If You Have Nothing Nice to Develop Then Keep It Out of the App Store

Two of the biggest points that I tried to stress in my presentation, "The Fine Points of iOS Development", are to:
  1. Have a mobile strategy.
  2. Design/Develop your apps with exceptional user interfaces.
It looks like the decision makers at Raycom Media, Inc. did not get the memo.  WMC-TV is a local NBC affiliate here in Memphis, TN.  They tweeted today that their weather app was now available for download.  When I saw it I knew that I would probably not use for everyday use because I prefer the Outside app from Robocat, but I am always interested in what local businesses are doing in the mobile arena.  After using it for 30 seconds I deleted it from my phone. Not because it didn't offer quality information, it was due to the fact that the UI is HORRID.  

Raycom Media, Inc. isn't some podunk little company so I am not sure what their excuse was for letting this travesty out there for people to use and pass it off as something great.  To put it frankly, whoever is in-charge of their "digital" divisions (web and/or mobile) should be fired....immediately. At the very least he/she/they need to take a full day and review the Human Interface Guidelines provide by Apple.  Their websites, desktop and mobile, and iOS apps are cluttered beyond all belief, take forever to load, do not follow web standards and are the aphelion of SEO. Jakob Nielsen would fallout dead if he saw them.

Not to be one that complains without offering suggestions here are a few that would help:
  1. Get rid of that God awful advert at the top of the app. We all get it...you have to generate revenue which is fine, but it's placement distracts from using the app.
  2. Replace the UISegementControls with a UITabBar (make the app UITabBarController based).
  3. Move the "Info" and "Home" buttons which people can hardly see and touch at the moment as tabbaritems.
  4. Remove the scrollview from the map page completely.  It should be it's own "tab".  It has no relevancy in a map context.  You are mixing two different types of displays.
  5. Having custom transitions to a particular days "detail" view is fine, but when you click "Done" and see it again it is just annoying. It is a jarring experience.
  6. The "alerts" button is worthless unless someone opens the app and then happens to click on that button.  Should have option to send out PUSH notifications when necessary alerts become available.
The information you provide is great, but your digital delivery mechanisms leave everything to be desired.