Explore ways to show each step duration on the UI

[mmazzarolo]

[bergentroll]

Sorry, have no access to Play Console. Is this issue about counter visualization? There are dots to show progress of step already. At first time I expected there is a counter, but there is only three fixed dots. I would be nice to have such row of dots for guided counting.

[mmazzarolo]

@bergentroll ouch, didn't notice it was a private URL. I uploaded a screenshot

[mmazzarolo]

At first time I expected there is a counter, but there is only three fixed dots. I would be nice to have such row of dots for guided counting.

I think we either use a more generic approach than dots to indicate the loading status (e.g.: bar being filled, or something similar) or just show the timer as a countdown. Not sure if adding a dot for each second would work because they won't fit into the area for longer breathing windows (e.g.: if you use a custom pattern with 20 breathe-out seconds)

[bergentroll]

Well, dots have some withdraws, but it should be some reasonable maximal amount for its (than starting again). A row may also be broken apart. A timer may do the job too, but it seems less nice as for me (more abstractive?). A filling bar seems does not give new significant information. Smooth background flashes (like a pulsation) may be handful to keep inner counting.

[mmazzarolo]

Good points 👍
My thinking here is that we need to define the goal: do we want to show an indicator that can be used to keep track of how many seconds are left before the "step" (aka breathe-in, breathe-out, hold) ends, or just of how much time is left.
In the first case, dots would work only if we map each dot to a "second" (which would be problematic for long steps). A countdown would work, but I agree with you, it won't look good, especially because we already have a countdown for the entire exercise.
In the second case, the current solution would already work, but there's definitely a margin for improvement.
Maybe a more abstract way of counting like a pulsation (like you're suggesting) would be a nice alternative.

[bergentroll]

As for me the goal may be to help a user to keep inner rhythm which should be a part of exercise and could help the user to practice without a gadget also.