When we released RxCalc we did what most companies do, we setup a page for the application and made sure we listed various different contact addresses on the page as well as creating a contacts page. We had hoped we’d get feature requests, support requests, and constructive criticism. What we’ve discovered is our users don’t really provide much feedback. We’ve had some, but not a lot. We have, however, had a few folks give feedback on iTunes. Some great, some not so great. It’s been a strange ride and I thought I’d share some of that feedback here.
The Good
“I’ve been using this app for a week or so, comparing results to a program I’ve used on my Palm for several years. The two calculate very similar results, and I find myself using RxCalc more and more.”
This user actually sent us a direct e-mail with a feature request. He was interested in better options, like being able to enter height in centimeters and being able to adjust the Volume of Distribution value. Just the kind of feedback you hope for, and he asked for something that would make his experience better. Great stuff.
The Bad
“The interface is rigid and clunky…”
Rigid and clunky, ouch. This feedback has actually been quite helpful. We’ve made changes to an upcoming release to address this very problem. We’re hopeful this user will be happy with the change, if he’s still using RxCalc. If he’s not, we hope he gives it another try.
The Ugly
“Does not work. Interface is clunky and gives me error messages when I put in values. I don’t believe for a minute the positive reviews are real. Cannot use product nor would you want to trust calculations (if you can get them from the app!) in a clinical setting. If it smells like garbage, works like garbage, and looks like garbage, it probably is.”
This review just makes us cringe. We know exactly what this user is talking about. The UI in 1.0 is rigid, we thought it was a good thing but it turns out that wasn’t such a great idea. In trying to protect the user we made some mistakes. Those have been addressed in the next release.
For our 1.0 release we focused heavily on the math and tried to keep the UI as simple as possible. Most of the feedback we’ve received has been UI related and we’ve concentrated on those issues. The math has been solid and is something we haven’t taken lightly.
What can you expect?
I think it’s safe to say we’ve addressed these issues in the next release. We hope our users are happy with the changes, and we think you will be.