[BQ E5 vegetahd] Change of grid units, scaling?

flohack

@hans1977se Yeah we are thinking of this too. Currently the setting is in the read-only part of the phone, but could be somehow made possible to change it from the UI. Its only a value in a file, and needs a restart to change so why not

hans1977se

@Flohack Maybe it would be good to do it the way it's done for shells with a hidden configuration file in /home/phablet for the people who wants to change it?

flohack

@hans1977se You bring up an idea just a sec...

flohack

Okay so here is my proposal: https://github.com/ubports/ubports-touch/issues/226

BR

WLBI

@hans1977se said in [BQ E5 vegetahd] Change of grid units, scaling?:

It might be better the way it is now for people with less good eyesight.

Well, as I also don't have the best eyes, I really would like, if the text becomes more visible.
The icons can be smaler and 4 in a row is better I think, but additionally there should be an adjustment for the text properties. Not only bigger letters, it should also be possible to make the text bold for example.
Right now the icons are huge, the text is very thin and hard to read sometimes.
One time I tried to install Android on my BQ E4.5 and the text there is much more visible than on Ubuntu Touch, even the display size is still the same.
So it's not about the small display size, it is really the text.

I mean the text settings should be globally, so it's also more easy to read SMS messages or other text, for example in the settings...
I wrote that already loooong ago to the Canonical developers, but no reaction

doniks

@Flohack said in [BQ E5 vegetahd] Change of grid units, scaling?:

I was always not so happy with the large icons, even if E5 is only 720p. I changed now to allow 4 icons:

I would ask the community about opinions. We could put this change into effect very easily.

I do think the defaults are too large currently. On the N7 I use 18 units :
https://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/Baustelle/Ubuntu_Touch/Snippets/#Skalierung-der-Anzeige

hans1977se

@WLBI I think that is probably a good idea too, although i do not yet need it myself.

Glatorius

Configuring GUI scaling via some options accessible in the GUI sounds good.
scaling to 4 columns on my BQ E5 was the one of the first things I did when getting UT and then again when flashing UBPorts.

Defaulting to 4 columns would be nice for me, making it easily configurable would be awesome.

flohack

I found now that rotating the phone while Telegram is open allows the app to suddenly display in "desktop mode", means the list of contacts gets visible side by side with the chat window. This is annoying when you want to look at a picture and rotate the phone... hmmm

Br

doniks

@Flohack said in [BQ E5 vegetahd] Change of grid units, scaling?:

I found now that rotating the phone while Telegram is open allows the app to suddenly display in "desktop mode", means the list of contacts gets visible side by side with the chat window. This is annoying when you want to look at a picture and rotate the phone... hmmm

Br

Are you saying this "switch to desktop mode" behaviour is new since you changed the grid units?

I haven't used telegram but, on the N7 (7 '' screen) the browser shows the tabbed desktop ui in landscape ande the swipe-from-bottom ui inportrait. I think it does it with both the default grid units and the custom setting of 18 I use.

And I actually like the behavior.

flohack

@doniks swipe from bottom? What is that tell me more

No I did not have this behaviour before. Like I said its not so nice now, as I can´t look at a picture in full screen anymore when I go to landscape.

BR

Teigneux

I prefere 4 colomns too.

RedXXIII

I'm not sure about what I prefer. UT tweak tool allow to change very easily the width of the launcher. Maybe you could add to this app the possibility to choose the grid unit of the icons ? Or in the system settings ? Then everybody would be happy

doniks

@Flohack said in [BQ E5 vegetahd] Change of grid units, scaling?:

@doniks swipe from bottom? What is that tell me more

You definitely know it Sorry, I wasn't clear enough.

In the browser you can open multiple pages (smt like long press the link, open in new tab).

In the "phone" ui, you then swipe from the bottom to see a carousel of your open tabs to switch between.

In the "desktop" ui, you see a tab bar at the top of your screen.

No I did not have this behavior before. Like I said its not so nice now, as I can´t look at a picture in full screen anymore when I go to landscape.

Ok, I'm wondering where the bug is ... It's a tricky one.

