[Android Apps and Games] TJMulder:
Hello :) !

A RSS-reader is one of the main - and the key apps I use on a daily basis. What I mean by "the key app" is that I highly value being up-to-date with all of things I find interesting and important.

Over the years I've been using several RSS-clients. At some point I've met one particular app which seemed promising - but over the time ads were added and using the app wasn't convenient any more. To make matters worse splash-screen has been introduced - which also slowed the app (in the long run I find very important to be able just to instantly open an app).

So I needed the research again - to find another RSS-reader which could be right for Me. During the research one thing I found strange: several apps looked pretty similar to the one I've described before. Soon I've discovered Flym and its various forks, i.a. FlymFork by Yanus171. I picked a few which seemed most promising and contacted their developers (including the original app), equipped with some insights and key-requests which I've found crucial (like - for example - being able to enlarge text-size or switching articles by volume buttons). Only one person answered - that way I've discovered an app which I use to this day. Moreover, the app is more and more convincing and appealing - because new features are introduced, which also make a big difference in terms of both usability and user-experience as such. This is also why I am interested in this app's development: I'd love to see it growing, being more user-friendly (especially regarding average users, which requires a proper attitude) and a little bit more elegant and flexible. All of that is My dream which I'm brave to have because of how promising the app is now - and its Developer seems to be open-minded, generally responsive to various requests, ideas and loose thoughts.

What I find most useful so far

:

User-friendly text size:

You can enlarge both article's - and articles list' text size -

separately

(which is important). It is crucial for Me because of limited vision/eyesight, I highly need big text and only in FlymFork I've found sufficient level of text size in articles and articles' lists. I guess there are not many users with limited eyesight out there - but that "trivial" tiny thing like enlarging text-size to pretty big may be crucial and final factor allowing some users to just using the app, let alone using it conveniently.

Convenient reading

:

switching articles by volume buttons, "tap areas" and remembering the position of reading per article. All those features are fundamental in terms of usability, how easily and fluently You can use the app. I use volume buttons to switch next/prev articles - and combine it with tapping on top or bottom of the screen to scroll it up/downward. This way You can browse/read articles very easily and

quickly

- especially given that displayed articles are automatically marked as read. I find especially amazing that by tapping the top or bottom area - it scrolls exactly the whole content of the single screen -

no matter where I've scrolled it before

. Besides it's very convenient to have that ability to scroll the text exactly one page down/up - in case if You use volume buttons not to scroll, but to switch articles. On top of that FlymFork remembers where You've stopped reading all the articles - which is also very helpful.

Killer feature: Important Articles (so far it is known as a filter

"mark as starred"

). I subscribe several RSS channels and browse them when I have some "spare time" between other - main activities I'm highly into. As I've mentioned before, it's important for Me to be up-to-date with all I find interesting (several matters represented by favorite RSS channels). As far as subscribed channels are concerned, among these You may find information which You consider high-priority (maybe it requires an urgent action/checking out/etc.). One example could be posts on time-limited offers: if You check RSS news only from time to time (like Me, during "spare-time-windows" ;) ) - it's easy to miss any urgent info. But if You'd be notified right after that kind of high-priority info shows up - it could be a game-changer. In other words: regardless of how often You are able to check the (RSS) news -

You no longer miss anything important

.

Read It Later (so far it is called "starred items"). My approach to RSS is that sometimes I have the time to read something - or just to quickly browse articles to pick up potentially interesting ones to read later. A wonderful thing is that I can put interesting articles "on the buck burner" with the certainty that they won't dissapear -

regardless of time span I chose in the app's settings

. This is another feature I find crucial in terms of how much this app is really helpful and useful in everyday life, fitting in various lifestyles (more or less time to read).

Kind requests :) - what I think would be a good idea to implement and make the app growing:

I. Nomenclature - be more user-friendly.

I think there is a lot of room for improvement in terms of how the app communicates with users -

especially keeping in mind average users

who just want to be up-to-date with all they like/they are interested in. No need to be a computer geek, power user, etc. I'm sure there are many users who don't know what RSS is - but would be definitely interested in being in touch with all which is important to them (via RSS channels). It would be sufficient to supply an app which will communicate with them using non-technical language, this way being more comprehensive, avoiding various potential confusions derived out of "non-technicality". I think this is a good idea to care about average people - not only users with the knowledge, however basic or advanced. I'd like to see the app which I could use without knowing all the technical details - FlymFork would be excellent being that way - and in the same time maintaining more "geeky" features somewhere "under the hood" (like - for example - handling websites with no RSS feed!). As a result both user-bases would be content: power users with their needs - and average users with almost no technical knowledge and nomenclature in mind.

Moreover, by implementing various "touch-ups" within the nomenclature itself the app would become more human = more friendly. And this would be one of key-factor to choose FlymFork instead of any other app.

I would suggests several touch-ups

:

Rename "Favorites" as "Read It Later".

I think it would be definitely more precise and understandable than "favorite". Imagine You are an average - non-technical user. Then imagine You see "Read It Later" option in the app: it's very easy to know what that feature is for. But why I (or an average user) could "mark something as favorite"...? I think it would be much more convincing to put it as "Read It Later".

"Articles" instead of "entries" or "posts".

