VEEER

One feature macOS has always lacked for me was an easy to use window management application.

Being a developer with a dual display setup, the ability to quickly manipulate and move application windows across one or multiple displays is a must.

Over the years I tried various solutions for try and solve this pain point but just never could find one that actually worked into my workflow.

Enter VEEER by maker Julian Praest.

I came across VEEER on Product Hunt last month and after reading that it was Julian’s “very first attempt at creating an macOS app” I knew I needed to get in touch with him to see if he’d share his make process with Behind the Make.

In 100 words or less, what exactly is VEEER?

VEEER is a lightweight window management tool for your macOS — primarily designed for designers & developers and built for a maximum workflow speed.

How did you come up with the idea for VEEER?

Having worked on iOS apps before, I wanted to specifically look into the process of creating a macOS app.

Knowing about all the other window management apps, I decided to “scratch my own itch” by focusing on my personal design workflow and requirements.

When starting to gather requirements and functionalities, I chose to not only implement the basic, “must-have” feature of being able to split/align a window, but to also include features such as being able to drag windows without the title bar and being able to minimize windows using the right mouse button which I ultimately found to be helpful in combination.

How long did it take you to go from the idea to actually building your first version?

It took me around two weeks to finish the first version of VEEER. I started developing VEEER during Christmas 2016 when I had more free time to work on personal projects.

I reached out to my designer friends for feedback and they encouraged me to publish VEEER right away. I decided to hold off on launching until a later date due to my studies at school.

How did you go about building the first version of VEEER?

VEEER was intended to be a small personal project to get familiar with the development of macOS apps so I didn’t strictly follow any software development process models.

My process was basically a “jump right in” and design both the UI and program VEEER at the same time.

Did you run into any challenges along the way in building VEEER?

While creating VEEER, I encountered several challenges such as learning how to use Cocoa’s accessibility API to identify and manage windows given a certain pid (Process identifier).

How did your launch day go?

After creating the landing page, I published VEEER about a year after I initially started working on it.

I decided to only post it to Designer News and Hacker News first to get a general response and feedback, however one day later it got hunted on Product Hunt.

Being on Product Hunt basically opened up the flood gates and it got upvoted to one of the top apps of r/macapps on Reddit.

Then a few days later I got featured on several blogs, digital magazines and newsletters.

I’m also very glad and thankful for users reaching out to me providing feedback, suggesting new features and point out ways on how to improve VEEER.

Looking back at VEEER’s launch day, would you do anything different?

I didn’t expect the amount of visitors and feedback VEEER received from being featured on Product Hunt. I immediately took the feedback from PH and began working on the next release.

If I didn’t start out developing VEEER with the intention of it being a personal tool and way of learning to program for macOS, I would’ve followed a different process.

I would’ve gauged the general demand, interest and need for a new and different window management tool first (given that a variety of similar apps already exist).

My normal way of doing this is creating a basic landing page displaying simple UI-images of the program in order to collect email leads and to elicit requirements from interested website visitors.

Overall the development of VEEER proves to be a valuable learning process enabling me to apply knowledge from both my design degree and my current information systems studies.

Now that you have officially launched VEEER, what are some short term goals you are working towards?

Due to the response and extensive feedback I received I already started working on an update which will fix various bugs and add several new features that users suggested.

I also conducted a survey of current users to get an idea of how they are using VEEER.

Using methods such as the MoSCoW and Kano method I prioritized the various functionalities that users suggested and created a new product backlog with features to be implemented / improved with the upcoming update.

Other than VEEER, have you launched any other projects?

Yes — in the past, I also launched Myvinchy and BTQÉ.

You can follow me on Twitter at @julian_praest or visit my personal site at: http://joolean.io/.

I hope readers will find my thoughts and the description of the development process valuable.