Android alpha -832 with experimental mobile components change

Jan Mulder jlmulder at xs4all.nl
Fri Feb 12 01:38:28 PST 2016


On 11-02-16 20:34, Dirk Hohndel wrote:
> Since many of us were not in love with the ActionButton and the way it was used to interact with the application, Marco kindly made an experimental version of the mobile components to be able to test a different idea with our users. Those of you who have played with the Android app, I'd appreciate if you could spend a few moments playing with the -832 build.
>
> In this version you no longer drag the ActionButton to open the drawers, instead there are buttons in the corners to do this (and of course edge swipe works as well). Right now both buttons always show and the buttons are completely opaque (both of which I think should change), but the fundamental question is this: ignoring the Material Design defaults, simply from an interaction point of view, is this better / same / worse than dragging the ActionButton? Remember, the logic for having these controls on the bottom of the screen is that there they are significantly easier to reach there than tapping at the standard menu buttons in the top corners of the screen.
>
> I copied Marco and Thomas (who leads the HID team for Plasma Mobile) on this email, please copy them in your responses as I don't believe they are on this mailing list.

To answer the fundamental question. I like the central ActionButton with 
the 2 handles better than the new separated arrow handles in the corners 
and a central ActionButton without handles. For me, it feels crowded 
with 3 controls (and the old style felt like 1 multi purpose control to 
me; less crowded). I also do not really like the new arrow handles being 
in the very corner of the screen, not the easiest place to touch the 
screen, and not the area where most people focus on a relatively small 
mobile screen.

Obviously, things like auto hiding and less opaque arrow handles might 
resolve my remark about "too full with controls", but that is not the 
issue here. For me, the current interface of the app feels "unbalanced" 
as in old style hamburger menu, edit pencil etc. combined with a 
ActionButton that can be used for the exact same user operations. I 
think that it is better to chose for 1 style.

best,

--jan




More information about the subsurface mailing list