Aura ONE Improvements to Kobos GUI, want your thoughts!

[Calenorn]

If there were an option to display date and time on the home screen, I would use it.

[geek1011]

I would like the version of webkit to be updated (I want to be able to use flexbox and es2015), scrollbars to be fixed in the reader and browser, and for sideloaded books to be able to sync. I'd also like slightly thinner borders around boxes, and a slimmer top and bottom bar.

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

But this is the code I added into the nickel.patch file. Be warned this was for Firmware 4.9.11311, I'm not sure if it's one of those multi-firmware patches.

Here is the multi-version patch for use with kobopatch: https://github.com/geek1011/kobopatc....yaml#L93-L125 . BTW, I like your idea for the homescreen design.

[Ripplinger]

Originally Posted by geek1011

Here is the multi-version patch for use with kobopatch: https://github.com/geek1011/kobopatc....yaml#L93-L125 . BTW, I like your idea for the homescreen design.

Thanks for that link, I'm bookmarking this now so I don't loose it again. It's one of my "must haves".

[Fanki]

Thank you for all the replies to this thread! Please keep it up - I'm logging and organizing all your replies.

[PeterT]

My issue with threads like this is simply what's the point.

[Fanki]

Originally Posted by PeterT

My issue with threads like this is simply what's the point.

Thank you for your contribution, PeterT.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

I once posted images of what I wanted to see in a home screen with blocks being uniformly sized for whatever it was (found the old post here), images I could put here. But that's still my preference over this new screen, I still hate it. At least there's a way to remove the 3rd line with the recommendations.

Dump the commendation from your mock up and put something more useful there. Anything that requires WiFi to be on is not a good idea for a tile in the home screen.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by John F

I would like a reading mode: tap anywhere on the screen to page forward, swiping can be used also.

How about an option to tap to move forward and swipe right to move back and swipe up/down to get the menu?

[John F]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

How about an option to tap to move forward and swipe right to move back and swipe up/down to get the menu?

My main reason for it is so there is only one tap area.

My secondary thinking is that if it is simpler, there is less likely a chance of missing taps or misinterpreting taps for swipes, long presses, double taps, ...

I would really like a rock solid method for tapping to turn pages.

[Ripplinger]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Dump the commendation from your mock up and put something more useful there. Anything that requires WiFi to be on is not a good idea for a tile in the home screen.

Remember all of those tiles are dismissable, so that leaves it up to everyone what tiles they want on their screen. The only fixed tiles are the top 3 books, which would be the most recently opened.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Fanki

Thank you for your contribution, PeterT.

Well, what is the point? So far, nothing in this thread is new. Every idea suggested has been suggested in one or other thread here before. That is the point of the two firmware suggestion threads stickied at the top of this forum. And there are a lot more ideas there. Some of those ideas have been adopted, most haven't.

So, what is the point? Are you expecting to come up with a design and sell that to Kobo? Or are you planning to develop the code yourself? Or encourage someone else to do it? Or, it is just intellectual curiosity? And for all of those, "been there, done that". You can find threads that cover all of these.

Of course, the funniest thing to me about this thread is you. Your first post is decrying the interface and stating you want to develop something better. But, you don't make any suggestions yourself. You don't say what it is you don't like or want. I find that a very strange thing to do.

Having said all that, have at it. It's fun, and from my point of view, it is interesting to see what others think is important. And occasionally very amusing. You just need to keep your expectations at a reasonable level. And maybe actually state what your expectations are.

[Calenorn]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Well, what is the point? So far, nothing in this thread is new. Every idea suggested has been suggested in one or other thread here before. That is the point of the two firmware suggestion threads stickied at the top of this forum. And there are a lot more ideas there. Some of those ideas have been adopted, most haven't.

So, what is the point? Are you expecting to come up with a design and sell that to Kobo? Or are you planning to develop the code yourself? Or encourage someone else to do it? Or, it is just intellectual curiosity? And for all of those, "been there, done that". You can find threads that cover all of these.

Of course, the funniest thing to me about this thread is you. Your first post is decrying the interface and stating you want to develop something better. But, you don't make any suggestions yourself. You don't say what it is you don't like or want. I find that a very strange thing to do.

Having said all that, have at it. It's fun, and from my point of view, it is interesting to see what others think is important. And occasionally very amusing. You just need to keep your expectations at a reasonable level. And maybe actually state what your expectations are.

It would be good to remember that some of us are new here, or visit infrequently. Plowing through years of previous posts would take a fair amount of time.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Calenorn

It would be good to remember that some of us are new here, or visit infrequently. Plowing through years of previous posts would take a fair amount of time.

That's fair enough, and I've thought a couple of times that resetting those firmware suggestion threads would be a good idea. But, to do that it would really need for someone to sift through the threads and make a summary to seed the thread. Otherwise, the new thread would just be repeats of the old.

