[horde] [better layout] Sudden user-interface changes for some users

[DrOteonu]

On Sun, 2021-02-14 at 13:11 +0100, Jens Wahnes wrote:
> DrOteonu wrote:
> 
> > We have been using Horde for years and with pleasure. However, suddenly, in some accounts the interface has changed, in a very unpleasant way. The strange thing is that this only happened in some user-accounts, without these users having made any changes in their
> > settings. And without us having upgraded Horde.
> That sounds like these users inadvertently chose another mode on the 
> login screen.  One of the screenshots that you shared shows "Basic" 
> mode, for example, when everybody should be using "Dynamic" mode (on a 
> regular PC, that is).  Another example you were giving is referring to 
> minimal mode, I think.
> 
> The mode setting is not a setting that is saved in Horde's preference 
> system. It's a simple cookie, so it's not specific to a certain user, 
> but specific to a browser environment.  So the easiest way to detect 
> this is to use a different browser.
> 
> As for why this happens, I've also been wondering, because we have a few 
> users complaining about this as well.  So far, the best explanation I 
> could come up with was that people either click or scroll through the 
> list of available modes and then end up with the last entry ("Minimal" 
> mode) in the worst case scenario.  One way to inadvertently chose 
> minimal mode would be pressing the "down" arrow key on the keyboard 
> several times with focus on the mode selection box, as "minimal" is the 
> last entry there.  But I'm not sure that that's what's actually 
> happening, because I think nowadays, there a too few people out there 
> moving through the login form using the tab key and cursor keys to make 
> this happen on a regular basis.  I've been searching if there are 
> browsers out there that allow you to cycle though the mode selection box 
> by turning the mouse wheel and thus by mistake chose another mode, but I 
> didn't find any of the popular browsers doing this.
> 
> In any event, you'll just need to instruct the users impacted by this to 
> switch the "mode" setting on the login screen back to "Automatic" the 
> next time they log in and they should be good to go.  With Horde 6, the 
> two most unpopular modes (minimal and basic) will be gone for good anyhow.

Your suggestion was spot on! Problem solved. Thank you so much!

Indeed, perhaps it is an idea to add to the preference settings that
are available in horde a way to also change the Mode settings That is
the most obvious place I think most users would look to find out why
their interface has changed. So, if there would be a tab in the
preferences with "User interface setting" or so. Or at the least: such
a tab with a brief text explaning what you have to do to change the
user-interface settings. I think that will help users that went into
this "alley" to get out of it independently and much quicker.

> 
> 
> Jens