Monday, October 29, 2012

What do you need in Switchamajig 2.2?

After running version 2.1 of my app at Closing The Gap and listening to feedback, I'm now working on Switchamajig version 2.2.

Planned improvements include:
  1. Adding switch access, both auto-scan and step-scan
  2. Improving the responsiveness when going back to the initial screen
  3. Allowing a single button press to generate a sequence of IR codes
  4. Enabling repeating IR codes
If you need items 3 & 4 sooner, let me know. The switch panels already support those features (and many more,) and there are ways to get at them using iTunes.

I'm also aware of a bug that crashes the app if you tap the IR learning selector before learning any IR codes. I have fixed that bug, but will wait for 2.2 to release it since it doesn't seem like a big deal. Please let me know if you find other problems.

I'm currently on the fence about a turn-taking feature. This is designed for children with autism, and it will allow only one iPad to play with a toy at a time. There will be a way for a child to ask for a turn, and to relinquish control. I need to work out the details, but I'm thinking that settings will let you specify how long each turn can be, etc.

One feature I'm planning to pass on for 2.2 is adding AAC symbols to the app. Several companies sell such symbols, so I won't be able to provide them for free. Instead they'll be an "in-app purchase." I'm thinking you'll need to enable the purchasing in the Settings so that my app doesn't keep popping up "buy this feature" dialog boxes.

I'm really interested to get feedback from you about whether or not I'm working on the right stuff. If you think I've got my priorities wrong, or I'm missing a feature you really need, please leave a comment or drop me an email.
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2 comments:

  1. EMMANovember 5, 2012 at 5:18 AM

    We are not using switchamajig yet - it's on the wanted list for our next technology order, but if your adding external switch access please consider auditory scanning, prefebly using right/left audio output so a speaker can be set up just for the user to hear, separate to the sound output of the app.
    Also screen as switch is also useful, particularly if you are testing a setup.
    Thanks. Emma. :-)

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  2. UnknownNovember 7, 2012 at 8:54 AM

    Thanks for the suggestion and for adding Switchamajig to your "wanted" list.

    I'm hoping to finish at least step-scanning today, but currently I'm not doing anything with audio. The app already supports adding audio to each button. Are you suggesting that it play the audio out one channel when the button is selected, and out the other when it is activated? That seems possible, but is there a commercial product that separates the audio as you describe? At least you'd need a way to separately control the volume of the two audio channels.

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