need help w freeware citizen diary - willing to pay, now with Mega links to the clone

[kresten]

I need help with a freeware laptop citizen diary and I am willing to pay if necessary.
I am an (old) danish researcher in psychology. Since the 70's I have focused on the HOME, the domestic sphere.
At the University of Copenhagen Institute of Psychology I developed an "Experimental home", a small furnished apartment including IT of the time, e.g. timelapse video. With students we built a small physical model of the apartment, where we attempted to develop condensed videos of familymember movements and activities.
This was the context, where the notion of pictograms for homelife activities came up.
The experimental home had to be closed, due to missing funding.
I took the first steps in developing a laptop citizen-diary in 1997.
Several versions has since then been tested, evaluated and reworked.
Credits are due to resources from the communities of "HyperCard" and "Revolution" developers, among these foremost Mark Schonewille (Economy-X-talk.com) Sarah Reichelt and her DateTime.rev collection, Richmond Mathewson for his Paint widgets, Eric Chatonet, Klaus Major, Mark Talluto and others.
The present version 19.8.2 has been in continuous daily use by myself through more than a decade.
It is important that a new user of this application understands the founding principle: that the body-household, the domestic household and the information household are parallel threads of most human's lifeworlds.
And it is important that the design of the clone offers the new user the possibility to furnish and inhabit the standalone after personal taste and preferences.
The freeware clone is meant for all kinds of users in force of its extensive flexibility.
Let me list:
* The diary creates automatically a new daycard with weekday, date, month, year, week-number.
* On return a precise timeadress is written after which the user can write text (in any language!)
* A "RETRO" button offers the user to select an earlier time address for text referring back to earlier in the day.
* Supplementing the use of textwriting the user is offered to install and use pictograms (glyph-buttons) from 12 categories/fonts (Body, Child, Social, Household, Food, Cultivate, Smoke, Info, Outside, Sport, State, Reflection) each of which can be used in different sizes, different colors and with different placements. Those that I considered to be the most relevant are available at-hand on your daycard-window, but can be deleted. All can be attained via the “Glyphs”-menu. Which glyphs are available at-hand, and which glyphs are in the catalogue, can be continuously revised by the user.
* The user can be informed on how to use these features in the "Tricks"-menu.
* Each has an english tooltip that will show, when holding the cursor over the pictogram.
* This is also the case for various other buttons and fields.
* The user can also, via the “Tools”-menu, produce and install text-buttons (in any language) with the same options.
(When clicked they will be copied in the present daycard at the present time. But the user may also insert them at alternative timeadresses by pressing the RETRO-button, for insertion to previous time.)
* A button "Addresses " opens a stack where the user can collect (and search in) addresses, mail and mobile numbers to relevant people, firms or institutions.
* A button "Calendar" is an option for the user to make use of an updatable calendar for remembering events and/or for being reminded of expectancies when a new daycard is opened.
* The "GO" menu gives access to:
Making textdrafts in any language of any length, baptize them, accumulate them and print or copy them to mailsystem.
Mindmapping, producing textbuttons (in any language) and connecting them with lines (This is one of the functions which have to be repaired!)
Go to a specified daycard in the users own diary.
See the result of parsings (The parsing function also have to be repaired)
Go to my cyberspaces, an internet browser connected to one or more pages for the user to assemble links to personally relevant internet-sites in one or more personal cyberspaces.
* Directly below the central window of the daycard there are 5 small fields assembling data for number of cigarettes, number of drinks, number of medicines, length of sleep and time of blodpressure. There are glyphs for cigarettes, drinks, medicine, and two glyphs, one for "sleeping" and one for "stand up", which, when clicked in the following day will count the hours and minutes of sleep. Especially for the three first it is possible, when clicked by the user to update the count manually. The last about bloodpressure relates to a table, which the user can open through a button "Statistics", and input the details of bloodpressure-measuring, pulse, body-temperature, exercise, sugar and weight. This feature can also be used to monitor other functions.
* The lower part of the daycard offers options for accumulating notes to a wide range of user-labelled subjects, friends, family-members, projects, tasks. (38 just numbered buttons, which can be baptized by the user)
* "Detailed preferences" lets the user decide which of these shall be visible on the daycard-window.
* The user is also offered an option for opening a table for collecting own user-names, account numbers, pincodes, passwords etc. Because of the vulnerable character of these data, access to this table is slightly complicated, via a search button, which is normally used for testsearch, parsing and codesearch. But beware the danger of hacking. The most vulnerable data can be omitted and just handwritten on a printout of the table.
WHO - IN ANY COUNTRY - MAY BE MOTIVATED TO START USING SUCH A DIARY?
A) Those whose everyday is complicated by old & new disabilities, aging, chronic diseases, acute illnesses, symptoms, tests, waiting periods, treatments, exercises in physical therapy, medication, therapy, medication side effects, health care, patient transport, appointments, addiction rehab etc.
The tool could serve such users to remember – and document – their experiences.
B) Relatives and personal caretakers for severely disabled and chronically ill patients, who feel responsible for their everyday life, at home or in nursing homes, and thereby not only have to overcome the patient's body care and monitoring, timing and administration of the patient's affairs and agreements, transport and economy - but also - in addition to general and special household (shopping, cooking, cleaning, washing) must administer their own body-household, personal finances and (more or less digitized) information-household (telephone, SMS, email, radio, TV).
C) People who are very much alone, and people who are easily bored.
They may here be provided with a platform to "talk with themselves" and, through recording of their factual around-the-clock experiences, come to look at their own priorities, habits and everyday life in slightly new ways.
This must also apply to persons in programs like AA, and prisoners and clients in institutions for re-education/rehabilitation, where the aim is, that they reflect, change their mind and reach a higher level of self-understanding and mindfulness. Here (as in all contexts) the promise of non-disclosure and privacy will be essential.
D). People who want to learn more about IT and accumulate experiences in developing either basic or higher levels of digital literacy, across the handling of text, images and sound, calendar, contacts, SMS, mail, internet etc.
By opening a 24/7 diary-trail along the everyday life´s journey, where events, challenges, time consumption and general "informationhousehold" is contextualized, the user ensures her/himself at least a marginal documentation-power in face of the offers, demands and allurements of an ever accelerating unscrupulous global information society.
E) People, especially elderly, who have a hard time facing the many obstacles in the IT community, remembering instructions, procedures, PINs and passwords, delays and postponements, due dates and deadlines, changing relationships with the public social and health administrators, support and help contacts, subscriptions and payment arrangements.
F) Teachers and students in graphic design and other areas, who here will find meaningful tasks in the pictogram design for glyphs (pictograms, having regard to everyday events) that challenges their creativity, and which can be subjected to qualitative evaluation.
Also cross-cultural aspects could here be taken into consideration.
I permit myself to go into all these details to be sure you understand the nature of the global freeware application I strive for.
(I am painfully aware that the 12 glyphfonts as yet are missing many, but trust, that users after me may create those they are missing.)

