Daniel Voran

Q: iOS 10 Clock

I opened Clock for the first time in iOS10 and was aghast to find out that it now has white lettering on a black background, and there is no way to turn it back to having a much more readable, easier on the eyes, black lettering on a white background. I contacted Apple Support and the only suggestion they had was to give feedback to Apple.

 

The other annoying feature of Clock in iOS 10 is the Bedtime feature. Click it and you are told: Going to bed and waking up at the same times every day are keys to healthy sleep.

 

Oh, really? Give me a break. I don't need my iPhone to tell me when to go beddy bye and when to wake up. This is the most infantile feature yet.

Posted on Sep 16, 2016 11:38 AM

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Q: iOS 10 Clock

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  • by jane_000,

    jane_000 jane_000 Oct 13, 2016 8:33 AM in response to deggie
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPhone
    Oct 13, 2016 8:33 AM in response to deggie

    The program is called "World Clock." I used it constantly for global time zone comparison. Once again improvement destroys benefits. The previous clock app had a simple visual display that clearly contrasted daylight and nighttime zones with analog clocks in circles. The solid black background defeats the purpose. It is useless. I hate the black background, hate the digital display. 

  • by Jsunny365,

    Jsunny365 Jsunny365 Oct 17, 2016 5:00 AM in response to Daniel Voran
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPhone
    Oct 17, 2016 5:00 AM in response to Daniel Voran

    Agree 100% about the inverted colors being a terrible, awful, no good, very bad idea .. I even asked Support if it was a bug.. yes-I've left a formal complaint.. there are studies that say black background white font is hard in the eyes..if you don't like it send an email to Support or Tim Cook or both..

  • by Stokestack,

    Stokestack Stokestack Oct 17, 2016 7:16 AM in response to Jsunny365
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 17, 2016 7:16 AM in response to Jsunny365

    OK, "there are studies?" Where?

     

    Let's have some background here: The inverse color scheme (black letters on white background) that Apple has forced on users for decades is a vestige of the failed late-'80s/early-'90s attempt to make the screen an analogy for a piece of paper. Remember the "desktop publishing" craze?

     

    The analogy fails because a piece of paper doesn't emit light, while of course a screen does. A white background on a computer is akin to reading text off the surface of a light bulb all day.

     

    Every other major computer GUI except Apple's allows users to set up their own system-wide color scheme. Windows has had this capability for over 25 years.

     

    Before GUIs, most computers had a hard-coded color scheme that presented white text on a dark background, to ensure the best readability. The background was often dark blue; to this day there's a checkbox option in Word to activate this very color scheme ("Blue background, white text").

     

    Over the last few years, software publishers have finally taken matters into their own hands to give users a more sensible background than glaring white. Adobe, for example, has darkened its interface to charcoal. Color-critical applications (even some of Apple's own) have always used a dark-grey interface with white text.

     

    Should Apple move into the '90s and offer users a choice? Of course. But that's not how Apple works. But if you want to talk about a bad move, it's clinging to a discredited and glaring color scheme that has us squinting into backlights going full-blast in our faces all day.

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Oct 17, 2016 8:20 AM in response to Jsunny365
    Level 9 (59,649 points)
    iPhone
    Oct 17, 2016 8:20 AM in response to Jsunny365

    Jsunny365 wrote:

     

    Agree 100% about the inverted colors being a terrible, awful, no good, very bad idea .. I even asked Support if it was a bug.. yes-I've left a formal complaint.. there are studies that say black background white font is hard in the eyes..if you don't like it send an email to Support or Tim Cook or both..

    Please provide citations for these "studies".

     

    Use the feedback link to let Apple know what you think:

     

    http://www.apple.com/feedback

  • by Jsunny365,

    Jsunny365 Jsunny365 Oct 17, 2016 9:29 AM in response to Meg St._Clair
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPhone
    Oct 17, 2016 9:29 AM in response to Meg St._Clair

    It's bad for eyes with astigmatism, hard on the eyes, and that is why the inverted  color schemes were ditched when people moved away from computer terminals of the early computing days ...

