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"So, you just picked up your new iOS device, be it an iPhone, an iPad or an iPod Touch. You've fired it up, activated it and are ready to explore. You hit the App Store and discover a ton of apps that you just have to download. You download 10, 20, 30 apps. But did you stop and consider that with all of the apps that you've downloaded - which screen do they belong on? Do you have a plan in place? Does it even matter?\r\n\r\nWell, it appears as if organizing your home screen, and all screens beyond, is fast becoming a trend worth writing about. And there are plenty of people doing it.\r\n\r\nIt's this new phenomenon: people are sharing what apps they put on their home screens of their iPhones and iPads, and how they arrange them. Whether it's a post dedicated the philosophy of a well-known and well-respected \u201CInternet celebrity,\u201D or an entire blog such as First and 20, that dedicates all of its written words to app placement, it has become a bit of a meme on the Internet to say the least - and people are flocking to these kind of articles in droves. David Sparks, best known as one of the hosts of the Mac Power Users podcast and creator of the MacSparky blog, has an ongoing series on home screens. He believes that sharing what others do in terms of app placement can help enhance the overall user experience.\r\n\r\n\u201CThere are so many apps and Apple still hasn't figured out the best way to curate or recommend (if there is such a way),\u201D Sparks says. \u201CSo looking at what other people you respect use cuts through all of that.\u201D\r\n\r\nAs for Tory Hobson, the man behind the website First and 20, he takes it a step further. In his mind, it\u2019s not just about his interest as to where apps reside on the devices, but what apps those he respects are using and why they are using them.\r\n\r\n\u201CI think people are generally interested in what other people have and are using. Not just what apps people have on their mobile device, but anything really,\u201D explains Hobson. \u201CFor me, I like to know the best tool to use for each job. For example, if I'm going to purchase a new set of kitchen knives, I'll see what the top chefs are recommending, or if I am going to get a new set of golf clubs, maybe take a look at what the pros are using.\u201D\r\nThe minimal look\r\nWhile the home screen is certainly the most accessible place to put one\u2019s apps, it doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that the apps one primarily uses have homes there. Some individuals organize their home screens in such a way that only the apps that are required to be in the dock are present. Ian Hines, a popular online writer, uses such a method.\r\n\r\nHines has only four apps in the dock visible on his home screen. He uses the home screen on his iPhone as a recreation of his desktop on his computer; he wants to see the wallpaper he is using. Hines contends that may be counter-intuitive\u2026 but that\u2019s the beauty of so many different philosophies behind app placement: there really is no counter-intuitive. The devices are so new that there really hasn\u2019t been an \u201Cabsolute\u201D on how things need to be laid out on them. Since Apple enabled users to customize their iOS experience, the philosophies on how users personalize their devices vary as far and wide as the personalities using them.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nIncidentally, Hines confesses that \u201Cthere\u2019s no conveyable reasoning behind the organization of his apps on the second page of his iPhone.\u201D Just another example of a method of organization that simply sticks to one aspect of the device and one aspect alone.\r\n\r\n\r\nThe importance of importance\r\nAs the App Store grows with several apps that are competing for users\u2019 screen space in any one category, the customization process can happen quite regularly for some.\r\n\r\n\u201CTo get something on my home screen, I not only have to use it a lot but I have to like it a lot,\u201D says Ben Brooks of The Brooks Review. \u201CIt comes down to being a useful app for me, and then I\u2019ll move it to the home screen.\u201D\r\n\r\nBrooks recently wrote an extensive post on his popular blog The Brooks Review about his home screen philosophies for both his iPhone and iPad. He delved into his positioning techniques for both devices based on frequency of usage, explaining his reasoning in great detail. It spawned a series of posts from websites across the web (including the aforementioned Hines\u2019 article).\r\n\r\n\u201CIt\u2019s always kind of surprising when stuff takes off like that and has its own life and moves beyond,\u201D Brooks admits. \u201CI love seeing everybody else\u2019s methods because you can always pick something up. But you never know what\u2019s going to spark everyone else\u2019s interest.\u201D\r\n\r\nDeleting apps isn\u2019t a problem for Brooks. When he downloads an app for the first time, it goes on the third screen where they go through a series of tests and are curated accordingly. If they can\u2019t beat out an existing app that he already has that performs the same tasks, it\u2019s gone. It\u2019s kind of like his own personal tech \u201CGong Show\u201D where he\u2019s a judge, giving an app a fighting chance before he makes the call.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nShawn Blanc, a well-known online writer, who has had his home screen featured on First and 20, agrees with Hobson and Brooks and offers his ideas on app placement and home screen philosophy.\r\n\r\n\u201CSome people are going to be a lot more intentional as to what goes on their home screen versus a non-power user,\u201D Blanc suggests. \u201COn my home screen I try to just have the stuff I\u2019m getting at on a daily basis. Or when, if I\u2019m not using it on a daily basis, I want it there right away.