Hi all,
I've been complaining for a while about the UBports website, but I needed to be constructive. So I finally found some spare time to produce a mock up of something that corrects (according to my own taste) the navigation and communication issues of the actual ubports/ubuntu_touch.io websites.

Here under the ubuntu_touch.io :

The UBports community page :

The "help eachothers" header :

The different visual identities for the "Community", and for the "product" pages:

I didn't specified yet the full navigation in the websites. I suppose it is quite straightforward. Don't expect to have the full content of the actual webpage inside : my point was exactly to cut down all the unnecessary wordings/subpages...
Last comment : I furiously copied the official Canonical page. It was on purpose.

The idea is dropped, let's challenge it on the forum

Hi all,

I wanted to congratulate you all for this great work.
Back in the days I backed the Ub Edge, and remember playing around with some first releases of UT. I re-stepped in for real on Nexus 5 since one month as well as a daily driver (on RC channel), and it is a pleasure !

I'd like to be constructive though, and I'd express my feelings from a fresh incommer :

• You can have a good knowledge of what is the OS only once you've installed it. I mean it was difficult to find demos and description of the actual content. I could only find either those empty "commercial" descriptions on the official page, or homemade community videos on youtube... I totally understand that the priority is not on maintaining the PR side, but I guess it can make the difference for a hesitating personna willing to find alternative OS.
• Installation didn't work from a win10 PC. I was close to brick the thing, but made it work from the first try using a bootable ubuntu USB. I'd propose it as an alternative for windows users, rather than installing a ton of obscure adb drivers or so and end up failing at the manual install, just boot on Ubuntu, install the UBports installer and that's all folks It took me 20 minutes all in all.
• The convergence is awesome. I show it off to anyone has 2minutes to hear my excitation about this, and it is always a woah effect \o/
• The first Slimport adapter I bought didn't work for convergence. On the second try it was perfect ! I found the info for the cable type on the forum, but the comment "slimport is the key, only buy something that has slimport written on it" is valuable and would be worth being written on the FAQ and in the documentation.
• Random bluetooth Keyboard and mouse worked from the first run. And are recognized as a charm everytime I need them.
• I faced the known issue with Dekko2 draining the battery. Since then I'm using instead my usual online client on morph and does the job instead. I'll be patient for a next fix, it's not a blocker for me.
• Account syncings were easy, though the only friendly way I found of doing is through a google account
• I'm not fond of the webapps. It populates the store, so it's fine for PR, but the quality in the end is lower. I avoid them on the store (I'd like by the way to have a filter on the mobile version of the store to sort them away). I'd be more confident using Anbox instead.

Well all in all, I'm impressed and proud to have it working

Congrats.

Special thanks for the effort given on the look and feel : all community apps are gorgeous and excellently integrated in the rest of the OS. I really appreciate the fact that user experience is put at the same level of importance than functionnalities, above all when the UT concepts meet my vision of what a mobile OS should be

Can't wait for the next releases !!

Glad to see the support ! So I kept doing and here a new version, including tablet and phone formats.

A clearer header : now the "Ubports supports UBtouch" is in reading order.

The corresponding curtain menu contains more stuff :

And there is a "burger menu" phone version :

The UBports welcome page, Desktop size:

The UBtouch welcome page, Desktop size :

The UBtouch welcome page, tablet size, with reshaping comments :

The UBtouch welcome page, phone size, with reshaping comments :

The promoted device page, in desktop mode (and partially incomplete), as an example of a subpage. I guess the table-like presentation is straight forward to convert into phone mode.

Sorry for the poor resolution, but we're at the limit of the max image sizes. I also wanted to share the .svg file, but it exceeds the max size... (together with embedded images, it makes 35Mb...). If wanted, we'll find a way to share it !

@advocatux it is not very easy to describe gesture in a non native language My concern was that the sliding left/right works while you pull the "curtain" down. But once you've release you thumb, the only way to swipe to the neighboring menus is to come back to the upper bar.

Edit : Ach, yes, there is a way to do ! Re-press the pull bar at the very bottom. The one with " ... " written on it.

Hi! good work indeed!! i like the success story of this port, could be an example to follow for other apps!

only unexpected issue so far for me: I couldn't copypaste the map box key , which is kind of tricky considering the size of the key itself;)

My feeling is that the communication is very community centered. Once you're inside, it's OK : you know which communication channels are available, you know what to find in it, you recognise the key members and give more importance to their annonces.

When it comes to spreading Ubuntu Touch to the world, the communication should aim outside the community, and the message should be loud and clear.

I would redesign the webpage, and re-orient it towards "the world". Now that I'm "in the community", I just use the UBports.com as a hub to access this forum, the documentation, etc... But before stepping in, I was looking for a clear description of the OS itself, to know the state of development of the thing and couldn't find a proper one on the web page. Basically, there are too many information, and too vague:

• I was expecting a revival of the Canonical Ubuntu touch page, neet, and sexy, focused on the OS. Instead I landed on an obscure crowded webpage for a developper community.
• The ubuntu touch devices pages could be optimized. Both device detail pages (for instance https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io/device/hammerhead) and "commercial" promoted devices page (https://ubports.com/de_DE/devices/promoted-devices) could by merged together.
• Illustrations are not suited : we see a lot of safes and ubuntu logos, but no images of the actual OS itself
• No demo of the OS... I found some on the internet, but homemade. I had to navigate a lot to find a page that describes how the gestures work (which is a key information if you look for an alternative OS).
• No clear idea of what is convergence. There are no demo for it, which is a pity, because it's cool and it works! The dedicated convergence page is too long Each paragraph almost re-says the same content. They are like 5 or 6 different (and graphically unconsistent) illustrations, but no demo, and no actual picture of what is it. It is not clear if it is a whished or a working feature... Still the image of safe in the header

We've got some improvement to do in this direction Maybe is it allready even a tackled topic. For my concern, I only know basics of web dev, but I have a good feeling with user experience and design in general. I could help with mock ups and illustrations if a new site is planned one day.

