DCU Timetable App

Dev 17

Hello,

I'm one of the developers of the "Clever Campus" project. A group of us (5) made an app that delivers, stores and displays DCUs timetable. My role was iOS Front End Dev.

It's been out since October but we did no other promotion other than a FB Page.

You can find it on both the App Store and Google Play.
https://itunes.apple.com/ie/app/clever-campus/id713705910?mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=edusoft.seanmacgillicuddy.clevercampus

I would be interested in any feedback DCU students have to offer especially negative feedback.

I should probably explain at this point if you download the app and get a new timetable it probably won't display a timetable because most DCU students don't have lectures this week.

The app display only lectures for today or this week. However you can change the date in your iPhone to trick the app into thinking it's the future or past and verify that it does display an accurate timetable.

Thanks,

Dev.

Dev 17

Shameless Bump:

Hey Guys,

Awful shame there is so little feedback. I do appreciate the one "Thanks" I received though.

Can I take it that many DCU students are rather apathetic about having a DCU Timetable App? That in itself would be meaningful feedback as if it's simply not useful then there is no point making extensions to the app as a summer project for myself.

Maybe if I proposed some use case scenarios and ideas it might spur some discussion:

• Perhaps you've only got 8 hours of lectures a week and know exactly where each one is and on top of that are constantly aware of which weeks and days have lectures throughout the year, then I'd probably see little use for the app.
• However if you've got 30 hours a week of science lectures, are often not sure which room it's in or if it's a lab and never know which college days/weeks are on and off throughout the year. The the app would stand a good chance of being useful.
• Perhaps you prefer transcribing your timetable into your journal or pin board in your dorm paying homage to the "IKEA Effect".
• Perhaps induction week handouts last the year in your pocket and have no further need to access your timetable.
• Perhaps you don't know anything about your timetable other than what time you've to be in and follow your mates throughout the day.

Some features I'd like to add:

• Ability to navigation and view any day and week views of the year rather than just "this week" or just "today", i.e. Do we have class in three weeks?
• Edit timetable i.e. DCU iCal info is inaccurate and there was a clash with another class the lecturer says change the scheduled time on Tuesday to 11 O'Clock instead of 12 O'Clock.
• Custom Selection of All Modules for generating a timetable i.e. exchange students can pick generally whatever modules they want.

No Bodders,

Dev.

paul0103

Does the option to sync your academic timetable with your Google calendar not do all of this already? (video tutorial here)

I have used this feature with Android, and found it to work very well. Perhaps this is one of the reasons for the lack of feedback?

Dev 17

I wasn't aware of that App, so thanks for pointing it out - this is exactly the kind of contribution I'm looking for. Effectively they both do a similar thing. Perhaps this is more relevant to DCU students as they might be inclined to frequent the DCU page for other uses as well (email, notes etc).

I'll admit Google's approach is a little more sophisticated and more functional but ours seems to be easier, prettier and mobile focused.

mad turnip

paul0103 wrote: »

Does the option to sync your academic timetable with your Google calendar not do all of this already? (video tutorial here)

I have used this feature with Android, and found it to work very well. Perhaps this is one of the reasons for the lack of feedback?

I used this when I was in college the last 3 years very helpful. Its good because it has offline support.

Dev does your app work offline?

Dev 17

Yes, the app has support for persistent data once a timetable has been generated so it works offline and doesn't push silly alerts telling you you're not online unless you you try to create a new table.

In short:
New Timetable: you need the interwebs.
Existing Timetable: you don't need the interwebs for the whole year.

Dev 17

Hi Mr. S,

I addressed your propositions by putting the key feature in bold.

Remote notifications would be a great idea especially if there were any changes made to the back end. This could ensure timetable accuracy. However this would require either a college admin pushing the change or the scraper (the thing we used to pull down everything from that iCal link) detecting a change by regularly pulling down data and comparing md5 hashes of the data (program that takes any file or folder and converts it to a unique number) which would be a bit of work making such a scraper.

The useful thing about our app is that it's hosted on our own server meaning if that iCal link goes down ours won't. Possibly not GCal as thats probably all on Goole's servers but Google's server couldn't add more timetables just cater to those who've already generated theirs.

The reminder service would be an okay idea, most notifications unless important tend to piss people off. So it would be something you would have to enable in an options menu.