The ultimate goal is the testing and launching of freeware standalones for Apple, Windows and Linux. To realize that goal, I do need help in the following:
* I took steps to eliminate the built-in function of creating safety backups, as these would be meaningless in standalones, but I am uncertain of the outcome.
*Further I wondered whether the process of parsing the appearances of words or glyphs in the text of accumulating daycards could be re-engineered without en external folder, and the result still be displayed in the stack "Parseviewer".
* Last in my to-do list is the repair of the mind-mapping function. There is a handler with that title, and there is a substack with that name, the first card of this: "Instruction" displays complex mindmaps, and a mindmap palette, which however when clicked gives the response "The front script for this palette hasn`t been loaded".
So I need help!
You will find downloadable "Diary.livecode.zip" and "PCGlyffont.zip" in a folder: "Files for Phenomenalog"at "mega.nz".The link to download this is https://mega.nz/folder/Krx3DRBT#dAyij0nirO-9DvQghmOKTg
You can also access an (old) website concerning the project, www.phenomenalog.dk , not yet revised to fit the new versions of standalones.
My mail is "kresten.bjerg@psy.ku.dk

[kresten]

Dear Winkcamera
Thank you for your optimism.
But ignorant to which forum I shall turn
best
Kresten

[richmond62]

How many people are using your software at the moment?

The present version 19.8.2 has been in continuous daily use by myself through more than a decade.

This makes me think that only you have been using it.

[stam]

Dear Winkcamera
Thank you for your optimism.
But ignorant to which forum I shall turn
best
Kresten

I think the issue is your text section above is far too long, far too dense and mixes many things without any real order.

Even understanding what your project is and does and what you want help with requires the forum user quite considerable effort to decipher. Hence the lack of replies to this - and if you’ll permit me to be frank, the jumble of text above makes it seem like your app is likely to be a complex jumble as well.

If I have understood correctly at its heart the app is a diary with added functions such as address book, calendar and “glyphs” which I presume are images of some kind, meant as shortcuts. You also imply there are mind maps and user-derived hyperlinks, and possibly many other aspects.

This does seem too much. Too much for the user as well as the developer. And, I suspect, there the code will be similarly too complex (ie there is a high probability of “spaghetti code”) which means other developers picking this up will likely struggle.

Of course I say this without having even seen your stack and I may be completely wrong (apologies if that’s the case!) but may I suggest:

1. Outlining functions without flowery speech. Brevity is key.
2. Outlining what functionality you are trying to implement or correct. Again, brevity is key.
3. I think you should probably consider restructuring parts of the app as well. Nowadays the vast vast majority of users maintain contacts and diary in system or dedicated apps. There is no logic in duplicating this functionality - no one is going to want to maintain data in parallel systems. The same goes for many things I glimpse in your long stream of text above. Consider making the app leaner and focused.

