The official unveiling of iOS 8 is less than three days away and even though I’m not expecting Jony Ive to debut huge overhauls to the UI, my six-year old homescreen of boring rows of app icons are desperate for something more. Something like widgets.
After deep diving into the mechanics of iOS, Jay Machalani has developed a phenomenal concept on how Apple could add widgets to iOS 8 similar to Windows Live tiles. It’s simple, functional, and doesn’t add unnecessary crap to your homescreen thanks to its novel pinch to expand feature.
Here’s how his widgets work on an iPhone:
Machalani’s concept would allow users to keep the same homescreen they’re familiar with but if you wanted a quick peek at your calendar or iMessages you could simply pinch the app to make it into a bigger iOS block.
“There’s no menu, no hidden options and no weird gestures to do. You literally make the icon bigger with your finger if you want more, says Machalani. “It can’t be simpler and more intuitive than that.”
After pinching an icon you can choose to let it collapse or release it and it will remain a block on your homescreen. The concept has three different block sizes for more customization, but its still a work in progress as Jay says he still hasn’t figured a way to have icons on a full homescreen accommodate pushing icons to the next page. Maybe Jony Ive and the Human Interface team can work out the kinks.
Via: The TechBlock
