A well known setting in iOS and iPadOS is the “Reduce Motion” feature in the accessibility menu. It stops the apps from zooming in and out when you switch between them. I understand some people experience a form of motion sickness when turned on, but the additional benefit of turning it off is that it seems to speed up the use of your device.
I recently found out that an additional option exists that prefers cross-fade transitions where possible. According to Apple “This setting reduces the motion of user interface controls that slide in and out when appearing and disappearing.” And this is indeed what seems to happen with the DTTG group browser.
I haven’t clocked it, but I estimate it speeds up the browsing of folders on DTTG by about 25-50%. Which adds up when you have to navigate multiple folders.
@anon6914418 do you mind sharing which specific animations/motions are 50% faster now? I.e. opening the Info panel is still as slow as ever, drilling down folder hierarchy is also slow for me
It’s the group browser on the left hand side, where you initially select your database.
If you browse through multiple groups the transition time is noticeably faster, at least for me. This might also be influenced by the device you use I presume. To put it into extremes, if you use a high end iPad Pro for example, the observed effect might be less than the slowest supported iPad available.
Keep in kind both motion reduction strategies apply device wide, and add up if you use your device frequently, switch apps often and use multiple file browsing features like the DTTG group/DB selector. This also seems to hold true for the “Genie” effect in macOS Finder.
Long story short: after the first few times, nice looking effects add little benefit to me personally. Especially when they seem to consume time. In my opinion they also conflict with some of Dieter Rams’ good design principles.
