New KAlgebra and Material Design on KDE Android apps

[Thomas Pfeiffer]

On Thursday 29 October 2015 02:57:01 Aleix Pol wrote:
> Hi,
> I've been trying to get ready a new version of KAlgebra for Android
> [1]. The special thing about the new version that I think you might be
> interested in is that instead of just using QtQuick Controls, it uses
> QML Material [2] (author in CC), a set of QQC components that are just
> written in QML but are designed to look as Material Design dictates
> [3].
> 
> Personally, I couldn't be happier, it finally brings the Material look
> we were missing. I still think I could improve a bit in the app side,
> but I think it's quite promising. I'd recommend other applications to
> take a look and consider using it.
> 
> Anyway, please take a look and tell me what you think. Cool new
> feature in KAlgebra is also 3D plotting. Enjoy!
> 
> Aleix
> 
> [1] http://proli.net/meu/kalgebra/QtApp-debug.apk
> [2] https://github.com/papyros/qml-material
> [3] https://www.google.com/design/spec/material-design/introduction.html

Hi Aleix and everyone else reading this,
I installed KAlgebra on Android and gave it a try. Here are a few points I 
noticed:

Related to the Material Design components:
- The system's top bar is black has a black background, unlike in native 
Material Design apps, where it uses the header bar's color
- The main menu can only be opened using the button, whereas in native apps, 
it can alternatively be opened using a swipe from the left edge. This is 
important, because the button at the top is hard to reach especially on larger 
phones, so the swipe is an important alternative

Related to either the components or KAlgebra (not sure):
- On my system (Android 5) When I tap any edit field, the 
cut/copy/paste/select all controls pop up, even without me selecting anything 
or long-tapping, and they do not go away. This is a huge problem, because e.g. 
in the console view I cannot even reach the navigation drawer anymore
- In non-interactive lists like value tables, when I tap a value in the list 
it sends a ripple even though I cannot select it. Ripples must only happen 
when the tap had an actual effect (even if that effect is only selection)
- The main menu (navigation drawer) usually has a title or other sort of 
header. It doesn't have one in KAlgebra, which is inconsistent with 
expectations. 

Related to KAlgebra in particular:
- The field where the formula is entered is much too small. It the most 
important element in the console screen, but it's tiny and hard to hit.
- There is a "Go" button in Value Table, whereas in all other screens, the 
return button starts the calculation/drawing
- When Graph 2D or Graph3D are opened, the edit field is filled with a 
formula, but the graph is not drawn until one goes into the edit field and 
presses return. This is confusing.
- The "Variables" screen has several problems:
  - All I can see there are constants, no variables
  - I have no idea what this screen is for
  - I ave no idea what some of those constants (e.g. f457) are for
  - As far as I know, ":=" is not correct mathematical notation, it would just 
be "="

I hope this if helpful!

Apart from these issues, both the Material Design components and KAlgebra are 
already quite impressive. Great work you guys!

Cheers,
Thomas