When people say weekend project, do they typically mean this took 20 hours or so? About how long did this take you, mping? (Just wondering, because I feel I'm very slow with personal projects - mostly because I usually work in 2 hour blocks or so)
Show HN: Routinetap, my weekend project to track daily habits
21–30 of 37 posts
Re: Show HN: Routinetap, my weekend project to track daily habits
#22I'd love to see an android app, not with question-editing support but just to let me answer my questions when I'm on the road / in bed / otherwise not at my computer. The lower the barrier, the more often I will succeed at answering the questions for the day. Great idea, great project. :-)
The funny thing is that I applied for Y Combinator funding three years ago centered around a Blackberry app version of a similar idea. I figured you could tie in ads or shopping recommendations based on actual behavior (rather than desired behavior). Unfortunately, I didn't get funding and the idea was too half baked at the time anyway. I ended up shelving it for over two years.
I resurrected the idea about 6 months ago when I learned Android development. I even built a very crude prototype. As you pointed out, however, data entry is a real problem. However, if you're willing to stick with it, these types of applications can be very powerful and useful for behavior modification because you get feedback on what you actually do. For example, if you're trying to lose weight or change a bad habit (or start a good habit) the power of actual statistical data is amazing. It's like there is another person watching everything you do that you have to be totally honest with. Just being aware of your routines at this level of precision changes you.
Re: Show HN: Routinetap, my weekend project to track daily habits
#23Nice idea but the UI is weird. I have to setup questionnaires, click save on them and on each day. It should sync in the background. Can't input data for past days even if they're empty, only current day. The shuffling around animation between calendar days is weird. Also feels slow.
UX is very important for this type of app. You're using it every day, it needs to load and save data quickly.
Obviously it's the early prototype but I'd expect a simple app like this to be as snappy as backbone.js todo example, it's not much more complex.
Re: Show HN: Routinetap, my weekend project to track daily habits
#24I'd love to see an android app, not with question-editing support but just to let me answer my questions when I'm on the road / in bed / otherwise not at my computer. The lower the barrier, the more often I will succeed at answering the questions for the day. Great idea, great project. :-)
The funny thing is that I applied for Y Combinator funding three years ago centered around a Blackberry app version of a similar idea. I figured you could tie in ads or shopping recommendations based on actual behavior (rather than desired behavior). Unfortunately, I didn't get funding and the idea was too half baked at the time anyway. I ended up shelving it for over two years. I resurrected the idea about 6 months…
Indeed, I grabbed this app to record things I'm already recording. But I think a mobile app will be a big win. I have found that, if I record data points (mostly my weight) in a spreadsheet, I have trouble remembering to record every day. But if I do it on a whiteboard on the wall, it's easy. So salience and ease of use are key here.
Re: Show HN: Routinetap, my weekend project to track daily habits
#25reminds me of Daytum (http://daytum.com/)
Re: Show HN: Routinetap, my weekend project to track daily habits
#26If you're looking for a more game like version of this, Health Month has managed to keep my interest for a little bit now.
Re: Show HN: Routinetap, my weekend project to track daily habits
#27Is there a way to remind me everyday to fill out my questionare? A daily email will probably work.
Not yet, I have thought about this but I wasn't sure if I would be nagging people. Maybe a opt-in would be the best choice.
I would also let them set the time of day for the notification.
Re: Show HN: Routinetap, my weekend project to track daily habits
#28I may be wrong, but I believe Benjamin Franklin had a system similar to this. Except with "daily habits", it was "virtues". I like the idea, and think it would be even better if you made things simpler for the user. The point of this kind of app would be to get daily input, but the user is their own worst enemy by not entering it every day. So, a nag would make it much better. Also, your use of Twitter Bootstrap is n…
You are correct. He had a chart with the days of the week (columns) and virtues (rows). He would then note how many faults he had committed each day. He tried to perfect each virtue for some time before adding another, and would perform cycles of this system that lasted several weeks each.
He later stopped doing it, claiming lack of time but he still saw much value in performing this task. You may find this in more detail in his book, which is reproduced here (I have pointed for the specific chapter): http://www.benjaminfranklinbiography.net/#IX
Re: Show HN: Routinetap, my weekend project to track daily habits
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
The funny thing is that I applied for Y Combinator funding three years ago centered around a Blackberry app version of a similar idea. I figured you could tie in ads or shopping recommendations based on actual behavior (rather than desired behavior). Unfortunately, I didn't get funding and the idea was too half baked at the time anyway. I ended up shelving it for over two years. I resurrected the idea about 6 months…
Indeed, I grabbed this app to record things I'm already recording. But I think a mobile app will be a big win. I have found that, if I record data points (mostly my weight) in a spreadsheet, I have trouble remembering to record every day. But if I do it on a whiteboard on the wall, it's easy. So salience and ease of use are key here.
I'm working on an app to help people track their progress towards better eating habits (http://everyday.io), and yeah, being able to use it from wherever you are is an important feature for me. So besides the web interface, I also have an "email interface" (daily reminders, email-ins) and I'm working on the mobile interface (Android app, iOS app pending damn Apple approval). It's already hard enough to change daily habits, so it's important to make it as easy as possible to track.
Re: Show HN: Routinetap, my weekend project to track daily habits
#30Blarg. Who the hell wants to enter all these stats about their life, carefully submitting numbers about their day, etc. bla bla bla. so in human. in the end you're like a slave to the careful entering of stats about yourself, managing your facts like some accountant.