As a weekend project, seems like you're off to a good start here. The UI is nice, as I happen to like simple, clean, minimal interfaces. (This is bootstrap, I assume.)
I'm not keen on the flow of creating & editing questionnaires, though; would prefer having the whole process be done within the same screen instead of jumping to a new page. This is especially the case when mobile.
It's unclear if not being able to have multiple questionnaires active simultaneously is by design or a bug, but in my mind it's essential. There are a few things I could stand to be reminded of needing to do routinely during the day (i.e. take a 5-minute stretch break from coding every hour), some other tasks where I'd like to track how long I'm doing them over time (how much sleep, how long the workout was, etc.) plus a ton of possibilities I'm not even thinking of but would likely find really useful.
You might want to consider adding some scoring, rewards and achievements to the mix as well; it might make the journey of reaching your goals a little more fun.
I'd like a checkbox-based multiple choice questionnaire in addition to the radio button-based one you currently have. You'd have to complete all of the tasks for the questionnaire to be considered complete. Partially completed questionnaires provide lower scores than fully completed ones.
Also, the ability to add this as a channel to if-this-then-that (http://http://ifttt.com/) could turn out to be really powerful. Since this is yet another calendar in my life I would like to find a way to fit it into the one that rules them all. Not sure what that means, really, other than I have multiple calendars that I've taken the time to sync together, so this should as well, somehow. ;) Perhaps there's a way to take a recurring event that I've created on my calendar that Routinetap could trap and automatically turn into a questionnaire.
Lastly, Maybe I want to tell my social circle that I've reached some milestone or completed a goal; ifttt could provide that without you having to do much work at all (i.e. send an SMS or email to me when the milestone or goal is reached; on ifttt I could set up a trigger that blasts my achievement to my social networks, or something else entirely). If you're not familiar with ifttt, you should check it out. It's awesome.
Again, a very nice start. I think you're wise to get this out there as a MVP; I can envision this turning into a very useful product/service.
Feel free to ping me here on HN for more discussion. ♒ Cheers.
thanks for your input. you (and the others as well) gave me alot of food for thought; It seems my current major headache is the flow of the questionnaire creation; also multiple active questionnaires seem indeed essential. The scoring aspeect also seems interesting.
I find it strange nobody argued about the chart, but I'm guessing there's no sufficient input to discuss it.
As a first-timer let me say that this community is indeed excellent.
Very nicely done! Really appreciate the links to your reference material in the blog, saves me (and other noobs) from having to dig around and discover it ourselves. I'll definitely be keeping track of your progress. Good luck, dude!
You might want to take a look at some of the available online computer science courses (iTunes U, MIT OpenCourseware, Khan Academy, Udemy). Tons of really, really good introductory courses are available that can help with picking up the basics (Stanford's "Programming Methodology" [http://goo.gl/Tbejg] and "Programming Abstractions" [http://goo.gl/RdwLt] come to mind).
As others have pointed out, Meetups are a great way to learn, particularly specialized and cutting-edge stuff, not to mention the networking-with-others potential. Same for joining an open source project and contributing as you learn.
Finally, if there's the equivalent of a Hacker Dojo (http://goo.gl/B2ats) local to you, drop in. People love to help and mentor others.
Anyone who's interested in joining a study group, I've added a Google Doc spreadsheet: http://goo.gl/cbzUL.
Based on the lack of comments here it's hard to tell what the overall interest level is for a study group, but personally I've found them to be quite rewarding.
As the course's start date approaches we'll see how many people have signed up and take it from there.
It might turn out a better alternative to doing this in an ad hoc manner to use one of the online study groups (like OpenStudy, for instance). Personally, I haven't any experience with them yet, but I'm sure there are others who have and can shed some insight.
Citizen Space (http://citizenspace.us) might be a good option for you. For a small donation (they recommend $10 to $20) you'll pretty much have what you need for working on your app. You should give 'em a call just to make sure there's space available, however. Not sure how quickly the drop-in slots get filled up.
Of course, Starbucks now provides free Wi-Fi so that may turn out to be good enough. I occasionally use the 'bucks across from the Metreon (4th & Mission). It's right next to a parking garage (not all that cheap, however) but does have lots of power outlets, and there's plenty of decent food options within walking distance.
I'm not keen on the flow of creating & editing questionnaires, though; would prefer having the whole process be done within the same screen instead of jumping to a new page. This is especially the case when mobile.
It's unclear if not being able to have multiple questionnaires active simultaneously is by design or a bug, but in my mind it's essential. There are a few things I could stand to be reminded of needing to do routinely during the day (i.e. take a 5-minute stretch break from coding every hour), some other tasks where I'd like to track how long I'm doing them over time (how much sleep, how long the workout was, etc.) plus a ton of possibilities I'm not even thinking of but would likely find really useful.
You might want to consider adding some scoring, rewards and achievements to the mix as well; it might make the journey of reaching your goals a little more fun.
I'd like a checkbox-based multiple choice questionnaire in addition to the radio button-based one you currently have. You'd have to complete all of the tasks for the questionnaire to be considered complete. Partially completed questionnaires provide lower scores than fully completed ones.
Also, the ability to add this as a channel to if-this-then-that (http://http://ifttt.com/) could turn out to be really powerful. Since this is yet another calendar in my life I would like to find a way to fit it into the one that rules them all. Not sure what that means, really, other than I have multiple calendars that I've taken the time to sync together, so this should as well, somehow. ;) Perhaps there's a way to take a recurring event that I've created on my calendar that Routinetap could trap and automatically turn into a questionnaire.
Lastly, Maybe I want to tell my social circle that I've reached some milestone or completed a goal; ifttt could provide that without you having to do much work at all (i.e. send an SMS or email to me when the milestone or goal is reached; on ifttt I could set up a trigger that blasts my achievement to my social networks, or something else entirely). If you're not familiar with ifttt, you should check it out. It's awesome.
Again, a very nice start. I think you're wise to get this out there as a MVP; I can envision this turning into a very useful product/service.
Feel free to ping me here on HN for more discussion. ♒ Cheers.