UI design concepts and proposals
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Hi @marc_aurel
It's possible to make quite a few modifications with the UT Tweak Tool app from the Open Store.
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@3arn0wl Thanks. I will have a look. Is it possible to introduce system wide gestures, function calls an alternative way to browse open apps? In Android it would be a launcher. I admitt: The potential capabilities of an android launcher are limited. You can't offer an alternative for the bottom three symbol menue and the way to browse through open apps.
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Hi @marc_aurel
I have to confess I haven't done too much with it, as I quite like the UI the way it is! I did move a few apps around though.I think Sconio's image (the 2nd post) is a mock up of what a Scope overlay might look like. There was news this week that some scopes are being maintained again, and can be downloaded through UT Tweak Tool.
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@3arn0wl The second screenshot is indeed awesome. Unfortunately I didn't find an option in the UT Tweak Tool to modify the user interface in that way. I omly did find the option to switch between a window or fullscreen mode for the applications.
I'm very interested in developing and evaluating modifications of the user experience. I there an s documented approach like a louncher for Android or Themes and widgests for Plasma Mobile? I would be happy about a link to a documentation, tutorial or example project.
I don't only think about modifying the way app icons are presented, I'm thinking about overall function calls. The edge swipes are currently used to scroll though open apps or to show the sidebar menu. -
@marc_aurel This was the announcement I was referring to: https://forums.ubports.com/topic/1157/it-rains-scopes-thanks-to-rúben-carneiro
Apparently you can get the Scope that Ruben's taken responsibility to maintain, by going to System>Install click package, in UT Tweak Tool.
Might you consider maintaining a scope? Or developing one?
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@3arn0wl The scope Today along with calls and messages are now available in the Openstore. They work well on my mx 4 as the today scope wasn't there after install, but not quite right on my nexus 5 where I now have two of each. Calls and messages seem OK but Today has things missing. I think its playtime : )
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Thank you, @lakota - I didn't know that.Playtime indeed!
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@3arn0wl I would develop an own one. But first I have to understand the poentential capabilities of a scope. Is it comparable to a Launcher in Android? Can one define the function calls for edge swipes?
According the examples for scopes, that are shown in this thead. Do you mean the published scopes at https://github.com/rubencarneiro?tab=repositories?
There are many scopes listed. Are they exclusive? I mean, can I install more than one scope? Do I have to compile the scopes first or can I select a downloaded directory of a scope?
Thanks for your help.
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@marc_aurel I am sure there are those around who will be able to assist you with this far more than I can: for example, Ruben Carnario is the developer who has recently rescued some scopes that needed some attention. But I do know that you can install more than one scope.
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@marc_aurel the official position is that Scopes are going to disappear, so @rubencarneiro (and others) Scope developing effort is to get the attention of the community and to try to keep the Scopes project alive.
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@advocatux Thanks for this realy useful hint. I wouldn't like to invest in a tecnology or interface, that will disappear. Do you know, whether there is an alternative like a Launcher concept for Android or Lipstick for Sailfish OS or Mods for the former Cyanogen OS? As I know, Plasma is very flexible and even includes a convergence concept, but as a mobile system Plasma is in an early alpha stage. Or do you think, that UBPorts will focus on a fix system UI and IX like iOS does?
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@marc_aurel I don't know the plan exactly. Are you in the Telegram SuperGroup? There you'll have more chances to get a good answer.
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@advocatux Thanks for the hint. Therefore I'm very interested in any community event. Learning by offline communication is sometimes much more efficient. I think of a custom UX for the launcher level of the OS, because my company is looking for a platform for a roadmap of connected end user devices. We may start with a smart phone, but the main product will go byond the current eevice categories. The platform should provide the customization of an adaptive UX for a convergence experience and a new concept of UI. So we would like to customize the UX onf the launcher level of the OS. I'm not sure, wether this is the appropriate expression for UBPorts. It seems, that Scopes are the outdated concept for this launcher level. With launcher level I mean system wide, not app specific UI, the in cludes usually, how apss are called, how notifications are shown or how the user can search across the system. The core concepts of available operation system are rahter similar. It's time for innovation.
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@marc_aurel I've forwarded your post to some UX & Graphics guys, let's wait for a better answer that the one I could give you
Edit: I've received this answer
UBports is focusing at core of the system itself. It's still very unclear the future of the UI, whether we are going to stick to the current Suru, or move to new UI aspects of Ubuntu. Now it depends on scopes. We don't know if to support them or to remove them.
Also 16.04 brings some new aspects.
Now, that's mostly a Unity8 problem. But, it's possible to add another (Desktop Environment?) to Ubuntu Touch with a lot of effort. If you open UT Tweak Tool > System > System Info, you'll see a hint that other DEs could be supported. -
@marc_aurel a developer who really knows UT inside and out has told me that you aren't approaching the problem from the right angle. What you want to build is your own UI.
You'll need to build a custom rootfs and that involves to maintain your own distribution on top of Halium. IE, like Plasma Mobile vs UT.
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@advocatux Thanks very much for this hint. It's not a good news, but a very important one. I have hoped, that UT has a similar concept like the launcher for Android or Lipstick for Sailfish OS. A launcher is a very straight forward approach, because the developer is just implementing an app with a slightliy different manifest. Lipstick seems to be more flexible but it has a high level API either. Plasma Mobile seems to allow customization as well. The platform is attractive for me, because it supports - at least conceptually - a convergence UX. Unfortunately the community seems to be dead, while the UT community seems to be very lifely and the OS itself is working finde. This is very attractive to ship a product with UT. In their last blog entry, Purism described, that they has chosen another option for their pre-installed OS, it's Gnome mobile. But UT looks miles ahead according usability. My research will go on. I will defenetly attend a commity event to discuss my idea with developers.
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@marc_aurel you're welcome, if you find something interesting in your research don't forget to share it in this forum
