New Clave switch feature in Salsa Rhythm v1.2

[Uri Shaked]

Hi Alex,

I have seen the comment you have left regarding the new feature and that you would love to have it in a place more accessible than deep inside the setting screen. I would love to hear your thoughts about this - One initial thought I had is to let the user define what happens when he shakes the device, and one of the option would be to switch clave side. This way we won't need to find a suitable space on the main screen, which is already crowded, for switching clave orientation.

Your thoughts? Other guys are invited to join the discussion too

Uri

[Alex Schamenek]

You know Uri, personally I was never a fan of the shake gesture. It seems odd and uncomfortable to me. But that might just be me. Also, I often use the Bluetooth feature on my iPhone to play your app over my dance studio's speakers. The Bluetooth feature lets me run your app with my iPhone in my pocket. I love the flexibility, freedom and control I get with my iPhone right with me. I don't have to keep running to the soundboard to keep stopping the sound. It's great. But I just know that some moves I sometimes do will activate the shake gesture. I know with the iPod I HAVE to deactivate the shake to shuffle feature. It's inadvertently shuffled songs for me more than once.

I think there are four reasonable options for the placement of a 3/2, 2/3 in the user interface. First, you do have the clave instrument. It could be as simple as the user highlighting the instrument and going to the programs bar and touching the right or left buttons to switch between the different modes. Sure we have two options there now, but it might be reasonable to put the switch there too.

Now of course the clave direction affects more than just the clave instrument so I do personally agree it should be somewhere special. Do you remember how we were discussing the layout of the programs bar? You had a couple of different versions and I asked that the icon going to the instrument programs be off to the right so the whole bar would be symmetrical. If I remember you had put the little i there to balance the bar. I felt the bottom right was a much more intuitive placement for the little i. But that meant the programs bar's symmetry got messed up. Your brilliant solution was to put a mini icon indicating the highlighted instrument. Solved that problem wonderfully. But what if we put a 3/2 2/3 toggle button there instead? Very easy to use. Clearly visible. Doesn't take up any extra space. The only downside would be to lose that little icon. But that might be okay because you remember that icon was a workaround to a different problem.

Oh, there is also another problem with putting it there. The purpose of the program bar would be compromised, just as it was with the little i there. The program bar is supposed to be all about the highlighted instrument, not a global condition. Putting it there might confuse that.

So it could also go on the top key/bpm bar. Either on the extreme left or the extreme right. The top bar is all about global settings so in my opinion that is where it properly belongs. But I can see that it might clutter up that bar and mess up the beautiful simple balance that we created for that bar. I don't know. It's tough because hierarchically, I definitely absolutely 100% believe that this is the most "proper" spot for it. I would be interested to see how it affects the look and feel and usability of the app if it was there. I'm "on the fence" about putting it on the bar with the key/bpm.

There is one more option though. I would not be opposed to adding a 3/2, 2/3 toggle at the bottom left, opposite the little i icon. I don't think it would clutter things up too much. And I think the users would agree the payoff they get by putting it at the bottom left is worth a little bit of extra clutter. It could also of course go on one of the top 2 corners instead, but I like the symmetry it would create when balanced against the little i.

Anyway, I would support any of these 4 solutions. In order of my preference they are:
1) Bottom Left opposite the little i.
2) On the top bar with the key/bpm
3) Replacing the instrument icon on the program bar.
4) As an option inside the clave instrument's programs.

Love to hear what you think about this. If you want, I could Photoshop these ideas. But not until I wake up. It's almost 2:00 AM here in Houston.

Have a good day.

Alex Schamenek

[Uri Shaked]

Hi Alex,

Thanks for the detailed and thoughtful reply! I share the same preference with you, with putting the clave switch on the bottom left corner making a symmetry with the "i" icon.

There are two concerns however:
1. I think of the button as a simple text label that will toggle between displaying "2/3" and "3/2". Won't this confuse beginners? On a PC program I could put a tool-tip for explaining beginners what this is. Any suggestions here?
2. I was thinking of using that space to add an icon to open the visualizer mode than I am going to implement some day. Since this won't be the next version this concern is less significant now, and maybe I will start using the top corners for that (or use that in place of the facebook/twitter icons? I am also planning to add a social chat sooner or later).

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts,
Uri

P.S. Apple has just rejected the latest version claiming crashes on iOS 4.1. Anybody here with iOS 4.1?

[Alex Schamenek]

I am visualizing a simple button that switches from 2/3 to 3/2 too.  But yes, it might confuse beginners, but  what doesn't confuse beginners?  Haha  Really I think the clave direction might add a layer of learning for them to tackle later on.   Maybe you can add a switch so more advanced users can turn this on.

I have seen some iPhone games walk through the player through the user interface using tool tips.  It might take some effort on your part but it's something to think about.

Yes, the visualizer mode is something to think about.  Is that where you show a video of the dance steps?  Hmmm... Yeah, the bottom left would be a good place for that.  That makes the top bar with the key/bpm even more attractive, especially if you want to put the social buttons on the top corners.  Maybe you could put both social button on the same corner, like both next to each other on the top left?  That will leave the top right free for the clave change button.

[Uri Shaked]

Let's start with bottom-left for this version, since I don't see the visualizer ready for the upcoming version...

So what I have in mind is like:



When you tap the "2-3" text it changes to "3-2" and then back again.

It looks a little crowded in my opinion, what do you say? Maybe playing with placement/font size will help...

Uri

[Alex Schamenek]

I think part of the reason it seems crowded is the instructor icon.  Can you try fading the bottom of the guy instead of chopping him off?

Playing with the size might help too.

Also, I was envisioning "2/3" rather than "2-3".  But that's just my opinion.

[Uri Shaked]

I will try playing with that tomorrow. I like your ideas, you always have creative solutions for challenging user interface problems.

I was actually going to write 2/3, but then I realize it might confuse musicians who can recognize this as a tempo signature...

[Uri Shaked]

So here we go,

Salsa Rhythm v1.4 will contain the Clave orientation switch in the main screen:

http://www.salsabeatmachine.org/blog/2010/11/salsa-rhythm-1-4-for-iphone-is-arriving/

Uri