We’ve recently taken a look at the main calendar view in Power Diary and realised that we could make some improvements.
The Problem
For clients with 1, 2 or 3 calendars, there was a log of wasted space in the header area.
There was also an arrow to expand out the view which didn’t have any function.
At the same time, it was also not a great experience for clients with lots of calendars as they could only see the first row of practitioners and needed to use the arrow to show the other calendars.
In essence, there was a lot of space wasted which could have been used to show more of the actual calendar.
The Solution
Our idea is to have all of the selection options shown across one line to save valuable vertical space. There are slightly different layouts depending on the number of calendars, and whether or not the client uses groups or locations.
These changes are being rolled out progressively during February 2021.
One Calendar
For clients with just one calendar (and no Groups or Locations), they will have a simple view like this:
The avatar and name of the calendar will show in the top left area, and the date picking and other options will be next to that to reduce large mouse movements. (There is no “All Calendars” option because there is only one calendar.)
Several Calendars
For clients with a few calendars (and no Groups or Locations), they will have a view that shows the calendar avatars and names across the top, along with an “All Calendars” icon.
An underline will show which calendar is selected. In the example above, all calendars are shown, but in the one below, just one calendar is selected.
This layout will be used as long as it fits across the screen – so it depends both on the number of calendars, and also on the user’s screen width.
Lots of Calendars
For clients with lots of practitioners, or clients that use Groups or Locations, they will have a simplified view that allows them to open up a mega-selector where they can select the calendars and groups (and soon, locations will be available here as well). We reasoned that if there are lots of calendars, there’s little point in showing just a small sub-set of these.
When a calendar (or group) is selected, it will show that avatar and name in the top left area and also highlight it within the menu when it is opened again.
We think this new design will create a simpler and cleaner view for all types of clients.
Importantly, it will also give us more flexibility to add new features to the calendar in the future. Notably, we plan to allow selection of multiple calendars, filtering by location, and later the addition of rooms to further help busy practices with their planning.
As usual, if you have any feedback about this, please let us know.
