myself, I'm of the opposite opinion. I believe using the jpeg file format is not the best thing to do. I think it would be better to use PDF or.doc formats as a few examples. I also don't believe it's a big deal for the customer to download from the Market the required software to view such documents if they are of interest to you. I also believe that Android libraries contain the information You need to open PDF from server side and present it in browser? This is true isn't it?
Putting text documents onto jpegs seems too strange for me. Especially since each document will need to be converted to a correct font size and font type, so that it appears readable on the device. To me, this is a senseless way of burning up valuable time and human resources for no reason or true value. But I was told You have to do this if you don't want the customer to scroll from right to left when opening and viewing the document.
So what says You people? I would really appreciate the feedback you have to offer in this situation.
Thank you very much for your time today.
Suomalainen
Bump
Sent from my Nexus S using xda app-developers app
JPEG is probably faster and smaller but PDF is fine also. Honestly wouldn't matter much unless the documents are crucial for the app.
I can't imagine anyone wanting to scroll a text doc from left to right just to be able to read it if using jpeg!
PDF on the other hand wraps text on the screen as you enlarge. No scrolling out of screen. This makes much more sense to me.
Related
Hello,
Do you know any good software for creating PDF files right on the mobile device? I've found FluidPDF, but I was wondering if there are others (cheaper or free).
Thanks
I have very little experience creating PDFs, but on the rare occasions that I have created PDFs I used two different methods...Adobo Photoshop, which is clearly not an option for you, and web-based PDF creators. As in you upload a word document and it outputs a PDF. Not exactly an elegant solution, but it would prob work and there are many such free websites around. Use Word Mobile to create a doc and then upload it. You could get creative and create a local website on your device with the upload parameters, that way you wouldn't have to do as much browsing.
Yeah, I know I can do it that way too, but is not really an option for me. Thanks
try this
http://pocketpcapps.net/pocketpdf.aspx
Hello everyone! I am new to the forum. Been thinking of joining for a while but my current issue has been the push I needed to join. I have looked high and low for the answer but to be completely honest I am not entirely sure what to look for. Not sure what my question is. I have also looked around this forum for a a good little while stopping on this thread to ask my question. I hope it's the right place to start. I will try to ask this in a way that is understandable and relevant. In your answer please take into consideration that I am new-ish to Android Development. =) (I can do the basics, Root, hack, crack, etc,.) I know enough though I think to follow your answerer and understand it.
** Question: For my Project should I go with a full Android App, go with a website that can be viewed on a mobile phone, or should I build the back-end on a web server and have an android app that delivers the front-end? (Front-end being the login, the styling of the pages, where the interaction between users take place, etc,. ) I'll elaborate on my question below. **
Alright. I started building a website. Conceptual anyway. I have been designing it on paper, white board, Photoshop etc,. The website is going to be a social site of sorts. Unique in it's own way. At first I was going to do just a website. Then I realized as my creation grew that I wanted it to be an App. Then decided, due to all the back-end server programming and functionality required, I would most likely have to build it as a website or web application. To give a brief summery of the site. There will be a login system with profiles, instant messaging. video chats, group chats, ability to play simple games like cards, chess, and more. I will also need to be able to control sessions. Write new session information on the fly based on certain actions the users take.
My problem, I think, is that i'm not sure the most efficient or effective way to go about doing this. If it was going to be on a computer I would write it up in PHP and obviously display the site with HTML/CSS. The display part I think is where I am at a loss. At least one of my issues. Since I would like for this to be an app for Android I may need a new way to display the 'site' if that's what It will even be called once it's an app. If I'm going to shoot for it to be on mobile phones then I'm thinking I can get the cosmetics looking good as well as using it to my advantage. I prefer the 'app-like-interface' rather than scroll with mouse and click on the page as if it were a website. ( 'app-like-interface': I am referring to buttons, and menus, and a overall 'pretty' interface. touch screen etc,.)
So should I write it as a website in it's entirety and just display it as a mobile site?
Should I completely trash the idea of doing this for mobile phones?
Should I (if it's possible) write everything on the back-end with PHP but create an app with java to display the styling and build the interface?
Or should I do something else entirely that I've not mentioned?
My apologies if this question was a bit to long. Tried to be thorough. Thanks so much in advance as well. This answer is something I need before I can even consider continuing. Thanks!
Az Tek
I have a friend who owns a restaurant and he offers an astounding number of sushi and sashimi dishes. It's often difficult, with so many offerings, for a server to know the ingredients of each offering and it's also difficult for the customer when he or she wants to look at and determine which offering to choose.
The owner wants to purchase several tablets that can be used for information purposes by both the server and the customer. He wants to put 500 to 1000 pictures on the tablets, with the ability to add a descriptive text for each picture. If this can be achieved by use of the tablet alone that's fine, but each tablet will have to have the same information and he doesn't want to have to configure and at times update the pictures and text on each one individually, which would be time consuming to say the least. He also plans to place a larger monitor at the sushi bar that would display the same information, possibly on a continuous, automatic rotation. The restaurant uses Windows computers at several locations throughout the restaurant so if the information will have to be composed on one of his computers before transferring it to the tablets the tablets and app will have to be able to connect with and be compatible with the Windows OS. Needless to say, these tablets must be user friendly for the server and customer.
