Re: [Libreoffice-ux-advise] [GSOC] iOS remote control design

Hi Siqi,

On Sun, Aug 18, 2013 at 7:51 PM, Siqi Liu <me@siqi.fr> wrote:

> Hi Mirek,
>
> Sorry for the late response. I was trying to stay focused on the Bonjour
> support for Windows and now I can move on to more UI/UX improvements.
>
> 2013/8/13 Mirek M. <mazelm@gmail.com>
>
> Hi Siqi,
> > On Sun, Aug 11, 2013 at 4:06 AM, Siqi Liu <me@siqi.fr> wrote:
> >
> > > Hello Mirek,
> > >
> > > What's your take on the new screens? Eager to hear from you on them.
> >
> > > You can find them here:
> > > http://siqi43.wordpress.com/2013/08/10/a-slightly-flattened-version-of-ios-impress-remote
> >
> > I'll just go through them:
> > The Connection screens:
> > * What is the purpose of having a screen with a single button on it on
> > the tablet? Could you please just show the computers to connect to right
> > away, as I assume you do on the phone?
>
> Yes, I basically used this screen to provide a background for the pop up
> modal views. I can fire up the modal views right away and keep the orange
> background only (without icon, connect button and app title, or any
> suggestion on what kind of background to use? ). But in that case, there
> won't be a "cancel" button on the server list page because we must keep the
> modal view open if we don't have a button to reopen the server list page.
> We are therefore forcing users to open this modal view in a sense... That's
> my only concern here but I can definitely do this if it doesn't bother you.

It doesn't bother me.

> >  * If you decide not to, please at least make it look like the Connect
> > button is tappable, and it would probably be good to use the whole Impress
> > remote icon graphic rather than a cut-out square (it makes sense in an
> > icon, but looks odd when there's ample room for it not to be cropped).
>
> I think I will remove this page then, by keeping the orange background
> only.

Great. :)

> >  * The text on the PIN screen should read just like how you would say it
> > in real life. Try "In Impress, go to "Slide Show -> Impress Remote" and
> > enter the PIN [1678]." The string "Waiting for validation from Impress..."
> > isn't necessary unless it takes a long time to validate.
>
> Well, this depends on how fast users enter the PIN code on their PCs
> actually... I will remove it if it seems to be unnecessary. By "Waiting" I
> actually mean that the app is waiting for pin pairing from users.

Ok.
I'd vote for removing it, then.

> >  * It'd be better to not have the presentation preview page and just
> > start the presentation right away. The page is just an unnecessary extra
> > step.
>
> Euh...but what happens when the iOS device first paired with the PC? It
> starts the presentation right away without asking if the user want to start
> it? And where should I put those configurations or they are unnecessary as
> well? I was keeping it because 1) the Android app has it as well 2) This
> gives users a chance to do some configuration and only start the
> presentation when they are ready. I don't think one extra step which helps
> to make sure the right presentation is running and all the config are right
> in place would bother the lecturer... if you are in front of several
> hundreds of people you don't want to make any mistakes ... that one extra
> assurance weighs heavier than one extra tap on the screen as far as I am
> concerned....
>
> Anyway my opinion might be subjective, but I really can't remove it before
> changing the protocol, which needs some kind of consensus with the android
> app as well.

That's odd -- when I tested Artur's Android app, it didn't show this screen
and instead jumped right into the presentation. Has that behavior changed
now?

If not, it'd be good to be consistent in this case.

The presentation screens:
> > * Where is the pointer button on the tablet?
>
> There isn't one. If you touch the preview image (and the preview/next
> button on the side will become transparent), you get the pointer. Since
> it's large enough for users to use their pointer, it's unnecessary to add a
> button for that effect. (on iPhone the Pointer button was used to show an
> enlarged preview image)

I have a few concerns about this:
* Is it discoverable? How does the user discover that there is a pointer
feature?
* When we enable clickable elements on slides, how will those be activated?
I was hoping they would be tappable.

> >  * The Options button looks way out of place on the tablet. Please at
> > least keep its background white or light gray.
>
> I am such a bad designer :-P, I was trying to reproduce the black side
> list like the one from this post on 
> theverge<http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/15/4623016/buying-a-laptop-everything-you-need-to-know>.
> It was shown on the left when you scroll down to the main article. Whenever
> you click on the gear, it will slide to the left a little bit and show the
> popover. When the popover is dismissed, the gear will slide back to the
> right. But yeah, now looking back, the coloring doesn't seem right. I will
> change that.

Ok, good.