Let me work from the assumption that the grid units on your phone should be adjusted (4 instead of 3 icons). Now it seems that the system switches to desktop mode based on how much space (diagonal?) there is. And it seems it uses different settings in portrait vs landscape.

Now I wonder is the bug:
a) the system should not yet switch your phone to desktop mode when in landscape with your adjusted grid unit setting. In your opinion @Flohack, does it make sense to be in desktop mode? Can you look at other apps and check what feels natural.
b) telegram should have a better user experience when switching between phone and desktop mode. I have never used that app, @Flohack, what's your take?

The Nexus 7 both with the out of the box setting and with my adjusted one:

in landscape I have desktop mode
in portrait I have phone mode

I do like that behavior

hans1977se

@doniks It will not be good to switch between the modes imho. There has to be a mode lock feature similar to rotation lock feature if implemented that way, i think.

hans1977se

@RedXXIII Hopfully it will be done by changing the cfg file, as suggested. Then you could have it in both programs without making a mess.

doniks

@hans1977se said in [BQ E5 vegetahd] Change of grid units, scaling?:

@doniks It will not be good to switch between the modes imho.

Well, different people, different opinions I like how it does currently switch between the modes on the N7.

There has to be a mode lock feature similar to rotation lock feature if implemented that way, i think.

That lock is there already, ain't it?! Top right, in one of the indicators there is a toggle to switch.

Also I remember there is a gsetting where you can configure it to be one of the three: phone, desktop or automatic. Maybe tweak tool has that as well?!

@hans1977se said in [BQ E5 vegetahd] Change of grid units, scaling?:

@RedXXIII Hopfully it will be done by changing the cfg file, as suggested. Then you could have it in both programs without making a mess.

Well, the "cfg file" syle configurability is there already, right?! The more interesting question for me is: what should the out of the box behavior be.

hans1977se

@doniks said in [BQ E5 vegetahd] Change of grid units, scaling?:

Well, different people, different opinions I like how it does currently switch between the modes on the N7.

No worries at all. :-)I mostly quite like different people with different opinions. As long as it's kept peaceful, i suppose.

@doniks said in [BQ E5 vegetahd] Change of grid units, scaling?:

That lock is there already, ain't it?! Top right, in one of the indicators there is a toggle to switch.

I only know about the rotation lock. I have not seen any mode lock.

@doniks said in [BQ E5 vegetahd] Change of grid units, scaling?:

Also I remember there is a gsetting where you can configure it to be one of the three: phone, desktop or automatic. Maybe tweak tool has that as well?!

I think all configuration should be in some sort of text files, and then there can be as many configuration gui:s as people like.

@doniks said in [BQ E5 vegetahd] Change of grid units, scaling?:

Well, the "cfg file" syle configurability is there already, right?! The more interesting question for me is: what should the out of the box behavior be.

Yes, but it is apparently in the read-only part of the fs, and the suggestion is that it can live in /home/phablet for anyone who wants to change the default.

I don't have any strong opinion about what the default should be, but only that it should be easy to change. I think phone mode makes more sense on a phone even if it is big, and then anyone who disagree can just tap away from the default to their own like.

doniks

@hans1977se said in [BQ E5 vegetahd] Change of grid units, scaling?:

@doniks said in [BQ E5 vegetahd] Change of grid units, scaling?:

Well, the "cfg file" syle configurability is there already, right?!

Yes, but it is apparently in the read-only part of the fs, and the suggestion is that it can live in /home/phablet for anyone who wants to change the default.

https://askubuntu.com/a/846751 :

gsettings set com.canonical.Unity8 usage-mode Windowed
gsettings set com.canonical.Unity8 usage-mode Staged

This is what I meant with "cfg file" style. It's not a literal file, but I think executing a single commandline is about the same complexity as changing a file. So it is not in the read-only part of the fs. Also I guess it shows that there can be as many gui's as people like to implement. tweak tool does have it!

PS: I believe there is a third setting like Auto, Automatic ... as well.

hans1977se

@doniks I see. It's a bit difficult when several things are discussed at the same time. I thought it was related to the grid units and scaling subject, so thereby my comment was like that.

Regarding configuration files. I find that way cleaner and makes it easier to understand what's going on, so i like that way better, but maybe not so much of a difference.