AppSheet Automation now Available to Everyone

The pandemic and the need to work remotely has forced a lot of companies to automate more of the tasks that were being done manually. And the need to develop apps to create those automations has convinced more and more no-code platforms to add the ability to build those automated workflows. The latest to join the trend is AppSheet, which just made their enterprise level automation product available to all users.

Why should you care about all this? A recent survey by McKinsey determined that at least a third of business activities could be automated in about 60% of occupations. Automating those processes produces a clearly defined set of steps to accomplish the tasks involved, clarifies who is responsible for carrying out the tasks in each step of the process, and provides for automatic notifications or 3rd party requests to be sent at any stage in the workflow. That in turn produces a leaner, faster, more manageable way to carry out the various processes like payroll, accounts payable, inventory control and marketing that every organization has to deal with.

So, how do you use AppSheet Automation to actually create automated workflows? The concept is pretty straight forward. First you configure a "bot" that connects events with an associated process. For example, if someone marks a task in the process as completed, the bot can change the status of that process and send an email to a manager notifying them of the change. When you select to create a bot AppSheet will offer you a choice of "pre-defined" bots (based on your app) that are designed to carry out specific types of processes. You can either choose one of these "pre-built" bots or select to create a custom bot.

If you choose to create a new bot, then you begin creating the workflow for that bot by choosing an event (such as inputting a start date for a job), then adding a step that includes the tasks that need to be carried out once a start date is entered. The step may include branching conditions (such as whether or not the job has a high priority) along with the tasks involved in completing that step (such as sending an email to the person responsible for completing the job).

Once you've added the step(s) necessary to complete the workflow, that process will run automatically whenever the event you selected takes place. Following the same procedure you can create as many automated workflows for your app as necessary.

Note: The system allows you to create four types of task:

• Sending notifications such as texts or emails.
• Making a data change such as adding, modifying or deleting a record.
• Using a webhook to connect to an outside third party service.
• Creating a template-based Google Docs file.

Zoho Launches New Workflow Automation Product

Workflow automation (automating manual business processes) is getting a great deal of attention lately and Zoho is joining the list of platforms offering an automation product. Zoho just introduced "Qntrl" (pronounced "control") aimed at mid-size companies that are looking to upgrade their workflows.

Like their other visual programming offerings, Qntrl will allow the user to drag and drop components onto a screen in order to build an automated workflow. Some additional help may be needed to connect that workflow to other background systems, but anyone with minimal technical expertise can use Qntrl. You simply choose a component to add the workflow and then select which actions are to take place at that point in the process.

Watch for more about Qntrl in the near future ...

Make Your No-Code App More App-ealing

Apologies for the title, but the appearance of your app can definitely make a  difference in how people respond to it. Having been a programmer years ago, working on business apps, I still tend to feel like I've done my job when the software is well-designed and works the way it was intended to work. However, it takes more than that these days - the app should also provide a great user experience, both functionally and visually.

There are a number of factors that go into making your app visually appealing:

• Don't settle for default shapes and colors. Do some exploring and see how others have used color combinations effectively in their app or website. Plus there are websites that can help you figure out which color combinations work best together. Changing the default shape of elements in your app can also help to make your screen layouts more interesting. For example, using larger or unusual shapes for some elements can help draw attention to them (which can help guide the user).
• Images are another important factor in making a webpage or app screen stand out. There are a number of websites (like Unsplash or Pexels) where you can find a variety of free images to use in your app. It also helps if you learn a few photo editing skills. You don't have to master Photoshop, just learning to make use of some basic editing techniques can make your images more interesting.
• Keep your screen layouts as simple and uncluttered as possible. Nothing turns users off like a messy and confusing screen and complicated screens also take longer to load. And don't try to pack too much into one screen - people absorb information best when it's presented in small amounts and the same principle applies for data presented on an app screen.
• Make navigation easy with a simple, straight-forward menu. Users hate to wind up at some screen on your app with no idea how to get back to where they started aside from trying to back up screen by screen. Or get to your landing page and not see a way to go to the part of the app they want to use.
• Finally, if your app runs on both the web and mobile devices, test your design on each type of device. A great looking web app can be anything but that when you look at it on a tablet or phone.

No-Code Template of the Week (April 5 - April 11, 2021)

This week's template comes from Zeroqode (www.zeroqode.com). Their "Headstart Pro" template is a multi-purpose no-code template with all the features you need to launch your e-commerce website on Bubble. The standard license costs $99 and permits you to use Headstart Pro for your own personal or business purposes. However, If you want to use the template to create websites for other clients you'll need to buy the developer version which sells for $297. 

So, what's included in Headstart Pro? Here are all the features according to Zeroqode:

Use this pack to get a "headstart" on launching your app by incorporating responsive design, a plug-and-play landing page, eCommerce functionality (full catalog page, product page, cart page, wishlist, Stripe checkout pages), and subscriptions using Stripe to bill users for your products/services.

Make use of chat, blog, contact form, user profile, and login/sign up pages Manage your site using admin dashboard components. Use Subscriptions to bill users for your products/services.

The template comes packed with a large variety of UI elements like panels, efficient navigation elements, and CTAs & alerts.

The template comes with a batch of our best plugins. Check the plugin page for the demonstration and how they're set.

Note: Headstart 3.0 template comes with 8 Premium Zeroqode Plugins. Please check the plugin page for a complete demonstration and how they are set. You need to subscribe or purchase the plugins in order to use them after purchasing this template. Otherwise please simply remove the plugins from the template.

FEATURES:

- Responsive design

- Main Landing page

- 3 Landing page layouts

- E-commerce catalog (includes product filtering by price, and new/latest arrivals, adding products to a shopping cart or to a wish list, search)

- Huge set of UI elements like icons, buttons, paragraphs and many more.

