New KAlgebra and Material Design on KDE Android apps

[Aleix Pol]

On Sun, Nov 1, 2015 at 12:29 AM, Thomas Pfeiffer
<thomas.pfeiffer at kde.org> wrote:
> 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
I noticed, I have no idea how to fix that, will need to find some time
and look into it, if nobody beats me to it.
https://phabricator.kde.org/T1007

> - 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
Cool, I didn't know that! :D
https://github.com/papyros/qml-material/issues/327

>
> 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
Correct, I'm working on it.

> - 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.
Correct, should be fixed in the next release.

>
> 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.
Fair enough, I'll look into fixing it. Do you think it's the same
problem for 2D and 3D plots?

> - There is a "Go" button in Value Table, whereas in all other screens, the
> return button starts the calculation/drawing
I guess the question here is "where should I press enter to run the
value table?".

> - 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.
I see, the idea there

> - The "Variables" screen has several problems:
>   - All I can see there are constants, no variables
>   - I have no idea what this screen is for
Yeah, needs some work I guess. The idea is that there's global
variables that are available throughout the application and this view
can present it.

>   - I ave no idea what some of those constants (e.g. f457) are for
Functions are also global variables.

>   - As far as I know, ":=" is not correct mathematical notation, it would just
> be "="
:= is assignation, = is boolean equality.

>
> I hope this if helpful!
>
> Apart from these issues, both the Material Design components and KAlgebra are
> already quite impressive. Great work you guys!

:D Thanks to you for spending the time!

Aleix