From what I can see with the GCal sync, very similar functionality but on the whole I see it as a Calendar app and like you say is only a bookmark away.

This is where I draw the distinction and I feel our app comes out ahead. It's an app on your phone in your pocket that tells you what your next class in literally one tap. It's possible to achieve a similar result by syncing your Google Calendar with iOS:
https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/151674?hl=en

However you can see where all this complexity is going, two web links of instructions composed of about 20 small simple steps to get your app on your phone compared to downloading an app and giving an input of literally 3 taps.

Thanks for saying it's a nifty app. I think so as well I wanted something small, simple and cool.

Kavrocks

Before I say anything I should say I wrote an Android app to do exactly what you have done 2 years ago. It was never published as the timetable data is copyrighted by DCU and without their express permission not usable in an app like this.

I don't like the look of your app and don't think its very user friendly to begin with. Having to scroll through a very long exhaustive list of courses and their years to begin with is not user friendly to me and the Google calendar approach is a lot easier, simply copying and pasting a link (especially being on Android).

Its also not 3 taps to get up and running its 5 minimum and a long scroll.

The use of colour is not very pleasing either and trying to determine what class you have isn't easy at a glance too. The Android interface looks as if you took an iOS design and ported it to Android (something I very much dislike). The Android UI is lacking basic margins and padding too, text is very small in places and not lined up with the surrounding text. There are Android Design Guidelines to explain how things like this should be done which weren't followed.

Your app also does not work for me now. It says I have only 1 class a week on Wednesday and it has even gotten its details wrong too.

Dev 17

Kavrocks wrote: »

Before I say anything I should say I wrote an Android app to do exactly what you have done 2 years ago. It was never published as the timetable data is copyrighted by DCU and without their express permission not usable in an app like this.

I don't like the look of your app and don't think its very user friendly to begin with. Having to scroll through a very long exhaustive list of courses and their years to begin with is not user friendly to me and the Google calendar approach is a lot easier, simply copying and pasting a link (especially being on Android).

Its also not 3 taps to get up and running its 5 minimum and a long scroll.

The use of colour is not very pleasing either and trying to determine what class you have isn't easy at a glance too. The Android interface looks as if you took an iOS design and ported it to Android (something I very much dislike). The Android UI is lacking basic margins and padding too, text is very small in places and not lined up with the surrounding text. There are Android Design Guidelines to explain how things like this should be done which weren't followed.

Hey Kav,

Thanks for the contribution. Firstly, let me apologize for the tardy reply. My charger for my laptop broke putting it out of commission for a few days. I did say I was specifically looking for negative feedback and you certainly had no qualms about giving your opinion of the app which I do appreciate.

Well as Mr. S said we do have permission from DCU.

It's fair enough that you find Google's approach easier. I certainly would never have figured it out on my own without a video instructing me on how to do it. I can honestly say I definitely didn't find it easier but I did find it more functional as it has the full support of an already existing calendar app.

The scrollable lists were an intentional design decision. I wanted to reflect the availability of data. In DCU's iCal data we became aware quite quickly that not all the data was there nor was it 100% accurate when it was there.

The initial design had fields for Course Code and Year, most students are familiar with both numbers and entered them with text and submitted the request. However this created a problem when (for example) CA2 was entered - Computer Applications Year 2 and nothing was returned because the data didn't exist. I was afraid that people would get the idea that the app didn't work rather than DCU Data simply wasn't available. By showing a list and people not being able to find their course meant they would intuitively know why they couldn't access their timetable because their course wasn't on the list.

The list though is alphabetical order and the Android client has a search filter. So we did try to minimise scrolling. However on the whole I find scrolling an easy and trivial task on smartphones relative to entering text.

3 Taps is probably a little hyperbolic or at least a cherry picked number, I'll concede 5 is more accurate.

Regarding the colour: Well it's really down to taste here but I liked it. Therein lies the problem you and I probably will never agree on a colour scheme because it's so subjective but the app should be able to change for people who don't like things about it. The colour scheme was simple, clean, easy on the eyes and helped with some of the functionality. If I were to change something though perhaps an ability to select a colour scheme would be a useful addition.

Kavrocks wrote: »

Your app also does not work for me now. It says I have only 1 class a week on Wednesday and it has even gotten its details wrong too.

Sound like a problem with DCU Data - Can you supply the information you entered? Course Title and Year, modules selected so I can investigate it for myself.