Portfolio Apps Help

Getting started.

After signing in click on the create new app button, which will take you to the template selection screen.

On the template selection screen select the template that you want to for the app by clicking on the “Select” button. However, continue this guide only if you chose a “Portfolio” type template. If you wish to select an “E-commerce” or "Article" type templates, switch to the other Help Guides.

Enter the name of the Application in the text box and click on “Get Started” to open the app creation screen.

When the App creation menu opens you will be prompted to delete the default data. Click the “Yes” option only if you wish to create your application from scratch. Click the “No” option if you do not wish to delete the default data and edit it to create your application immediately.

Creating a category

To create a category within the app select the menu named “Content” from the left menu pane. This will open the Content sub-menu.

In the Pages sub-menu select the “Categories” option, which will open the Category Management interface.

In the category management interface select the option “Add New Category” to open the category creation screen.

To create the category type in the category name in the text box provided.

Next select whether the category would be Free or Paid. If the category is designated as Free then any end user that installs the app can access the pages that come under this category. If the category is designated as Paid, only end user that are subscribed and have paid for the service can access the pages that come under this category.

Then upload the category image. (Please note that entering a category name and image is compulsory in Appmaker.) To upload the image click on the browse image button, which will open a dialog box. From this dialog box you should select the image to be uploaded to the system.

After selecting the image with in the image uploader ,you can crop the image using the tools given. After cropping you can immediately save the image by selecting “CROP & SAVE”. Alternatively, if you want to edit the image some more you can select “CROP & EDIT” and use are editing tools.

After the image has been uploaded, click on the “Save” button to create the category. (Note: A preview of the active category image is shown under “Uploaded Images”

Creating a new page

Navigate into “Content” tab

In the Pages sub-menu select the “Create Page” option, which will open the Page creation interface.

To create the Page, first enter the title of the Page in the text box labelled “Title”.

Then select the date and time that the Page will be published by clicking on the calendar icon. (Note: The order of the pages are determined by the dates. Newer the date, higher up they are in order)

This will open a calendar. From the calendar select the required publication date. (Note: The Page will only be visible to users in the app after the publishing date)

After the publishing date has been entered, enter the expiration date using the same method. (Note: The Page will no longer be visible to users in the app after the expiration date) Once the expiration date has been set, scroll down to upload the Page image and select “Upload Image”. This will open a dialog box. From this dialog box you should select the image to be uploaded to the system. (NOTE: it is compulsory that an image be uploaded and that the first is an image only. The image cannot be linked to a Youtube link or replaced with a stand-alone Youtube link).

After selecting the image with in the image uploader ,you can crop the image using the tools given. After cropping you can immediately save the image by selecting “CROP & SAVE”. Alternatively, if you want to edit the image some more you can select “CROP & EDIT” and use are editing tools.

A thumbnail of the uploaded image will be shown, once it has been successfully uploaded.

A YouTube video can be added via link. Tick the box and paste thte link into the text area

Content can be added to the page using the text editor. The text editor allows a user to add text, embedded videos and images.

In order to add links, you must first highlight either an image or line of text, and then click the button to add, and enter the link into the prompt

Instead of typing out the content the user can upload a PDF instead. To upload a PDF file select the box titled “Load PDF”. (Note: Selecting this option will remove the text editor option and you won’t be able to add any additional content)

After load PDF has been selected, you need to upload a PDF file by clicking the “browse” button and uploading a PDF file.

Then tick the checkboxes to choose the category or categories that this page belongs to.

After typing out the content / Uploading PDF, you can enable messaging and comments on the page. Messaging enables the End User to directly message you based on the content given in the article. Enabling commenting allows the end users of the post comments on the page that would be visible to all End Users that visit the page.

After content has been typed out or a PDF has been uploaded (Note: It is compulsory for text to be added or a pdf uploaded) the page can be published. To publish the page click on the button titled “Publish”.

Managing Pages

To manage the pages you’ve already created, you must first select the Manage Pages part of the Content section in the navigation menu.

You will then be presented with the following from which you can edit whichever page you wish. Selecting edit will bring you back to the create page menu for that specific page in which you can change the details. You can also delete a page, though it cannot be undone.

Adding Instagram Feed

In order to add your instagram feed to your app or site, you must first select the Instagram Feed part of the Content section of the Navigation menu.

You will then be presented with the following from which you how you'd like to link your feed; through username or hashtag. And then you choose how that feed appears in your app.

Adding Site Settings

In order to add details about your site, such as contact details, policies and a description about you or your company, you must first select the Site Settings part of the Content section of the Navigation menu.

