An Experiment with React Native and styled-components
Backstory
Yes, I know that building a to-do list app to test out a new framework or tool is a little overdone. In fact, there are many articles where people argue about this said fact.
So why did I build a todo app? Well, I used to use Wunderlist, but that had way too many features and I just got bored of it, so I switched to Trello. I really like using Trello for my bigger, project based tasks. However, I missed the simplicity of just being able to open up a todo list app and type stuff that needed to get done that day or the next day.
Until I found BreakList. BreakList was great, it was clean, it didn't have logins, it just let you open up and start typing. It had some other stuff that I didn't use, such as a timer for tasks, and a separate list for breaks (hence the name), but the UI was good enough such that even though I didn't use those features, they didn't get in the way.
However, as an homage to Shakespearean drama, if it seems too good, it probably is. With BreakList, everytime I opened up the app from memory, adding a task would crash it. I contacted the developer, who apologised for it and told me that he hadn't updated it in a long time, and it didn't seem like he had any plans to update it any time soon. It's not his fault, it's a side project, you get busy with other things and you move on. That's what side projects are there for, to help you practice your skills.
So anyway, I needed to learn React Native anyway for a work thing, and what better way then to build an app I actually need, even if it is a to-do list app.
The UI of this app was heavily inspired by BreakList, with the colors being pretty much a direct ripoff from the Spectrum team.
Here's what the app looks like:
Here's what it does:
- Add todos
- Mark as complete
- Long press to delete
- sort by active, complete or all
- persist state using redux-offline
For now, the app isn't really available anywhere. If you want to try it out, you can find it on Expo (which is a little React Native app publishing platform) under @snazzyham/justdo. If you'd like the APK hit me up on twitter or email me: snazzyham [at] gmail [dot] com.