Apple iPhone Forum und Community

Hello there, German Muzik Fans! I have never posted here before, although I have received a couple of eMails from "Marko Filberich" from this Website before.

This thread is about the newest version of Muzik for iPhone and iPod Touch For 5.0 and later

Since my last posting, the App has gone up at least two version numbers, and I've aged another year. It's fairly strange. Anyway, onto the app:



Muzik has been reworked to remove some of the little nuisances that detracted from the overall appeal and usability of the app in the past.



[SIZE="6"]S[/SIZE]tarting with the "Boot" Screen, I removed the boring, static text that showed itself until the app was ready to load on your device. I reworked it, to feature a dynamic animation and logic which cleverly determines whether or not you're playing a song. If you're playing a song, or if you've paused the Player, the Now Playing screen will present itself ready. If not, you're presented with the Menu.

[SIZE="6"]F[/SIZE]ollowing with the Now Playing screen, I wanted each redundant function gone. My overall goal with this design refresh was to reduce clutter, and make sure my solution to the problem presented by a replacement music player was effective in it's mission. Beginning with Alerts, I focused on creating an unobtrusive, self-explanatory system that informed the user of the mistake made, or the failure encountered as to reduce the possibility of confusion.

From there, I moved to Twitter Integration on the Now Playing Screen. It's exceedingly inconspicuous, located inside the Player Settings panel. Accessed by scrolling the settings to the right, tapping #nowplaying will tweet the currently playing song to your Twitter account with the #Muzik hashtag. If you haven't given publishing permission to Muzik, it will ask you to sign in. Once the tweet has sent, or failed to send. One of my unobtrusive, classy alerts will show to inform you.



[SIZE="6"]B[/SIZE]y now, I was becoming happier with Muzik as a polished and truly capable candidate for a true Music Player replacement on the iPhone. However, I was faced with the problem of UI fragmentation. My Now Playing screen had been brought up to code (excuse the pun), but my Main Menu had not. Through the use of extensive testing, I was able to come up with a design that suited the new, faster and classier Muzik better than ever.

I reduced the Menu Item font, which I always felt was a little too large for its own good. I then reworked the troubled Play All button to consistently pick a random song out of your Library so you were always surprised by its choice.

From there, I added a Widget, specifically designed to allow you to spend more time parked in the Menu if need be. Tapping on the Now Playing "tile" (as I affectionately call it), will instantly play your music if Paused. Otherwise, the tile reflects the Elapsed Playback Time when you're elsewhere in the App or Main Menu.



[SIZE="6"]O[/SIZE]nce the core areas of Muzik had been updated, I was left to combing through the app to ensure the UI was consistent, with all the new changes made to the very core of the app. Through extensive personal testing, a few months of fury regarding an issue with Xcode 4 and iOS 5, and more extensive tweeting with my three dedicated Beta Testers, I came up with a redesigned, faster Music Library!

Elsewhere in the Music Library, I removed the use of Custom Cells, and once that was completed, glassy scrolling worked perfectly, and I was able to expand the Library with some much needed functionality for my customers. Notably, a "drill-down" Artists View.



[SIZE="6"]F[/SIZE]rom then on out, I was left to the complete beck and call of my three Beta Testers, who, for the past three or four months (or longer) have been hell bent on getting Muzik to the best it has ever been.

Initially, we focused on the Videos functionality of Muzik. I formatted the titles of each video, so a basic naming convention (i.e. LADY GAGA - Born This Way) would display in a subtitled Table Cell perfectly. The top label being "Born This Way", of course. This was done to improve the appeal and usability of Muzik for iPhone.

Next, it was fixing Delete Mode, Send Mode and Receive, to be more inconspicuous. The Videos bar was crowded and confusing, so I "hid" the two extraneous options inside a sub menu, activated through a tap of the more button. Because I hid those two options inside there, I was able to axe the icons on the buttons, and change them to text - which, in my opinion is much more explanatory.

Once that was done, I was begged left right and center to update the Video Controls. The previous controls had been clumsily transplanted from the Now Playing screen, and a refresh was needed. Thanks to the iOS 5 release, I was able to update this area of Muzik with reason. With each new release of iOS, I have aimed for a massive new release of my app to coincide, and also to take advantage of any new APIs. Without further ado, I present Videos: