Time zone comparison / time zone browser in world clocks
It would be great to have a built-in "time zone comparison" or "browsing" feature, as shown in this previous mockup (which I didn't find anymore in the repo):
I'm writing this after a brief conversation with Bilal. He said that this feature was left for a separate app.
Following his invitation to open an issue, I wanted to share some arguments in favor of integrating it in the same app:
- The question "what time is it in CityB" is often paired with "what time will it be in CityB when it is 4:30 in CityA". Jumping between different apps for these very related use cases (who both belong to the need of "dealing with time zones") seems like an added complication or confusion for the user.
- Clocks is very well integrated in Gnome Shell. I can open the notifications panel and directly get to the app. If the app had the comparison feature, you could just check the time in the panel to solve the first question, and then click and go to the Clocks app to answer the second question.
- Integration, again: Using a separate app, you would need to add another location in both apps, and keep them manually in sync to make the experience reasonably integrated. Unless both apps were so well integrated that adding a location to one of them resulted in that location appearing on the other one (and in the notification panel).
- The added user-facing complexity would be minimal, as most of the interface needed is already there. It just needs a slider. It doesn't detract from the "very simple (world) clocks application" pitch.
Some alternatives for the UI, in case something simpler should be needed:
- Removing the headerbar button and always showing the slider at the bottom. Ir removes one step and makes the function straightforward.
- The same, but even removing the arrows and just leaving the slider. It could be as is, or additionally move in steps of 15 or even 60 minutes, as you don't usually need to compare between minutes, just hours.
- More subtle way: Hovering the world clocks changes the cursor to a double horizontal arrow. If you click and drag, all the clocks change their time at the same time. Releasing returns the clocks to current time.
- Even more subtle (and barely discoverable, and potentially problematic) way: Hovering any clock and scrolling the mouse wheel. When moving the cursor away, the clocks return to current time.