What's new with Little Reader?

[nhockaday]

I say post it on the forum. I think we all would benefit from your ideas and suggestions.

[howardboys]

The first thing that struck me about the software was the complete lack of tool tips on any of the buttons or controls.  I know that adding tool tips is possible and I believe it would go a long way toward educating new users about all the new controls and terminology they are presented with in the app.  It's truly a missed opportunity not to use tool tips.

Second, now that I figured out how to edit playback settings, I really wish there was a way to apply my settings to all the lessons in a category, instead of individually.  I would like to see a way for users to set up their playback settings the way they want them for each lesson type (i.e. all Picture Flash lessons should play back like this, and all Word Flash lessons should play back like this, etc.)

Third, the term "Auto Forward" was so cryptic to me at first.  I have never seen such a naming convention.  Since the lessons are essentially like Microsoft PowerPoint slide shows, I would borrow as much as possible from PowerPoint's standardized terminology.  I would call this setting either "Automatic Advance", "Automatic Transition", or something like that.  Come to think of it, I'm not sure why that playback setting was singled out to show up on its own, away from Playback Mode, Number of Pics, and Order.  Is it because people like to change their advance settings on the fly and frequently?

Thanks.

[nhockaday]

There are a lot of video tutorials and a very comprehensive help guide that people can refer to if they need help with any of the features. They were created to educate new users, and I would think they would want to view the video tutorials so that they could understand the features and how to use them. I know that it takes a little time to watch them, but it should save you time trying to figure out things on your own. I'm not sure how hard it would be to integrate "tool tips", but I'm sure KL will consider it and let you know his thoughts.

The playback feature you are referring to will be added in future versions. We used to have the ability to keep the playback settings the same on all categories, but they kind of combined category and playback features in the new version. I agree that it would be nice to have a universal setting, and we will have it, someday.

I think auto forward is a fitting name. Wouldn't automatic advance mean the same thing? Again, the video tutorials explain what it is and how to operate it. There are a few reasons why the feature is singled out. Every file progresses at different speeds depending on the recordings and the speed of your computer. Some people leave a big amount of space before and after a recording, while other people clip it as close as possible. Depending on the speed of your pc, words might get cut off on some files and not on others. So it's good to have it singled out so you can easily change the speed to suit the particular category you are playing. It's also good for all the different ways people teach. Some people like slides advancing slowly or not on their own at all. Others use a mixed or multisensory method of teaching or let their child read a word before advancing to the next slide. They can quickly and easily change the way a category is shown depending on how they want to teach it. This feature is normally used a lot more than others for playback. I rarely ever change anything else, except for making the slides random, but I frequently change the auto forward settings.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'm sure KL and the programmers will mull them over and hopefully add their 2 cents.

[howardboys]

LOL - I'm like 95% of the world and don't start with the tutorials or help files, sorry!
I'll go through them soon, though.

In the meantime, here are a few more observations:

-There is a command labeled curr. in the subtitles control group...looking at it one can't understand what curr. means.  I'm guessing current?  Anyways, this is a good example of how tool tips can be so helpful.  If you're running out of space to label a control, you could assign an icon to it instead and use the tool tip to label it.  You can even add an instructional phrase in the tooltip.

-Not sure why the control for Playback and Word settings is called "Playback"...when it encompasses both word AND playback settings.  I guess there is another menu item called "Settings" and it doesn't include word or playback settings...I'm just feeling a little scattered with the word "settings" showing up in a couple of places and not 100% consistently.


P.S. Overall the automation in the app. is extremely helpful - it's just that my feedback in focusing on refinements.

[KL]

Mom2ross - thanks very much for your tips, they were very helpful!

Tooltips is a great idea. Will see what we can do with that.

We will be releasing v1.6 quite soon which should help you in one aspect - it will have a Settings Override button on the play panel that if turned on will enable you to use 'master override' playback settings (that you specify) that will apply for all lessons you play back, or if turned off will just let you revert to the settings that are provided for each Category/Playlist.

-Not sure why the control for Playback and Word settings is called "Playback"...when it encompasses both word AND playback settings.  I guess there is another menu item called "Settings" and it doesn't include word or playback settings...I'm just feeling a little scattered with the word "settings" showing up in a couple of places and not 100% consistently.

hmm, maybe we could call the main panel "PLAY"? And maybe we could change the file menu's "Settings" to "Options"... will have a think!

Thanks again and do let us know if you have any further feedback - the good, the bad, and the ugly!

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