So, this would ideally be fixed. And it would make room for a feature I’d really like to see in every weather widget, on the phone or TV or wherever: yesterday’s weather. The point would be to give me some indication of how much cooler/warmer I should expect to feel as compared to yesterday. See, I don’t really know how to judge absolute temperature values. Which coat do I grab at 55º? How about 43º? If, however, I knew that it would be 8º cooler than the previous day, I could act appropriately.
First off, interesting catch. Without looking closely I guessed it was to show the low. I also thought it might be so that the current day’s name on there but didn’t feel like writing my explanation in less than 140 characters: See, if it is Wednesday and the first word (to do with a date) is “Thursday” I might think it was Thursday. I’m only checking the weather app quickly so even if I don’t look at the first word specifically it could still register subconsciously. If they took off the redundant day they’d have to put today’s name somewhere up top so people like me won’t get confused. Or maybe I’m not giving myself enough credit.
Anyway, the last paragraph is the important part. It reminds me of an app idea I had awhile ago. The app not only shows you today’s temperature (and high/low) but also a short, human readable phrase/suggestion like “same as yesterday but less sun” or “might need a sweater” or “much colder, don’t forget an umbrella.” I also thought about the logic behind the app. How do you get information from the user in order to make good educated guesses about what phrases to show them without requiring complex interaction on their part (asking a lot of questions, filling out a form on first launch, etc)? Some people might think yesterday was perfect while others might have needed a sweater. Do you implement a rating system to tell the app it got it’s prediction yesterday on the money or too cold/too hot? Are there optional questions about what weather you like? (Yes/No: I’m a California girl. I’m an Eskimo. I sweat a lot, etc). At first does it only show the difference in temperature, asking what you thought of yesterday’s weather for 4-5 days and then only offering advice after that?
I’ve been meaning to learn iOS coding so I always need app ideas that are simple enough to help me learn the platform but useful enough I’ll want to finish them. I have some other ideas but at the very least Neven’s simplified explanation of a potential app above will go on the list as well. I’ll let you know how (if) it turns out.
