[dev] [commits] Horde branch develop updated. 8b52fbc316c6846bb4ffd96c25a8ffcd9cbbe695

[Michael M Slusarz]

Quoting Michael J Rubinsky <mrubinsk at horde.org>:

> Quoting Jan Schneider <jan at horde.org>:
>
>> Zitat von Michael M Slusarz <slusarz at horde.org>:
>>
>>> commit 98107745649a54da45c9846ca3881aa13a947ecd
>>> Author: Michael M Slusarz <slusarz at horde.org>
>>> Date:   Fri Aug 24 16:00:12 2012 -0600
>>>
>>>   Smartmobile navigation UI tweaks
>>>
>>>   Remove navigation buttons; swipe actions are sufficient.
>>>   Fix message navigation in search mailbox.
>>>
>>> imp/js/smartmobile.js                      |   43  
>>> ++++++---------------------
>>> imp/templates/smartmobile/message.html.php |    4 --
>>> 2 files changed, 10 insertions(+), 37 deletions(-)
>>>
>>> http://git.horde.org/horde-git/-/commit/98107745649a54da45c9846ca3881aa13a947ecd
>>
>> I'm not so sure. Technically, swipe is sufficient. But considering  
>> that one of the goals of the smartmobile interface was to provide  
>> users a usable interface if they point their mobile browsers to the  
>> webmail address they are used to, it might be exactly those  
>> unsophisticated users, that might have no idea how to navigate  
>> between messages unless it's obvious to them.

I figured there would be some blowback from this, but thinking about  
this for several days, I believe this is the correct solution.   
Looking at other mobile-like interfaces, I could not find another that  
explicitly had navigation buttons like this.  Almost all mobile apps  
assume that users understand the ability to pinch-zoom, swipe, and  
long click at this point.

A potential option would be to put floating arrows on either side of  
the screen to indicate to the user that they can navigate.  But I'm  
not sure if the benefit is worth the expense, given that I believe  
that message-level navigation is not a frequently used option in the  
smartmobile context.

My usage pattern when using smartmobile view is to scan the mailbox  
for new "interesting" messages to read, and then go read them one at a  
time.  I am not interested in traversing the mailbox (and,  
concurrently, all unseen messages) since I am not looking to actively  
manage my mailbox using this interface, since it is admittedly a bit  
clunky.  Smartmobile exists as a way to primarily *read* emails on the  
go.  Advanced mail management actions just confuse and hinder this goal.

> I agree with Jan. I don't see any harm in leaving them in and it  
> provides a small benefit for a subset of users.

I disagree (obviously) and am looking to trim other features as well.   
Namely "Edit As New".  This is not a "core" feature and arguably isn't  
useful at all on the smartmobile platform since it is pretty much  
impossible (well, at least very difficult) to go through and edit  
currently existing text.  Plus, most other mail clients don't directly  
offer this as a core feature, or at least as a visible core feature,  
so it can be confusing to most users.

These extra buttons DO clutter up the available actions and make it  
more difficult to select the proper button to click.  In the mobile  
world, I believe that redundant UI needs to be eliminated - you select  
the best UI method for the particular action and that's it.

The goal of the smartmobile mail client (IMHO) is to be allowed to  
view messages and be able to do quick, basic actions (Reply, Forward,  
Delete, Spam).  It is not intended to be an application to *manage*  
your mail account however.  Redirecting, Move, and Copy are somewhat  
more advanced options and are of somewhat dubious value in the  
smartmobile context.

michael

___________________________________
Michael Slusarz [slusarz at horde.org]