Over the summer I didn't have time to do a proper watchOS 10 redesign for Pedometer++. I am now tackling that project, which is actually much easier now that I've actually lived with watchOS 10's redesign for several months.
Something I found super helpful was to take a screenshot of every screen in the app and lay out the current UI hierarchy, which when I see it laid out like this is a bit of a mess. But I couldn't tell how much of a mess without the perspective of seeing it all at once.
As part of this watchOS 10 redesign I'm also committing to stop using custom font sizing for my UI elements and instead just use the system size classes. As much as I like to think that I can end up with a better design by tweaking every last text label, the reality is that when I then zoom out and look at the app as a whole the result is less harmonious and balanced.
A tremendous amount of work clearly went into getting these text metrics perfected and I should avail myself of those benefits.
I'm converting all of my iOS UI to use the system standard text sizes. Now that I've done it I'm not really sure why I didn't do that all along, but oh well, it’s awesome now.
While doing that I also noticed that my old UI was feeling kinda “heavy”. So I also decided to embark on a small redesign of all the visual controls to make them “lighter”. It isn't finished yet but I'm super loving the early results. I suppose the sign of a good redesign is when I now can’t stand the old one.
@BenRiceM I've experimented so much with those weights. Medium feels too light, Semibold feels too heavy…Why can't there a be a "Every so Slightly Bold" option 🤪
@_Davidsmith I don't exactly know about iOS, but my impression was that San Francisco existed as a variable font, where you can specify weight in 1/1000 increments, no? The weight you're describing should be about 550?
@oelna Thanks for the links, yeah I might play with that a bit to see about a variable boldness. But the tricky part is one of the core things I'm trying to do is to move away from tooo much custom type stuff and just rely on Apple's choices...but very much worth exploring.
@_Davidsmith I’d always head-cannoned that you’d researched some uncommon UI sizing/accessibility materials early on and stuck with it, or alternately that your own eyesight might be bad (said the guy with pretty strong Rx in his glasses). Either way, super happy to see the revision to standard system text sizes! It does look awesome, and also models good OS behavior for other devs.
@abrahamson I did do that accessibility research and work back when I first designed this UI but I think I got too stuck into the "Accessibility Mindset" and ended up building too many affordances into regular UI, rather than putting them in the screen when the relevant Accessibility setting is enabled.
@gracjan Yup, it actually is better for both of those modes. Here is it with bold test and +2 size set. Which is one of the big advantages over my previous approach which worked but required lots of custom tweaks to fit well.
@_Davidsmith nice work!
Small thing: the map icon was great, maybe don’t throw all icon out in favor of a purely text based views, particularly when there are so many actions on one screen.
@tobiasdm Thanks for the suggestion! Yeah, I struggled a bunch with that. I tried an icon oriented version but went back-and-forth on if it made the view too cluttered. It definitely gives it a clearer distinction between actions, but there is something lovely about the super clean look of the text only.
I also tried one with the icons in the section headers, which kinda works but felt a bit more disjointed.
@_Davidsmith I prefer the icons in the buttons. Seems more scannable, especially on secondary visit to the screen when you know what you need e.g. to download some more maps.
@_Davidsmith It looks better and looks like it will feel so much better to use, but I think removing the "Planned Route" heading might be a regression?
@_Davidsmith thank you!! 😅 I was considering suggesting making the text smaller but then I always thought you liked that better and it makes your apps more recognizable. I think they are more usable with the standard text sizes though.
@_Davidsmith As someone who's a big fan of Pedometer++, I never quite understood the benefit of starting an activity from the app, instead of starting from the Workout app. Are you able to expand on that?
@jerome The main benefit is that you get a more customizable workout screen where you can choose which metrics to show (time, distance, speed, steps, ...) additionally you can also display a live map on your wrist with an optionally overlaid route marker.
The built in app is great but I provide a more customized experience for walking type activities.
@_Davidsmith oh wow!! Yes you recall correctly 👍🏼 This is such good news. Can I dare ask - is it their iOS OSMaps app that will push the map and route data to the Watch and any Watch created routes to the iOS OSMaps app? So works independently or as an OSMaps app companion. Much like my long lost fave app ViewRanger app used to do.
@simonharper The app is completely separate from OSMaps iOS app. I'm just using their mapping tiles for display. You'll manage your routes/offline areas within Pedometer++.
@_Davidsmith even as a user of your apps only (not a developer) I really appreciate getting to see how you think through the app development process and your approach to how best to redesign an existing app for a new OS paradigm…genuinely interesting
@_Davidsmith this reminds me of my scribbled maps of adventure back in the day.
“YOU ARE STANDING AT THE END OF A ROAD BEFORE A SMALL BRICK BUILDING.
AROUND YOU IS A FOREST.
A SMALL STREAM FLOWS OUT OF THE BUILDING AND
DOWN A GULLY.
east
YOU ARE INSIDE A BUILDING, A WELL HOUSE FOR A LARGE SPRING.
THERE ARE SOME KEYS ON THE GROUND HERE.
THERE IS A SHINY BRASS LAMP NEARBY.
THERE IS FOOD HERE.”
Add comment