I just downloaded six app updates for my phone. Do you know how many of them gave me a good idea of what I was getting? One, and even it was scant.
I’ve been noticing a trend toward useless release notes in the last couple of years at least, and I really don’t care for it at all. I don’t know why it’s happening, but it can stop any time now.
I read the notes for every update I download, because they can tell me a lot. Did they fix a problem I’ve been having? Is there a cool new feature I’m going to want to try? Should I think twice before I go ahead because something flags me that things may not all be well in Voiceover land if I do? I don’t know any of these things anymore, because 95% of the time all I get is vague junk like “various bug fixes”, “updates to make the app faster and more reliable”, “small fixes” or even “fixed bugs, took the afternoon off.” If I want to save myself the aggravation of stumbling headlong into all kinds of digital hell, I have to hope that some poor bastard who already has was nice enough to share his findings in a place where I happen to see them in time.
If you’re an app developer and you want to know how release notes are supposed to be done, take your cues from WordPress or Twitterrific. For god’s sake don’t be an Uber or a YouTube.