\u201D\r\n\r\nBlanc cites\u00A0Canned as a prime example. It\u2019s an app where users can enter SMS messages and saves them, including who they\u2019re going to go to as well. Blanc has a number of messages ready should he need to fire them off at any given moment. While he may not use the app every day, the fact that it is such a useful app for him means that it stays on the home screen for quick access.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nDavid Sparks has a similar approach to his own home screen.\r\n\r\n\u201CGenerally, I keep stuff on the home screen I need fast or use often. If an app doesn't fit there, it goes into a folder,\u201D Sparks says. He also offers what lives beyond the home screen, which (like many others), involves the use of folders. \u201CMy screens 2 and 3 are a series of alphabetized folders (i.e. Astronomy, Reference, Web, Basket Weaving, etc.).\u201D\r\n\r\n\r\nA developer's perspective\r\nIt's not only users that are interested in the psychology and philosophy of where apps end up on devices. The importance of app placement is something that developers are looking at as well. Craig Otis, who developed the popular productivity app iProcrastinate, has his own thoughts on how the placement of an app can greatly impact the development side of things.\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;I think that the first impression is everything, and if your app doesn't make a good one, then you could potentially lose the user,&amp;quot; Otis suggests. &amp;quot;With so many free and paid apps, I agree that to a certain degree, the more likely the user is to &amp;quot;see&amp;quot; your app on their home screen, the more likely they are to notice, open and use it.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nBut, speaking from both sides of the argument, Otis thinks that where an app lives on a user's device is overrated.\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;I don't turn on my phone to see what's on there,&amp;quot; explains Otis. &amp;quot;I turn on my phone knowing exactly what I'm going to do with it ahead of time. I'll think, 'Oh, I need to check my email' or 'I wonder if Erin made it back from her trip, I'll check Facebook,' then I'll go do those things. But I don't find myself flipping through pages of apps just looking for one that catches my eye, or for one that I haven't used in a while, just for the sake of getting back into it.&amp;quot;\r\nThe cult of the homescreen\r\nIndividual posts on app placement are one thing, but entire series of posts and websites dedicated to the psychology and philosophy of app placement are gaining in popularity - notably the Sparks\u2019 home screen series and Hobson\u2019s First and 20. Sparks reveals why he started the series at his MacSparky website.\r\n\r\n\u201CI was curious to see what other people were doing so it was partly selfish,\u201D Sparks explains. \u201CI also wanted to introduce my readers to other people I respected and thought that the home screen post series was a great way to do it.\u201D\r\n\r\nHobson, while taking it a step further by making it the focus of First and 20, had similar reasons.\r\n\r\n\u201CFirst &amp;amp;amp; 20, to me, is an endorsement of apps by people that\u00A0I truly respect in the field,\u201D says Hobson. \u201CThese are the actual people who are building, designing or professionally writing about applications everyday. I'm not sure anyone's advice on the subject could be better.\u201D\r\n\r\nWhile these kind of articles regarding iOS app placement may be new to the web, they're not necessarily new altogether. People have always been fascinated by how others set up their computers, as well as other areas of their lives. Patrick Rhone, of MinimalMac and the accompanying podcast, Enough, explains:\r\n\r\n\u201CI remember back in the Mac OS 9 days being fascinated how people organized their home screens,\u201D says Rhone. He recalls seeing icons and folders being organized in a totally different way, and that was something he just had to try to replicate on his own.\r\n\r\n\u201CIn one form or another, people have always been interested in these things,\u201D Rhone continues. \u201CI mean, what is a cooking show to a cook? What is a fishing show to a fisherman? They\u2019re watching these things to glean some tips and tricks that might change their game just a little bit, right? Sure they can just go out there and fish, and they might catch some. But there\u2019s some attractiveness in the idea of \u2018If I watch this show then I just might catch ten times the amount of fish I\u2019ve been catching\u2019, which is one simple little tip and one little trick.\u201D\r\n\r\nBut Rhone does have a warning about those who spend too much time tweaking their apps\u2019 locations rather than spending time actually using them.\r\n\r\n\u201CThe tips and tricks can certainly go too far. You can spend all day looking at tips and tricks,\u201D Rhone suggests. \u201CBut if you\u2019re not doing the work to figure out what\u2019s right for you and waiting around until someone tells you what\u2019s right for you or you wait until you stumble upon what\u2019s right for you\u2026then you\u2019re doing it wrong.\u201D\r\n\r\nWhile I'm not going to share with you my iPhone and iPad app placement philosophy (you\u2019re going to have to search on the web for when someone actually asks me), it's sure that people are always going to be fascinated by how, where and why people set up their workflow as they do. Whether it be their computers, their lives, their finances or their productivity systems, the IOS home screen and app placement phenomenon is here to stay. With the growing popularity of mobile devices, we'll see increasing numbers of people offering their reasons why apps are placed where they are\u2026 and why there's no place like the home screen."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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