ubuntu-phone team mailing list archive

[Michael Spencer <spencers1993@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 06/24/2013 08:35 PM, Josh Leverette wrote:
> Why do you need a back button at all in the email app? I can actually
> think of a number of effective implementations that don't require a
> back button -- not even to return from viewing an email. However, if
> an app is making such extensive use of the back button, there's
> nothing stopping the developer from putting their own alternate
> implementation in.
>
> One reasonable option which requires no tabs.

I'm no UI designer, so I was mostly just getting ideas from the Android
Gmail app, which I like a lot. However, using a page stack, at least on
the phone, makes the most sense in my opinion, because it conveys the
hierarchy of the email layout well:

account@xxxxxxxxxx
    Inbox
        Test Message
        2nd Message
    Drafts
        Draft Message
    Sent
        ...

Having a separate tab and using the flat navigation structure doesn't
make sense. According to the design documentation, "The user moves
between main views of functionality of equal importance." An list of
emails and an email don't seem to be equal in importance.

In the case of a tablet/desktop version, I would suggest doing something
like the Ubuntu UI Toolkit Gallery app does, and have a side bar with a
list of messages, and then a main content view.

> The back button is a crutch in most designs, since there is usually an
> elegant way to avoid it. Sometimes, the back button is necessary, and
> that's what it is there for. If the back button is extremely pervasive
> inside of and necessary to an app, then a persistent toolbar (one that
> doesn't need to be swiped up) could be used while not at the top of
> the page stack.

Why is it a crutch? According to the design documentation, a deep
navigation structure should be used to convey a hierarchy, and is one of
the three main navigation structures.

>
> /So can we please drop this subject?/ Until the day that Ubuntu touch
> is overrun with back button UIs, the only thing this discussion is
> getting is old. *75 emails about a back button is just
> crazy.* Especially when the back button is not going to be used like
> the one in Android is.

I've only been following the last couple emails, but I do think that
since the page stack is one of the three main navigation structures, the
location and implementation of a back action is quite important.

-- 
Michael Spencer - ibeliever.github.io

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
- Proverbs 3:5-6