- Product & "create a product" pages

- Wishlist page

- Checkout page

- One time payments through Stripe

- Subscriptions using Stripe

- Efficient Web Forms

- Messaging functionality

- Blog/Articles functionality

- Contact forms

- User profiles variations

- Login/signup pages

- 8 Plugins demos

- And more...

If you're looking for an affordable pre-built website that can be modified to suit your own needs, this template may be what you're looking for.

No-Code Video Games (Part 2)

In Part 1 of this post we talked briefly about the fact that you can now create professional looking video games yourself, without knowing how to code.  I also mentioned www.coregames.com as one place where you can create your own game without coding. In fact, you can even select an existing game, download it, modify it and re-publish it as your own (giving credit to the originator). 

To build a new "no-code" game on Core you start by clicking "New Project", then select  to use a "gameplay framework" (similar to using a template on your favorite no-code app platform). Core offers a number of frameworks to start from, ranging from "Dungeon Crawler" for developing an RPG game to "shooter" frameworks like "Deathmatch", "Assault", or "King of the Hill". In the tutorial mentioned in Part 1: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWDzrRDuetU  "How to Make a Video Game Without Coding for Free (Step by Step)"

the recommendation is to use a "shooter" framework since it's the easiest to customize. Once you do that Core will generate a "base" framework that includes a game environment and a "shooter" character (if you chose a third-person game). In addition, character actions (running, jumping, firing a weapon) are all programmed into the game already, doors work, objects cast shadows, and so on.

Switching from "preview" mode to "edit" mode allows you to move objects around, add textures to the objects in the environments, add different weapons, add new objects, and (since Core offers this feature) you can make it into a 2-player (or even multi-player) game. When you're satisfied with your game you can publish it to the Core community along with a game summary that covers how your game works and which "action" keys or mouse/joystick clicks and movements do what. 

Obviously different game engines will implement no-code game creation a little differently, but Core is a pretty representative example of how this works. Other game engines that allow you to build a video game without doing any coding include Unity, Buildbox, Godot (completely open source), Game Salad, and even Unreal Engine (generally considered the most powerful game engine). Each company offers fairly extensive documentation and tutorials, so try out a few of them and have fun creating your own video games.

No-Code Video Games (Part 1)

There are all kinds of apps that you can build without knowing how to code, but until fairly recently video games weren't among the options available to you. However, that's no longer true. Now there are a variety of game engines that allow you to create professional-looking games without needing to write any program code.

When you create a video game (2D, 3D, etc.) you're basically doing the same thing you do when you create other types of apps. You're combining small reusable components (buttons, text boxes, lists and containers for example) to create a form or landing page or other user interface. Each of those components actually consist of a bundle of program code that defines their appearance and functionality. In the same way you create an environment for a video game by combining objects (characters, mountains, trees, ships, and so on), each of which includes scripting statements (usually in Python or JavaScript) that determine the object's behavior. 

Game engines like Unity, Unreal, Godot, and Buildbox have all created kits for the person who wants to build a video game but doesn't have any programming background. The kits (like no-code platforms) work by having the user drag and drop pre-built objects onto the game canvas, then setting the properties for each object. Just as a button's properties may include size, shape, color, and the actions to take place when the button is clicked, a character object's properties may include strength, speed, trustworthiness, and actions the character will take in a given situation. 

To see how you can build a video game without coding, there's a good example at: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWDzrRDuetU  "How to Make a Video Game Without Coding for Free (Step by Step)"

There's a website (www.coregames.com) where you can play hundreds of video games for free, but you can also copy a game listed there, modify it, and even market it as your own version of that game. The process is very much the same as using an app template on a no-code platform and customizing it for your own use. 

In Part 2 of this post, I'll go into more detail on actually creating a no-code video game.

Your App is Finished - Now What?

If you plan to let other people use your no-code app there's something else you need to do once you finished testing. You understand what the app does and how to use it but your potential users are going to need a little guidance - and so will you in 6 months. So what do you need to tell someone about how the software works and how do you go about doing that?

The answer of course is documentation but exactly what documentation do you need? Documentation explains the "why" behind how you constructed your app, so it's a good idea to start with a "concept" section. A concept page gives an overview of your app so the user understands the purpose of the app and what it can do for them. This part of the documentation will include a written explanation of the app, but it may also incorporate screen shots, workflow diagrams, and even short videos about the overall design of the app.

Along with the overview you will probably need several sections that cover the different tasks the user has to carry out in order to use the app. For an inventory app for example, the user needs to know how to add, change and delete vendors, how to enter items received and sold, and how to keep track of quantities on hand and on order. Again, screen captures and flow diagrams can be useful in explaining how to carry out a certain task, but it's not necessary to explain everything in painstaking detail.

The details involved in each of the app's functions are best shown in tutorials. Tutorial pages are generally used to show how the different parts of your app work together. Stay focused on the overall picture you're trying to present and don't get too detailed about any particular feature - that's the purpose of the task pages.

OK, that's the basics of how you can structure your documentation. You can create docs like this with many different products ranging from Microsoft Word to Google Docs to apps specifically designed for software documentation. One way to make the process easier though, is to find or develop a set of templates that you can use to build your user guide. You don't want to have to start from a blank screen each time. By the way, if you're building your own templates however, make them as complete as you can. It's much easier to remove unnecessary parts of a template that to try to squeeze in a new section or added material. 

A final word - always leave comments and notes inside your app itself when appropriate. Sometimes you need to insert reminders about something you did and why that doesn't really belong in a user guide. A few platforms provide a specific way to add comments - with others you can always do something like entering your note in a text box element and then hiding that element in the live view.