Hi,
I'm building an app and I'd like some review/feedback/constructive-criticism please.
It's an accounting app targeted at solo operators (for example, freelancers, consultants, contractors, side gigs etc). Due to the niche target market, it only has a subset of the functionality found in other accounting apps, but this also means that's no unnecessary clutter. In other words, it's stripped down and simple, but (hopefully) fully functional for the target user.
Also, it's non-cloud/non-SaaS in the sense that ... the data file is stored on the user's computer instead of being stored in the vendor's cloud and it's in an accessible open data format. In other words, the user has full control over their own data.
If you're interested, here are some links:
Web edition of the app: https://www.gigobooks.com/webapp
The website (but it needs a re-design): https://www.gigobooks.com
The open source / desktop edition of the app: https://github.com/gigobooks/gigobooks
Some questions to spur discussion ...
Do you think it has enough functionality for the target market/user? What other additional features might be needed?
If you are a target user, would you use such an app? If not, why not?
Any comments, criticisms, questions, are welcome and appreciated.
Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for your comments and thoughts!
Hi Bengtan. Read your blog and like what you are doing. As you appreciate regional variations (e.g. tax, invoices) are a key complication so I wonder how you will maintain a "light touch" without getting dragged down into too many weeds. Have you given any thought about supporting plugins? Perhaps something like kanboard.org plugins could work. Would allow motivated individuals to support their own regions/specific needs. Anyway I think you have an interesting direction.
Hi rab,
Thank you for your thoughts.
The main regional/regulatory variations are due to tax. I spent a lot of time on it and already rewrote the tax subsystem twice. At the moment, it's quite modular. Adding support for a new GST/VAT/sales tax system is just a case of adding a definition and a tax report.
So, yes, maintaining a 'light touch' is a challenge but I feel like I've achieved it for tax variations.
If there are other unexpected variations in the future, I guess I'll deal with them as they arise. I'm confident I can keep the code clean and modular.
I'm not sure if I need to go to the full extent of having 'real' plugins, but if it's needed, then so be it.
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Sorry, this isn't a very definitive answer for you :)
I'm basically saying "Don't disagree agree. We'll see".
But that's all I can say ... because I can't predict the future :)