Last week, we released a new version of the Guardian iPad edition, which included some design and usability improvements as well as some crash and bug fixes.
We’ve had a few questions from users about why we made the changes we did, so here’s an explanation of what’s different and why. The video above showcases all of the features within the app including the ones listed below.
1) The carousel navigation that ran across the top of the screen has been replaced for several reasons.
We could never really get it working quite how we wanted it to. The idea was to have it scroll with you as you swiped through the sections, therefore reflecting your position in the app as well as giving you the navigation enabling you to skip. However, since we couldn’t do that, it really meant that it was only doing half the job it was designed to do.
It also took up quite a lot of space on the page – this was particularly evident on the comment cartoon and “fancy” articles (those with whole screen pictures at the top of the page) – to see the page properly, the user had to hide the carousel and then reveal it again when they wanted to go directly to a section.
We have replaced this with a popover that is accessed by tapping the Sections button in the top right of the screen. The Sections popover is dismissed by tapping on a section name or away from the list, giving over more screen real estate to the content, rather than the navigation. The number of front pages each section contains is indicated in the popover list by the number of dots alongside it. The Sport section has been moved up the list so it now immediately follows Obituaries – this better reflects Sport’s natural position in the paper (at the back of the main News section on most days) but also gives greater prominence to what is the second most popular section in the app, after National news.
The new navigation clearly shows all of the sections that are available in one tap and it is easy to locate sections in the middle of the list – with the carousel, it was hard to go directly to, for example Obituaries, because the section couldn’t be seen on first revealing the carousel, and it was likely you might swipe straight past it. Also, if we add a special supplement to the app users will see it as soon as they hit the “sections” button. With the carousel navigation, they’d only see it if they scrolled all the way to the end so they might miss it all together.
2) We have removed some messages that obscured front pages in the “Issue picker” (the first screen upon opening the app, where you choose which day’s edition you want to read). You will still be advised if an updated issue is available, but the “Tap to enter” and “Issue available” messages have been removed. This makes it easier to see the front page of a particular issue, which is a useful reference when trying to decide which issue to read or if you’re looking for a particular back issue. It also removes unnecessary clutter.
3) When viewing individual articles, you can now pull down the article to dismiss it and return to the relevant section front. This action is more in keeping with what you’d expect from an iPad user experience and is something we wanted to include from the beginning. After using it for a while internally, it really does feel like a great addition and something we’re really glad to finally offer.
Tapping the header bar or the “x” will still close the article, which will slide away vertically to reveal the front beneath it.
4) We’ve removed the chevrons that sat to the left and right hand side of article and front pages because they drew too much attention and distracted the eye from the content. Though we’ve removed the graphic, the functionality remains, so tapping on the extreme left and right edges of the screen will still allow you to swipe through pages.
We’ve fixed the main crashes that users were experiencing with version 1.0.2 but are aware that there are still a couple out there. If you’re experiencing problems then please email userhelp@guardian.co.uk with details. We will continue to improve the app so please leave your thoughts and feedback in the comment box below, or contact @guardianmobile on Twitter.