Bangarang --touch packages in Balsam KDE:Active

[Andrew Lake]

On Thu, Sep 22, 2011 at 3:44 PM, Sebastian Kügler <sebas at kde.org> wrote:
> Hi Andrew,
>
> [Are you on the active at kde.org list? I CC:'ed you just in case you're not.]

I was subscribed but I was just periodically checking up via the
archive.  Thanks much for cc'ing me.  I went ahead and turned on
delivery again.

>
> I'm a big fan of Bangarang, and I'm using it on my Plasma Active tablets.
>
> During the Active sprint this week, we've discussed multimedia players, and
> decided to ship Bangarang as part of Plasma Active One, I hope you're cool
> with that =)

I am oh so cool with that!  :-)

> I was happy to read on http://bangarangkde.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/bangarang-
> touchificationism/ that you're working on some touch improvements. I agree
> that it makes a lot of sense to concentrate on some low-hanging fruit first.
> Bangarang already works pretty well on a touchscreen, and with some minor
> improvements, the biggest interaction problems right now can be fixed.
>
> When using Bangarang on the train back home today, I spent some thoughts on
> some immediate improvements that struck me while using it. Not knowing the
> codebase, I think there is some very low-hanging fruit that would address the
> main interaction problems I see right now, in order of priority to improve the
> ergonomy of the interface:
>
> - open button in central file-browsing view. When using the "Files and
>  Folders" view on the left to browse files on the filesystem, opening folders
>  in the mainview is a bit cumbersome. Two things strike me here:
>  - the arrow icon on the right is very hard to hit, especially with the
>    "invisible" resizing grip right next to it. The SingleClick setting is not
>    respected there, but the need to double-tap or use the arrow introduces
>    inconsistencies with other UIs, and therefore make it hard to navigate
>    into folders. Is this a conscious choice to make selection easier?

Thanks so much for taking the time to provide this kind of feedback.
The interaction mechanics there is a hold-over from the regular
desktop mode where a single click is used to allowed the user to
select one or more categories (artist, album, genre, file folder,
etc.) to play.  Until I implement a multiselect mechanic for touch I
could just open those categories with a single touch.  The downside is
that additional interaction step gets added to the information and
interaction cycle for the general media browsing use-case: The user
would need to press the <previous> button before being able to select
a different category.

>        Proposed fixes:
>          - increase the icon size of the arrow,
>          - add a bit of space to the grip line,

That sounds good and probably has the least impact, thanks. I'll
definitely increase the touchable area for the category arrow and
maybe increase the icon size as well.

>
> I've put a copy of the bangarang package from KDE:Extra into KDE:Active,
> updated the tarball to master, and enabled --touch in the .desktop files, so
> that Plasma Active users now get this version by default. Let's see how we
> fare :)

Thanks so much!

> I've noticed that the URL loading from the commandline, or through %U was
> broken when --touch was supplied on the command line, a patch is attached.
> (This patch is already in the package.)

You rock so much Sebastian. I'll commit to master this weekend.
Thanks so much for the feedback and if there are any other ideas feel
free to send 'em my way!

peace and much respect,
Andrew