In this thread, we tell Ford how to make the Home Screen perfect

[Mirak]

I think we can all agree that the UI overhaul with 4.1.2 made some significant enhancements… and whiffed on some softballs.

In this thread, we’re gonna make a master list of things Ford should do to make the UI Home Screen perfect. Yes, perfect, because our cars deserve the best.

I will start, and I will edit this top post with additions I find worthy. And if I don’t agree, well, your contribution is still documented. We can't all agree on everything.

And keep in mind, this thread is limited to perfecting the Home Screen. We already have another poll for all the other software enhancements we want. https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...ware-enhancements-do-you-want-the-most.23537/

Ok, so here’s a picture of the Home Screen, labeled with some areas I’m gonna address one by one…

1. The Top Ribbon.

Ok, we got a few problems here. First the “home,” “settings,” and “camera” buttons are FUGLY. The color, the clip-artiness. Just so, so, so… so so so so BAD. Settings should be a gear symbol. The app tray should be a typical grid of pretty squares, or even bring our car icon back. But why is the app tray now... a clip art house?!

@Tim_C mocked up these suggested icons. They certainly look better than what Ford provided.

Next, you've got a CarPlay icon in the top ribbon, but also a CarPlay tile in the #2 tile strip. Why both? And why do they operate differently? The CarPlay icon in the top ribbon takes you to what you were last using, whereas the CarPlay tile... doesn't. Weird. This needs to get sorted out.

Finally, where is the button to open my trunk?! Ford, you may have forgotten this and I realize it isn’t an issue with your favorite child - the Lightning - but YOU FORGOT TO GIVE US A DEDICATED PHYSICAL BUTTON TO OPEN THE TRUNK. And for some of us who have kids, or make pickups or deliveries, or lots of other uses, this is a serious pain in the ass. There is absolutely no reason we should have to remember to tap into Settings - how is opening my trunk a setting?! - and then locate the trunk button hidden in the top right corner of that pretty and totally pointless car picture.

Now, look, I know there are a few other things - like frunk access - that folks would also like to be in this top ribbon, but here’s an easy solution - let us pick what we want up here! Obviously the icons for apps and settings, and then let us select 3-4 other icons for things like cams, trunk, frunk, etc. I’m not saying the list should be endless, but give us a short list of stuff we can pin to this top ribbon!

2. The Tile Strip

Nothing has caused more heated (and kind of hilarious) recent debate than Ford’s elimination of the big tiles. I personally don’t care. But I know others do. And while I don’t think it’s really necessary to reintroduce the complexity of toggling between two different sizes, Ford could give us a bit more detail on the smaller tiles. There’s room there. It looks like a tile can fit three lines of text.

Stuff like current artist/song on the media tiles. For Tire Pressure, it would be something like...

Tire Pressure
38 40
39 39

@cmtaylor963 has some interesting ideas below for a much more dramatic overhaul, including replacing the tile strip altogether with a ribbon if icons, similar to desktop systems. https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...ake-the-home-screen-perfect.25814/post-596770

3. This Empty Space in the Climate Controls

This one is a minor nit, but it has always seemed to me that there is some wasted space here. Whereas to the left of the knob there are two different icons, to the right of the knob there is only one. I’m not saying we should clutter up every square centimeter of screen - clean is good - and I'm not saying we should tuck an icon close to the knob (fat fingers) - but it seems like there is room here for maybe one more icon if you shift the current icon a bit higher or lower. The most frequently requested other home screen function seems to be circulation mode.

4. Downsizing the Bottom Ribbon

You guys remember that Matt Damon movie Downsizing where they shrink everybody down to 5 centimeters and it seems like a really cool concept and then halfway through the movie you realized that there wasn’t an actual… plot? Yeah, that was disappointing. Also disappointing - why did Ford shrink all these buttons? They didn’t add any buttons here - just made them smaller and harder to tap. Why? Some of us don’t have surgeon-steady hands. Tiny buttons are hard to tap while driving. Bring them back to their original size.

Also, once the max defrost is activated, why does tapping it again not turn it off? This also applies to the physical max defrost button. Instead of turning it off, tapping after activation changes the climate to Auto - Medium and leaves the rear window defroster on. Huh? If we tap the max defrost button a second time, it should turn OFF. Just like the heated steering wheel.

Ok - I look forward to your additions.

And paging @Ford Motor Company - please make sure the necessary people are keeping an eye on this thread.

 

[dbsb3233]

Next, why does CarPlay show up here when I switch to another app (like Ford Nav displayed here)? Guess what - THERE IS ALREADY A TILE for the CarPlay down in the #2 tile strip.

The AA icon (or CP) on the top bar is GREAT for me. Way easier to touch than the small tile. Plus for AA, the small tile has an awful quirk. When using that, it resets the AA window to the default split screen of nav + contacts. I hate that. I have zero use for contacts and I have to change it back to full screen nav every frickin time.

But then I discovered the AA button at the top. Works perfectly to return to the screen as it was left off, just as it should. Plus edge icons are way easier to hit. Thank goodness that's there, especially since they ruined the radio/SXM tile by taking the Artist name away. I keep switching back and forth now, which is dumb to have to do when it was there before. Just put BOTH Song and Artist on the damn tile. Makes no sense why they took it out.

