Ever wonder why Steve Jobs always wore the same outfit? Apparently, it helps reduce decision fatigue. Instead of deciding what clothes to put on, just wearing the same thing is one less thing to worry about. But, as the saying goes, “Variety is the spice of life.” What if you’re having trouble deciding to eat Pizza or Chinese food for lunch? That’s where a new widget in the “Widgets” app can help.
Category: App Development
Widgets 4.0 — Colorful!
First, if you have the Widgets app, there’s a highly detailed tutorial on Photics.TV (YouTube). It’s the longest video on the channel so far. Widgets is a powerful app, but it’s like a wristwatch with 100 dials. It’s complicated! The video was created as documentation of the app’s numerous features. This type of information is even more important now, as Widgets 4.0 was just released. It’s a big update!
Widgets 3.1 — Happy Easter!
After some surprising feedback regarding the “Bible” widget, I went back to work. There were two main concerns. Catholics wanted a version of the bible for them. Also, searching by verse wasn’t enough. A text search was requested. This update took longer than expected. It was planned as the Easter update and the deadline was just barely met. But after the dark year of 2020, this project was uplifting.
Widgets 3.0 — The Heavy Lift
Whew, that was a challenge. The Widgets app and Apparatuses were updated to version 3.0. This update was nicknamed “The Heavy Lift” because of the difficulty in migrating the existing reference data to a proper database. Instead of using giant JavaScript arrays, which was bad for memory management, SQLite is used instead. This switch was necessary to launch the latest widget — the “Thesaurus” widget.
Widgets 2.8 — Elements
Happy New Year! Normally I like to start off the new year with a lofty goal. This year, nothing significant is planned yet. The main reason for the uncertainty is because of the “Widgets app”. Each update requires a substantial amount of work — and the app is not considered to be done. Therefore, January 2021 is kicking off with another update to the “Widgets” and “Apparatuses” apps. If you’re into Chemistry, the new “Elements” widgets were made to help you.