I have to be honest every now and again I am influenced by the Apple advertising. I see shiny and new and like a magpie, I want.
The problem is I can’t use it. As frequent readers of my blog know, I cannot see very well. In fact I am partially sighted. I love writing and I bought my Galaxy Tab to write while I am travelling, during lunch breaks and after work. Every now and again we pass the Apple store and I am lured in, but playing with the device after only a minute reminds me why I cannot use an iPad. Sure there is the three finger tap but it’s basically a magnifying glass. I don’t want to move around the screen to read a page, that’s making do with second best. I want to have bigger icons natively. I want bigger menus and I want bigger fonts to the size I want them not what some designer has deemed big enough. My eyesight doesn’t change on the whim of a designer, the interface should be designed to allow choice. Text flow is an amazing but achievable thing!
I am not saying Android is perfect, far from it. I am constantly frustrated with Google’s own spps. They appear to believe that everyone has eagle eyesight. However there are third party suppliers that can take advantage of the openess to make it easier on us souls with poorer sight.
ADW is such an app. I couldn’t use android without it. As you can see from the photo, I have large icons, widgets and folders.
It is very customisable. You csn enlarge icons text size, the behaviour of the application drawer snd home screens. In fact of all the launchers I have tried it is the best – no contest.
Along with Spare Parts this app makes Android usable. I recommend these apps for anyone who is visually challenged like me.
It’s not just Apple and Android…
My perennial rant every time my employer rolls out a new internal web site – particularly those for HR functions that are mandatory for all employees to use – is that I can’t use them. Unchangeable, small font sizes that are only legible for me with my screen set to 800×600 – combined with large, fixed frame sizes that require 1280×1084 resolution to see all the nested menus. And all in low-contrast (but artful) color schemes. My favorite was medium gray text on a light gray background.
But after several years of complaining, they’ve started getting it right.
But the only real way we’re going to get new products useable is to give the app developers the oldest, smallest, fuzziest, washed-out, smoke-starting-to-pour-out-the-back monitors on which to audition their work. If they can’t live with it in the worst conditions, well, neither can the general public…
I agree! Nothing infuriates me more when I get emails with light grey writing on a white background. I see that and I delete them instantly. I can’t see the logic in creating emails or web pages in such a way that the people you are selling to can’t see them. Luckily there are enogh good designers that I can spend my money elsewhere…