     

    Sharing article:

    http://gizmodo.com/the-surprising-reason-computer-screens-arent-green-on-b-16430 25374

     

     

  • by Lawrence Finch,

    Lawrence Finch Lawrence Finch Oct 17, 2016 10:05 AM in response to Jsunny365
    Level 8 (38,291 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 17, 2016 10:05 AM in response to Jsunny365

    It would be nice if every question was a matter of black or white. But it isn't. Quoting from your own link:

     

    In fact, the debate over white-versus-black backgrounds is a perennial topic online, with many programmers arguing that dark or color backgrounds are easier on the eyes given the reduced amount of light.


    I suspect that the reason Apple changed it is that many posts to http://apple.com/feedback requested the change.

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Oct 17, 2016 10:05 AM in response to Jsunny365
    Level 9 (59,649 points)
    iPhone
    Oct 17, 2016 10:05 AM in response to Jsunny365

    That article (not a scientific article, by the way) quoted people who do appear to have some knowledge but provided no actual references to scientific studies. It also made this statement:

     

    This optical explanation is a pretty interesting biological basis for the shift, though of course, there are plenty of reasons why white screens beat out black ones—and why plenty of people still prefer black backgrounds (or grey) to white. In fact, the debate over white-versus-black backgrounds is a perennial topic online, with many programmers arguing that dark or color backgrounds are easier on the eyes given the reduced amount of light. That's why so many applications (and even Yosemite!) are offering the ability to toggle between light and dark modes.

    So, a rather weak citation.

     

    You are certainly entitled to your personal preference and I'm not going to judge that.

  • by jane_000,

    jane_000 jane_000 Oct 17, 2016 10:32 AM in response to Daniel Voran
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPhone
    Oct 17, 2016 10:32 AM in response to Daniel Voran

    The issue being discussed in this thread, the widget called "World Clock", is NOT which scheme is better. The widget used both black-on-white and white-on-black for graphic display of information. The contrast was meaningful. One meant night, the other meant day. By eliminating the alternating schemes, they wiped out a simple visual contrast that conveyed information faster than the current, updated design, which relies solely on black-on-white with numerical times rather than analog clock faces.

  • by Lawrence Finch,

    Lawrence Finch Lawrence Finch Oct 17, 2016 10:43 AM in response to jane_000
    Level 8 (38,291 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 17, 2016 10:43 AM in response to jane_000

    And the answer to the issue is to download one of the 100+ clock apps that best meets your definition of what a "good" clock app should do. I have two that I really like:

    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/world-clock-pro/id393335869?mt=8

    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/emerald-chronometer/id284953670?mt=8

  • by jane_000,

    jane_000 jane_000 Oct 17, 2016 11:24 AM in response to Lawrence Finch
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPhone
    Oct 17, 2016 11:24 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

    Your two alternate apps are complete visual garbage. Apple had an excellent, simple app. It came with the phone. Apple chose to change the design. We don't know why. That is what this conversation is about.

  • by Lawrence Finch,

    Lawrence Finch Lawrence Finch Oct 17, 2016 11:33 AM in response to jane_000
    Level 8 (38,291 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 17, 2016 11:33 AM in response to jane_000

    jane_000 wrote:

     

    Your two alternate apps are complete visual garbage.

    Which proves to me that you didn't try either.

     

    Apple's previous clock was terrible. That's why I never used it. The current one is no better, which is why I'm not going to use it. The World Clock app is really outstanding, allowing analog or digital displays for each time zone, choices of backgrounds, and one of the best displays I've seen for planning multi-timezone meetings. It also supports a display that is almost identical to the previous version of the Apple clock, so if you think that is visual garbage then you must have thought the same about the Apple clock app in the previous version. But either way there are over 90 additional choices.

     

    Apple chose to change the design. We don't know why. That is what this conversation is about.

    Then there's no point to the conversation. There's no way we can find out why in this user-to-user technical support forum. Apple doesn't read posts, so they have no way of knowing your opinion (and it is an OPINION, not fact). And even if they did, they wouldn't respond here. To let Apple know your opinion go to https://apple.com/feedback.

  • by gail from maine,

    gail from maine gail from maine Oct 17, 2016 12:37 PM in response to jane_000
    Level 7 (26,954 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 17, 2016 12:37 PM in response to jane_000

    Have you even attempted to do a search on your own in the iTunes App Store? The first world clock that displays for me is "The Clocks: Alarm Clock, World Clock" which gives you a choice of Digital, Analogue, or Flip. Analogue shows a black clockface for night and a white clockface for day. And, apparently, it has a lot of customization you can do.

     

    GB

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