Thursday, January 10, 2013

LCARS Interface Version 4 Released!

It's been quite a crazy week for this app! The response to it so far has been fantastic and it's motivated me to keep updating it. Keep the feature requests coming, as I work much better and faster at adding things if I have a checklist of goals to reach. I can never seem to decide what to go after next on my own...

So, here we go again. I have added another productivity module to the LCARS Interface: File Manager! It comes with most of the things you would expect for an app like this and compares feature-wise to the most popular ones you see in the store. Do keep in mind that this app CANNOT include all of the functionality Windows Explorer has. Windows 8 Store apps are sandboxed similar to what you see on mobile devices (at least things like iPads...Android can do a bit more) so it doesn't have access to everything you may want it to.

A couple notes about the interface. It is designed after looking at some LCARS screens showing memory allocation, only this one actually does something along those lines. It may not be perfectly ideal in terms of usability, but this app is about the fun of the LCARS design and when Mr. Okuda originally made these designs, they didn't DO anything, they just had to look nice. Finding the balance to make an app that actually functions, while keeping as close to the design as possible, is a difficult thing and if you have any suggestions on how to make it better, please let me know!

The file manager is the major part of this update. I also added keyboard support to the calculator for those of you who like using the NUM pad. It should work by default but if you have an issue with numbers not showing up, make sure you are entering the value in the box, as it functions like any other textbox in that it needs focus again if it gets lost to another GUI element.  A few big fixes are included as well. Bugs always take priority over new features, so if you find one please report it! I fix the ones I know about ASAP as maintaining a good user experience is very important. Features don't mean anything if it frustrates you to use it.

Coming soon:
I have several things on my list to add, but I can only get to so many of them at a time. In the pipeline are weather information, and some enhancements to the media player that will give you more information on what's being played for both music and videos, as well as the controls on the full screen mode getting added to. I have thoughts of a web browser as well if I can work out the screen real estate details. Having this should help those using Windows 8 tablets to remain in the LCARS Interface longer since I think web browsing is one of the biggest things tablets are used for. Not that desktop users won't like it also :)

Thank you for everyone supporting this app.

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