@poVoq

so it means anyhow that thode current gigaset devices might work with UT like their prototype. Their demo is impressive!

@syper
i also experienced lags with launcher modular as default. it was an overall performace drop of the phone: battery drops faster than expected, some apps were almost unusable (too slow, or crashes...). for instance I couldn't navigate anymore in the forum web app, because of crashes . I went back to default and the use is now smooth again.
congrats for the good work anyway!

Hi! good work indeed!! i like the success story of this port, could be an example to follow for other apps!

only unexpected issue so far for me: I couldn't copypaste the map box key , which is kind of tricky considering the size of the key itself;)

@Leppa
Thanks!

Here a short term solution (link available for three weeks only) :
https://filetransfer.io/data-package/kyCgKUaN

The zip contains the exports for this forum, the exports at the correct definition (1920px wide for the desktop mode for instance), the raw .svg sources and a pdf version for an easier preview than openning Inkscape.

Glad to see the support ! So I kept doing and here a new version, including tablet and phone formats.

A clearer header : now the "Ubports supports UBtouch" is in reading order.

The corresponding curtain menu contains more stuff :

And there is a "burger menu" phone version :

The UBports welcome page, Desktop size:

The UBtouch welcome page, Desktop size :

The UBtouch welcome page, tablet size, with reshaping comments :

The UBtouch welcome page, phone size, with reshaping comments :

The promoted device page, in desktop mode (and partially incomplete), as an example of a subpage. I guess the table-like presentation is straight forward to convert into phone mode.

Sorry for the poor resolution, but we're at the limit of the max image sizes. I also wanted to share the .svg file, but it exceeds the max size... (together with embedded images, it makes 35Mb...). If wanted, we'll find a way to share it !

Hi all,
I've been complaining for a while about the UBports website, but I needed to be constructive. So I finally found some spare time to produce a mock up of something that corrects (according to my own taste) the navigation and communication issues of the actual ubports/ubuntu_touch.io websites.

Here under the ubuntu_touch.io :

The UBports community page :

The "help eachothers" header :

The different visual identities for the "Community", and for the "product" pages:

I didn't specified yet the full navigation in the websites. I suppose it is quite straightforward. Don't expect to have the full content of the actual webpage inside : my point was exactly to cut down all the unnecessary wordings/subpages...
Last comment : I furiously copied the official Canonical page. It was on purpose.

The idea is dropped, let's challenge it on the forum

@advocatux said in Where are the legacy documents and source from the canonical era ?:

gimenez generally speaking, we're doing that already

You're asking for those material, or already working on them ? (makes a slight difference in the end, or maybe I'm touching a sensitive point )

@advocatux it is not very easy to describe gesture in a non native language My concern was that the sliding left/right works while you pull the "curtain" down. But once you've release you thumb, the only way to swipe to the neighboring menus is to come back to the upper bar.

Edit : Ach, yes, there is a way to do ! Re-press the pull bar at the very bottom. The one with " ... " written on it.

It would be very valuable to have a maximum of inputs of the Canonical era. I remember well when the concept was released, that they edited awesome documents that we could consult on their webpage. For interested users, for developpers, for OEMs...

I think what would be interesting would be :

• The UX concept (gestures etc...), for PR
• The design guidelines, for developpers
• The nice videos/demos they did at this time
• The nice pictures / graphics / animations
• The web pages, with texts and translations
• Presentations, flyers, stickers.
• Source files if possible, so that we can update them !
• Why not even existing hardware : kakemonos and banners for booths at the fairs...

My point is to re-use the worked done (and in my impression well done by canonical), to make the community burden lighter. I don't think Canonical whipped OFF all those materials from their folders, and we have the chance that they are mostly uptodate

Is it possible to ask for it? Do we have the right to re-use, re-diffuse, or update ?

I see your point here, it is maybe the less fine gesture in all the OS experience. I personnally also need some left-right navigation before I go to the sub menu I wanted. Sometimes as well I scroll down perfectly on, let's say the battery details, but end up moved on the calendar at the end of the course because I swiped not perfectly vertically with my thumb.

The "doing like Android" is maybe not the solution though The power (and the unique feature I guess) of UT is to have a lot of details and fine tunning under the hands (entire calendar display, music controls, reply to messages) and it's made possible because of the sub menu that we access by scrolling left/right... It also fits perfectly in the desktop/tablet mode.

I have the feeling that fine tunning the gestures could help a lot. Correcting my vertical scrolling issue might be possible with some thresholds in the gesture interpretation... Or an easier "short but quick swipe", that lets you open the menu curtain in one little gesture, at the right place...
Maybe the left/right swipe can be also possible from the empty parts of the curtain, once it is down : now we have take back the thumb on the status bar again to chose another sub menu, while it could have been possible in the same gesture after having "unrolled the curtain", with the thumb at the bottom of the screen.

I'm also not very confident with rethinking this core feature from the very first concepts of the legacy UT, some excellent UX and design experts did the job already, and they had probably good reasons to think it is the way to do.