Widget Inconsistencies

[macduke]

Hello. For those on the forum who don't know me, I make a living as a graphic designer and photographer. Below I've attached a fully annotated critique of what is wrong with the various iOS 8 Widgets I have installed on my iPhone 6 Plus. Are there no HIG for widgets? It's such a cluster! I just threw this thing together, but it's interesting to note all of the alignment issues that are present—even in some of Apple's own widgets. I don't even really get into some of the usability issues, but many of these widgets would be much better if they had some basic options. Since I took these screen shots last night I've discovered that Dataman has a toggle to turn off the background green, but the default state is what I've included for critique. I think some of these widgets may also look weird due to not being optimized for the iPhone 6 Plus? Please tell me what you think of this:

 

[antiprotest]

It's a mess, like a lot of other stuff with Apple nowadays. There are other problems with the widgets. Some are ugly. Some don't update. Also, if you hold your iPad in landscape, with the Today widget disabled, the first widget gets shoved up to the top right under the date with no spacing. I assume they will eventually fix some of these, but since widget just came out, it might take a few years.

Some are functional and interactive though. For example, I like the Buzzfeed widget. Also the Bing widget.

 

[C DM]

If only you could quickly go through the different games in the ESPN widget yourself and/or pause it on one of them if you wanted to. Using Yahoo! Sports widget in its place for the time being as that shows more information without waiting.

 

[Shuri]

Hello. For those on the forum who don't know me, I make a living as a graphic designer and photographer. Below I've attached a fully annotated critique of what is wrong with the various iOS 8 Widgets I have installed on my iPhone 6 Plus. Are there no HIG for widgets? It's such a cluster! I just threw this thing together, but it's interesting to note all of the alignment issues that are present—even in some of Apple's own widgets. I don't even really get into some of the usability issues, but many of these widgets would be much better if they had some basic options. Since I took these screen shots last night I've discovered that Dataman has a toggle to turn off the background green, but the default state is what I've included for critique. I think some of these widgets may also look weird due to not being optimized for the iPhone 6 Plus? Please tell me what you think of this:

.Question:
Why do the Text Bodies need to align with the title? I actually like it that way, because it looks more interesting. But you're right, there should be more consistency here.

 

[The Doctor11]

Hello. For those on the forum who don't know me, I make a living as a graphic designer and photographer. Below I've attached a fully annotated critique of what is wrong with the various iOS 8 Widgets I have installed on my iPhone 6 Plus. Are there no HIG for widgets? It's such a cluster! I just threw this thing together, but it's interesting to note all of the alignment issues that are present—even in some of Apple's own widgets. I don't even really get into some of the usability issues, but many of these widgets would be much better if they had some basic options. Since I took these screen shots last night I've discovered that Dataman has a toggle to turn off the background green, but the default state is what I've included for critique. I think some of these widgets may also look weird due to not being optimized for the iPhone 6 Plus? Please tell me what you think of this:

That image is 100% correct.

 

[macduke]

It's just so strange that Apple would allow that to happen. In the past they have been so strict about guidelines and making sure everything adheres to a certain visual standard. They're slipping lately.

 

[Bathplug]

Yes widgets are a bit of a cluster****. You should forward this to apple and hopefully they'll improve on this.

 

[Deasnutz]

All the widget titles are lined up perfectly. This looks subjective, although I do agree the wasted space is weird.

 

[afsnyder]

Apple doesn't restrict the widgets being designed because many would get rejected... too many as you can see.

It still looks nice and the utility is there... although annoying...