> * The Pause and Clear buttons are really hard to see. Since the app
> > doesn't use TextKit, therefore not being able to tap into iOS 7's font
> > accessibility options (I assume), it'd be good not to use Helvetica Neue
> > Ultra Light at all. The Pause button should also have a different color.
>
> That was already Helvetica Neue (without Ultra) Light I think. And I'm
> kind of into a dilemma now... here is a screen from iOS7 of Apple's new
> clock app (I did my circle button design before noticing this :-P). Apple
> apparently resizes the text in order to put all text into the circle when
> translated to other languages.
>
> [image: Images intégrées 1]

>  I've also tried to replace the text with icon, which gives us this:
>
> [image: Images intégrées 2]
>
> Which way should I go then? Rounded-rect button with text? circle button
> with text? Or Circle button with symbols?

Symbols sound good. :)

I'm wondering about the behavior of the "Clear"/"Stop" button. While I
would expect both to do the same in a stopwatch, in a timer, I would expect
"Stop" to go to the original time set, but I would expect "Clear" to set
the value to zero. "Stop" makes much more sense to me in this case, so I
hope that's the case. The icon seems to indicate so, but the former label
confused me.

Does the green color of the Play button indicate that it's active or is it
simply a highlight? (It would be clearer to show the Pause symbol instead
if it's the former, color it gray if it's the latter.)

Also, how is the timer set?

>  * The "More" label in the More menu is unnecessary and looks like a
> > command at first sight.
>
> Agree with you. Removed.

> > * I don't particularly like the idea of having the slide picker onscreen
> > all the time, but that's a subjective feeling.
>
> On iPad it seems to make good use of the available space. Also I couldn't
> come up something to put in place of the slide picker...and it would be too
> large if I enlarge the slide preview image even more.

Ok.

> >  * The slide picker should have the same aesthetic as the rest of the
> > app.
> Noted, I will do some tweaks on that.

Thanks.

> > * The slide preview itself looks stretched out and blurry -- I assume
> > that's a bug that will be fixed, right?
>
> I would say it has become a bug now :-P
> In older implementation for the remote control was only designed for
> phones. So the images sent from computers are only big enough for phones
> which helps to reduce the traffic over the network when sending them to the
> phone. Now with iPad....well that's no longer "big enough".
>
> I've proposed to change this by adding a param during the hand-shake
> period (by specifying a "small", "medium" or "big" screen size parameter
> for example). But I would need Artur's confirmation in more details on how
> to implement this. I've cc Artur as well.

Great.

> > In general, I'm not too keen on the iOS7-esque look. It feels kind of
> > like iOS 7, but not quite there (the fonts sometimes have different
> > weights, the icons are thicker and have a different style, the slide
> > sidebar keeps its iOS 6 look, ...), and it might feel sloppy when
> > juxtaposed with built-for-iOS7 apps.
>
> If we want the app to stay consistent on iOS5/6/7, then we would be
> obliged to do some really deep customization... in iOS7 the app will have
> iOS7 styled slide sidebar so it shouldn't look too strange when compared to
> other iOS7 app. But...on iOS6 I must say that it's kind of weird to have a
> iOS6 tableview side-to-side to an iOS7 style navigation bar...
>
> For now I think I will check all the fonts to use Neue Light instead of
> Ultra Light and try to do some customization for the tableview. I would
> love to have a more complete UI customization implemented but that would
> require not only too much work but also too much design genius from me as
> you can tell now :P

:) ok

> >  That said, I'm not really sure what the best solution here would be.
> > IMHO, it might be best to have our own consistent style on iOS like Google
> > does, but I understand that's a big undertaking and it's not something I'd
> > like to work on. I'm hesitant about fully embracing the iOS7 look, given
> > the accessibility implications. I guess we could embrace that look where
> > possible, but use Helvetica Neue Light instead of Ultra Light.
> >
> > Do you want me to tint all buttons/icons in orange to stay in line with
> > > the Android app? I've taken blue only because it's one of the default on
> > > iOS7.
> >
> > Yes, please tint them.
> >
> > > Also, Fitoschido <http://fitoschido.wordpress.com/> has made a good
> > > point in his comment I think. What's your opinion on that?
> >
> > I agree that the iOS7 design is unfortunate in this case, but I feel like
> > using icons instead would be sacrificing clarity, at least in the case of
> > the button "Clear" (oh, the irony).
> > I'd recommend to use a thicker font weight, more visible colors (how
> > about orange for both), and delineate the button with a round rectangle
> > instead of a circle (you never know how long translations will be and if
> > they'll fit). Or you could just not have any delineation for the buttons
> > whatsoever -- I guess that'd be the better choice for iOS 7.
>
> Please take a look at the screens above. Give me your final conclusion and
> I will do that ^^

Screens look good, though I could do without the fluorescent green.
:)