Guide: Building a mini app on you.com
Get more eyes on your mini app
So you’re starting from scratch. And you want your idea to be easy to make. Should you build an iphone app, where it will be one of thousands of new apps added to the app store every day?
Or, you could build a you.com app. You.com apps come with built-in distribution. After you create, submit and get your app approved, you’re app will appear for relevant search terms.
And, if you’re app is satisifying the intent of the searcher, your app will be seen by millions of you.com searchers.
3 Steps to creating the future of search
1. Sketch out your idea
The best you.com mini apps are built in “Tiles” which are little boxes that allow user to see the data in order of relevancy to the query.
Mini apps that appear in search and chat can display at most 3 tiles at one time, or as little as 1 tile (like when the weather mini app is displayed).
When mini app tiles are presented on search, they are able to be scrolled horizontally by the user. They can also be static, like with Code Translate, where there is one input and out output tile.
In order to start with your app, try drawing it with a pen on paper. Or…
- Use a Figma template
- Use a Sketch template
2. Find your data
Data is like gold. Or, even better…. data is what users want. Each mini app on you.com requires unique data to power it. Your mini app is no different.
- Data for your mini app can be from a unique API or a JSON blob.
- It needs to be reliable and FAST. (users don’t like to wait for a response from your mini app.) It is HIGHLY recommended that your mini app’s data loads in less than 2 seconds, reliably. Otherwise, your mini app might not rank well in our results or chat.
- Data from a source that requires a log-in might be ok, but inquire with you.com developer support first. ([email protected])
3. Building your mini app
Get started with the YOUplatform editor using your api back-end (make sure you have an api back end that works, see step 2.!) and use editor.you.com to style the front-end in real time.
TIP: User experience design is about thinking about the front end, what does it look like when people find your mini app, and what should it look like in the search results page and chat interface. Here are few examples: