New Launcher, edge channel.

B2288 · 19 Aug 2019, 17:24

I think the gray bar on the right with the three dots is ugly. Would there be any issue removing it?

kugiigi · 19 Aug 2019, 17:47

@B2288 It was actually added from the initial implementation by Canonical to fix gesture issues when closing the drawer. So now only a righ edge swipe would close the drawer instead of anywhere in the drawer. And this bar with dots is the indicator of this gesture which is the same as the one in the indicators. Design-wise and usability-wise I think it's good but honestly, I agree that it doesn't look good especially in desktop mode.

UniSuperBox · 19 Aug 2019, 20:00

No, I added the handle on the right. Previously you could drag from anywhere on the Drawer to get it to close, but that behavior didn't work right. Now you can only drag from the handle.

I tried to make the handle not appear on larger screens to avoid the desktop issue, but that doesn't work. Touch screens can be large enough to get it to disappear.

Of course the code is all open and Drawer.qml is pretty simple to understand. I'd appreciate your suggestions.

dobey · 19 Aug 2019, 21:14

@UniSuperBox said in New Launcher, edge channel.:

I'd appreciate your suggestions.

Can't you make it magically do what every individual wants on their own devices? It's just code, right?

B2288 · 22 Aug 2019, 16:27

@UniSuperBox What if instead of a handle, the 'short right edge swipe' gesture closed the drawer? In other contexts, the short right swipe reveals the previous app used, so it would make sense that in the drawer context that gesture would hide the drawer and reveal the open application.

Aurze · 23 Aug 2019, 01:23

I don't know who desing the new launcher, but you sir are my hero. On thing that I love about UT is that android and ios feels exactly the same to me and UT with all the swipe gesture brought a new view on phone UI that I love it. And gettng ride of the 'home' screen and having a app drawer like that is the best desing I ever used.

I know some ppl don't like it but I hope if we make change it will be in the form of configuration and not removing this desing.

I switch to edge on my main device just for this feature and I dont regret it!

simbion · 23 Aug 2019, 08:45

This post is deleted!

kugiigi · 23 Aug 2019, 16:36

@B2288 Not all devices have the drawer fill all the horizontal space like desktops. In fact in landscape mode, the drawer usually only take up around 3/4 of the screen.

For me, it's not a big deal because it works and serves its purpose. Perhaps a better design in the future.

marlboro50 · 25 Aug 2019, 06:14

I love the design, three dots and all. It makes sense for the conversion in desktop mode and it looks great on the phone. Besides having a search function, which comes in handy at times. Good job!

B2288 · 9 Feb 2019, 05:17

@kugiigi @UniSuperBox IMO, the specific thing that is aesthetically unpleasing is the sudden cutoff / hard edge between the drawer handle and the statusbar. Maybe some edge rounding would make it look nicer?

How do either of these look?

arubislander · 2 Sept 2019, 06:58

@B2288

The second option is very pleasing to my eyes.

UniSuperBox · 9 Feb 2019, 13:15

The second option makes it visually pleasing but far less usable for the people who actually have to work with it. Fitts's Law still applies, roughly, since a taller handle reduces the distance someone must travel to reach it. In one-handed (left hand) or tablet use, it would be very difficult to reach.

The first option seems fine from a non-functional screenshot. I'll point you to where these things are implemented so you can experiment on your own. The Drawer is the component you're working on, and specifically the Drawer's Handle. You can find it at line 202 of Drawer.qml. The Handle component is declared in Handle.qml in the Components folder. It is shared between the Drawer and the pulldowns, so be careful to make changes in a way that you only change the visual style of one.

These files can be found on-device as /usr/share/unity8/Launcher/Drawer.qml and /usr/share/unity8/Components/Handle.qml. It's easiest to edit them via adb or ssh. You'll need to make your system image writable with sudo mount / remount,rw first. You can edit the files, then type restart unity8 in your terminal to load them. If Unity8 fails to load, it will flash a white screen then go to black. If you hit the power button twice, it'll show you the error it hit. Once you fix that error, a sudo restart lightdm will get you loaded again. You might have to open a new shell using your preferred method to restart it again.

If anything goes completely wrong, you can run sudo apt install --reinstall unity8 or sudo system-image-cli -b 0 --progress=dots to go back to stock. Your changes will be overwritten, so be sure to save them somewhere.

arubislander · 2 Sept 2019, 16:08

@UniSuperBox said in New Launcher, edge channel.:

The second option makes it visually pleasing but far less usable for the people who actually have to work with it. Fitts's Law still applies, roughly, since a taller handle reduces the distance someone must travel to reach it.

Ah... I had naively assumed that the 'mouse area' of the handle would still extend the full length of the right side and that the modification would only be visual.

kugiigi · 3 Sept 2019, 05:23

I think it's not much about the mouse area per se but the visual suggests that the drag area is only limited to the hint area so user's tendency will still be reaching to it even though dragging anywhere will work.

arubislander · 3 Sept 2019, 05:56

A physical drawer can also be opened from any part on its edge, not only by grabbing the handle.

UniSuperBox · 9 Mar 2019, 06:10

Virtual representations of ideas are only equivalent to physical objects by name, in most cases. Just because it's called a Drawer doesn't mean you apply all of your knowledge about a drawer to it.

Anyway, we're bikeshedding now. I'd prefer something that proves that changing the drawer is better, not conjecture.

arubislander · 3 Sept 2019, 18:35

The comment that sparked off this discussion was more about esthetics than function. Let's wait and see if @UniSuperBox's suggestions will be taken up and we can have new suggestions that both work and are an improvement on what we have now, if possible.

dobey · 3 Sept 2019, 19:18

@arubislander said in New Launcher, edge channel.:

The comment that sparked off this discussion was more about esthetics than function.

The problem with this though is that we cannot ship something which is optimally designed to a single person's preferred aesthetic. We need to design things that are usable by as many people as possible, if we want UT to gain a significant user base. That means things need to be visually obvious, accessible, etc… and we must think from the point of views of others to accomplish such a design.

A Former User · 3 Sept 2019, 20:20

@dobey
The three dots have been on the notifications drop down for ages... it wasn't obvious to me what they did until someone pointed it out fairly recently.

kugiigi · 4 Sept 2019, 06:22

@3arn0wl Do you mean it wasn't obvious that it's a handle for dragging and closing the drawer?
Personally I got it right from the start, well I guess that's because I've used the drawer pre-handle so I immediately noticed the change. To me, it is perfectly usable and intuitive and definitely an improvement from the mess it was before.
I guess it's just that it doesn't look great especially on larger screens but I'd take usable than pretty any day of the week