Notices

sampieter

I agree, I went to school for web development and interface design and the fact that the interface isn't completely self-explanatory does really bug me! The biggest problem that we face though is the lack of space for a finger-friendly design. I always try to keep the buttons large and finger usable... after all, that's the whole point of making something like this for a touch screen device; the catch is that you can only have so much on your interface before your finger-friendly buttons take up all the space! This is the reason that I decided to split the "clock setttings" screen from the "Alarms" screen; in the old layout there was just too much crammed into too small a space (picking days of the week on the old interface for example was a pain... I personally always had to use either the stylus or a finger nail... where as now I can hit the day button with my finger and no problems, it feels much more natural).

Of the three "interface types" you mention, I think the most difficult one is the definitely the "gestures", as they aren't common to other interfaces or expected until somebody points them out. That being said, I think they do help to make the app easier to use and cooler for people who are aware of them... it sort of helps highlight the possibilities of natural finger-based interactivity. I think I'm going to leave the gestures in, but try and leave them more as "shortcuts" than as the only way to get to things; that way if you read the help/play with the interface and figure it out then cool, and if not at least you can still hit buttons on the interface to make things work.

The hardware button thing will be the same way; it was really only there because I hadn't built the GUI button controls yet and wanted a way to test the insomniac mode. I'm going to leave the hardware button in there again as a "shortcut", but really insomniac mode will become a setting on the clock-settings screen.

Using splash screen for information/tip of the day
I think rather than doing this what makes more sense would be to have "tip/help/intro" thing come up the first time you ever run the app (sort of "default to about/quick help"); then it won't show up again unless you go to clock settings and hit the help/about button. That way you don't need to have users turn it off/on, and it means the splash screen doesn't have to be on screen longer.

Exit Button issues

I agree the exit button does need work, however I think migrating it to a hardware button is a very bad idea as people will not be aware of it and may get "lost" in the app! (Since this is a full screen app, you don't see the native close button, so it can be scary to think you're trapped with no way out). I agree that the design on the night screen needs to be fixed as it really doesn't seem like an "Exit" button at all... in the end it boils down to the fact that a lot of the unexpected graphics and unexplained/unexpected interface controls/things are legacy components from when Ciro first built this app as a "playground" for trying different things. Now that the app is maturing some of these need to be cleaned up a bit, some need to be clarified, and some just need to change/go. All in all though I think we're doing quite well, as with any app there's a little bit of a learning curve and the interface isn't perfect, but I would argue that really this is extremely finger friendly and easy to use compared to a lot of apps that are on the tablets today.

Case and point... compare using Flip VS the built in alarm app. Even on Maemo 5 the alarm interface is still pretty confusing/annoying to use; nowhere near as much as Maemo 4, but that's more because of the overall GUI changes. I would argue that Flip is still easier to use and more intuitive though!

Anyways that's all I have, let me try and get a preview of that other theme I'm working on ready and you'll see the subtle but helpful/cool interface features I'm talking about...

Jolouis, Found radio bug. In "alarms" screen I set "Mode" to "M.Play" (Radio), click on "Tune FM", set station for 99.9. When I change "Mode" back to "Sound" , in the "Alarm Sound" window it displays "99900" instead of my sound file. Also, on my N800, before running FlipClock I must first start my Radio App and hit play button to get radio audio.

Heh, I got lost in your app after I first installed it!

Removed it from my tablet, re-installed it later.. removed it again.. re-re-installed it.... And then -finally!- got a forum tip about the finger gesture. It's been on my tablet since, and I only removed it to install a newer version.

Anyway, thank you for your long reply. It's great to read that 'finger-friendlyness' is always at the forefront of your design dilemma's.

A short introduction/FAQ/help when you open the application for the first time is an even better idea.

Don't be too shy to move/duplicate (some) functionalities to hardware buttons: I'm sure that most users can figure them out before they delete the program once or twice

My suggestions are:

• insomniac;
• minimize the program, and
• turn the program off.

Very personal:

Before I remove my current bedside alarm clock and actually replace it with my tablet running flipclock, two issues need to be addressed:

• Even with the brightness at it's lowest setting, it's still too bright for my taste. Perhaps I can get it juuust right with the 'Advanced Backlight' program. I have to install and test it.
  (Updated: Advanced Backlight works great! I can hardly see the clock, which is how I prefer it! You can find it here: http://adv-backlight.garage.maemo.org)
  
  
• The alarm volume! Loud! A mere whispery volume would be more than enough to wake me up. I remember reading in the pre-pre-pre-release thread that I could tweak the volume setting somewhere, by changing a value somehow. Does that still work now that the program has been rewritten?

Advanced Backlight allows me to dim FlipClock very, very low.

That's just me being lazy (hey there's a lot of coding and work to do so I deserve a bit of laziness every now and again!); I use the sound file name as the place to store the desired FM radio frequency. I suppose I should add another field to take care of that to the alarms... okay, it's on the list of things to do.

Ummm that shouldn't be needed... oh wait, do you mean while tuning, or when the alarm triggers? Right now the radio only comes on when the alarm you set actually happens; I guess I could add an option to manually turn the radio on so you can hear what you're tuning to... I just feel like I'm going to end up with a complete FM radio app within flip if I'm not careful lol

Insomniac mode will always have a hardware button, it just makes sense. A minimize button might be interesting but I think it would be counter-intuitive since no other apps that I've used on the tablets have this. A button to close the clock is also on the same lines, as look how many people complained about this "crashing/problem" in the first 0.9.3 release when any hardware button except for the insomniac one caused the program to exit. (For the record flip wasn't crashing, the hardware keys were being used to trigger "exit" button). I might duplicate the next/previous theme with the "+" "-" keys though but not sure yet... I hate using those keys because they're always kind of easy to hit accidentally.

lol yea I know I nearly had a heart attack this morning! lol don't worry I'd planned a "max alarm volume" setting, just forgot to implement it! It's #1 on my todo list and will be fixed for next version.

This one is actually more difficult; when in insomniac mode the screen is actually at it's lowest brightness level (since the tablet is in "standby" mode). If you look at in actual light at this level it's pretty darn dark... but in the dark at night, I agree, still pretty bright. I'll look into it but I don't think there's a way to make it much darker than it is...if you find something with advanced backlight let me know!

Thanks!

Advanced Backlight is cool.

I can hardly see the clock, which is how I prefer it.

You can find it here: http://adv-backlight.garage.maemo.org

I noticed that when I wake to a music sound file it starts out at a low volume and slowly increases. It seems to be at a high volume after just 15 seconds. I think it should start at a "whisper" and be at full volume at 60 seconds.

A couple little thoughts ...

It would be nice if you would edit Post #1 to have an area that always shows the latest update, and then if you would always put the link to that update there. Or at least a link to the garage.

Re the discussion about where to put an exit button: First, I'm glad you aren't making it an arbitrary hardware button. Second, since the home hardware button provides a way to exit every program, do you need any other way to exit FlipClock at all?

Another feature I would really like: a generator of background noise or "sleep sound" or white noise or whatever it's called. You already have a Loop function for the alarm; I'd like a function where you could play a loop of sound to sleep to.

What I have in mind is sort of a software equivalent of this:

http://www.jr.com/homedics/pe/HOM_SS2000/

Munk had intended it for the abandoned project named Traveller. He called it an "ambience sound loop." See

https://garage.maemo.org/projects/traveller/

and

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=28681