Please allow users to perform the most basic modification operations while IN THE CHECKLIST SCREEN OF THE APP. NOT BY OPENING THE CLOUD WEB PAGE.
This is critical, I often think to use Miracheck, but I remember that there’s an incorrect item, and I close the app in disgust because I don’t want to deal with the horrible web editing interface while trying to use the checklist. 98% of the time, I just want do one of these THREE SIMPLE TASKS:
- Add a simple “check item”
- Delete an item
- Drag an item to change the place in the list
I need to do them while I’m USING the checklist. It is maddening because it would take only 10 seconds to perform these operations, if you would just put an EDIT button in to the app. Use cases:
- The weather is warming up, I can delete the “start cowling preheater” and the “Remove cowling preheater” items
- Sitting in the cockpit, getting ready, I realize I want to quickly modify an item, so I don’t have to write it down to do later on the time consuming, unintuitive web page:
- “plug iPad into power”
- “go to bathroom”
- “fill water bottles”
- “set garmin to full brightness”
- Change a mis-spelling
- decide that one item should be done earlier in the checklist.
The use cases are frequent and endless. Because apple’s user interface design guidelines have existed since the inception of the iPhone, programmers have followed Apple’s example for how to implement list items, and modifications of list items, like delete, add, and edits. Because of the repeated consistent behaviors that users have encountered in the OS, and in most apps, for dealing with lists, people have developed an unconscious intuitive skill set for how a list will behave when the user needs to modify it.
Because users have this unconscious skill, WHEN THEY WANT TO MODIFY A LIST, THEY CAN REMAIN IN THEIR MENTAL FLOW STATE WHILE MODIFYING THE LIST. If the user needs to modify a list, and the list fails to behave normally, they have to stop their mental concentration, lose their mental train of thought, and try to remember the way this app forces you to make a simple change. Here’s the train of thought the user must remember:
To edit you have to:
- Open the side menu
- Remember that THERE IS NO BUTTON/LABLE THAT SAYS “EDIT”
- Remember what the heck the label was that means “EDIT”. (Miracheck Cloud)
- Remember your username and password
- Be puzzled at why MY CHECKLISTS ARE NOT VISIBLE ON THE PAGE
- Look around the page for clues as to where my lists are in the ridiculously long list of other people’s checklists.
- Tap the three bars menu
- tap MyChecklists
- Tap the checklist I want
- Open all the subsections TO GET TO THE ONE THAT I ALREADY HAD OPEN IN THE APP
- Tap the item I want to rename
- Squint in the sun at the tiny phone screen at the TWO SCREENS LONG ITEM EDIT BOX that is squished to the right side of my screen. There are a hundred tiny little icons and a tiny text boxes buries in between random other text labelling. Where is the damn name for this item?
- Remember that the item name is actually called “Label 1”
- Change the text of “Label 1”
- Squint in the sun at the microscopic icons on the top row and left side of the screen to look for something that would indicate “save”
- try to aim my finger for this microscopic button, that is unnecessarily close to another microscopic button. I hit the wrong button and have to try again.
- See a pop-up notification that asks me if I want to reset the current open checkbox. “Yes” or “Cancel”.
- I JUST WANT TO GO BACK TO MY CHECKLIST AND HAVE THE LIST BE UPDATED. I don’t want to be asked this question. It is very jarring to then have to think about whether my checklist will be updated at all if I click yes. I don’t know if it will or not. This is irritating. If I want to reset the checklist, then I’ll go back the main screen like I normally would.
- tap “GO BACK”
- Stare at the open checklist, and try to get back into the mindset of preparing to fly an airplane.
If you fix the app interface to be compliant with Apple design guidelines for list interfaces, here’s what the same action would be like:
- Tap the “Edit List” button at the bottom or side of the screen. (Edit button changes color, list action buttons like checkbox squares and “skip to next” gray out, text turns into “Done editing” text. List items slide to the right, with three bars now appearing at the beginning of each line)
- User taps the name of the item on the line, the name turns into a text edit box
- User changes the text in the box, hits return or taps anywhere outside the box, and the box goes away, with the updated text appearing in the item.
- user taps “done”
THAT’S IT. Four Steps, done in just 15 seconds, actions that were, subconscious and intuitive, in response to a desire to change the text. 15 seconds for a subconscious action that doesn’t interrupt a mental train of thought/flow state, vs. 5 minutes of irritating mental gear shifting, password lookup, and interpreting a confusing interface.
Behaviors summary that might be ideal for implementation:
- “EDIT” BUTTON IN EACH SECTION’s HEADER
Open a new fullscreen window with the title: “Editing [name of section]”, with a Cancel text button on the upper left in the title bar, and a Save button on the upper right - Red “DO NOT ENTER” delete button appears on the LEFT hand end of each item
- three lines appear on the RIGHT hand end of each item, for the user to tap and drag the item up and down the list. (However, please allow the user to drag from anywhere on the item’s row)
- New line appears at the top of the list, with Green circle with a “+” button at the left side, and colored text “Add checklist item”
- User long-presses an item, and the item gains an drop shadow around it’s border, and drags under the user’s press to drag up and down the list
- User taps the red do-not-enter button, and the app brings up an ARE YOU SURE? popup
*If a user is going to delete an item that is a current link destination, or has complex configuration, just pop up a warning to the user that they are going to break that, and are they sure they want to? and remind them that they can see what the details are on the web editor.
Thanks,
Dan