ImpressKit improvements: July update

ImpressKit basically has two goals - to let developers quickly create professional press kits and make these super accessible to journalists.

In this post, I want to share improvements I have shipped in July 2021.

Automatic QR codes for downloads

When you add App Store link for your app to the press kit, it will be automatically detected and you will see rendered QR code in the sidebar.

The thinking is that in most cases journalist will open the press kit on their computer and if they want to try your app out, they can just scan the QR code, iPhone/iPad will open the App Store and done.

Otherwise they would need to somehow get the correct link to their mobile device and then open it.

I also thought about more manual QR codes, like checkbox for example, but I think this is much more convenient.

The QR code for download is displayed in the sidebar, so it will be visible on all the press kit tabs.

Links to your other apps

Another new content in sidebar are your other apps - if you have created more than one press kits. This may be useful to give you more credibility (i.e. when your other app is well known) or just to give a sense about what you as an indie developer offer.

Again, these are displayed automatically, the only condition is that the other apps must have uploaded their icons.

You can check out the SwitchBuddy press kit for live demo.

Option to upload images for use in Overview tab

While the Overview tab is primarily meant for text, you can include images as well to make it stand out just a bit more. While previously you would have to upload these images elsewhere, you now find (below the Markdown editor) new form to upload images. They are shown right below and with Markdown link you can simply copy and paste into the editor above.

There is limit 1 MB per image, so the press kit loads quick and I would further encourage to keep the image size in mind.

Other small improvements

In a bunch of places in the Management section stuff is now deleted via JavaScript to make the experience better.

However I plan to keep most stuff "as is", meaning to use server-side for majority of the admin. Mostly because it is much simpler and way less prone to bugs.

Thanks for reading and if you want to talk about anything ImpressKit - get in touch!