A thought on application development.

As noted previously, I bow to no man in my admiration for John Moltz. It makes me very happy that he’s lined up a lucrative sponsorship deal for Very Nice Website.

But.

This week’s sponsor is a list-making application called “Ita”.

You can drag items to rearrange them, tap to mark items completed, and add multiple items quickly, all from the main list view. If you make lists, you’ll love how fast Ita makes it to collect and complete your stuff.

Well, that’s neat, but pretty much what I’d expect from a list-making application on the iPhone, as opposed to, say, a physical piece of paper. Indeed, I’d be willing to say this is the minimal level of function I’d expect from a list-making application.

Ita is beautiful, taking inspiration from high quality paper notebooks and classic typography.

Well, I’m kind of a type geek, and I think applications should look good…

And as you use lists, they’ll show signs of wear, just like a piece of paper.

Why? For Ghu’s sake, why? Isn’t the whole point of this application that it is superior to a paper list? Then why try to emulate the look and feel and wear of paper? What’s the point?

I’ll admit I haven’t used Ita; I don’t have an iPhone or iPad. I’d try the app if becomes available on Android. But I think the question is legitimate. Why are the developers trying to emulate some of the worst aspects of the thing they intend to replace, rather than…oh, I don’t know, maybe putting efforts into improving the app, or developing something new and cool?

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