CityTime Alarms request for comments...

[Guest kennyg]

Hello All,

I've been working on trying to clean up the forms interface for CityTime and CityTime Alarms. I really don't like all the scrolling that occurs in long forms on the Smartphone, and I think the interface was never really thought out very well by MS. I've been trying a lot of things and here are screen shots of the current CityTime Alarms screens redone with a cleaner, more condensed UI. I've borrowed ideas from a few other applications forms and hopefully come up with an intuitive UI, at least for my application.

Please let me know what you think of them.

Thanks,

Kenny.

Note: sorry all the editting, trying to figure out formatting in the new forums. :D

Edited January 10, 2005 by kennyg

[Guest drblow]

Yes, yes, yes! :D Looks nice to me. I totally agree about all the scrolling. I really like to be able to see everything I need on one page - kind of like homescreens!

With that in mind, would it be remotely possible to add a background image to this layout? & if so, could that image be user customisable? & then, if you could do that, could the icon images be customisable too? Then the app could be skinned to fit with themes?

[Guest I. C. Monsters]

I really like the look of it. Although I rarely change any of the settings I'd appreciate a tidier interface.

Also, if you're interested, version 1.0.2 has been working without any faults. Top notch stuff.

[Guest yoos]

I love this app! I do like the new interface proposal, but what about tooltips? Can you have it display a tool tip when a field is active to display a longer text description of the active field (like use the descriptions in the current version)? My Audiovox SMT5600 does this on the homescreen to display the app name in the MRU list. I beleive this would be great on the screens you have above.

The only other problems I have with this app I described in another thread...

1. If you have a regular calendar reminder that went off in the background and you hit the snooze in city time alarm... the next time city time alarm goes off you can't hit snooze!? you try to click snooze and it brings up the regular calendar reminder from the background... It's kind of weird. So you have to hit the right soft key and hurry and hit snooze or dismiss, but you don't know what you are snoozing or dismissing because you can't see the calendar item. (I beleive the same thing happens if the calendar reminder and city time alarm go off at the same time)

2. Can't click dismiss or snooze with the keys locked.

3. After an alarm goes off the time is on the top in green and the time remaining is on the bottom in red. If I click the action button to edit the alarm, and then click menu>delete nothing happens. I can click on list, then hit menu>delete and it works, but it should work the other way also if the option is there.

Still though, this app was worth the money and is great! Thanks!!!

[Guest yoos]

Here's a screenshot of the tooltips that I'm talking about... It's only there for a second or so... just enough time to read it, then it disappears...

[Guest spvdk]

That new interface looks absolutely great! If only we could have the sound bug fixed, I'd be a very happy camper :D

(You know, the bug that turns the overall volume up to full, whenever the alarm goes off... Just try hitting the Volume Down button a few times, till the sound level is low, and then use the alarm. The volume is right back up again...)

[Guest nickcornaglia]

I like the new format!

[Guest drblow]

That new interface looks absolutely great! If only we could have the sound bug fixed, I'd be a very happy camper  :D

(You know, the bug that turns the overall volume up to full, whenever the alarm goes off... Just try hitting the Volume Down button a few times, till the sound level is low, and then use the alarm. The volume is right back up again...)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That doesn't happen for me. I have the default volume set at 2, and it's quite acceptable.

[Guest kennyg]

I suppose I should just put out a release so you all can try it out, but let me first ask, can you tell what the input fields mean without too much thought?

Keep in mind that as you scroll from field to field the title changes to be a full field description. You can kind of see that in the screen shots. Also notice that the alarm input form is now on a single page.

Does anyone think this would raise the learning curve of the application significantly, or do a few ease-of-use features like scrolling and some nice graphic icons make it more appealing?

You might notice that a chunk of the forms idea was taken from the Papyrus beta that is floating around, but I don't even think they have a concept of how this could really clean up a lot of interfaces as they only use it on a single screen. When I saw it I immdeately spent a week converting both CityTime Alarms and CityTime into this format, and it has helped the usability a lot I THINK. If you find it harder to read or anything please let me know.

Thanks,

Kenny.

[Guest robertperalta]

Kenny,

Please just release it and let us try it and give you feedback.

[Guest drblow]

I know what you are getting at Kenny, but I don't think it raises the learning curve too far, especially if there is a description when a field is highlighted. Anyway, after a few uses it should be second nature, and it'll be worth a little extra learning to get all the info on a single screen.

Go on then, give us a go! :D

[Guest fozzie]

I think the new UI looks great; much cleaner and more intuitive. Let's give it a thrash :D

On a slight down note; I am getting problems with a weekday repeating alarm not snoozing correctly, as follows:

1. 0700, alarm goes off.

2. Hit snooze; alarm on display shows 0700 for next day instead of countdown to the snoozed alarm. If I check the database with BLAlarms, it does show a cityalarm.exe entry for 0707.

