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iOS Tiles & Widgets
- Thread starter dtbratt
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It'll never happen.
Apple doesn't want you to fart around outside of an app they want you to go inside the app or Siri will provide information without having to launch an app.
This gives good demo but it doesn't make sense from a user interface perspective.
Apple doesn't want you to fart around outside of an app they want you to go inside the app or Siri will provide information without having to launch an app.
This gives good demo but it doesn't make sense from a user interface perspective.
And you know Apple's mindset how? I don't see why something like this wouldn't be implemented. Not in this form, maybe, because it's a rip-off of Windows Phone 8.
28 seconds in. Steve made it pretty clear that finding things on mobile devices wasn't the purview of general search but rather within an app. iOS is designed to take you into an app to access data whether it be a document or just a view. They've have spent little time attempting to animate icons, or add widgets because of their "it's in the app" ideology.
YouTube: video
28 seconds in. Steve made it pretty clear that finding things on mobile devices wasn't the purview of general search but rather within an app. iOS is designed to take you into an app to access data whether it be a document or just a view. They've have spent little time attempting to animate icons, or add widgets because of their "it's in the app" ideology.
That seems like a reach, man.
But plausible.
If you look at Android and Windows 8 both are trying to make the OS provide too much data with Tiles and Widgets.
Apple's still a proponent of "Apps do it best". Siri can present quick data across a variety of services and when that's not available or sufficient there's the app itself.
YouTube: video
28 seconds in. Steve made it pretty clear that finding things on mobile devices wasn't the purview of general search but rather within an app. iOS is designed to take you into an app to access data whether it be a document or just a view. They've have spent little time attempting to animate icons, or add widgets because of their "it's in the app" ideology.
This is correct. The Home screen is an app launcher, it's not a place to hang out. People complain it's boring because it's a grid of icons. Yeah, well, that's because Apple wants you spending time in apps. That's what iOS devices are about especially because every app is a full-screen app. Any notifications are isolated to a separate pull-down screen except for app badges.
The Home screen needs to stay clean and quiet. I don't like the idea of live icons or widgets or whatever competing for my attention.
I'd much rather see a better multi-tasking UI and a better lock screen.
In this mockup (which I quite like), the live icons/widgets are totally user-optional. If you want the iOS 1-6 style static grid, you can still have it. This is a totally user-friendly way to give people a choice of what type of homescreen they'd like. Of course, we all know how fond Apple is of giving choice to its users...
This is pretty much the only way I could do widgets. I can imagine the possibilities off app developers being able to do this. That said, it looks a little unwieldy, and how would you open the full app? The other video showed mission control swipe from the bottom, and I WANT IT.
As you said, Apple is not fond of handing over choice to users. They want you to use their products the way they envision people using them. That's the whole point for Apple. They design the experience for reasons of quality control.
I say leave the Home screen as is and instead work on refining Notification Center. Combining the two would be too complicated for most users and would go against Apple's philosophy of getting people into apps.
I agree that I'd prefer a better multi-tasking UI. But I think the video from the OP is a terrific concept. It's simple and well organized. The widgets are well organized in that they fit and flow in the iOS UI.
One thing I was upset at about widets on the Galaxy Nexus was that even though there were a lot of useful widgets, many did not line up well with other widgets. There was no synergy between the amount of space each widget was using. It was visually unappealing, and the UI didn't feel smooth. That's pretty OCD of me, but it was something that really bugged me about widgets on Android. For example, my weather widget might have taken up 90% of the width of the phone, but my email widget would take up the full width, and my RSS feed widget would consume only 80% of the width, while all 4 widgets were 4x1 sized.
AKA Android.
But yes, I would like widgets. At least give us the option.
Hopefully Forstall's departure will lead to some innovation with iOS.
But yes, I would like widgets. At least give us the option.
Hopefully Forstall's departure will lead to some innovation with iOS.