3 min read
Step 7: What's Next
You built an app. Now what?
Extending ColorDrop
Here are ideas to keep building on what you made:
Add a color history
Keep track of the last 10 colors I picked.
Show them in a small row at the bottom of the popover.
Clicking one selects it again.Add color name detection
Show the closest named color (like "Coral" or "Royal Blue")
along with the hex/RGB/HSL values.Add a global shortcut
Add a keyboard shortcut (like Cmd+Shift+C) that opens ColorDrop
from anywhere, without clicking the menu bar.Add color format preferences
Let me choose which formats to show.
Some people might only want hex, others might want all formats.Add contrast checking
Show whether the picked color has good contrast against white and black.
Useful for accessibility.Pick one and try it. The workflow is the same: describe what you want, iterate until it’s right.
New Project Ideas
Ready for something different? Here are projects at a similar complexity level:
Clipboard History
A menu bar app that shows my recent clipboard items.
Clicking one copies it back to clipboard.Quick Notes
A menu bar app for capturing quick thoughts.
Saves to a text file I can access later.Meeting Timer
A menu bar app that shows time until my next calendar event.
Updates in real-time. Turns red when < 5 minutes.Unit Converter
A small app for quick conversions.
Enter a value, see it converted (px to rem, Celsius to Fahrenheit, etc.)The Process for New Projects
- Start simple — Describe the core functionality
- Get it working — Don’t polish until it works
- Iterate — Add features one at a time
- Polish — Make it feel finished
- Ship — Build and use it
You now know this process. Apply it to anything.
Going Deeper
If you want to learn more:
Understand the code
Walk me through how [specific feature] works.
I want to understand it better.Learn SwiftUI concepts
Pick something that came up and explore it:
Explain how state management works in SwiftUI.
Use what we built as an example.Read the source
Open the project in VS Code or Cursor. Look around. Ask Claude to explain parts you’re curious about.
The Bigger Picture
What you learned isn’t “how to build a color picker.”
You learned:
- How to start from nothing
- How to describe what you want
- How to iterate toward your vision
- How to debug when things break
- How to polish until it feels right
These skills apply to any project.
Go Build Something
You have everything you need.
The only question is: what do you want to exist?