New New Home Screen (4.4.9298) vs. Old Home Screen

[Ksquared]

Originally Posted by imkh

Hey, I got the Reading Stats there once! Mostly its all the store stuff and I don't even have my wifi on!

Wish it would come back and stay.

I have the reading stats there now, but they did go away for a while. It looks like it randomly cycles through stats, pocket, wish-list, and related reads.

Overall, I like this home screen. The advertisement is minimal, the lower right is a collection and the upper right is am author. I know that can change, but I am not sure what triggers the changes.

I would rather be able to pick what I want to see and have it stick, but I can live with this.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by davidfor

One advantage of how this is done is that a long press displays the book menu just like in the book list. That will have annotations as an item if the book has annotations.

So, it's an advantage you have to do an extra action just to see if you have annotations? I don't always need to see which annotations I have, I only want to know if I have annotations...

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

So, it's an advantage you have to do an extra action just to see if you have annotations? I don't always need to see which annotations I have, I only want to know if I have annotations...

No, it's an advantage that the full menu is displayed when you long press on the book on the home screen. Previously you only had "Open" and "Dismiss".

And as the tile doesn't show the annotation, then this is the quickest way to find out if a book has annotations. That is not an advantage, but is simply how it works now.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by davidfor

No, it's an advantage that the full menu is displayed when you long press on the book on the home screen. Previously you only had "Open" and "Dismiss".

And as the tile doesn't show the annotation, then this is the quickest way to find out if a book has annotations. That is not an advantage, but is simply how it works now.

Then I don't understand your reply at all A disadvantage is the inability to see if a book has annotations, but the advantage is that you can go to those annotations within the menu... You only don't know if said book has annotations, so you must go to the annotations always to even see if it has some...

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Then I don't understand your reply at all A disadvantage is the inability to see if a book has annotations, but the advantage is that you can go to those annotations within the menu... You only don't know if said book has annotations, so you must go to the annotations always to even see if it has some...

Sorry, you are reading far to much into my original statement. How about if I rephrase it to:

One advantage the new home screen is that a long press displays the book menu just like in the book list. That will have annotations as an item if the book has annotations.

I was not commenting on the lack of the annotations on the home screen. I was describing how to get to the annotations and in doing so, stating one of the few advantages of the new home screen.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Then I don't understand your reply at all A disadvantage is the inability to see if a book has annotations, but the advantage is that you can go to those annotations within the menu... You only don't know if said book has annotations, so you must go to the annotations always to even see if it has some...

Actually, if the book has no annotations, then the "annotations" item will not show on the menu. I have 3 books on my home screen, and only one has annotations. I can tell just by the long press which one has them and which doesn't.

Shari

[Terisa de morgan]

So, instead of seeing it at a glance, you have to long press all the books for checking the menu. In my work, that's a workaround when the designer/developer has made a mistake /bad decision

Enviado desde mi MI 5 mediante Tapatalk

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

So, instead of seeing it at a glance, you have to long press all the books for checking the menu. In my work, that's a workaround when the designer/developer has made a mistake /bad decision

Enviado desde mi MI 5 mediante Tapatalk

I'd say that depends on the new layout. Of course since in this case there is plenty of white space, even with Oren's patch to increase the cover size on the home screen, I have to agree that the choice to hide information under a long press is an odd one at best.

[ottdmk]

It could be simply a question of aesthetics. From the screenshots I've seen around here aesthetics would seem to be a major design factor for this redesign. (Despite syncing a few times the last week or so my H2O has yet to update, and I'm too lazy to side-load.)

[Nick Payne]

Originally Posted by ottdmk

It could be simply a question of aesthetics. From the screenshots I've seen around here aesthetics would seem to be a major design factor for this redesign.

So, another triumph of form over function...

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Nick Payne

So, another triumph of form over function...

It could also be a response to complaints. From my experience here, there have been as many complaints about the previous home screen as compliments. More than one of them described that they wanted something like what Kobo have produced.

[markyisri]

I like the new new home screen better. Just received the update OTA.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by davidfor

It could also be a response to complaints. From my experience here, there have been as many complaints about the previous home screen as compliments. More than one of them described that they wanted something like what Kobo have produced.

Then why not give both, if the camp for and the camp against are about equal in size...

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Then why not give both, if the camp for and the camp against are about equal in size...

Because having two different home screens means double maintenance.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Then why not give both, if the camp for and the camp against are about equal in size...

Because supporting both is expensive. Two sets of code, two sets of help, two sets of support instructions. And it gets confusing for the users.

The change is about Kobo deciding to make a change. Whether they did it because of complaints, because they thought it would sell books, because they hired someone to show them how it was done properly, or just because they felt like it, we don't know and it's unlikely we will ever know.