Poolside Mode: designing for wet hands

Most register software is designed at a desk, tested at a desk, and demoed at a desk. Then a teacher opens it poolside with wet thumbs, chlorine-fogged glasses, and a queue of eight-year-olds, and it falls apart.

The three-button rule

In Poolside Mode every swimmer gets exactly three targets: here, absent, late. Each one is the size of a matchbox. There are no dropdowns, because dropdowns and wet screens are natural enemies.

What surfaces first

• Medical alerts - before the name, not behind a tap.
• SEN briefings, generated ahead of the lesson, readable in ten seconds.
• Skills for this stage, tickable mid-lesson without leaving the register.

If a feature needs two hands, it doesn't go in Poolside Mode.

Leisure-centre wifi gets a say too: the session loads up front and syncs when the connection cooperates. The register never blocks on a spinner while a class waits in the water.