Minor iCal Fix
I was just using iCal and wondered if the interface wouldn’t make a lot more sense with just one minor tweak. The toolbar on the top is how it currently looks, and the one on the bottom is my modified version. Currently, the monthly navigation is for some reason tied to the display options, and the “today” button is left sitting alone by itself. Wouldn’t it make more sense to group all the navigation elements together? Just my 2 cents.
Comments
Since the function of the arrows depends on the Day/Week/Month selection I think it would be confusing. I think this function works fine currently though I do think iCal could be made a lot better.
And, yes, I typed this on a Mac.
:))) That is EXACTLY what I mean.
Hi…I’m Guy … and I’m a Windows user.
ok, now that that is out of the way…. I think the original design is better. Having the next previous arrows around the selected display mode indicates to me that when I click on one of the arrows it will increment/decrement in one unit of the selected mode…day, week, month.
Having the arrows around the day to me means plus or minus a single day irrespective of how I am viewing…. don’t like that.
Having the ‘today’ button on its own simply means…. wherever I am I when I click on it I will be taken back to today.
All seems very clear and straight forward.
@Daren Well played ;)
Guy & Jonas – Good points raised by both. I thought of the change when quickly flipping through a bunch of different months, and then momentarily losing the “today” button when wanting to go back to the current month. Not that it took me a long time to find mind you, I’m just trying to make myself more aware of those momentary pauses where I have to “think”.
The iCal navigation has always made me “think”…no matter how many times I use it a day.
I like your proposed mock-up once I “think” about the reasoning; at first glance the arrows appear to navigate “Days” only.
What if the Today button changed to “This Week” or “This Month”?
original design is more intuitive. I would be confused if the arrow buttons were on opposite ends of the today button.
Good comments, and also a nice fix which makes you think.
I would go for the current version (and not because I love Mac, which I do, and don’t dare to think of glitches in the system). As Guy stated, those arrows are a sub-function of the modus buttons Day, Week, Month. The Today button will take you to, well, today. In whatever modus you are in. This is a very different behaviour and should be separated from the navigation through months, weeks or days. Changing the Today button to this week or this month will ruin the fact that most people want to know what day today is and what will they have to do (today, this week, or this month).
I just tried the iCal now and it makes more sense to me to have the navigation as it is currently.
The arrows forward you to the next month or week (depending on selection) so it makes sense they are grouped together with the buttons Day Week Month.
What would the arrows around Today do? Move me from one column to the other? I don’t think I would be using the arrows at all in that case.
To Darren: Yes I am a mac user :))
Choosing dissertations and just the thesis, some students don’t view such kind of the hottest doctoral thesis just about this good topic.
@guy You hit the nail on the head is exactly what I thought as well, so I’m not going to repeat it :)
Cheers, Hans
oops, now I’m almost like a spammer. Darryl’s suggestion is of course even better. A combination of Jesse’s improvement on clarity of the design, with Darryls’ better understandable functionality. Now if Apple was only to listen.
Do anyone ever notice that although apple majorly creates all the tools for a great online social life, they never actually are part of it? There has never been a blogger reach out or any kind of interaction with them directly as far as I know. Almost all the marketing guys that I follow (Jaffe Juice, CC Chapmen, Marketing over Coffee) have noticed that.
Peace out, Hans
Really nice. Thank you.
Help Wanted
Yes, this is clever idea.
Anyway, I think mac-people will dislike it. And the reason is very simple – its not on macs NOW. “Macs are perfect” is the way of thinking for 99% of mac-people.
And, yes, I typed this on PC.
Daren - November 26, 2009