So far my Year of Small is going really well; as I write this I'm making some final changes and preparing to push out v1.1.0-RC.1, which I hope to submit the App Store in the next couple of days.

Overamped 1.1.0 is an update I first started working on almost 3 months ago, and it should've been released earlier.

My initial plan for 1.1.0 was to:

  • Add a screen showing recently logged events
  • Add an option to send a notification when the Web Extension redirects a link
  • Simplify the permissions model
  • Add widgets

Easy, right? Well, adding widgets is why this update has been so delayed.

I initially decided to add widgets because I wanted to improve my design skills and thought that the constrained environment would help me, but that never worked out. At first I wanted to use the vibrant background found in Apple's widgets. I soon found out this isn't possible and really struggled with the design. I started with barebones widgets and thought I'd try them out on my homescreen. They've been sitting there for months and whenever I see them I don't like them. Because of this I was demotivated to work on it further, until I started my Year of Small.

Part of my focus for my Year of Small is to release a higher quantity of smaller updates. With this mindset I decided to remove the widgets from the app (they're still in the project, but disabled) and release the update without it.

I'm really hopeful that my Year of Small will be successful, and I'm already excited to work on other small updates and a small utility macOS app. All posts relating to my Year of Small can be found under the year-of-small tag.