A Tiny Detail I Like About iOS8

iOS8 is a huge move forward in user experience, especially the continuity experience between iOS8 and Mac OS X Yosemite is a great win. For the ones who don’t know what I am talking about by saying “continuity experience”: it is the ability to continue working on your document no matter which machine you started with, either a mobile device or a Mac. And also answering phone call on your Mac and iPad is a big experience win (more details on Apple's site). 

The thing that I would like to point out in this post is rather different, it is iOS' spotlight, again! You may remember I criticized iOS7 for a single bad behavior which had frustrated me lots of time: Keeping the earlier search query when I open spotlight for second time. iOS8 came with a simple solution for that: Second time you open spotlight it sets the search expression selected so if you time something the earlier search goes away; and in case you want to continue from your earlier type you still can do.

I can hear you are saying I am focusing on a secondary thing but I assure you these tiny details can make your users like or dislike your product.

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Step 1. Search something, then select something or cancel the search

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Step 2. Drag the home screen for a second search, the text comes selected. You can type something else without need to clean the field, or you can use your earlier expression

Good UX is In The Details

Have you heard the saying "the devil is in the detail"? It means that you have to put effort on the details to catch the devil and evil for the sake of good. It is the same for user experience design. In order to do it good or better you have to put enough effort to the details. 

There is a site, called "Little Big Details", dedicated to curating these UX details. So get your daily dose of design inspiration.

Thanks Google: Google Drive Activity Stream

Do you use Google Drive? I definitely do use it more now!  It is the most effective file storage ever. For me, it is a way to create and organize my projects. And some times, it is my publishing tool, too. 

Besides, it is not just about storing. Drive makes group projects easier because everyone can share files and work together.  I have been using it for years, despite the complexity. So, the time came for us to share good news about this complexity. 

Google just announced a new activity stream in Drive showing us what's changed. I found this feature truly helpful and becoming indispensable to anyone who uses Drive. 

Image from Google Drive's blog.

But I, as a UX designer, will propose to make it even more useful for a case.  

1. The Case: When an activity includes big number of file changes it is easy to get lost.  In these cases a user tend to see all items in the activity. The only way to do it is to click "show all" link. However show all opens a big list without seeing the collapse link unless you scroll all the way down to the end of the activity.  
2. The Problem: If the user is able to reach the end of the activity, she could see the "show less" link.  When she clicks it she lost the context of where she was because scroll gets sticked to position of the scroll bar.

Some Possible Solutions

1. Rather than current behavior it would be nice to  make the collapsing animated and take the user back to the beginning of the activity. It will save the context (user's understanding of location) problem.
2. Other solution could be our old and good friend "pagination". As in Gmail email listings, pagination here can safe lives as well.
3. Yet another, but my favorite among three is having a sticky "show less" link on the side when user expands the list. They could close the link waterfall on the go. This solution should be ideal if applied with solution 1. Look at the sample images below.

Adding sticky "show less" link on the side is a possible solution to overwhelming number of changes