{"id":28,"date":"2017-06-12T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-12T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timingapp.com\/blog\/evolution-mac-app-through-alphas-betas"},"modified":"2025-07-17T16:17:37","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T14:17:37","slug":"evolution-mac-app-through-alphas-betas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timingapp.com\/blog\/evolution-mac-app-through-alphas-betas\/","title":{"rendered":"What we learned evolving an App through 20 (!) Alphas and 10 Betas"},"content":{"rendered":"

One month ago (on May 9th, 2017), Timing 2<\/a> was released. Time for some navel-gazing! More seriously, development started in April 2016 and the app\u2019s interface changed quite a bit over the course of those 13 months: \"Timing This article illustrates how an app\u2019s UI evolves during development, and highlights some subtle but important changes. If you aren\u2019t interested in the evolution of the app, scroll to the end of the article for a side-by-side comparison and a summary of some little changes that had a big impact!<\/p>\n

Alpha 1 (July 5th, 2016)<\/h3>\n

\"\" Timing 2\u2019s initial concept revolved around \u201csmartly\u201d recognizing blocks of uninterrupted time and displaying them as separate groups. While the first alpha already recognized the blocks correctly (as illustrated by the timeline), the activity list was way too noisy to be even remotely useful. Also, note how rough the interface looks \u2014 but that\u2019s expected for an app in the prototype stage ? The alpha also included a mode that grouped by application and file instead of by time \u2014 somewhat more useful, but it wasn\u2019t even the default: \"\" As you can see, even Timing\u2019s rule editor<\/a> is already present, but still very simple.<\/p>\n

Alpha 5 (August 24th, 2016)<\/h3>\n

\"\" This version already had cards that group activities by different criteria (see here<\/a> for an explanation). This turned out to be much more useful in than the grouping by time or by duration. Also note the AutoGroup button in the toolbar. That feature would try to detect blocks of time, letting users quickly create tasks for these blocks. While the idea is very useful (and still present in the final version), having to go through these blocks one-by-one was cumbersome. Plus, the button in the toolbar didn\u2019t make for a very discoverable feature.<\/p>\n

Alpha 7 (October 19th, 2016)<\/h3>\n

The AutoGroup button was scrapped and replaced with permanent suggestions in the timeline: \"\" These are more accessible and easier to use, as one can pick and choose individual suggestions to use rather than having to go through all blocks one-by-one. Notice the new tab bar that leads to the ugliest dashboard ever: \"\" Alpha 7 also marked the introduction of a (still very bland) onboarding tutorial: \"\"<\/p>\n

Alpha 10 (November 7th, 2016)<\/h3>\n

Replaced the ugly dashboard with a different \u2014 but still ugly \u2014 one: \"\" Around this time we hired Eduardo Santos<\/a> to help design the app. You can already notice the first effects of his work in the much-improved timeline ?<\/p>\n

Alpha 13 (November 17th, 2016)<\/h3>\n

\"\" Eduardo\u2019s work is becoming much more noticeable, for example in the improved tab bar and task editor.<\/p>\n

Alpha 17 (December 6, 2016)<\/h3>\n

\"\" We have a proper dashboard! Still ugly, but getting there.<\/p>\n

Alpha 19 (December 16, 2016)<\/h3>\n

\"\" Much better! This dashboard is actually surprisingly close to the final version<\/a>. It even featured a responsive layout: \"\" The Review screen has made some progress as well: \"\" Notice how there are scrollable lists inside a scrollable container. That turned out to be a terrible<\/em> idea \u2014 it makes scrolling incredibly frustrating. (I take full responsibility for that\u2026) It was finally time for the\u2026<\/p>\n

Beta 1 (Jan 12, 2017)<\/h3>\n

\"\" At this point, we felt confident enough to circulate Timing 2 to a wider audience \u2014 even the project editor was fairly close to the final version<\/a> already. Until May, nine more betas followed (including additional features, such as manual time tracking, a reports screen, AppleScript support), but the overall design of the app changed surprisingly little from this point.<\/p>\n

Timeline changes in detail<\/h2>\n

At first glance, the timeline hasn\u2019t changed much over the course of the project: \"\" \"\" Yet what a difference these changes make!<\/p>\n