Redesigning the Android app

[Albert Vaca]

I like your ideas a lot. You made me want to start working on the new UI
right away :D It's so bad I don't have any free time now (actually, it's 9
PM and I'm still at work lol) :(

There is one thing I disagree with you, though. I think that devices and
plugins are very different things to have them together in the bar,
specially because the plugins are like a subcategory of the device: every
Device has its own plugins "inside". Also, changing devices is not
something that you do very often (and usually you only have one connected
device at a time), so having to open a drop-down to change the current
device seems like a better option to me. I imagine something similar to
what the GMail app does when you have more than one email account and you
want to switch between them.

The idea of synchronizing the enabled plugins is something that would be
interesting but it's a bit difficult technically, because the plugins are
not "symmetrical": a plugin can listen to packages from more than one
plugin on the other end, and the other way around. It's worth seeing what
we can do though (and it's related to the "capabilities detection" feature
that Aleix wants to implement).

Sending files without pairing is an idea that has been in mind since the
day 0 of the project, but I never found time to implement it... and
sometimes I want to send a file to a friend who also uses KDE Connect and
we have to go through Bluetooth because we don't have this yet :(


On Mon, Mar 30, 2015 at 6:00 AM, Markus Slopianka <kamikazow at gmx.de> wrote:

> On Sunday 29 March 2015 21:56:52 Albert Vaca wrote:
>
> > About the redesign, it would be cool if you can share the mockups you
> > already did (a picture of your drawings is enough), because it's
> something
> > that I would love to tackle later on this year.
>
> First of all, I should mention my primary design inspirations. So even
> without
> an interactive mockup, it should help understand my drawing.
> They are AntennaPod, a FOSS podcast app, and the Messaging app as found in
> CyanogenMod 12. I also had a quick look at screenshots of Pushbullet but I
> didn't find it too inspiring. Maybe I'll take a closer look should I go
> forward
> with my design concept and hit a wall somewhere.
>
> My drawing:
>
> https://share.kde.org/public.php?service=files&t=f0fdbe07be30b205ea066e561cd31826
>
> Screenshot of AntennaPod:
>
> https://share.kde.org/public.php?service=files&t=b435a379762a5335b13b82c5ecf21cb7
>
> The first items in the sidebar are the Touchpad and Media Player plugins.
> As in
> AntennaPod they are accommodated by monochrome icons.
> Then follows a list of paired devices. As with the Messaging application,
> they
> get a colored circle icon.
> Then follows Settings entry (monochrome gear icon) which is partially
> overlapped by a Plus button (probably colored as color means 'related to
> remote devices') to pair further devices. Settings and Plus always hover at
> the bottom of the screen, so even if some insane person pairs 20 devices,
> one
> does not have to scroll to the bottom of the list to find these entries.
> The settings entry contains options regarding the device the user currently
> holds in his hand and also "About KDE Connect" with Copyrights, GPL, etc..
>
> The Plus button shows a list of discovered devices as well as an "Connect
> to
> IP" button.
> A "Guest Pair" mode that kind of acts like AirDrop for iOS would be cool,
> too.
> The user could send links and files to a friend without full pairing.
>
> The main screen features Material Design's title bar. It contains the name
> of
> the device currently controlled and a 3-dot menu. The background color
> changes
> according the the color in the sidebar's circle icon (this idea is from
> Messaging).
> In the touchpad view by default almost the entire screen (minus the title
> bar)
> serves as touchpad. In the lower right corner is a "Show Keyboard" button.
> The 3-dot menu contains "Ping" and a Settings menu with options regarding
> the
> currently selected remote device.
> Here I must say I'm not entirely sure that having two separate Settings
> menus
> (one for the device currently in the user's hand and one for the remote
> device) is such a great idea, however if 20 devices are paired, listing
> them
> all in the sidebar's settings menu, feels kinda convoluted right now.
>
> For this Per-device Settings I do not have a drawing, only keywords of
> features I feel should be there:
> - Unpair button (not directly in the 3-dot menu to not hit it accidentally)
> - A handful of settings that hopefully could sync. I.e. if I don't want my
> smartphone's file system to be browse-able from My PC, I could deselect it
> here
> and My PC's KCM would remove the checkbox as well.
>
>
> > We already got some mockups from Heath Paddock, an artist from Elementary
> > OS (I think). I think it's relevant to link them here:
> >
> > https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8820360/kdeconnect/mockup1.png
>
> That looks interesting for larger screens like tablets. My design is
> focused
> on regular smartphone form factors.
>
>
> > https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8820360/kdeconnect/mockup2.png
>
> I don't like that switching between remote devices requires an additional
> tap
> on that triangle menu button. Disconnect can be hit accidentally which is
> very
> bad if the remote device is so remote, the user cannot just pair it again.
> Not sure what Stats he wants to see...
>
>
> > However, the goal of this other change is the same
> > as removing the first screen: save the user from making more clicks than
> > needed, and I believe that we should think in that direction.
>
> Yes, absolutely.
>
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