SLOWLY Users could be missing some Stamps
This affects Mobile versions
Currently, the mobile versions of SLOWLY have a small design flaw. It's not a functional problem, but just something that might lead some users to not realize there are more stamps available to them than they can see at first glance in the Stamp Store.
DioRemTW posted a good topic explaining this at our subreddit, and I think it's worth expanding into a blog post, so here we go.
Some stamps might be hidden or less easy to find in mobile.
I have yet to try this in other devices, but using the Android app on my phone, I've noticed the Stamp Store only shows 2 stamps on each category (even if there are more than 2).
Meaning you have to manually click the ''Limited Edition'' or your “Country Exclusive” buttons to see more than these 2.
Which isn't really intuitive because the app doesn't indicate there are more than two available.
As I said I'm not really sure if this problem happens with bigger screens or in tablets, but I'm positive it doesn't happen on SLOWLY's Web Client.
If I didn't check this subreddit daily I would've missed an exclusive stamp from my country just because the app isn't really intuitive.
Which is exactly what I found as well
At the time of DioRemTW's reporting, their country had a special, time limited stamp available – the beautiful All Souls Day one, which shows up at the top with other Limited Edition stamps. And near the end of October 2021 we had 3, or even 4, in some countries :
- Halloween (Oct 31);
- World Vegan Day (Nov 1);
- All Saints Day (Nov 1, regional issues in Portugal, Spain, Poland and Austria);
- All Souls Day (Nov 2, in 17 countries this year; plus regional issues in Mexico, Guatemala).
In that time frame, for a few days, users in some countries could get 3 or 4 new, pretty stamps for zero cost.
But some users might have missed at least one of them?
When there are more than two Limited Stamps
...the top level at the Stamp Store shows the earliest TWO only, and gives no indication there might be more.
A friend's snapshot shows the Limited Edition stamps at the top level. They are in Spain, and should have seen 3 Limited stamps at this time :
Spanish Stamp Store, shows 2 Limited stamps only at the top level
Some Limited Stamps are omitted
As DioRewTW pointed out, they figured this out just by accident – and could have missed one of them easily. The full roster shows if the user presses the 'Limited Edition' button as shown here – the end of October bounty of Limited Edition stamps was great.
Expanded view of Limited Edition category – only here we see ALL available stamps
Also happens with Country Exclusive stamps
If a country has more than two Exclusive stamps, the top level of the Stamp Store will display TWO, and not indicate there are more available.
Unless the user presses the Country Exclusive buttons and accesses the full listing, they might miss some of them — this is the case here in Canada:
...and also in Russia, plus likely other countries.
The Same happens in iOS Mobile version as well
In this iPad SLOWLY screenshot, the iOS app also shows only TWO stamps for the Limited Edition or Country Exclusive stamps.
iPad Tablet, top level, shows 2 Limited Edition issues only
No indication more could be in expanded Category listing :
iPad Tablet, expanded Limited Edition category, shows 3 available issues
One more 'quirk' – and a suggested Fix
The 'Limited Edition' and 'Country Exclusive' stamps folders can only be accessed via their Top Level buttons.
While the Single Stamps and Stamp Sets for example have BOTH the top level button, AND a right pointing arrow which displays beside the category name, and gives direct access to the expanded, full listing if desired.
The category name is also touch sensitive on mobile app, linked to the expanded view.
In my opinion, these UI features should be applied to both 'Limited Edition' and 'Country Exclusive' categories.
Nice for consistency, and to get easy access to the expanded list when needed. And it could avoid someone missing some nice stamps!
The SLOWLY Web Client already displays all of the currently available stamps in both Limited Edition and Country Specific categories. So, yey to that ! 👍🤗🙂
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