3. 0707 passes, no alarm heard. Check BLAlarms and there is now an entry for the next day for cityalarm.exe at 0700.

An ideas Kenny? Thanks.

Edited January 11, 2005 by fozzie

[Guest kennyg]

I think the new UI looks great; much cleaner and more intuitive.  Let's give it a thrash :D

On a slight down note; I am getting problems with a weekday repeating alarm not snoozing correctly, as follows:

1.  0700, alarm goes off.

2.  Hit snooze; alarm on display shows 0700 for next day instead of countdown to the snoozed alarm.  If I check the database with BLAlarms, it does show a cityalarm.exe entry for 0707.

3.  0707 passes, no alarm heard.  Check BLAlarms and there is now an entry for the next day for cityalarm.exe at 0700.

An ideas Kenny? Thanks.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'll look into the bug, what is BLAlarms?

I'll put out a release tonight and send a few of you links to it to make sure i didn't mess up the installer...

[Guest 600rr]

where can i buy the latest version of citytime? can i get a link? I need a good alarm program and from what i've been reading this is the best. thanks

[Guest poodoo]

wow. fresh and clean UI now. I prefer this over the original. I like the idea of using icons instead of words. maybe a first timer will have a bit of problem learning it...but its easy to master it after one or two tries. Who don't know wat the clock is for? or the speaker? or the musical notes?

[Guest spvdk]

That doesn't happen for me.  I have the default volume set at 2, and it's quite acceptable.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Are you 100% sure about that? Have you actually tried it? It's true that you can make the alarm go off at a lower volume, but it still turns up the phone volume when it's done!

[Guest drblow]

Of course I'm sure about it - City Alarm is whatwakes me up every day, so of course I've tried it. :?:

What you are talking about is the earpece volume control, which has nothing to do with the alarm volume.

[Guest spvdk]

Of course I'm sure about it - City Alarm is whatwakes me up every day, so of course I've tried it.  :?:

What you are talking about is the earpece volume control, which has nothing to do with the alarm volume.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Exactly. And that is where everyone I know has encountered this bug in Citytime Alarms. Just because you use this alarm every day doesn't mean that you check the overall media (earpiece) volume...

[Guest scottb]

Kenny,

I like the examples you provided. Single page entry would be good. Nice work once again.

[Guest xspyda]

Hey Kenny,

Great app! Does your latest version fix the date bug as well that I posted about here?

In summary, when setting a recurring monthly alarm, there option to choose a day often does not appear and when it does, there is never the option to chose the 20th of the month.

I bought your software around Christmas after being impressed with the trial - though I was not aware of this bug until now.

Any chance of a fix?

Thanks in advance ...

PS - apologies for the cross post. The lack of response in my original post led me to believe my comments would be better placed here.

[Guest wills]

I bought CityTime Alarms 3 weeks ago, just after I got my SPV, and use it everyday to wake me up for work.

The main improvement I would request is that the phone screen backlight and keypad lights are lighted up when the alarm goes off. Makes it easier to snooze when the alarm goes off at 5:30 in the morning!

Kennyg, perhaps you could add this feature to your excellent forms interface to select as an option...

[Guest spvdk]

FOR work or AT work? :D Sorry, couldn't resist...

Anyway, it's a great idea. I second that motion.

[Guest kennyg]

Hello All,

I've just uploaded what should be version 1.1.0 of CityTime Alarms to my web site, links are;

http://www.codecity.net/files/smartphone/C...msSp110.ARM.CAB

and

http://www.codecity.net/files/smartphone/C...AlarmsSp110.exe

Main improvements are the forms UI and an option to turn off the digital font. I added the ability to turn off the font because of problems with the other applications that could not be repaired any other way.

I've also fixed all outstanding issues with the recurrence editting, including the missing 20th of the month!!!

Please respond here with your impressions!

Thanks,

Kenny.

[Guest scottb]

Kenny,

Nice job on the UI. All changes can now be made without scrolling--very nice! The font option is a good one too since I've always had to remove the ZLCD.TTF file to stop the font from displaying in other applications.

One suggestion for a future release. Sorry I haven't suggested this sooner, but would it be possible to have CityTime Alarms keep the registration information so I don't have to enter my key each time I upgrade?

Thanks,

Scott

[Guest kennyg]

Kenny,

Nice job on the UI.  All changes can now be made without scrolling--very nice!  The font option is a good one too since I've always had to remove the ZLCD.TTF file to stop the font from displaying in other applications.

One suggestion for a future release.  Sorry I haven't suggested this sooner, but would it be possible to have CityTime Alarms keep the registration information so I don't have to enter my key each time I upgrade?

Thanks,

Scott

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Were the icons easy to read/understand? I think the Samsung phone you have has a smaller display.

I'll add the reg code thing the next version, I'll have to store it somewhere else though as now it gets wiped out by the un-installer...

Thanks,

Kenny.