Splash or not to splash?

[desert1]

So Ben said to post some of what we are doing. Hope this works.

And as I do, another puzzle—I hear that Apple suggests omitting a splash screen when possible.

But not sure what to put up front, then.

1.An index? or 2.An example card?

3.A picture index? (like in your App perception experiment) or 4.Versus a regular old splash?

[FourthWorld]

Pardon the OT question, but is that snake a Mojave Green?

[EOTR]

You're right, Apple's guidelines say to go right into the app and omit a splash screen as a best practice. With some large apps it takes a while for things to load though, and if there is no splash screen the screen will just be black for a while. The user might freak out and think its broken, so in that case a splash screen would be necessary. In lieu of a decorative splash screen Apple suggests you do a screen shot of the first screen of the app and use that as the placeholder/splash. This way the user can start to make decisions before taking action. If the load time is going to be more than 1-2 seconds you might want the screen shot to be grayed out a little so it looks inactive.

If the load time takes considerably longer than that you might want to use something like what you have in example #4. Then it works more like a branding device.

What if the first screen was a more general navigation screen? Like make a series of buttons labeled with category names; Reptiles, Birds, Insects, etc. Of course this might mean restructuring the Picture Index screen (#3 Creatures) as well so its consistent. Then you could use a screen shot of it as a splash and ease the user into the workflow.

Just a thought, Henry

[desert1]

I like the idea of haivng the first screen a general nav screen, and using that as the splash as well as intro to the app.

Thank you!

[desert1]

Hi Richard,

You got it--I think the name at the PHX zoo was just "Mohave Rattlesnake"--I will see if I have more specific info on the animal's name when I have a chance to go back to the originals.

Sandy