• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Dion Almaer

Software, Development, Products

  • @dalmaer
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • RSS
  • Show Search
Hide Search

“If you have a settings dialog you are doing it wrong” vs. personal computing

September 20, 2013 Leave a Comment

settings

Convention over configuration > One True Way

“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” — Einstein

I have run across an interesting tension coming to a head with mobile product design and choice.

The constraints of mobile brought about this strong push towards simplicity and task centered design. Hell, the bar was raised in every dimension. Many apps that I use today are beautiful both visually as well as functionally.

As with everything, dogma can take things to the extreme, and I have seen this in spades with the iOS7 launch.

So many of the frustrations that I have could be solved with the odd setting or a bit of flexibility.

For example, the new springboard has some nice new features. I like the visual touch when you are downloading a new app, I appreciate being able to get to search from anywhere. However, not being able to use any area to the left of the main screen? Why not? It is so easy to get back to the first page that it would be nice to put something a flick away. It makes me feel like seeing a plot in a great neighborhood that I can’t purchase because a neighbor bought that plot to keep it clear. Except in this case I own the land!

The folders. I like being able to put more apps with them, but it has a harsh trade off:

  • I can only see a few at a time since such little space is given to
    the area (on iPad too!)
  • I used to place a folder in the bottom right and when opening it I could quickly tap in to open an app quickly (kept one row on purpose). Now that doesn’t work as I am launched into the new popup folder vs inline.
  • The animations make me feel like I am leaping from pad to pad in a
    leap pad game.

If I could just change the animation timing (faster please!). If I could change the size of the main area. The size of the app icons. This flexibility would make me so happy…. Just as changing the size of text does (which is great on iOS7).

Let me change the app icons. Give me a central spot to set a default browser so every app doesn’t have to manually do it “Chrome or Safari?”.

People will sneer and talk about Android and how they go too far. The times have changed. Back then this smart phone thing was new and Android looked like crap no matter what. It’s time to move on and deliver a great default experience without locking out the user.

Mobile is personal. We are not all the same. Great we have some colored iPhones now (or you can get a case for your 5S 😉 but more customization options please!

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Twitter

My Tweets

Recent Posts

  • Generative AI: It’s Time to Get Into First Gear
  • Developer Docs + GenAI = ❤️
  • We keep confusing efficacy for effectiveness
  • The holy grail of a Web SDK
  • The rise of the extensible app platforms

Follow

  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Tags

3d Touch 2016 Active Recall Adaptive Design Agile Amazon Echo Android Android Development Apple Application Apps Artificial Intelligence Autocorrect blog Bots Brain Calendar Career Advice Cloud Computing Coding Cognitive Bias Commerce Communication Companies Conference Consciousness Cooking Cricket Cross Platform Deadline Delivery Design Desktop Developer Advocacy Developer Experience Developer Platform Developer Productivity Developer Relations Developers Developer Tools Development Distributed Teams Documentation DX Ecosystem Education Energy Engineering Engineering Mangement Entrepreneurship Exercise Family Fitness Founders Future GenAI Gender Equality Google Google Developer Google IO Habits Health HR JavaScript Jobs Jquery Kids Stories Kotlin Language Leadership Learning Lottery Machine Learning Management Messaging Metrics Micro Learning Microservices Microsoft Mobile Mobile App Development Mobile Apps Mobile Web Moving On NPM Open Source Organization Organization Design Pair Programming Paren Parenting Path Performance Platform Platform Thinking Politics Product Design Product Development Productivity Product Management Product Metrics Programming Progress Progressive Enhancement Progressive Web App Project Management Psychology Push Notifications pwa QA Rails React Reactive Remix Remote Working Resilience Ruby on Rails Screentime Self Improvement Service Worker Sharing Economy Shipping Shopify Short Story Silicon Valley Slack Software Software Development Spaced Repetition Speaking Startup Steve Jobs Study Teaching Team Building Tech Tech Ecosystems Technical Writing Technology Tools Transportation TV Series Twitter Typescript Uber UI Unknown User Experience User Testing UX vitals Voice Walmart Web Web Components Web Development Web Extensions Web Frameworks Web Performance Web Platform WWDC Yarn

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Archives

  • January 2023
  • September 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • November 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • October 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • January 2019
  • October 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • May 2018
  • February 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012

Search

Subscribe

RSS feed RSS - Posts

The right thing to do, is the right thing to do.

The right thing to do, is the right thing to do.

Dion Almaer

Copyright © 2023 · Log in