 

[dbsb3233]

If anyone wants to mock up your perfect tire pressure tile, please do so below.

Just replace the words "Tire Pressure" with the 4 numbers (39 40 38 39). Simple. There's no need to spell out "Tire Pressure". That's what the damn icon is there for, to identify the tile's purpose.

 

[dbsb3233]

4. Downsizing the Bottom Ribbon

You guys remember that Matt Damon movie Downsizing where they shrink everybody down to 5 centimeters and it seems like a really cool concept and then halfway through the movie you realized that there wasn’t an actual… plot? Yeah, that was disappointing. Also disappointing - why did Ford shrink all these buttons? They didn’t add any buttons here - just made them smaller and harder to tap. Why? Some of us don’t have surgeon-steady hands. Tiny buttons are hard to tap while driving. Bring them back to their original size.

Is it smaller? I don't even notice in mine.

The bottom row (or top, or right edge) is easy to hit for me because I anchor on the edge. For instance the bottom row... I put a few fingers under the edge of the hanging screen and tap the button with my thumb. Easy peasy. Same on the top row and right edge. The left edge is a little trickier though.

The hard buttons to hit are the tiles. My index finger is bouncing all over trying to pinpoint those. Or anything near the center or left.

 

[Tim_C]

My attempt at improved top-bar icons.

• Simple, high-contrast color choices
• Familiar, largely standardized icons

Edited to add a version with a hatch control icon. Maybe it would only appear when parked.

I got most of the content from a pretty nice icon site, where you can adjust foreground and background colors as well as other settings:
https://icons8.com

 

[AKgrampy]

I do not have the update and am fine with what I have. My 2 cents would be a user define-able screen to some extent as there is no “one” perfect screen for everyone’s preferences.

 

[Xadion]

Dial settings lag and confusion is killer it was such a good add but the lag kills it in what typically was a fairly lag free exp.

Keep the darn car 'on' it takes nill battery to power the silicone just keep it on and avoid start up lag

We could change size now we can't?

Little icons on the bottom are fine but as many said, there is room to add in the base functions, even just Pause/play on music, scrolling text etc

And mine, when I turn the car off the music defaults volume to loud for a split second and it also does that during notificaions. Sad

 

[Deleted member 16048]

I agree that the icons at the top need some refinements. There are better options for their design. Seems rushed, and maybe a little tweak will come down the line.

When parked, it would be great to have a trunk and frunk button added to the top status bar. Id also have the camera icon disappear when driving or above the speed in which it's disabled anyway. Makes the screen more dynamic.

On the status bar, increase the size of the delineator between time and other status icons. It's just a bit too small and doesn't do the job it's meant to visually.

Show what fan speed level is currently set next to the fan speed icon. There is room here, so lets use it for valuable data at a glance.

Editable / customizable calm screen would be a great feature too. This would take a bit of work though.

I'm sure I have more, but this is what I have so far for feedback. I wish there was a more direct way to deliver it.

 

[MellowJohnny]

Time and Temperature font size is way to small. Plenty of space to make them larger - or take a page out of Apple's playbook and create an "Accessibility" settings section to let me choose a bigger font.

I don't need glasses to drive, but I do need them to read - at this font size I can't see sh*t.

Millennials, am I right?

 

[cmtaylor963]

In my opinion, the small tiles are essentially buttons since they don't really show any info unlike the large tiles. Since the small tiles are essentially buttons, they should just put all the buttons on that row, and make them user customizable... Drag and drop any button from the App Drawer.

My butchered photoshop job:

 

[Phil-Springs]

Not Home Screen related, but is there a way to get to the predicted state of charge at destination/ next charge station in Ford nav without having to go three menus deep?

 

[dbsb3233]

In my opinion, the small tiles are essentially buttons since they don't really show any info unlike the large tiles. Since the small tiles are essentially buttons, they should just put all the buttons on that row, and make them user customizable... Drag and drop any button from the App Drawer.

My butchered photoshop job:

Some of the tiles still show activate data, which is good. They just don't show as much now, which is bad. More infuriating is knowing that they're capable, but failing to use that capability.

The capability is GREAT. It allow us to see more useful things from a single screen without having to take our eyes off the road for longer to swap between screens. That's a big benefit. They just need to put it to better use IMO.

 

[AliRafiee]

I want to add the instrument cluster to this list.
the empty spots to the right and left of the car or speed can be used to show the media information and a small version of the map.
I posted a mock-up of it in the Facebook group. I’ll see if I can find it.

 

[Mathington]

I have no issues with the icon images but the colour used for them while in dark mode needs an update, it looks strange compared to the rest of the theme

 

[RedOctobrrr]

Regarding #3 this is a big no. Maybe you think it's wasted space, but do you honestly not see what this is for?

Grab the big dial, tell me where each of your fingers are. Now twist the dial. What did your fingers stand a good chance of touching?

Hint: you give the UI designers less credit than deserved and there's probably a reason for some of the things you, one Mach E owner, think you could've designed better. This is just one example where it shows that you may not have dealt with designing the UI for software. I don't know you or your background, but I'm honestly shocked to see #3 there. Or asking why apps, which are in the home screen, is depicted by a... HOME icon? You're showing the nav screen and calling it home, by the way.

I'm all for pointing this stuff out, but jeez this post misses the mark.

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