You are much more likely to get help if you can present the help you’re requesting in bite-sized chunks.

And I would suggest trying to focus on what makes the app important, not tacking on extra feature like mind maps (I personally cannot see any reason why I’d want a diary with mind map functionality - I use both but not together, and already have excellent apps for these).

Stam

[stam]

I'm afraid below follow some possibly harsh opinions - not meant as any kind of insult but rather comments on how I perceive the software and what I personally would try to change, since your intention is to share widely.

Following my previous post I did download your stack. I can see this is a work of love that has grown organically over many years and I'm guessing you enjoy using this:

If this works for you then great (and well done!) - and if you can't solve a problem please isolate and share it in manageable chunks and you will get help.
However, if you want this app to be shared with others, that won't work.

If you want to share an app with others, I would suggest considering the following:
1. Narrow/clear focus: Simplifying makes it easier for end-users but also you. The user looks at this and doesn't know if they should enter a diary entry or record blood pressure. With so many dedicated apps nowadays, it has to be obvious what differentiates this from others. What makes this diary special? Why should I use this diary rather than any of the myriads of diaries in existence. User feedback has an important here.
Please note that sharpening the app's focus does not necessarily making things simpler - for example I don't feel the need to enter my physical observations like blood pressure in my diary, but I do want my diary syncing across all my devices or it's useless to me. So yeah, cloud sync needed.

2. Remove unnecessary features - for addressbook/calendar, look into exchanging data with existing apps and systems with for example with vObjects, rather than replicating something everyone has and uses on their systems - at the end of the day, it's difficult to beat usability of professionally created dedicated apps. Instead of having buttons for climate conditions you can use an online REST API service to bring in this data automatically. And so on.

3. Simple clean interface - in this day and age there is no excuse for an interface that looks like this. You can just search images of interfaces - hundreds of thousands are available online and people actually just design nice interfaces to share on UI/UX sites - you could do worse than just looking at these to get ideas. All you need to do is google "image of diary interface for desktop" and see what pops up.

4. Code: The long scripts are unmanageable for those that didn't build them and I suspect even for those who did. Simply put these are too long and too tied in with the interface. And for the most part these are completely uncommented, exponentially increasing the difficulty for anyone to understand your code.
I would strongly suggest modularising your code into independent units to make it more manageable both for yourself and others.

An MVC approach would be more helpful in this regard. Good examples on how this can be done in LiveCode can be found in Andre Garzia's LiveCode Advanced Application Architecture e-book. Highly recommended. You can find a link to purchase this here: https://andregarzia.com/books.html, it's well worth the £15 (and frankly I'm very disappointed this is not being sold via the LiveCode store). But there are any number of sites that explain what the Model-View-Controller approach is and you can read up. While not needed for simpler apps, yours probably would greatly benefit from MVC.


I hate to say it, but if you intend to share to a wide audience, all the above means the app would need re-writing, from scratch.
Still, it's never to late to change what should change!
That's my opinion anyway...
Stam

[kresten]

Dear Richmond
I must repeat that yes, only I have been using the diary, because it is not a standalone, and therefore supposes that the user has livecode installed.
The downloadable clone is not a copy of my own diary - names and topics and preferences are removed.
Presently my grandson Mingus Bjerg, a student of philosophy, has now downloaded a copy of Livecode + the diary clone and collected his own experiences, inhabiting his own diary.
The notion of many users refers to the - hopefully soon - publication of standalones.

[kresten]

Dear Stam
Thank you for your efforts, time spent trying to understand my diary concept, and very reasonable critical comments.

First off, i am not a programmer, but rather an 88 year old researcher in psychology. Therefore it is not an option to completely re-work the programming or "start over". Let me instead write a few words, that might answer to some of your concerns, by further specifying the overall aim of the project (and might inspire someone to engage with the "spaghetti code". Further helped by the promised payment).

My "jumble" of text was actually missing an explanation: My diary concept is an oikocentric approach (OIKOS the greek for HOME) qualifying the construct of three necessary categories of human states and events: the body-household, the domestic household and the information household.
You present a picture of the daycard interface, but without having installed the glyphfonts in your fonts-folder. If you look at the daycard with these many example-pictograms, you may approach an understanding of the invention and the differences between its qualities for the various target-groups.
You are right that the various functions of the clone might have more perfect commercial applications, especially for use on smart mobiles.
The aim of this project isn't to compete in efficiency with these various scattered applications, but rather to integrate a variety of functions in dealing with administration of information in todays accelerated society in one "slow and steady" program. A program in which the three already mentioned categories of human states and events can be managed side by side, and in interplay with eachother. Such a program if well working, could be the necessary antidote to a social context characterized precisely by a constantly accelerating stream of information and technology. Furthermore, the abililty for the user to handcraft and specify such a program to his or her own personal needs, could help to limit the alienation and un-homeliness that faces many citizens in the light of aforementioned acceleration.
In conclusion; my aim is not to compete with the ever-growing ever-quickening stream of new technology and information, but to give citizens from the target groups a way to cope with and maneuver in these tendencies.