I would appreciate it very much if someone could let me know which tablet and app would be the best for doing this. I suppose he would want a small tablet that is easy to use by both the server and the customer. He wants each observed page on the tablet to display only one picture and one description to make it easy for all involved, similar to how a digital photo album displays only one picture at a time and he wants to be able to progress from one page to the next by swiping the page, tapping the page or using an arrow embedded in the picture. I need the recommendation on a tablet for ease of use with the app.
Thank you in advance for your time and any assistance provided.
C. B.
Please visit the following two threads and read there...http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2230428 and
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2229761
Good afternoon everyone,
I have been thinking about an app that my company could use when staff are sent away on weekend events.
The company hires our PDQ (payment terminals) to various markets/fairs/events throughout the country. They are based in London, with most of the events being further out in the country (Telford, Oxfordshire, to name a few). Whilst at the event I would like for our customers feedback, complaints, questions, concerns, ideas, notes on our equipment, e.t.c. to be logged using a tablet, rather than pen and paper. I feel the most effective way to do this is creating our own app. It does not have to be pristine, with a professionally chosen colour scheme, perfect graphics e.t.c., but a simple app that is user friendly and just works. Ideally we would be able to upload an Excel spreadsheet to it, containing customer details, that can be displayed using some form of table/report layout whereby notes can be added. So, for example, 50 customers and their details are on the spreadsheet, it's uploaded to the app and each one can be opened individually. A signature section to confirm receipt of the equipment would also be a fantastic bonus. Once the event is over with, it would help if the report can be pushed/emailed in a usable format (again Excel would be great) so that certain parts can be extracted and used in various other reports.
So my question is... Am I completely mad for hoping the above is achievable, or extortionately costly? Or is it relatively simple considering the advancements in app making and the kinds that are available today? Could a relative novice be able to make it, or is it best reserved for a Pro?
Any help, questions, suggestions, silly remarks welcome.
Thank you
darrenbilly said:
Good afternoon everyone,
I have been thinking about an app that my company could use when staff are sent away on weekend events.
The company hires our PDQ (payment terminals) to various markets/fairs/events throughout the country. They are based in London, with most of the events being further out in the country (Telford, Oxfordshire, to name a few). Whilst at the event I would like for our customers feedback, complaints, questions, concerns, ideas, notes on our equipment, e.t.c. to be logged using a tablet, rather than pen and paper. I feel the most effective way to do this is creating our own app. It does not have to be pristine, with a professionally chosen colour scheme, perfect graphics e.t.c., but a simple app that is user friendly and just works. Ideally we would be able to upload an Excel spreadsheet to it, containing customer details, that can be displayed using some form of table/report layout whereby notes can be added. So, for example, 50 customers and their details are on the spreadsheet, it's uploaded to the app and each one can be opened individually. A signature section to confirm receipt of the equipment would also be a fantastic bonus. Once the event is over with, it would help if the report can be pushed/emailed in a usable format (again Excel would be great) so that certain parts can be extracted and used in various other reports.
So my question is... Am I completely mad for hoping the above is achievable, or extortionately costly? Or is it relatively simple considering the advancements in app making and the kinds that are available today? Could a relative novice be able to make it, or is it best reserved for a Pro?
Any help, questions, suggestions, silly remarks welcome.
Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That certainly is a nice idea, but unfortunately it doesn't seem very realistic.
If anyone was to attempt to create that, it'd definitely need to be an experience app maker, as the code required to make an app like that is astronomically difficult.
Meh. :|
Scaling it back...
OK, I thought that may have been a lot of 'blue-sky' thinking. How about if the information was entered manually somehow and then notes were made on each one?
It would be great if each event could be stored on the app and looked back over for reference if need be. Say if the customers information was entered using the app creation tool, then a signature was taken and saved as an image, perhaps a picture of it can be taken and then uploaded to the app?
To the app developers... Is there something based on my proposal that could be made more easily?
Thank you
I am looking for some guidance on whether this can be done and if so how hard would it be.
The company I work for run an engineering competition throughout high schools. There are 6 panels of judges all judging different areas of the competition, they all currently have a paper scorecard for each team that they appoint the marks with I have attached a pdf of one to give you an idea.
We are wanting to move to an electronic system to speed up the process and reduce errors because at the moment we have to compile and enter all the scores it a spreadsheet that calculates the winner so there is a high chance of errors being inputted.
The first option I am looking at is having an Excel spreadsheet for each judging panel and it can be linked to the master spreadsheet so it transposes the results across for us, although it would be nice to have this happening live so judges can see whats happening etc. We are wanting to use android tablets because we can get some cheap good quality ones and also easy for the judges to carry around etc.
The other thought I had was to make an android app specifically for this process and thought it can be better tailored to what we want and should be able to give live updates etc into a database and then import it into a spreadsheet.
My question is can this be done and how easy would it be? I don't have a lot of programming knowledge have played around with HTML and a little bit of java but am keen to learn what ever skills/language needed to do it.
Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.
You could probably make a CVS type of program [via any language you know] that sends the values to a database (some sort of SQL would be easiest).
An android app would be cool too. If I have time, I can upload a small app that would be front-end ready and you'd just have to figure out what you'd want to do with the back-end. I could possibly make it export the results to a CVS or a data base type file.
Also, if you want to stick to Excel - you could make a Google Spread and just have everyone load it up on their android and make them contributors. Just make the template and use predefined equations.