I like to browse some of the Stack Exchange sites simply to educate myself. From this viewpoint an iPad app makes sense, although I would welcome a write API, too.
Re:IPad app for Stack Overflow
by notjustanymike on Monday April 30, 2012 @10:50AM
(#3909469)
Agreed - I usually hit SO in the morning to keep fresh on problems and solutions. It's part of my daily reading.
> From this viewpoint an iPad app makes sense
Why is the browser insufficient?
The app’s UI is tailored for the device and therefore more convenient, if just by a small margin. I’m happy to pay €4 for that.
I bought this the day it came out and have been using it occasionally for a couple weeks.
It has boosted my engagement because I enjoy browsing questions and tend to find ones I'm able to answer more readily. It's a joy to browse questions while sitting in a comfy chair but I usually switch to a computer to answer them (maybe that was just issues with finding my old account and logging in).
I still don't turn to it if I'm trying to solve a problem I'm facing.
Brian, one of our co-founders, wrote a short tumblr post about why we built the StackTrace app.
http://bigbigbomb.tumblr.com/post/17252346935/learning-from-...
Totally agree with that. The only time I would use an app to interact with SO is when I go out on weekend or vacation and I just want to check if someone answer a question I left there or to check if someone reply to an answer/comment I left.
Re:IPad app for Stack Overflow
by sparknlaunch12 on Monday April 30, 2012 @06:37AM
(#3908678)
Agreed. However the biggest pain point is copying code between workstation and another device. (This is an issue for those who work in offices where sites like SE are locked down.) If this app can make it easier, then great.
What kind of stupid office has developers writing code and blocks StackOverflow?
Re:IPad app for Stack Overflow
by sparknlaunch12 on Monday April 30, 2012 @07:03AM
(#3908726)
The same offices that live in fear about data security and therefore block absolutely everything.
The few individuals that can access anything don't have a need for it.
x 2
Have to agree with you on this one. Some portal's should not be ported to an app. This is one of them.
I cannot see the use case.
Replying and helping people from your couch :)
It appears to be a read-only experience application. Plus, writing code on iPad would be awful whether from a couch or not.
off topic, but you are missing an important step in your workflow: verify solution found on stackoverflow. some of the answers there are terrible, even among the highly voted ones (remember that many of the people upvoting something may not know the answer themselves, they are learning it right there).
My workflow goes like this:
code > hit a problem > google it > open first result (usually SO) > learn (and possibly copy chunk of code) > return to text editor
Where does the app fit into this workflow? How does the app improve my workflow?
Genuinely curious how this would benefit anyone. Is it meant to sit next to a monitor? Is it meant for those who use an iPad as a coding device? Is it meant for casual browsing of Stack Overflow?