I spent most of my spare time on my side project this week and even postponed some plans after receiving encouraging feedback that motivated me to continue. Developing a side project and preparing it for production is always challenging, but reducing the pressure on myself worked well. I made good progress, and this week I focused mainly on accessibility features.
Side Project Planning
A side project should stay sustainable with minimal effort. Otherwise, it can easily become a burden. After a full day of work, rest, and daily responsibilities, the remaining time is limited, even when you try to prioritize the project. This is why a side project that starts during a quiet weekend often becomes difficult to maintain once life gets busy again.
To avoid this, I try to set realistic expectations. Even if I know I could finish something quickly, planning for it to take longer helps reduce pressure. I work on it only when I want to. I also care about making the project presentable, as it helps making feature decisions and motivates me to share the final result with others. Finally, learning is an essential part of any side project, so I try to use new frameworks and apply good architectural principles.
Accessibility
In this project, I focused on accessibility features, UI and integration tests, and creating a simple interface aligned with Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines. I also used the native Translation framework for offline support and integrated SwiftData.
Unfortunately, many apps, even those only targeting only the Apple App Store, don’t include accessibility features. They are often postponed to later versions, which frequently never happen. I wanted to deepen my knowledge and practice accessibility in this project, so I focused on it. I read Apple’s documentation, which is very clear and helpful, and also explored practical examples. Beyond being necessary, working on accessibility is also fun.
It was a productive week. I spent most of my spare time finalizing my side project, focusing on accessibility and testing. Everything went very well, and I made good progress while enjoying the process. For the first time, I feel that I managed my side project correctly, and setting reasonable expectations worked out. I hope to share more detailed updates on this in the coming weeks.