Hello! I've just uploaded Annotate to the OpenStore. Since it's my first personal Ubuntu Touch app, I'd like to collect some feedback about the app and the release process.

Annotate is an app that lets you draw/highlight PDF files. You can import PDF files, draw on them, rename them, reorganize them, and export them back to PDF files and send them to other apps.

I'm looking for any kind of feedback people may have, be it bug reports, feature requests, questions, clarifications, or anything else. The repo is here on GitHub, but I'm opening this thread in hopes that I reach more people, so feel free to post here.

I've added a new tool: the lasso, which selects existing strokes and moves them around.

I'll probably adopt a "release early, release often" approach with Annotate, so expect many small new features each few days

I've added a new tool: the typewriter! It lets you type text with a keyboard on the document.

To edit the text area, you must pull up the toolbar and tap the edit button.

I'd like to stress that the tool is still quite uncomfortable to use, though all the basic features should be there. Some notable issues for now is the line wrapping which cuts in the middle of words, the lack of support for resizing text areas, the lack of support for different colors within a text area, and the PDF export which makes the text not look the same (different font, different support for line wrapping).

I released it in this state because of the time it took me to get it working at all, but also because I wanted to call for ideas about how the tool should work for it to be comfortable to use by everybody. If you have any idea or preference for how the ideal typewriter tool should work, you can send ideas here or on the GitHub discussion at https://github.com/Semphriss/Annotate/discussions/11

Hey! I don't have a lot of knowledge myself, but I'll reply since nobody else replied so far. I'll be corrected if I got something wrong!

The base Ubuntu Touch install is immutable, e. g. the filesystem is read-only and you can't install anything with APT. This is I believe for security and to simplify OTA updates. I believe you can change it to make it read-write, but this will prevent some other stuff from working fine. The only well-supported way to add stuff on Ubuntu Touch is though Click packages, that you can get from the Open Store.

That being said, I believe Ubuntu Touch already supports OpenVPN-style configuration in the Settings app, so there should be no need to install anything extra. I'm not sure if you can provide it a ready-made configuration file, but I know you can at least configure it manually.

EDIT: I just remembered that you can install stuff from APT on your phone, but only in a Libertine container (Creating a container can be all done from GUI, or from CLI, at your preference). That works for local apps, but not for anything that may need full access to the system like a VPN does, so it won't be useful in this instance.

@AppLee It works! Many, many thanks!

For exporting, I will let the user tap the document in the download pop-up, and the webview will handle exporting. I tested it, and it seems to export as intended.

I really should switch my app to use QML with a WebView object, but unfortunately I'm not remotely familiar enough with QML to implement it without help.

If you (or any passerby) is curious about the app in question, it's here: https://github.com/Semphriss/Annotate. I'll upload it to the Open Store in a few days, after fixing the last few rough edges.

Thanks again for the help! I'll see if I can switch this thread to a Q&A one so that I can accept your answer.

@matteo It's on my to-do list! I haven't yet found a way to keep the toolbar "sticky" and zoom-free in HTML. I still have to do some research on how to implement that.

I'll keep it high on my priority list!

@domubpkm I've been planning to do a little demo document to serve as a tutorial, but I haven't taken the time to finish it yet. I'll try to get something out soon!

@AppLee Hey!

I just finished adding support for zooming. It should be on the OpenStore in a few minutes.

Sorry for the delay, and no worries, I understand it's not easy to draw on phone

As for QML, I'd really like to get started whenever I can, but despite spending quite some time learning, I don't think I'll be familiar with QML soon enough to be able to provide support for a native app.

If you'd like to create a basic WebView with minimal bindings for file operations, I would be happy to merge it and finally throw away the C++ web server. If you'd like to give it a try, all the relevant JS functions are in www/js/file_manager.mjs. If what you had in mind was closer to converting Annotate to a fully native app, UI included, I'd need to take the time to learn QML enough to be able to provide maintenance for it.

That being said, any attention Annotate can receive will be beneficial in the long run, so contributions are always appreciated.

@domubpkm I'm not familiar with the epub format or with the libraries that exist to edit epub documents in JS, but I can keep a note to check that later.

I've added the undo/redo buttons! They're in the toolbar on the right. I've also made the toolbar scrollable for narrower devices.

Sorry for the delay! I said I would upload frequently, and here I go three weeks in complete silence It's harder than expected to balance real life and benevolent app development.

If there isn't any particular feature request (do post them here, on GitHub or to my committer email if you have any!), I'll probably work on resizing text areas and adding images in documents. It's not particularly long to add features, I just need to find the time to do it

Hey! I don't have a lot of knowledge myself, but I'll reply since nobody else replied so far. I'll be corrected if I got something wrong!

