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Can't download skin
typci
#1 Posted : Monday, March 5, 2012 6:10:00 AM
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Downloaded the lite android version to try out. Unable to download any skins, just get "download failed." Is there anyway I can download the skin and install it myself. Maybe you can email it to me and let me manually put it in?

On a side note, the fact that I have to download a skin before I can even use the app was kind of a let down. I downloaded about 10 different flashcard apps to try very quickly to choose one. I immediately wrote yours off because I had to download a skin before use, and therefore thought your app might be more trouble that it was worth. I mean it's supposed to be a simple app, why doesn't it just open the first time and let me play with it? If I like it, I'll go back and modify it to my liking. Anyway, I found an app that I liked, but was missing a feature that I wanted. Which brings me back to your app. I'd like to try your app, to see if it is any better than the other app I like.

Maybe you could just have a default skin preloaded in the APK on market? I mean your app is only 1.7 megs, and I'm sure adding one skin won't add that much to it. I appreciate you providing customization options for your customers. However, you never want you "extra" features to ever cause a problem for the basic functioning of you program. That's just smart business and programming.
John Gaby
#2 Posted : Monday, March 5, 2012 8:01:22 AM
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I am sorry you had a problem downloading the skins. The reason that we download the skins instead of including them in the APK file is that there were (are?) a lot of devices which have very limited space in 'internal memory' and we wanted to use as little of it as possible. Note also, that if we were to include the skins in the APK file we would need to include both the phone and the tablet skins (unless we created separate apps) and you would be stuck with both skins taking up your memory. However, in this days of devices with larger amounts of memory available, perhaps it is time to rethink that decision.

I would be happy to work with you to figure out why the download is not working in your case, just email us at support@gabysoft.com.

Thanks for taking the time to post.
typci
#3 Posted : Tuesday, March 6, 2012 6:55:28 AM
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I think I figured out the problem. I believe it has something to with me being in China. I routed my internet through a proxy to bypass the firewall in China, and was able to download it. However that means that anybody in China who uses your software may have trouble downloading it. I'm not sure how many people in China you are expecting you use you software, so this may or may not be a problem for you. I'm here studying Chinese and I want to use my tablet and phone to study flashcards with. However most of my classmates are from various countries and would only use your software if I comes in their respective language. Also it's difficult to buy apps on the market from China, unless you have a sim card and money from another country. So it may not be worth your time on that end.

As far as memory goes, it's still a good idea to be memory conscious. Some older phones don't have much memory. However, there are possible ways to deal with this. You could include 1 skin for each phone and tablet version, and allow the ability to download more. You could also do a separate tablet and phone versions. This has the added befit for marketing your product. There are many sites that like to review/mention tablet "optimized" apps. If you have a tablet version, you could use these sites to help promote it.

Since you do have different skins available, have you thought about letting users design skins? People seem to like that kind of thing and it could get your app more exposure as well. Personally, I could care less about what it looks like so long as it functions well.
John Gaby
#4 Posted : Tuesday, March 6, 2012 7:55:21 AM
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Thanks again for the feedback, I am glad you figured it out. The skin downloads come from this site 'gabysoft.com', are you saying that this site is blocked in China?

As for your idea about including a default skin in the APK file, I think that might be a good idea and am looking into it. I was thinking of only including a default for phones, but perhaps we should include tablets as well. If you were to choose which skin you would like to see as the default, which one would it be?

As far a creating your own skin, you could probably do it right now. The skin is downloaded to the SD card and all of the graphics required can be found there. You could change anything you wanted, including much of the text. The layouts are controlled by the .gui files (which are in XML format). You would need to figure out how to change those, but it would give you the ability to move the controls around in any way that you like (although you should not delete anything). The .gui files can also be edited graphically using the open source QT tool 'Designer'.

typci
#5 Posted : Tuesday, March 6, 2012 10:50:09 PM
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"The skin downloads come from this site 'gabysoft.com', are you saying that this site is blocked in China?"

Maybe, the Chinese firewall is highly dynamic and constantly changing. It is both computer controlled and human controlled. So today your site may be blocked and tomorrow it is not. And it can be blocked for any or no reason. I've heard of examples where a user visited 10 sites, and one was deemed necessary for blocking, so they blocked all 10 sites for 24 hours as a precaution. There is no rhyme nor reason to it. I use a VPN on windows, so I don't keep up with the blockings. I only notice them on on my phone. I just tried your site now on my phone, and it loaded, so I don't know.

"If you were to choose which skin you would like to see as the default, which one would it be?"

I like the light one, but the dark one can save power on those phones with screens that can turn off individual LEDs.

Also got the program working. The feature I was looking for was the ability to remove cards from a set, or send them to the back, or reduce the frequency they show up during studying. This needs to be done on the fly while actively viewing the cards. I couldn't find it in Quizard, so I don't know if it is there or not.

Here's my problem: I have 5000 flashcards for studying Chinese words, divided into 6 levels with each level having from 150 to 2500 flash cards. I'm currently on level 3 which has 300 cards. I know about 200 of them, so I don't need to keep looking at them. So what I want to do is while I'm studying, remove cards that I don't feel I need to study any more. Suppose the card for "library (图书馆)” comes up and I feel I know it so I hit the "hide/delete card" button, and it doesn't show up again until reset the card stack or something. This will be especially important in the higher levels that have 600-2500 cards. I currently have them divided into smaller groups of 300-500 cards, but that also takes out some of the randomness. I currently use "Android Flash Cards" because it has a delete card button, and I can delete and re-download the stack to reset it.
John Gaby
#6 Posted : Wednesday, March 7, 2012 8:20:11 AM
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You can both remove cards permanently from the set, or mark them so that they don't appear when you are viewing the cards.

To mark them as 'memorized' you can tap the check mark when viewing the flashcard. Once you have done that, the card will not appear in the set that is displayed when you view the flashcards.

You can also manage which cards are marked by choosing the 'List' option from the summary page. This will allow you to check off which cards you currently don't want to study.

You can later choose to study all the cards by setting the option in the settings. Note that this does NOT clear the check marks.

You can also copy cards and create new sets which are subsets of existing ones. To copy a set of cards, choose the 'List' option from the summary page, and then touch the 'Edit' button at the bottom. Check off the cards you want to copy and touch the 'Copy' button. Then go to the set into which you want to copy the cards (perhaps creating a new set) and bring up the 'List'. Tap the 'Edit' button and then 'Paste'.

To permanently delete cards, bring up the 'List' for the card set in question. Check the cards you want to delete, and then touch the 'Delete' button. You will get a confirmation box. Note that deleting cards cannot be undone (unless you re-download the set).

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