This post could have been in the “App update news” section but it’s right place is here because I need your feedback.
Sorry for the poor video quality, bugs can be seen, and there is no audio, no comment, not even text (OT: by the way could someone suggest a decent and cheap video editor for Mac? I really like Camtasia but my trial ended, and the price is a bit expensive. It is worth every penny but I only make at most two videos a years…)
Back on topic now. I’d like to show a preview of what I am working on at the moment. This is a major UI rework to make editing faster. In short it consists in new bottom and right toolbars that can be shown/hidden using a little arrow in the bottom right corner (sorry no left handed mode yet). The content scaling is partly inspired by a post from TrianguloY .
There are also some utility boxes that can be shown/hidden too: one at the top for operations found in the usual popup menu (edition, position, actions), and one at the bottom for item properties (partly implemented on the video). This properties box will display settings that are now found under customize/item/more. The benefit of these toolbox is that they are “sticky”: select another item and the boxes are updated with the newly selected item values.
Also shown on the video are new undo/redo buttons, and new snapping options. No more confirmation on folder deletion, it can be undone 🙂 Folders can be cloned too (all items in fact).
This version is currently far from a beta and even from an alpha but I would really like to know your opinion on this new UI. I know this is uneasy to understand and feel it just by watching the video (without any comment…), if someone is interested in playing with it I will be able to provide a direct link to a snapshot tomorrow.
D5 Creation
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Woah! Haven’t read or watched the vid yet but woah this looks cool.
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This may look cool but the important thing is whether this is actually cool to use. And that’s difficult to know when you code the thing, this is a bit like judge and be judged…
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Looks great from what I saw. Wouldn’t mind playing with it
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looks great to me pierre.
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Yeah looks great to me 2, and pretty simple to use.
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It is looking very intuitive so far.
Will the position – geometry editor option, grid lines option along with being able to color and resize icons still be available if all goes ahead?
Thanks Bernard.
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My feedback: absolutely positive!
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:DDDDDDDDDD
As you said it will need testing to check if it is useful and how to make it easy and fast. I won’t have any problem in testing it (not sure if this is possible, but could you publish it as a beta with another package name? This way we won’t need to override our current data of the launcher, and even we will push it more to the limit because a restart will be enough if something goes wrong)
All from the video seems awesome (except maybe the diagonal handlers that seems to be a bit small, hmm now I’m writing this…What about place the handlers also a bit inside the item? This will make them bigger and more intuitive, because when you want to resize something you normally click in the middle of the line)
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This REALLY looks good. It looks like it will be very helpful.
Also looks like a big job!
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MRW: http://i.imgur.com/Scl5rwX.webm
Do you have a beta testing system?
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I’d be up to try this for sure. I think the way the items aren’t presented in a list you have to scroll through makes it easier to create a homescreen like a canvas, where all your supplies, resources, and tools are on any edge of the canvas, or window (if creating on something line Photoshop). I like the idea, and would be glad to play around with it to test actual functionality and ease of use.
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+10 for undo-ing an accidental drop in an panel. You can, in current version, select ‘move out of panel’. But it wil never go back to it’s original place, size and z-order. Do we get a edit-panel for z-order? An idea might be to display the z-value of the selected item and the items serrounding it.
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While all of this looks interesting, my concern is usage on phones. On tablets sure, there’s place for all those toolbars, but on smallest phone screen it can be to much
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For sure I want to try 😊
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I really like this!
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It looks promising. Can’t wait to try it.
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Most have a decent size screen though.
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Looks great. Very functional, still intuitive to use. Go ahead, you’re definately on the right track!
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Ok, I’ll put an APK somewhere for download tomorrow 😉 I don’t want it to go through the alpha/beta route because this is unfinished work (although it is usable as almost all existing mechanisms are preserved). A different package name is not possible (it would conflict with the regular version).
bernard burrows all features are preserved, but some are reorganized. For instance the popup menu is still there but the “Move out of folder” option is now in the “Position” sub menu, the Z-order controls are now in the geometry toolbox. I tried to put make things more consistent, although a few options need one more click.
TrianguloY that can easily be seen on the video 🙂 I was thinking at making them overlap the item, but they need to go outside too in case the item is very small (badges). But definitely the current handles are too narrow.
Jappie Toutenhoofd at the moment I didn’t make any modification to z-order controls, but yes a direct value input could help. Maybe some long click on a zorder button to prompt for a value.
Viggo Jorgen I totally agree, that’s the purpose of the “hidden bars” mode. Also that’s not visible in the video but the properties box can be resized using a handle, a bit like the preview in the current settings screen. I usually develop using a N7 but I always check how it works on my phone which is a 4.3″. From time to time I also test on a goold one N1, that’s still a good device…
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Pierre Hébert All right then, I guess you know what you’re doing 🙂
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Pierre Hébert Great to know and thanks for the reply.
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Pierre Hébert Very cool! Great the undo/redo command
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Wow. Seems really simple to design. I realy like the feature that all items that have the same size blink up. Just cool.
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Preview packages can be found here : http://www.pierrox.net/android/applications/lightning_launcher/snapshots/ 🙂
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Jesus. Just played a little with the new design ui. It’s so simple and even on mine old samsung S2 with small (800×480) display it works just awesome.
I vote for beta implementation. Sure it crashes sometimes but it stays on my phone.
Ps. To strech my S2 a little more i am now on lollipop. Result. I have no more random reboots anymore of LLX.
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Heads up to anyone wanting to play with this…
If you have content overlap enabled for your Nav Bar, disable it before installing this!
The bottom edit bar will be behind nav bar and you won’t be able to access it.
Desktop settings crashes hard, so the only way is to restore your backup to disable and reinstall preview.
:-)
You made a backup and saved your Lightning Launcher folder from your external storage… Right?
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Undo and redo is cool 😎
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Chris Chastain yes, and the copy item also. Everything is cool.
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Don’t have a navbar. Backuped though . Crashes yes, but no hard crashes.
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Just installed and found it really easy to use, I got a feeling a black wallpaper will make the icons invisible but like Chris said desktop settings crash so I can’t test that yet.
Will the bar background/icons be customizable?
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I just replaced the APKs with a fixed settings screen.
Thank you for this feedback, it seems that I am not on the wrong track 🙂
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Question, what are the first 2 icons on the bottom?
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Multi selection (not implemented) and whether to snap detached items.
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If ya long press icons it tells ya what they do.
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Thanks Jay M. Didn’t try that
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How well does the new UI works for a 5 inch 720p screen? All looks fine and all, but I’m more worried about devices with smaller screen size. But I have to agree I like it better that most of the options are laid out like this.
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Copied from Roger Schreuders Post
Jesus. Just played a little with the new design ui. It’s so simple and even on mine old samsung S2 with small (800×480) display it works just awesome.
I sold my S2 ages ago but IIRC it has a 4.3″ display. So your 5 should be fine.
You could try it the links up there^
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amazing 🙂
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good function… I open user menu, and now going to edit mode… (selected from desktop/long tap). If user select edit mode from user menu, edit mode have different efect).
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in app drawer/my drawer/go to edit mode everytime crash
, or i am in my drawer, and doing long tap on items, now is crash.
Pierre Hébert
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in edit mode, for first two items (edit items, positions), please for top menu enable text for 3 lines, now is visible 2 and half
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Looks great, nice way to update the look and feel.
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When adding dynamic text. This version of LL crashes also.
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