XnRetro 1.5: [Req] Various suggestions from a newbie user

[helmut]

For checking the German translation, I've downloaded XnRetro, today, for the very first time and used it on a Samsung Galaxy Ace.

Not quite sure what I can expect from such an app, but XnRetro makes a good impression. The Retro effects are nice and fun. I have various suggestions, though:

Crop mode not clear
After taking a pictures, you see the picture and the buttons "Crop" and "Discard". When using the first time, it is unclear what the user should do here. An initial hint (tooltip) or would be helpful, here.

Crop mode: Button "Discard"
When choosing an image from the album, entering the crop mode, and then pressing the "Discard" button, the "Discard" button will do nothing. Not sure what the function of the "Discard" button should be, but "No function" is no good.

Test image for better preview
On a tablet the thumbnail preview for selecting frames and effects might be helfpul, but on a small Smartphone you cannot really see what the effect or frame does. As an alternative (option) to the current image, there should be a test image availabe which better shows the effect or frame.

Usage of left standard buttons
The left button at the bottom available on all(?) Android smartphones isn't used at all. The button might open the settings or a version info for example. Or a menu which leads to settings, version info, help, and so on.

Indicator: Effect active/inactive
It might be helpful if the user could see whether a retro effect, frame, or brightness/contrast/saturation is active. Perhaps the buttons (symbols) might be modified in design and/or color if the appropriate effect is active.

Image update
It takes about 5-6 seconds till the image is updated when selecting a frame, retro effect, or adjusting brightness/saturation/colour. This delay is too long, a delay of 2-3 seconds would be appropriate and sufficient, I think. But perhaps it's just the lack of processor power... EDIT: XnSketch displays an hourglass while updating, so user has immediate response which is good. Would be good if XnRetro behaved the same.

Please note that I've posted all suggestions in one topic since these are all suggestions related to XnRetro and I didn't want to clutter the forum with XnRetro suggestions.

Comments and feedback are welcome (as always)!

[helmut]

One more:

small, medium, large ?
When saving or sharing an image the user can select one of three sizes: small, medium, large. It's good to have the choice, but apart from the name there should be some hint what small, medium, and large mean: Is the image's pixel size reduced to a specific size or is the file size of the image reduced? Eg. "small (max. 160x160px)" would be informative and help the user to choose the appropriate size.

[xnview]

Crop mode not clear
After taking a pictures, you see the picture and the buttons "Crop" and "Discard". When using the first time, it is unclear what the user should do here. An initial hint (tooltip) or would be helpful, here.

Like 'Select the square crop to use, or discard'??

Crop mode: Button "Discard"
When choosing an image from the album, entering the crop mode, and then pressing the "Discard" button, the "Discard" button will do nothing. Not sure what the function of the "Discard" button should be, but "No function" is no good.

'Discard' will use not cropped image

Test image for better preview
On a tablet the thumbnail preview for selecting frames and effects might be helfpul, but on a small Smartphone you cannot really see what the effect or frame does. As an alternative (option) to the current image, there should be a test image availabe which better shows the effect or frame.

On small device, not easy to show an effect...

Usage of left standard buttons
The left button at the bottom available on all(?) Android smartphones isn't used at all. The button might open the settings or a version info for example. Or a menu which leads to settings, version info, help, and so on.

You have it on the first page

Image update
It takes about 5-6 seconds till the image is updated when selecting a frame, retro effect, or adjusting brightness/saturation/colour. This delay is too long, a delay of 2-3 seconds would be appropriate and sufficient, I think. But perhaps it's just the lack of processor power... EDIT: XnSketch displays an hourglass while updating, so user has immediate response which is good. Would be good if XnRetro behaved the same.

Yes perhaps the processor, i've tried on S2, and no big delay...

[helmut]

Thanks for reading and thinking about my suggestions Pierre!

Crop mode not clear
After taking a pictures, you see the picture and the buttons "Crop" and "Discard". When using the first time, it is unclear what the user should do here. An initial hint (tooltip) or would be helpful, here.

Like 'Select the square crop to use, or discard'??

Perhaps just a (small) heading "Cropping" would help to make things clearer. And on the next screen the heading could be "Effects" (or no heading).

Crop mode: Button "Discard"
When choosing an image from the album, entering the crop mode, and then pressing the "Discard" button, the "Discard" button will do nothing. Not sure what the function of the "Discard" button should be, but "No function" is no good.

'Discard' will use not cropped image

I see. I think the "Discard" is not the right English term, instead it should be something like "Skip".

Test image for better preview
On a tablet the thumbnail preview for selecting frames and effects might be helfpul, but on a small Smartphone you cannot really see what the effect or frame does. As an alternative (option) to the current image, there should be a test image availabe which better shows the effect or frame.

On small device, not easy to show an effect...

Yes, sure. But with a test image that comes with XnRetro the effect can be seen (much) better than with an image that has already some camera effects in it. In the options the user might choose whether he/she uses the predefined test image or the actual image.

Usage of left standard buttons
The left button at the bottom available on all(?) Android smartphones isn't used at all. The button might open the settings or a version info for example. Or a menu which leads to settings, version info, help, and so on.

You have it on the first page

Wow, what a hidden feature. Why not have this menu available on all pages?

Image update
It takes about 5-6 seconds till the image is updated when selecting a frame, retro effect, or adjusting brightness/saturation/colour. This delay is too long, a delay of 2-3 seconds would be appropriate and sufficient, I think. But perhaps it's just the lack of processor power... EDIT: XnSketch displays an hourglass while updating, so user has immediate response which is good. Would be good if XnRetro behaved the same.

Yes perhaps the processor, i've tried on S2, and no big delay...

O.k.