This one is a request of similar mold as previous one. Although there are many users (programmers? ;) ) who are accustomed to name things as "entries"/"items" - there are even more users for whose it would be much more friendly

to name things simply as "articles"

: more human, more understandable, without need to think "Do I really know for sure what does 'the entry' mean?". So I highly suggest to change "entries" into "articles" app-wide, everywhere where a word "entry" (or "entries") is used - to change it into "article/articles". For example, instead of notification message "XX new entries" I would suggest "XX new articles". Moreover, for FlymFork to be more friendly I would love to see it put as "You have XX new articles to browse." .

It would be so exciting to use an app which is so friendly

- on a daily basis :) ! Small change, but big impact - I'm sure the angel (not the devil) is in the details :) .

"Updating (which could take some time), please wait..." instead of "updating" - and "You have XX new articles to browse." instead of "XX new entries".

While updating, FlymFork displays two notifications: one is displayed only temporarily and contained originally only the time of the update - the other informs how many new articles has arrived. Since the temporary one is often displayed even a few minutes - it could be a little bit confusing. Fortunately now it has been changed into "updating" - now I know what is happening and why I'm still seeing this notification on the bar. To make it accordingly more friendly (as I've pointed out earlier) I would suggest to change sole "updating" into "Updating (which could take some time), please wait...".

This way there is no place for any confusion or uncertainty on what is happening

- moreover, users are now prepared that updating can take some time, and it's not complete yet (and this is important information). When updating is complete, FlymFork displays a notification "XX new entries" - I would suggest to change it into "You have XX new articles to browse." - again, to make it more human/more friendly/more understandable. I think many users would appreciate it.

"Important Articles" instead of "Mark(ed) as starred".

I refer to the 'Important Articles' concept I've mentioned before. Many people would benefit from this feature if it would be clear what is it for. I think what would help is to rename it from "Mark as starred" (in the filter configuration) / "Marked as starred" (in the notification) - to "Notify on Important Articles" (in the filter config.) and "New Important Article" (as notification).

"Full articles instead of excerpts" instead of "retrieve full text" - again: more understandable for average users.

If I will notice another instances where we could have the app communicating with the user in a more friendly way - I'll let You know, but those above are essential because they are most often seen by users while using the app.

II. Multiple fonts.

I think the more flexible an app is - the wider user-base it can reach (because it can meet more individual tastes). Ability to change the article font (as well as the font of articles' list - it may be one setting for all) could make more users smile :) . For example, I would especially recommend the font "Lato Light" for it resembles widely known "Roboto Light" propagated by Google, but in My opinion is more "fluid" and elegant - or less "edgy", to put it differently. Wherever I can, I use Lato Light - it could be great to have it here :) ! More information on Lato font You can find here (I recommend to read the 'about' section for those who are interested in typography - You will find interesting information there!): fonts.google.com/specimen/Lato.

III. Progress bar.

With limited sight I could barely notice its existence

- but it looks like great idea, to have that subtle progress bar accompanying reading and indicating how much we are engrossed in the content :) . I think this bar would be, however, a little bit visible - and still subtle (I'd love to be able to set My own color to it!). Now the hour displayed next to it is so tiny... The progress bar being so small has no use for Me - but it does would be useful

if a little bit bigger and placed on the background

(of the color according to app's theme). BTW, not everybody is interested in being always informed what time is it - so it would be definitely great to be able to turn off displaying the time alongside progress bar somewhere in the options.

IV. FTP synchronization.

Although this is not crucial - I think it would be something making FlymFork considerably standing out, especially if You consider that FlymFork "does NOT synchronize with online news feed readers (i.e. Feedly)". I think it would be much better to be able to synchronize several things over the FTP. I saw that feature in Anki - an Android app to memorizing. On one side it has its own cloud with the synchronization service - but on the other it offers its users an ability to synchronize via their own FTP server (!). I find this feature amazing and - although I'm not a developer - I guess it would be done: to implement synchronization via user-defined FTP server. It should synchronize everything needed for fluent, transparent usage of FlymFork on multiple devices. An ideal effect should be not to feel that anything changed when You grab another device. So we need synchronization:

[*]List of subscribed RSS feeds/channels.

Status of reading (which articles are read, which not yet - and which are marked as starred/Read It Later - plus notification on Important Articles).

Position of reading per article.

Last viewed article (if enabled in settings).

Also FlymFork should notify if any problems with accesing an FTP server occurs - as well as on successful synchronization. Besides, it would be good to be able to

choose the synchronization's interval

somewhere in settings.

I'm not sure if would it be possible but maybe You could add a Google Drive as another place to synchronize?

V. Localization.

Although I'm all right with using the app communicating in English - I know there are many users who don't know the language, using their own native one. In My case it is Polish - and I would be interested in translating the app into Polish in order for FlymFork to communicate in this language when Polish Android instance is detected. What do You think about it?

Bugs:

Multiple "External link" items on the sidebar.

Using the app over the time there are many "External link" items on the bar - which contain an error message ("Error: attempt to invoke...") and seem to be useless. If I suppose correctly that they are not necessary - it would be definitely great to hide them in order to the sidebar not being littered.

"Setting up automatic marking of articles as read while scrolling the list".

I can't find or observe this option in action - where is exactly located? Is it possible to turn it on/off? If no, would it be (I think it would be a good idea)?

I wanted to cover all topics but I think it would be better to publish it now and add any further remarks at some later point - this way You could make FlymFork better earlier :) . So I hope You find the ideas described above useful.

Kind regards,

Thomas Leigh