Comments on: Mental Case iPhone/iPod Review

By: blackpony

blackpony — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:03:19 +0000

I use xCards. Love it!

Web link: http://www.arlexsoft.com
iTunes link: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=330640460&mt=8
Features:
– generates cards at 42 languages
– Cards can be exported and imported to Google Spreadsheet
– pre-made cards available online

By: K. M. Lawson

K. M. Lawson — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:56:02 +0000

Here is a Mac hint using Interface Builder to add a shortcut in Mental Case for synching. Haven’t tried it but I can’t see why it wouldn’t work:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20090121194001675

By: K. M. Lawson

K. M. Lawson — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:39:23 +0000

Thanks for your response Drew on these three major points. My take would be:

1) You can move to the next card with another swipe but that is an added motion that is unnecessary. You shouldn’t need two motions per card. Sounds like no big deal, but I flash for about one hour per day in several languages and it really makes a difference for high-volume study.

2) There is a difference between iPhoto and Apple Mail. Your application is neither but of the two, it is closer to the latter. The former is primarily for entertainment, the latter is (at least for some people) about getting things done. While it is great if doing flashcards is less painful through a good UI, any eye candy which impairs functionality or efficiency is razor-studded candy.

3) Your last point is fair – but given that new sets are being downloaded via Flashcard Exchange – having to synch them, then set the lesson prefs for the case seems a bit unreasonable. Generally speaking though, I think your general principle of a selection of features is perfectly sound. We just disagree on what should/shouldn’t be included.

Thanks for your hard work and good luck in future dev.

By: Drew McCormack

Drew McCormack — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:19:05 +0000

I’m the developer of Mental Case. Thanks for the review. I think there is some fair criticism in it, and I won’t go into a lengthy discussion on every point.

I just wanted to mention a few things. First, although you can allow slideshows to proceed automatically based on the times you have set on your Mac, you can also override this and move to the next card manually — you do not have to wait for the card to turn automatically if you don’t wish to. You can even pause the slideshow and navigate completely manually.

Regarding ‘eye candy’: There will always be disagreement about this. Should there be transitions, or not. We think this ‘eye candy’ is very important to the look and feel of an app. That’s why we have dynamic transitions, that also serve to show you what is happening (eg card flips versus slides). Apple take the same approach: Can you turn off the transitions in Apple’s Photo app, for example? No, because they are essential to the look, feel, and behavior of the app.

The only other thing I want to mention is the philosophy we adopted in developing the iPhone client: We decided we would not duplicate the whole Mac app on the iPhone. We choose a small subset of functionality that we thought would work well on a touch device, and implemented that. So we don’t allow you to mess with your schedule, and more advanced things like that. You handle all of that on the Mac. It is basically exactly the same strategy used by Apple with iTunes, iPhoto, etc.

Thanks!
Drew McCormack
MacCoreMac Software