[stam]

Dear Kresten - thank you for the clarifications.
For what it's worth, I am Greek, so no need to explain 'oikos'

I fully understand it's not feasible to start from scratch - but I'm also not sure, given software usage habits of most people nowadays, how this fits in and how it will find a home in modern app usage. Who would be the target audience, and do they actually want this?

I can see it's a work of love that's been going for many years - and many features have been added in, like your mind-map functionality. Again, a good mind-map is invaluable when used for the right reason, but I personally would not use this in a diary.
From my own limited personal point of view, I also don't see how pictograms (which is what I presume your font-icons are meant to be) would make this diary a better option - like most others we all expect streamlined apps because the constant information overload and ever-diminishing free time mean we can't spend time curating a pretty diary sadly.

The modern equivalent would probably be something like hash-tags, if I've understood correctly and arguably things like a tag cloud would be both useful and attractive for this - For example:

State_of_the_union_word_clouds.jpg (67.85 KiB) Viewed 587 times

One realistic target user group I can imagine are younger minds with ample time on their hands and more of a need to structure their internal and emotional worlds. This may well be a worthy audience to target such an app at, at least as I understand your premises. But this is also the most demanding audience when it comes to software - they have no knowledge of the struggles of older software like HyperCard and expect apps that will be 'modern' and 'swish'. Some members here are educators for youngsters in these target age groups, perhaps they may show some interest.

My personal view is that any modernisation of this app would require a non-trivial re-write (by this I mean a modern data store, cloud storage preferably, integration with system facilities like calendar and addresses etc), which is a big undertaking sadly. If you are hoping to get someone or a team to help you do this, I'd suggest honing in on central ideas you see as essential to making this unique and separate from all diaries out there - and as concisely as possible. Not with code or even livecode but preferably figures/images. Basically provide a blueprint of the central concepts as a starting point.

Not sure if it's feasible for you, but wire-framing is something that helps set out such ideas and essentially set a blueprint for building an app. If you did this right, you could just pass it on to someone to build, in theory at least.
You can for example try Balsamiq (https://balsamiq.com) - they have a 30 day free trial. I've used this for years and find it helpful. This, like so much else, is new skill to learn, but even a hand-drawn diagram would do.

As for finding paid developers you could post something in the Developer Services Marketplace here. LiveCode Ltd themselves have been advertising exactly this type of service as well - they will build the app for you (but I suspect at a higher cost, possibly). Check the website: https://livecode.com/services/

Best of luck,
Stam

[kresten]

Dear Stam

Thanks for your convincing argument that my diary prototype will be unattractive to the given software usage habits of most people nowadays and your wonder how it would fit in and find a home in modern app usage.

IT WILL NOT and it shall not

My target groups are on the contrary people that are old, far from modern app usage and more or less handicapped.

The distinctive quality of this diary is its chronological around the clock readyness to reports of events and habits in the bodyhousehold, the domestic household and the informationhousehold.

Let me repeat the description of 2 primary target groups:

A) Those whose everyday is complicated by old & new disabilities, aging, chronic diseases, acute illnesses, symptoms, tests, waiting periods, treatments, exercises in physical therapy, medication, therapy, medication side effects, health care, patient transport, appointments, addiction rehab etc.
The tool could at least serve such users to remember – and document – their experiences."
and
E) People, especially elderly, who have a hard time facing the many obstacles in the IT community, remembering instructions, procedures, PINs and passwords, delays and postponements, due dates and deadlines, changing relationships with the public social and health administrators, support and help contacts, subscriptions and payment arrangements.

It seems that I can now conclude, that I won't be able to find anyone willing to proceed with the spaghetti-code technicalities of my project in this Forum, and I will therefore instead seek helping hands via the links you have provided and for which I am grateful.
Thank you for engaging with my project.

Best regards, Kresten.

[stam]

It seems that I can now conclude, that I won't be able to find anyone willing to proceed with the spaghetti-code technicalities of my project in this Forum, and I will therefore instead seek helping hands via the links you have provided and for which I am grateful.
Thank you for engaging with my project.

Dear Kresten,
What the above means you are unlikely to find volunteers to do this for free (i.e. posting in this sub-forum).

If you are willing to pay for a developer, as you suggested, your most obvious choices are:

• Post a job in the Developer Services Marketplace on this forum.
• LiveCode Ltd advertise this type of service as well - they will build the app for you. URL: https://livecode.com/services/

[kresten]

Thank you, Stam