From there, all that is left is to fill in the necessary details in the spaces provided for contact details, policies and the about us page. You can also add map locations to stores or locations you are detailing

Changing the Look and Feel

To change the look and feel of the application, within the app select the menu named “Design” from the left menu pane. This will open the Design sub-menu.

FFrom the Design sub menu choose the menu option named “Look and Feel”. This will open the interface to edit the style of the application.

To change the background color of the application, navigate to the heading titled “App Background” on the left hand pane.

The color of the background can be changed by:

Clicking on the background button, which will open up a color palette. Then selecting the required color.

The color of the background can be changed by: 

Clicking on the background button, which will open up a color palette. <Add a screenshot of the colour palatte>

Uploading an image by choosing the option “Edit Image”. (Note: For an uploaded image to be displayed, the background image check box needs to be checked)

To change the background color and font color of the navigation menu in the application, browse to the heading titled “Navigation” on the left hand pane.

The background color of the navigation menu can be changed by:

Clicking on the background button, which will open up a color palette.

Entering the hex value of the color in the input box

To change the font color of the navigation menu:

Clicking on the navigation font color button, which will open up a color palette. (screenshot of colour palette)To change the font color of the navigation menu: 

Clicking on the navigation font color button, which will open up a color palette. (screenshot of colour palette)

To change the font type, size and color of the fonts used in the application, browse to the heading titled “Typography”

To change the type of font used for the header, select a font from the dropdown list under “Header Font”

To change the font size of the header font, select a font size from the dropdown list under “Header Font Size”.

To change the header font color, click on the color button under “Header Font Color” or enter the color hex code in the input box.

To change the type of font used for the content, select a font from the dropdown list under “Content Font

To change the font size of the content font, select a font size from the dropdown list under “Content Font Size”

To change the weight of the content font, select a font weight from the dropdown list under “Content Font Weight”.

To change the content font color, click on the color button under “Content Font Color” or enter the color hex code in the input box.

Setting up Carousal

  1. To add a carousal banner to your application, select the carousal banner option in the navigation menu.
  2. Add images that you would like to be on the carousal with this button. It’s possible to edit or delete the images after.
  3. After adding a name to the image that you are about to upload, proceed to browse for the preferred image with this button.
  4. Once you’ve selected the portion of the image you would like to appear on the carousal, you can either edit selection that or simply save.
  5. Optionally, you can add that image to an existing category and a corresponding product. If done so, clicking on that image would redirect the user to that category or product page. You can even redirect to an external page, outside the app, with the external link option.

Publishing the Application

The first step is to add your contact details. To do this navigate to the App Details Menu (Path: Home -> Pages -> App Details -> Contact Us). The menu allows you to enter contact details that will enable your end users to get in touch with you. Only the email field is mandatory. (Please note that this information entered here will be visible to all users that download the app. Therefore, please be careful about the personal details you share)

After entering your contact us details, navigate to the “Submit for Approvals” sub menu. (Path: Home -> Publish -> Submit for approvals). The sub menu has two tabs. The first one is General, the second one Operator Configuration. 

In the General Tab, enter the short description and long description for the app in their respective boxes. The short description is a succinct summary of the app. Whereas the long description gives more detailed information. 

After entering the respective descriptions, you need to upload the images that will be used as the HI-RES Icon, feature graphic, and splash screen for the final app created by the Appmaker platform. Each of the graphics should meet the following requirements: 

HI-RES Icon- 512 x 512 pixels, PNG format 

Feature Graphic – 1024 (width) x 500 (height) pixels, PNG format 

Splash Screen – 2732 x 2732 pixels, PNG format 

NOTE: The images uploaded must meet this guidelines. Otherwise the system will throw an error message, and will not upload it. 

To upload the image hover the mouse of the respective box and a banner titled “Add Image” will display at the bottom of the box. Click on the banner to upload the image.

The final step in the General tab is to enter the keyword and the port. The keyword entered has to be unique, and is used by the end user to subscribe and un-subscribe himself from the service. The ports are pre-defined in the system and you only need to select one from the dropdown list.

Then, you have the option to disable screenshots from being taken on our app, which you can choose to select if you want. Once all the information has been filled click the next button to be taken to the “Operator Configuration” tab. 

In the operator configuration tab, click on the enabled check box to enable customers from that operator to subscribe and use the app that you have created. Clicking on the enable tab will allow you to elect whether you want to charge the customer daily or monthly (Note: Month = 30 days). After you have specified the subscription length you can specify the amount by entering it in the amount box. 

