ubuntu-phone team mailing list archive

[Octavian Damiean <odamiean@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, Feb 25, 2013 at 12:56 PM, Petko <pditchev@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>  The problem is not scalability , anyone can resize their app , and most
> people would think of displaying less content not to look cluttered . The
> problem is that in many (if not most) cases an app that has platform
> independent functionality would need an entirely different design to work
> (nicely) . I'll give a proof-of-concept example : iOSs settings on the
> tablet [1] and on the phone [2] .
>

That's called a responsive design.


> * The main point I want to throw out there and stress on it's importance
> : *Ubuntu wants to go on all form factors . We want to be able to dock
> and get the next device in the hierarchy . But nobody thought of a
> specification for making the same apps work on all form factors
> (accordingly) .
>

Ubuntu Touch is not officially released yet and team is working hard on
specifications and the platform in general. What we have so far is the
Ubuntu Touch "developer preview" and the Ubuntu SDK "preview".


> What I think will happen : users will download a bunch of different
> applications for the same purposes (on different platforms). In the cases
> where they should use the same data (for ex. a calendar) it would be a mess
> , and in other cases Ubuntu won't show the apps inappropriate for this form
> factor (but they still would take their space ). The user doesn't have the
> ease of passage between form factors , because he'll have to use, most of
> the time, entirely different apps.
>
> What I want to happen as a developer and a user: the perfect app for
> ubuntu (if the case is like the settings example above) would have a GUI
> spec for each form factor . I'll click the same icon on the desktop, tablet
> , phone and get the appropriate interface . Such a system should have it's
> specification (the method for Ubuntu to know which interface to load) , and
> the idea should be in the Design Guidelines .
>

As a user you might be right, because as a user you don't have to know how
the system beneath achieves what it does. As a developer it would be a huge
pin to have to maintain n version of the user interface for n form factors.
That's where responsive design kicks in. Because QML borrows a lot from the
CSS specification I think this should be possible to achieve.

Also, don't forget about HTML5 app. Those will provide all the awesomeness
of responsive web design.

Cheers,
Octavian