A month ago I launched and shared Where can I look?
When I shared this online for the first time, I described both the impulse and the goal and this:
A few months ago one of my children asked where a specific show could watch.
Coincidentally, I was also looking for a small project to work on the side, so I took her question, where can I see what the show is-is and made a simple app.
If you read the first message, you know I described it as:
A mobile application that makes it easy to find where you can watch a show or movie.
The thing is, it’s not a mobile application. Instead, it is a web app that is executed in the browser, so that it is available on as many devices as possible as platforms. But in recent weeks I have worked on seeing how feasible it would be to start with a real mobile application.
Before I go the Apple economy in the Apple economy, buy the developer license (of which I still don’t know for sure), and try to portray the web app into an iOS app, I refined the web app to follow standards that are closer to mobile user interface and user experience trnons.
So four weeks later I have a version of Where can I look That is available here.
Where can I look: new functions, improvements and reductions
At first glance it is clear that the user interface has been overhauled:
If you are interested in using the app to find where you can view a certain show or movie, continue and visit the site. If you are interested in more of the technical details of this version, read on.
But there have been many things that I have done on both the frontend and the backend of the app to both add functions, to improve performance and offer more parity to what we are used to seeing in real mobile apps.
New functions
The most important change is a complete visual and interactive overhaul to match native iOS patterns. This includes everything, from the typography and color standards, as well as the grid system. I also added the Spring Physics animations that we are used to in our mobile apps.
The switches of the dark mode and the light mode have been removed in favor of the entire dark mode. This is something that can ultimately be restored, especially when the mobile app is ready (if it has ever been done), but I am partly for this aesthetics, so I can hold on to it.
Each show and film also contain a link to the IMDB page for the title in case you are interested in a synopsis, duration, trailer and all other things that fall outside the scope of the app.
Finally, I separated the services where a title can be streamed versus where it can be purchased or rented.
Improved performance
The search functionality was overhauled (it was activated when I saw how long it took to load a franchise – for example, search for superman or Batman Brings back a large number of titles that lasted much longer than should). The new implementation deals with searching in a way that is more performance and that is easier to make API requests to save data when it is done via a mobile connection.
Where possible, I have implemented GPU speed animations for better performance and reduced movement movement movement. I also tried to add aria Labels about components to play well with accessibility.
I finally introduced a caching mechanism with the help of Redis on Vercel So that if someone is looking for a title and another person searches for the same title in a reasonable time window, which can be achieved from the cache without having to initiate another api call.
For interested parties, the changes in the API eventually resulted in the following:
- For: Individual API calls per result (100+ requests for large searches)
- After: Batch requests with chunking (2-3 requests maximum)
- Influence: 95% reduction of API calls, dramatically faster loading
What has been removed
In addition to removing the light mode, I also eliminated all the emojis, because I am not a big fan. Furthermore, they are not part of the typical language language of mobile apps, nor are they part of the guidelines of the iOS interface.
For those who caught an intermediary version of last month’s app, I had introduced a position in which a title was not played in the United States or was not available for streaming, I would add it to a ‘non -streaming’ tab; However, this tab had a negative influence on the user interface, so I have hidden that functionality for the time being.
Furthermore, adding international support for titles is also something that I would ultimately want to record. At first I want to get a stronger basis for the completed service.
Conclusion
Although the app is still built with the help of Next.js and on Vercel is running, I am currently trying to build a shared backend and make a front-end for the web that maintains what is available today and another front-end with React Native that makes an iOS version of the app possible.
As I did with the last two messages, I will continue to document the progress.
That said, I appreciate the notes for those who have used this incredibly simple app to date. It is always nice to hear that it is something useful for someone else. And for as simple as it is, it has been a lot of fun and to put it together and to stretch out in areas that I normally don’t work
#Search #titles #Tom #McFarlin