Deconstructing the iOS 7 Date Picker
Having trouble with the date and time picker in iOS 7’s Clock app? It’s not you — the “hit areas” are indeed smaller, making it harder to use. Developer Sean Woodhouse deconstructs the picker in this blog post, comparing it to the iOS 6 version that may be clunkier, but is kinder to the fingers.
I definitely noticed the smaller "hit areas" in the Timer portion of the IOS 7 Clock app, which I happen to use several times per day, and wondered why Apple made this choice.
I could take or leave the flatter appearance of the app (I happen to be an engineer and really LIKED the old app's "whirling tumbler" metaphor), but making it noticeably harder to view and operate the design's elements is a somewhat curious design choice. Were there legions of users screaming "give us smaller targets to hit and make the text harder to see while we're doing it"?
I'm philosophical, though. I mostly appreciate the improvements in IOS 7. Apple set the bar so high for itself with the original look and feel of the iPhone interface that improvements -- always subjective -- are hard to come by!
Thanks for the article. It is nice to know it wasn't just me bothered by this peculiarity. Perhaps refinements to the interface will eventually be made.
Web form picks in Safari are even harder to use!