To add another operator click on enable and follow the same process described above. Once you have enabled the operators and entered the required details click on save. This will submit your app for approval.

The approval process

Each stage of the approval process is visible to the App developer through Status page. This page shows the status for each operator that the app has been enabled for. The table below describes the stage of the approval process taking place for each status shown.

Status Description
Submitted for configuration The app creator has created the app and submitted it for publishing. The request has been received by the Appmaker support team and they are working on the configurations required to make the app functional (i.e. charging) 
Submitted for approval The app creator has created the app and submitted it for publishing. The request has been received by the Appmaker support team and they are working on the configurations required to make the app functional (i.e. charging) 
Approved
The operator has approved the app. This means that customers in the approved operator can subscribe to the app. Therefore, you can market the app to customers from this operator.
Rejected
The operator has rejected the app. Customers from this operator cannot subscribe to the app.

Generating a New APK

After your app has been approved and published, a need might arise to generate a new APK for your app. This can be easily done using the following steps:

First click on publish

Then Submit for Approvals

Click on the “Generate New APK” button to generate the new APK.

(Note: Please note that the system takes about 1-2 hours to compile a new APK. In rare circumstances it might take longer than this. After the new APK has been compiled an email will be sent to you confirming that the new APK is available.

If you have uploaded the app to third party app store (i.e. Google Play Store), please ensure that the updated APK is uploaded to the app store as well.)

Updating the App version

The Appmaker platform is always improving with new features, performance improvements and bug fixes pushed constantly. To gain full advantage of these improvements you might be required to update your app to the latest version. This can be easily done by following the steps given below.

First click on publish

Then Status

If an update in available the update button will be enabled (that is clickable). To update the the app to latest version click on the update button.

(Note: Please note that the system takes about 1-2 hours to update the app. In rare circumstances it might take longer than this. After the app has been updated an email will be sent to you confirming that the new APK is available.

If you have uploaded the app to third party app store (i.e. Google Play Store), please ensure that the updated app is uploaded to the app store as well.)

If the app has been updated to the latest version then the update button will be inactive.

Changing Appmaker Store App Link

Purely optionally, if app creators would like to change the Appmaker Store app link to the Playstore app link should they have already uploaded it to Playstore, they can do so through this.

Tick the checkbox, add the link and click apply.

How to Delete an Application*

  1. Navigate to “Publish”
  2. Select “Delete”
  3. Confirm Delete

*Deleting Application still means that name cannot be used for another application

Engaging Users

You can engage your user base by sending Push messages to your customers To send a push message use the following steps:
1. To create a new Push Message for your App Users select the menu named “Engage” from the left menu pane. This will open the Engage sub menu.

2. Select PUSH Messages to open the Push messages interface.

3. Click on Add New Message.

4. Select the userbase that you want to send the message to. (Note: Active Users mean, users that have opened the App in the last in 7 days.)

5. After selecting your userbase, enter the message that you want to send in the text box.

5. After selecting your userbase, enter the message that you want to send in the text box.

Managing Messages

If messaging has been enabled in any of the pages published on your app, then End Users are able to send messages to you. The below describes how you can manage these messages sent by End Users.

First click on Engage

Select “Manage Messages”.

This will take you to the message management interface. Here messages are listed according to the page title. To access the message threads maintained under a particular page topic click on the link titled “Open”.

To view and reply to an individual mail thread click on the individual message thread.

To reply to the user, type in the text box and click on the Send button.

Managing Comments

If commenting has been enabled in any of the pages published on your app, then End Users are able to post comments on that page. The below describes how you can manage these comments posted by End Users.

First click on Engage

Select “Manage Comments”.

This will take you to the comment management interface. Here, the pages that have been commented on and the number of comments posted are listed. To access the comments under a particular page topic click on the link titled “Open”.

To reply to comment, first click the button titled “Reply”. This will enable you to type in your reply in the text box. After you have finished typing click on Send to post the reply.

Tag Managament

If app creators would like to track their app’s PWA’s stats, they can do so by adding Google Analytics to their app. After setting up their Google Analytics account, they can add the code to the app by first,

1. Select Tag Management in Engage -> Tag Management

2. Then click on Enable Tag Management, paste the code in the text area and save.

App Access

App creators can let other creators have access to their app in order to have limited control over it as well. Creators can use this feature to share certain work related to the app. In order to setup App access or more users; first,

1. Select App Access in the main menu

2. Then click on Add User to add the other people you want to have access to your app.

3. Finally, enter the registered mobile number of the user (Must be someone with an Appmaker account) and choose which features of your dashboard they can have access to

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