Would you use a web app instead?

[aimee]

Hey everyone! This is my first post here but I've been lurking for a while... I've been cross-stitching for a couple of months now and am currently doing the Epic Mario Through the Ages pattern... and all the time it's taking to do that (I'm just finishing the ocean part after a week) has filled my head with thoughts.

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(I'm still a newb though, this is my first big piece and I've already made some rookie mistakes!)

Anyway, I'm a software developer and one thing that has really irked me is how everyone uses different software for patterns that isn't necessarily compatible with other software! I'm a Mac user and almost all the patterns I see are done in Windows software that outputs files that don't work in Macstitch. So I started thinking the other day... "Why not just make a web app that would you let you make patterns... even collaborate with others... and just be able to share the pattern online?" I don't want to do it for profit or anything, it would be free, but I'm genuinely curious as to whether people would be interested in using such a thing. Are there any features *not* in the Windows or Mac programs you use that you wish there were?

I'm also curious as to how many people print patterns vs. reference them directly on the computer. And if you do print, how likely you would be to not print if there were a nicer way to track your progress on the computer. Basically, I just want to build some tools that make life simpler and am curious to hear the opinions of other stitchers

[Yurtle]

I wouldn't be opposed to a web app, instead of my PC Stitch program. It would need all the same functionality as my PC Stitch and would have to be good with colour matching, which is a big problem with KG Chart and sometimes with PC Stitch.

To answer your second question though, nothing will get me to not print. I don't have a tablet and even if I use my husband's, it just not as convenient for me as my printed copy. I like to be able to fold it up small, write on it if I have to and carry it around in the same bag as my project. I don't want to have to rely on carrying around a device in order to cross-stitch. I also mostly use a laptop (but treat it as a desktop) and with my glasses, it would be more difficult for me to switch from looking at my computer screen to my cross-stitch. It's easier to have my pattern and fabric both in my lap. I guess I'm a little old school. I'm the same way with my knitting, even though I see members of my knitting group reading their patterns from their ipad. It just doesn't work for me.

[Mishatu]

I think it would be neat, although I would definitely request a mobile-friendly version. If I'm stitching, I'm normally using my computer for watching things or away from my computer completely, and I would be using an iPad. I would also like the ability to highlight stitches that I've completed.

Maybe could be a ravelry-esque site? Users could have a sign on, add patterns to a queue, and mark their progress? Hmm, now I'm busy thinking...

In addition to the highlighting bit, would it be possible to have the thing calculate how much of the project is done, from the number of stitches in total and number of stitches highlighted? (And there's the number-crunching nerd... GET BACK IN YOUR CLOSET)

[Eliste]

I would definitely consider an app. I usually put whatever pattern I make into PDF and then stitch off my iPad when I can.

I'm probably an abberation in that I usually do not print out my patterns if I can get away with it. So I usually only print it if I'm going to have to fly or if I screw up and can't figure out where I did. So not being able to do so wouldn't bother me. That said, a good app, imo, would allow you to export to PDF to transfer the pattern once it was done to another computer/tablet/whatever.

[aimee]

In addition to the highlighting bit, would it be possible to have the thing calculate how much of the project is done, from the number of stitches in total and number of stitches highlighted? (And there's the number-crunching nerd... GET BACK IN YOUR CLOSET)

Ha, this is the kind of thing that motivated me partly... I'm the same way, crossing off my progress is great but to have numbers is like ~*magic*~

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I was hoping to make it so you can share across any web-enabled device--so like, I send someone a link and the pattern just automatically opens in a really nice big mobile-friendly interface that can be bookmarked, linked, e-mailed. Was planning on making it printer-friendly too, but the idea of PDF exporting also sounds like a good idea

[funkymonkey]

I am actually working on something similar now, as a software developer myself . I'm working on a PC (and later a Mac) program that the saved files will be cross-compatible. Until I get the full Mac version done, I'm making a web viewer so at least Mac people can use the patterns made with the PC software.

A feature I'm putting into my web viewer that hasn't been covered by stitch software I've had is a very flexible masking/marking; so you can either select full colors that are complete to mask, or just square-by-square color in areas to change the opacity so it makes it easier to see what you have left. I've had programs that let you hilight a specific color, but not with the flexibility to highlight several colors, or individual squares.

I will also have it do the calculations of stitches or % remaining, based on what is marked.

Edit: haha wow, should have read the three posts above mine. Great minds think alike!