On the other hand, don't be to surprised if a few of the older hands get a bit exasperated by the repeated suggestions. As I said, nothing suggested so far in this thread is new. None of those suggestions have been taken by Kobo, and I doubt if any will be. I'm not trying to discourage the discussion, just making sure that expectations are reasonable.

A problem for me I suppose is that I disagree with @Fanki's opening statement. I have no idea what "smartness" the UI is missing or how you to really improve the reading experience. I see words on the page, I can adjust the text size and easily turn to the next page. And I don't have to break the spine of the book to keep it open. What more do you need? And that is why I feel the lack of information in @Fanki's opening post is important. I have no idea where @Fanki is coming from. And that is important as a lot of this is personal. To pick a suggestion made in the thread, tapping anywhere to turn the page doesn't sound like a good idea to me, but obviously someone does think it is a good idea.

[Mrs_Often]

Originally Posted by Fanki

Thank you for all the replies to this thread! Please keep it up - I'm logging and organizing all your replies.

Thank you!

Originally Posted by Calenorn

It would be good to remember that some of us are new here, or visit infrequently. Plowing through years of previous posts would take a fair amount of time.

Yes, I agree.

Originally Posted by davidfor

Well, what is the point? So far, nothing in this thread is new. Every idea suggested has been suggested in one or other thread here before. That is the point of the two firmware suggestion threads stickied at the top of this forum. And there are a lot more ideas there. Some of those ideas have been adopted, most haven't.

So, what is the point?

The point is that this is a new inventory of the feature wishes that are still current. The stickied threads are indeed full of feature requests but they are also old. There is no way to know which requests and wishes are still current or still valid or still applicable. If someone really wants to try to build the perfect GUI, they need to know which wishes still exists right now, not sift through many many pages of a mix of wishes from all sorts of different firmwares and guess at which users still have the same opinion months/years later.

Originally Posted by davidfor

[...] And that is why I feel the lack of information in @Fanki's opening post is important. I have no idea where @Fanki is coming from. And that is important as a lot of this is personal.

That's understandable. Though I can also understand that maybe Fanki didn't think his own opinion was relevant (to us) as he's the one wanting to attempt to build a new GUI, and was after our opinion to see what is currently important.

Having said that, what are your own ideas, Fanki?

[Fanki]

Originally Posted by davidfor

That's fair enough, and I've thought a couple of times that resetting those firmware suggestion threads would be a good idea. But, to do that it would really need for someone to sift through the threads and make a summary to seed the thread. Otherwise, the new thread would just be repeats of the old.

On the other hand, don't be to surprised if a few of the older hands get a bit exasperated by the repeated suggestions. As I said, nothing suggested so far in this thread is new. None of those suggestions have been taken by Kobo, and I doubt if any will be. I'm not trying to discourage the discussion, just making sure that expectations are reasonable.

A problem for me I suppose is that I disagree with @Fanki's opening statement. I have no idea what "smartness" the UI is missing or how you to really improve the reading experience. I see words on the page, I can adjust the text size and easily turn to the next page. And I don't have to break the spine of the book to keep it open. What more do you need? And that is why I feel the lack of information in @Fanki's opening post is important. I have no idea where @Fanki is coming from. And that is important as a lot of this is personal. To pick a suggestion made in the thread, tapping anywhere to turn the page doesn't sound like a good idea to me, but obviously someone does think it is a good idea.

I have to admit, I did not know about those threads in this forum. Maybe I was not looking hard enough. I also assumed that my angle on approaching the subject would be somewhat new, and that would affect opinions and thoughts on the matter, which would motivate a new thread. I also did not know there was a need to defend this kind of idea, but apparently there is one. What I want to do is:

• Collect opinions, frustrations and needs from Kobo users regarding the UI/UX aspect of the interface
• Map those needs out and see what are recurring/common themes
• Create UI wireframes out of those needs, and create a clickable prototype which I would share here, and on Dribbble/Behance and similar places to show a clear before and after. After a (hopefully) successful outcome, share that to Kobo.

I did not want to come with suggestions, as I wanted to start with a blank sheet, not influencing what you guys came up with. I am not doing this for any reason other than a passion for reading and creating great interfaces. I wanted to merge those two interests and create something good. And I do agree, some requests/ideas in this thread are more personal than others, but I think it is possible to sift through and find common themes.

Here are some of my ideas on improvements to the interface:

• Remove Kobo Store bloat, and use those areas for personal (already bought or side-loaded) content, articles, notes etc.
• Find a way to visually represent the length of books in relation to other books in your library (Kindle has found a way of solving this)
• A global Day/Night Mode, which would invert the whole UI, including Reading Mode
• Let your book collection shine: Display more metadata regarding genre, year, synopsis etc. in a "Detailed Listing Mode".
• A smarter dictionary, which would help non-native English readers (like myself) to easily recognize and learn difficult english words. English has a lot of words.

I am unsure on how to proceed, as I was not expecting this reaction. I am still naive enough to think it would have an impact on Kobo. It's one thing to say "This is not working" or "Do this", an another to say and actually show "Here is how it should be done".

All the best,
E