Derrick’s Musings

I know it’s been a long time since I’ve posted an update about Spanish Verbs, so here’s an update on my progress. I started out by making version 1.1, which was to be a content update (adding more verbs and notes), but in the end I scrapped that in favor of version 2.0. This new version will bring some big changes, and some minor ones as well. One note, however: all information provided here may change between now and when the new version is released.

As far as minor changes go, I’ve done some sprucing up of the user interface (UI). Below you can see a comparison of the old main screen on the left and the new main screen on the right:

I decided to remove the icon images from each row, and also to sectionalize the main screen between verb content and application information. I’ve also added a new feature, a tense guide for those who need to know how to use the various tenses.

Along the lines of sprucing up the UI, I’ve also modified the conjugation sorting method screen along the same lines as the main screen, and I’ll be adding new sorting methods to help you find that specific verb you’re looking for. See old vs. new below:

I’ve also introduced sorting to the list of verb tenses for each verb. Instead of one long list of all the tenses, the list is now separated by simple tenses, compound tenses, and the imperative and participle forms.

And last, but certainly not least, the biggest change for this release is the way the verb conjugations are presented. In the original version, I used table views to display the conjugations. This limited the potential for design improvements and actually complicated attempts to update the content directly. For this new version I chose to use web views instead. So now each tense conjugation resides in its own HTML file which is easier for me to update, and allows for greater flexibility in the design. It also allows for native iPhone 3.0 copy and paste, which was impossible with the table view. In addition to this, I am now also including usage information and examples to assist in using the correct verb and the correct conjugations. Below is an example from the present tense of the verb andar, old vs. new:

I am hard at work trying to get this new version out for both those of you who have already purchased Spanish Verbs and have been patiently waiting for this update, and those of you who have yet to purchase Spanish Verbs and perhaps were waiting for more features. I hope to have this version released by at least the end of October.