The base Ubuntu Touch install is immutable, e. g. the filesystem is read-only and you can't install anything with APT. This is I believe for security and to simplify OTA updates. I believe you can change it to make it read-write, but this will prevent some other stuff from working fine. The only well-supported way to add stuff on Ubuntu Touch is though Click packages, that you can get from the Open Store.

That being said, I believe Ubuntu Touch already supports OpenVPN-style configuration in the Settings app, so there should be no need to install anything extra. I'm not sure if you can provide it a ready-made configuration file, but I know you can at least configure it manually.

EDIT: I just remembered that you can install stuff from APT on your phone, but only in a Libertine container (Creating a container can be all done from GUI, or from CLI, at your preference). That works for local apps, but not for anything that may need full access to the system like a VPN does, so it won't be useful in this instance.

I've added the undo/redo buttons! They're in the toolbar on the right. I've also made the toolbar scrollable for narrower devices.

Sorry for the delay! I said I would upload frequently, and here I go three weeks in complete silence It's harder than expected to balance real life and benevolent app development.

If there isn't any particular feature request (do post them here, on GitHub or to my committer email if you have any!), I'll probably work on resizing text areas and adding images in documents. It's not particularly long to add features, I just need to find the time to do it

I've added a new tool: the typewriter! It lets you type text with a keyboard on the document.

To edit the text area, you must pull up the toolbar and tap the edit button.

I'd like to stress that the tool is still quite uncomfortable to use, though all the basic features should be there. Some notable issues for now is the line wrapping which cuts in the middle of words, the lack of support for resizing text areas, the lack of support for different colors within a text area, and the PDF export which makes the text not look the same (different font, different support for line wrapping).

I released it in this state because of the time it took me to get it working at all, but also because I wanted to call for ideas about how the tool should work for it to be comfortable to use by everybody. If you have any idea or preference for how the ideal typewriter tool should work, you can send ideas here or on the GitHub discussion at https://github.com/Semphriss/Annotate/discussions/11

Is there any long-term plan to add different "flavors" of Ubuntu Touch with different desktop environments, like GNOME?

This is probably very low priority, but I wondered what it would feel like to use GNOME with Ubuntu Touch.

Alternatively, if someone were to do the work, would it be welcome as a contribution sometime in the far future?

@domubpkm I'm not familiar with the epub format or with the libraries that exist to edit epub documents in JS, but I can keep a note to check that later.

@domubpkm I've been planning to do a little demo document to serve as a tutorial, but I haven't taken the time to finish it yet. I'll try to get something out soon!

@AppLee Hey!

I just finished adding support for zooming. It should be on the OpenStore in a few minutes.

Sorry for the delay, and no worries, I understand it's not easy to draw on phone

As for QML, I'd really like to get started whenever I can, but despite spending quite some time learning, I don't think I'll be familiar with QML soon enough to be able to provide support for a native app.

If you'd like to create a basic WebView with minimal bindings for file operations, I would be happy to merge it and finally throw away the C++ web server. If you'd like to give it a try, all the relevant JS functions are in www/js/file_manager.mjs. If what you had in mind was closer to converting Annotate to a fully native app, UI included, I'd need to take the time to learn QML enough to be able to provide maintenance for it.

That being said, any attention Annotate can receive will be beneficial in the long run, so contributions are always appreciated.

I've added a new tool: the lasso, which selects existing strokes and moves them around.

I'll probably adopt a "release early, release often" approach with Annotate, so expect many small new features each few days

@matteo It's on my to-do list! I haven't yet found a way to keep the toolbar "sticky" and zoom-free in HTML. I still have to do some research on how to implement that.

I'll keep it high on my priority list!

Now, a longer post to describe what Annotate can and can't do at the moment. I've put this in the app description on the OpenStore, but I'm copying it here for convenience.

Currently supported:

• Create new, empty documents
• Import existing PDF files
• Draw on the pages
• Highlight elements
• Erase elements
• Rename files (characters are limited)
• Delete files
• Export files to PDF and share them with other apps

On my to-do list:

• Text and images
• Add/duplicate pages
• Share a document in Annotate format, for transfer between devices
• Undo/redo
• Proper support for zooming
• Translation to other languages

Known issues:

• Exporting files with highlighter will make the highlighter look opaque (#3 on GitHub)
• Exporting shows a download pop-up (#4 on GitHub)
• Sharing a document from another app to Annotate won't work (#5 on GitHub)
• Large PDF files (>10Mb) may take a lot of time to load on less performant devices

Is there any feature you'd like to have? Any feature you like more than the others? Any bug I've missed?