I attended my first night at the Gloucester .NET user group tonight, and I must confess I was somewhat nervous about attending. Having not met the local user group, it was somewhat daunting turning up to the place that looked something akin to the white house.
I needn’t have worried. Jimmy, the host (@_jimmys) was friendly, and ensured I felt welcome. The rest of the attendees turned up, and I have to confess I thought there would be more there if I’m honest. But then again, it’s quite nice being in a smaller group.
The talk was on developing awesome apps for the Windows Phone 7 platform given by Matt Lacey (@mrlacey), and it was a fantastic talk! He covered a lot of stuff such as the six things a Windows Phone 7 must have! (context, input, output, response, connection, resource) using a hand as a guide. It worked because I’ve actually remembered it! He also did some demo’s of how easy it was to develop something for the Windows Phone 7 platform. But the really impressive bit for me, wasn’t just the code, but also about the business side of it.
He discussed what elements went in to making a windows phone app look good, and fit in and get noticed. He covered topics such as marketing your apps as well, and different business models you could pursue. Matt also discussed Metro and how that methodology makes apps on the phone a whole lot cleaner, and clears out a load of stuff we really don’t need on a device where screen space and careful design are a premium.
All in all it was a great night. I learned a lot, and it also gave me an idea for my first ever proper mobile app. (I’ve already written “hello world”). And once things are going with that app, I’ll update the blog to keep you informed if you’re interested.
