5d ago
Feeders/Feeder Qty/Length & Weight Tracking/Custom Species/and More!
Hello,
In an attempt to improve some things within this update I’d like to make a few strong suggestions.
Feeders/Feeder Qty:
It would be incredibly helpful and far more efficient if you reverted back to how you had the feeders in the old version. By this I mean: where we can manage the feeder list ourselves from a separate section, where they are divided up into categories (i.e. insect, protein, etc), where we can add our own specific feeders and once added once the feeders stay on that list in the future until deleted so we don’t have to enter them every single feeding. Please please please adjust this somehow.
Also if possible, please make quantity of the feeder able to by typed in manually as well as the +\- option. Clicking the + 60 times is becoming cumbersome lol.
Length & Weight Tracking
Personally I preferred the layout and capabilities you had in the prior version for the weight tracking (i.e. you click on the weight and can directly add it there) can’t click on it now. It would be nice to see the tracking graph with the option for multiple scenarios such as week, month, year, lifetime.
Length is no longer on the critter individual page next to weight like it was in the prior version. Again, same as the weight as far as capabilities and layout/graph would be nice.
Custom Species
It would be nice if a specific species does not exist in your species list that when one adds a custom species, there is both common name and also the scientific name to fill in. This I think would also help you add species to your main list having both available to you.
With that in mind, adding the scientific name under the common name on the individual critter pages would be ideal as well. It could honestly even be added into the mini critter box in the main critter list under the common name too. Most people with many critters or specific types of critters (like tarantulas) refer to them by the scientific name and not the common name so this would be a welcomed add for most serious keepers.
Individual Critter Page/Profile
Minor design critique, add the orange [+] icon instead of the calendar icon (on critter profile) like you have under the main logs page or under the main critters page for the critter profile page so it is consistent and easy to recognize across the board. No need to make a different icon for adding a log, keep it simple and uniform. Also keep it in the same location across the board, so top right icon, all the way to the right. I have clicked the delete button on the critter page about 10 times now so swapping spots with that one would be best.
In the prior version and also in this update, I have always wanted to be able to click on the critter profile pic to enlarge it. Sometimes when showing someone it would be nice to click the main pic and have it pop up bigger. Not needed as you added a much easier way to access other pics posted on the profile but still would be a nice extra.
Just a few bonus adds to consider (can be part of the bottom info section):
*Maturity/lifestage: baby, juvenile, sub-adult, adult, senior.
*Housing/Enclosure/husbandry info: size/measurement/gallons, enclosure material (i.e. glass, pvc, acrylic, rack etc.), heating (UTH, DHP, RHP, flood, CHE, etc), lighting/uvb, bioactive or not, humidity and heat target ranges, etc. these can all be manual input, I don’t think you have to go crazy adding the options.
*traits such as arboreal, terrestrial, burrower, heavy Webber, aggressive, friendly, etc. A lot of what you had in the prior version plus more.
Critter Page (Full List)
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss having quick access custom groups/categories tabs so my 98 animals (between reptiles, amphibians, arachnids, fish, etc) aren’t in one gigantic mixed list. Maybe something similar could be incorporated into this update. Maybe it’s an additional icon on the bottom next to critters and that’s where the group tabs exist on their own page. That way the user can choose if they want a direct click to all critters or to their group/category breakdown version.
Also, making the “sort” stay on whatever sort selection you chose previously would be nice. Some people prefer a-z, others by last updated order, etc. It seems to default to last updated order each time. Maybe that could be a setting under settings?
Back to the critter boxes, as mentioned above: More info on these would be nice such as the scientific name (whether self assigned or from your database), the critter sex, the critter age, and the critter morph would be nice additions to that box. I don’t know about others but I could care less how many total logs I have done for that critter total so that really doesn’t need to be there, it’s in the critter profile and can stay there. The lastest update date is good I think so you can keep that. I like the tags part so that should stay too. Overall, I feel like that box should be like a critter info snippet of their main info basically: name, species (common and scientific), morph, age, sex, last update date, and tags.
Main Homepage
I think you can make this nicer and cleaner looking overall. You made the last version which was nic, clean and stylish, I have faith you can spruce this up too so here’s my suggestions.
I think you can do away with the word “add” on the three add buttons, the + sign is sufficient and also self explanatory, especially if you use the same orange [+] button visual throughout as I suggested above. Then you can make those 3 buttons on one line making it a bit cleaner looking (obviously make them the width of the homepage so it’s a nice clean single line). Also changing the buttons to orange background would be cool too then it’s all uniform and has the same messaging as your [+] buttons.
Species tracked is sort of pointless because currently is shows me I’m tracking 16 when I have 61 species of critters. I think it would be better if it listed the total species the user has instead of only the ones that are from your database. Which in doing so you can remove the word tracked making it cleaner again.
Total logs, just put Logs, total is implied here. Cleaner visual.
Get rid of the your critters list on the bottom, it’s totally not necessary and just adds clutter. The user can click on the critters at the top and on the bottom icon bar to access that. Cleans up the home page even more.
If you add the groups as its own page and icon on the bottom bar, you could add that to the top section next to species too.
Add Critter
I have noticed in many apps there is a function to add a “communal” that consists of however many individual critters that reside together. For example, I have 6 Amazon milk frogs housed in one tank, they each have a name but I have to have them listed as one critter for ease of logging care in your app. With the communal function it allows you to basically have them all in one for logging but differentiated and counted as 6 animals. This sort of mimics the tags or my groups thing from the prior version but in a better way. I saw one app had it on the add critter page, it had an option for communal which you click then you add how many and their names. Once saved it shows one critter “Amazon Milks” but has a x6 next to it. In another app it made separate critters but they were all basically tagged in the communal tank name. I personally would love to have whoever is communal as their own critter but only once the communal box from the main list is clicked on. So I’d have critters A B C but to access their individual pages I’d click on Amazon Milks and it would then show me those.
I think the last bit under the critter page/profile where I talked about bonus additions would work well in the add critter page too.
Okie dokie, that’s all I have right now but I’m sure I’ll have more as I try to learn this update. I hope this helps and that you can do some or most of these things!
-Karina K
In Progress