Context menu vs. drag& drop of resource icons

[Thomas Pfeiffer]

On 17.04.2012 15:21, Marco Martin wrote:

>> But even if the context menu appears, dragging the icon could still be
>> enabled (the menu should disappear opon dragging, of course).
>
> hmm, another problem...
> at the moment the behaviour is that moving the fingler while pressed and menu
> open it selects menu items, so the events are completely managed by the menu,
> to make possible to press, move finger over an item, like the stars, release,
> the item gets activated, so all done in a single gesture (just like the
> desktop menubar behaves)

I must admit that I never noticed this was possible. I always lifted the finger 
after the menu appeared because that's the way I know context menus (since there 
you.

> this is kinda mututally exclusive with enabling drag and drop while the menu
> is open, i think is nice because makes using the menu a bit faster, if is
> decided to drop that feature both here and in the activity screen fine, should
> be the same tough.

It definitely should be the same, yes. Hmm...
Okay, I guess I'll have to rethink this. I have been thinking about finding new 
ways to open the context menu anyway.
One idea I have been thinking about is the following:

To open the context menu, swipe up or down from the icon. The menu would then be 
displayed above or below the icon, depending on the direction of the swipe. This 
would be like pulling the menu out of the icon, matching the "drawer" metaphor 
of e.g. the top bar or Activity Wheel. In my imagination, this feels quite 
"natural", although it is of course even less discoverable than the hold and 
would definitely need to be demonstrated to users.

If we implemented that, we could use hold only for dragging (ideally with an 
animation which makes it clear that the icon is now free to move). Another 
mobile UI is doing something similar for their homescreen AFAIR, but unless they 
have a patent on it, we could still use it.

I'm not sure how well this would work, but I'd love to try it out in action. 
What do you guys think about it?

> i would have to check if technically possible having a dnd event active while
> the menu is open tough, or rather close it and be actually sure is closed
> before the drag event starts, the two things are quite notorious to make the X
> server explode badly when used together

The menu should be closed before the drag event starts, yes.