Direct access to a complication’s full details page via double tap

On Ksana Sweep Watch Face you can tap a content area to maximize it along with its complication data. Tapping it again will minimize it back to its normal state.

I’ve got much positive feedback for having this type of simple toggle interactivity on Ksana Sweep, but I’ve also got a few request for making a tap instead take you directly to a full details page (for complications that have a full details page).

An example of a full details page is the page displaying step count information on Google Fit. On Ksana Sweep you get to this page by triggering the Step counter complication action.

I thought about it, but didn’t come up with any good way of keeping the minimize / maximize interactivity & still being able to get to a full details page in a more direct way. But, as with most updates so far, great suggestions by users helped me out (thanks +Frank eversmeier & Scott Spillers). Frank suggested a double tap to get to the full details page & Scott got me thinking about this whole thing. Double tap should be a pretty obvious solution, but well…I hadn’t thought of it before 🙂

You can now (since version 1.2.4) get to the full details page directly by double tapping on it when it’s minimized.

Here are a few reasons for having a maximize / minimize type of interactivity on Ksana Sweep

  • You get a bigger view with upsized content (or more content) without having to leave the watch face to open up the full details page. Much better for battery life as well.
  • There is no need for a watch face interactivity screen lock. Accidental taps opening an app or full details page are practically impossible since it would first require a tap to maximize, then accidentally tap the top right action button. If a screen lock were to be used one would need to tap an unlock icon/button before being able to tap anywhere else. 2 click would be needed anyhow, so why not provide upsized and/or extra data instead?
  • In maximized state you can still get to a complication’s full details page (if there is such a page / app) by tapping on the top right action button.
  • In maximized state you can change complication for a content area using the left / right arrows without having to go into Ksana settings to do so. In effect you can navigate to any complication without leaving the watch face & go into settings (also good for battery).
  • In maximized state you can display app shortcuts below content areas. There is room for up to 3 shortcuts below the upper top content area (logo area), and up to 2 shortcuts for lower top, left, right or bottom content areas.

On some watch faces users have to try to see if a tap will take them anywhere. Some types of complication opens a full details page or an app, and some don’t. This behavior is avoided on Ksana Sweep by using the maximize / minimize type of interactivity.
When tapping on a complication one expect something to get triggered. On Ksana Sweep it does, it always gets maximized / minimized. And from the maximized state – as said above – you can tap your way to the full details page via a top right action button. But only if there is a top right action button. If there is none, then there is no full details page for the complication.

Similar to web page links

It’s kind of like a list of links on a web page. You would expect a click on any link to take you to a different web page, or at least make something happen. And you shouldn’t have to try to see if that is so. It should be obvious. And on most web pages it is. Any link usually got a different color than normal text. Sometimes links are underlined, and – if you got a mouse – hoovering over them displays a hand. Many hints to prevent you from having to try to see if it’s a link. You pretty much know something will happen when you tap / click on them, and if it doesn’t it could be a bit annoying.

Same with Ksana Sweep Watch Face when it comes to single tap. Tapping any of its complications means it expands (just like tapping a link makes something happen, such as taking you to a different web page). Tapping on a top right action button on a maximized complication takes you to the full details page. Always. If it wouldn’t, it would be like a non-responsive dead link on a web page.

Double tap

Having a double tap taking you to a complication’s full details page does mean you’ll have to try double tapping to know if there’s a full detailed page to get to, but since you can use a normal single tap, you at least have a choice.
Also, double tapping on complication that does not have a full details page makes it maximized. And from that maximized state you can clearly see that there is no top right action button since there is no full details page available.

This is my take on it, and there’s probably some better way of doing this. Usually is. Please let me know via comments below, or in the comment section in whatever social network I used when linking to this post.

But first, here comes 2 screenshots to visualize what I’ve talked about.

Screenshots

In one of the screenshots below you can see a step counter in minimized state in the round left content area. The other screenshot displays the step counter maximized (after a single tap) with slightly larger text and some extra text (step goal within parentheses).

In the screenshot with the maximized step counter you can see an action button in the top right. Tapping on it takes you to the step counter complication’s details page (Google Fit if it’s installed). Also on the screenshot with the maximized step counter you can see left & right navigational arrows that can be used to switch to some other complication for the left content area.

A double tap on the minimized Step counter takes you directly to the complication’s details page instead of first maximizing it.


Minimized Step counter complication

step counter minimized

Maximized Step counter complication

step counter maximized

3 Responses

  1. […] A double-tap on any of the complication would trigger its action (if it has an action). Alternatively you can single tap on a complication to maximize it, and then tap on its top right action button to trigger its action (only visible if the complication has an action). Here is a more complete description of how double and single taps works on Ksana Sweep: Direct access to a complication’s full details page via double tap […]

  2. Dietmar says:

    Hi

    2 Things i wanna mention:
    1. Maximize complications: I don´t feel comfortable always to maximize complications and just wanna go straight to the provider app by single tapping the complication. I know you mentioned a double tap would do that, but i think ux wise a toggle if you want to use maximization of complications makes much more sense. one major benefit is, at the toggle for turning maximization on, you can mention in a helpertext that you can doubletap to go directly to the provider app.
    So please do a toggle to completely turn maximization off if wanted. (I can´t really make out any sense of this whole feature in android wear 2.0, sorry)

    2. I think you asked in a youtube video about how to handle complications with empty app provider strings and alike. I would never hide a complication when the string is empty, because then the user would think that something goes wrong with the watchface since it doesn´t show the whole complication anymore.
    Always show a “–” instead of hiding the whole complication.

    BTW if that counts, i am UI/UX designer for 10 years now;)

    Let me know if you need any other help or feedback;) you have my mail;)
    cheers Dietmar

    • AppGlobe says:

      Dietmar, I’ve been thinking of a new setting to toggle the single tap to maximize on and off, but I think those who turn it off might be confused when they no longer can get to any app shortcuts (app shortcuts are visible below maximized content areas).

      On some complications maximizing doesn’t do much more than providing a slightly upsized view of its content (mostly the case with Wear 2.0 complications), but on others (e.g. the built-in calendar, built-in step counter, built-in missed calls, built-in unread SMS) the maximized state can display more data as well. Kind of like an excerpt that might give enough info for the user. And not having to leave the watch face and open some app to see more date, means less battery drain.

      About the complication hiding I agree with you. Much better to show a “–” or something similar when there are no data. I think you were referring to this video:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjE6UD1XhCg

      Anyway, thank you for your feedback!