AppInventor is a platform, created by Google, for non-programmers to create Android applications. I was told about it, during my training for Technovation Challenge, which is a three months mentorship program to teach high school girls how to develop and market an Android app. I would like to mention AppInventor’s website.
The AppInventor website has a video that simply describes what the platform and its components look like. The video doesn’t go into details about how to create an app.
The website is very neat and the dominant color has given the “clean” look that makes it easy to follow through. There are four categories, one of which is the tutorials page. Once you are on the tutorials page you can rather watch a video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC_x9iOby0g) that actually describes how to design an app, by going over an example, or you can click on other tutorials about how to setup the AppInventor with an Android phone and computer, or how to create an application, etc.
The tutorials for creating applications are very straightforward. There are subtitles, in a consistent font, that indicate it is a step for adding, or making something, so, for example, one can switch to step for “adding a button” very easily. Also, the instructions are given in an order that is creating the design first, and then, handling the events. These step by step, first front-end and then back-end, instructions make it easy to recall the next time one starts a new project. There are some words written in the site’s dominant color if it is a component of the AppInventor. For handling the events part, where one adds functionality to the design just created, there are some texts surrounded with dashed lines like: when Button1.Click which indicates an event.
The instructions are followed by a screenshot that explains the state of the project during that step. In the screenshot below, the user is selecting the Button1 and renaming it. These screenshots can also be watched in the video given in the main tutorial page.
Tips, which help solving issues, e.g. failing to upload an image. These helpful tips are right under the steps that can be problematic in some situations. There is also forum where one can ask for help, share their solution, etc.
Overall the website is easy to use, and very informative about the AppInventor. It doesn’t require prior knowledge in Android development or computer science.
The AppInventor website has a video that simply describes what the platform and its components look like. The video doesn’t go into details about how to create an app.
The website is very neat and the dominant color has given the “clean” look that makes it easy to follow through. There are four categories, one of which is the tutorials page. Once you are on the tutorials page you can rather watch a video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC_x9iOby0g) that actually describes how to design an app, by going over an example, or you can click on other tutorials about how to setup the AppInventor with an Android phone and computer, or how to create an application, etc.
The tutorials for creating applications are very straightforward. There are subtitles, in a consistent font, that indicate it is a step for adding, or making something, so, for example, one can switch to step for “adding a button” very easily. Also, the instructions are given in an order that is creating the design first, and then, handling the events. These step by step, first front-end and then back-end, instructions make it easy to recall the next time one starts a new project. There are some words written in the site’s dominant color if it is a component of the AppInventor. For handling the events part, where one adds functionality to the design just created, there are some texts surrounded with dashed lines like: when Button1.Click which indicates an event.
The instructions are followed by a screenshot that explains the state of the project during that step. In the screenshot below, the user is selecting the Button1 and renaming it. These screenshots can also be watched in the video given in the main tutorial page.
Overall the website is easy to use, and very informative about the AppInventor. It doesn’t require prior knowledge in Android development or computer science.
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