Change monkey: change for the sake of it
I hadn't realised that Apple have released a new version of iOS. So, when my 'phone announced a new update was available, I absent-mindedly installed it. Oh, bugger!
Most of the changes, if any, appear minor. Or, at least, I haven't noticed them. But some bright spark's decided that Safari needs to do things differently. Not better, more intuitively, or effectively using the available screen space. Just differently. Someone thought that putting tabs at the bottom of the screen wasn't a dumfuk idea. Fortunately, this can be turned off.
But why the hell did they let an intern redesign the Weather app? Now it shows far less information on the screen than it did before. Obviously, Apple wants to innovate, but if the adage if it ain't broke, don't fix it
counts for nothing at 1 Infinite Loop—or Apple Park—how about please ditching change for change's sake
?
This sort of thing upsets me, more than it probably should, because it represents poor design and a degradation of the user experience. There is nothing about the redesign that improves the usability of the app. It has some gee-whizz
additions lower down, below the fold, but they didn't really need a change in the current display for them to be added.
Sadly, Apple appears to keep only the current and one previous version signed and available for installation via iTunes. Since the current release is 15.0.2, version 14.8 is now unsigned and cannot be installed with iTunes. (sad)
Still, at least there's no pregnant man emoji. So I should be thankful for small mercies.
iOS has incremented to version 16, with no discernable improvement in the Weather app; it still uses too much screen for too little information. But herself observed an anomaly this morning that I hadn't noticed before. Perhaps it's a new introduction, or perhaps it's just flown under the radar all this time. Dunno. (shrug)
A 30% chance of rain is forecast today; 10% at each of 17:00, 18:00, and 19:00. No rain is forecast for the rest of the day. Clearly, ten plus ten plus ten is thirty. But shouldn't the overall chance be determined by the highest value—10% in this case—or, possibly, the average—10% in this case? Summing the chances falsely increases them.*
I would report this to Apple, but past experience has been like pissing in the ocean: it doesn't make any difference except to one's own comfort. And I'm no more discomforted by this feature
than the bloody app as a whole.
* To demonstrate this, a 20% chance of rain at each of six hourly time points would give an overall chance of 120%. That shouldn't make any sense, even at Apple Park.