Better Calendar UX

[devloper]

The Arlo Calendar Needs a UX Overhaul

Many JavaScript libraries exist for calendars these days which are easy to implement and highly maintainable / portable. I am wondering why Netgear has chosen to roll it's own at least in regards to the user experience portion. Here are the main and obvious pain points:

1. You cannot schedule overnight easily - why can't I start my watch at 11pm and end it at 7am? The validation here is goofy - remove it and be smarter by assuming the user means the next day then verifying they want next day..
2. When I click on the calendar and the day/time modal opens, I see "[GREEN DOT] Armed" at the top. When I click on it, the entire line is highlighted green and a white check replaces the green dot. My question is: doesn't the presence of a green dot, as shown in the MODE view, indicate that Arlo is armed? Adding a check is inconsistent and confusing. Simplify and standardize.
3. Non-standard time input fields - what is 01 AM ? Just roll the values up into a single select field.
4. No click and drag to select times? This is probably because you rolled your own calendar. Users hate hard to use calendars and will probably refrain from using them if you make it difficult. The calendar could be an excellent feature with this functionality.
5. You are using a limited styleguide or you are limiting use - for instance: why aren't DELETE buttons red with white text? This is pretty standard - why gray?
6. DON'T disable buttons please. Users hate when buttons are disabled. Use better contextual messaging and strive to never disable buttons. This is a thing of the past and frustrates users.

In summary: consult a UX professional and don't rely on engineers to design your user experience! If you are very lucky, you might find someone who can harness both skills.

[JamesC]

The Arlo development team routinely reviews posts in the Arlo Idea Exchange to assess which features the community would like to see implemented. We greatly appreciate the community’s contribution and will keep the status of this idea updated as we get new information on its potential implementation. Thank you for posting your idea!

[AviSch]

I would go as far as to say that making changes to your schedule in "Schedule" mode is counterintuitive.  For instance, when you want to delete a time you've scheduled, in the window it has a delete button and a save button.  You would think you first have to save the change, but that's not the case.  Also, you need to make sure that the days you want to leave alone are unchecked.  I actually initially thought they should be checked.  When I called Support to help me, the technician I had on the line also had trouble at first figuring out how it worked.  I personally think that Arlo should consider revamping how Schedule mode works.

A more general suggestion; you may want to consider including "help me" links on the various windows to show how various functions work.  Now you have to go through a bunch of steps and window to search how to do things.