Monday 15 December 2014

A couple of pictures :)


So I started work on Apliko today and the first version of the UI is kind of half done now, which is a really good step forward. I will have to focus on my exam prep for the rest of the week, but will try and get the first version of the CV UI ready as well.

I have already identified a few problems in the current In App Browser Design. It is not very intuitive yet and lots of buttons and options and context menus will still have to be added before it becomes useable.

As this is not only an app design/implementation-type project but also a research project I will be setting up a survey to gather some user information soon. It would be great if everyone reading this could participate in this, as it will really affect how the program turns out in the end.


Sunday 14 December 2014

Apliko Job - My Project Proposal

This is the project proposal that I had to submit a few days ago:
I am planning to build the UI for AplikoJob in the next 7 days, so screenshots should be up soon.

AplikoJob

Apliko is Esperanto for ‘Application’

Platform: Windows and Windows Phone
Distribution: Windows App Store

Applying for jobs has become a longwinded process with many companies now requiring applicants to fill out several pages of online forms for each job they are applying to.
A single job application can easily take up an hour or more, and although the same questions are being asked in most forms, they usually end up having a slightly different format.
This combined with an increasingly competitive job market makes it hard for recent graduates, students, and other job seekers to keep up the momentum in their job search.

This is where AplikoJob comes in. AplikoJob allows job seekers to digitalise their CV and use text snippets of it in online job applications. The software allows people applying for jobs to complete each application quickly and efficiently. This – in turn – allows them to apply for more jobs faster, improving their chances of finding employment.

AplikoJob uses two different search features to help job seekers with their applications:

Proactive Search
is used while the user browses a job site or views an application form. AplikoJob analyses the contents of the web site and suggests text snippets that the applicant might want to use in the current section of the application form.

Reactive Search
allows the applicant to further improve AplikoJob’s results by typing into search box. AplikoJob will use the information entered by the user to find the part of their CV that they want to use and give them the option to copy the information into the form straightaway.

Additionally AplikoJob remembers what sites it has been used on, making it easier for job seekers to track their previous applications.

Wait... Is this?! I'm confused...

You may have noticed that this blog kind of died a couple of years ago, when I started working in my internship role, and was unable to keep up the development of Tales of Hymna as a result.

Unfortunately not much has changed since then. Whenever I get a chance to work on it, other critical work seems to come up.

However TOH is still a project that is very close to my heart, and if I ever do have some spare time (most likely this summer) I will try and redevelop it in a more modern format, as I really think that it has potential.

In the meanwhile, however, I will use this space for another project, namely my final year project at university.

The name of the project is 'AplikoJob' - Apliko is Esperanto and means 'application' as in 'job application'; job is 'laboro' in Esperanto btw and job application is 'apliko laboro', but that just sounds weird, so I decided to go for a mixed term to make it sound all artsy and interesting.

Watch this space for more information and details on its development. Also: This time I have to finish it by the hand in deadline, so there shouldn't be any delays past June 2015.