Category: News

Update Info

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Embracing iOS 7

I wanted to post an update on what I’ve been doing recently.

I’m hard at work on the update to a universal app which will include retina iPad support. As I’m sure many of you know, Apple revealed iOS 7 at this year’s WWDC. I plan to release the universal app in conjunction with the release of iOS 7. I’ll be updating the app to version 2.0 and the UI will conform to Apple’s newest design principles. I know a lot of people don’t like the new design. I didn’t either, at first. However, after using it for a few weeks, I can assure you that the OS itself is much better and the new, “flat” design grows on you. I have a couple of preview shots to show you how things are coming along.

Please keep in mind that these are work-in-progress so they’ll almost certainly change at least a bit.

Version 2.0 will only support iOS 7 so you’ll have to upgrade to the new OS before you’ll be able to update the app. I’m going to be releasing the final version of 1.1 soon which will act as a preparatory bridge to version 2.0. The update (ver 1.1.3) will require iOS 6.

I’m going to complete the new iPhone version first because that’s what I’ll be using for daily testing. As soon as that’s done, I’ll start working on the iPad UI and will release some preview shots as soon as possible.

Please don’t hesitate to let me know what you think of the design and what kind of new features you might like to see in the new version.

Happy Studies!

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iPhone 5

I finally got my new 5th generation device and the update to support 4-inch screens is well into testing. It should be ready, submitted to Apple for approval, and available on the App Store soon.

Once I’m done with that, I’m considering working on an iPad native version of the app. However, I don’t want to do just a scaled-up version of the app. I’d like to make the iPad version take advantage of the extra screen space somehow but, frankly, I really don’t have any good ideas about how to do so.

So, please send a long any ideas you might have about what you’d like to see in an iPad version. If I don’t get anything good I probably will at least do an up-scaled version so that iPad users don’t have to deal with the not-so-great default up-scaling. However, it may be a while before it’s ready.

Happy Studies!

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iOS 6

iOS 6 came out today and I’ve noticed a few issues that I’ll try to get fixed as soon as possible.

First, it seems that touch tracking is a bit more sensitive now so touches that would’ve previously registered as taps are now registering as slight movements.  This may mean that you end up having to tap just a bit too carefully not to be annoyed.  Also, the way that background threads are processed seems a bit different as well so you might have a noticeable wait when starting a study session or syncing study dates but without any indication that the app is doing some work in the background.  I’ll try to get these two issues fixed in an update ASAP.  Unfortunately, an update to support the new 4-inch device screens will have to wait until my 5th generation device arrives which will be sometime in October.  Please let me know if you’ve noticed any other problems after upgrading to iOS 6.

Happy Studies!

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CSV Importing

Version 1.0.2 of kanji Flow posted to the App Store today and includes a new CSV import feature.

You can add CSV files to your kanji Flow documents and the file will be converted to kanji Flow format upon selection from the lesson list.  You can also import CSV formatted text from the Edit view.  The CSV needs to be formatted correctly in order to import properly.  If you’re working from a spreadsheet file, it should only have three columns: one for the kanji entry, one for the kana entry, and one for the English (or translation) entry.  If you’re working from a source file that includes more than three columns, just delete the extra columns from the file before you export it as a CSV file.  The resulting text should end up looking something like this:

来週,らいしゅう,”next week”
東,ひがし,”east”
冷蔵庫,れいぞうこ,”refrigerator”

Happy Studies!