iLiad New ContentLister mockup proposal

[Iñigo]

Hi,
I've been working on the mockup of a contentlister replacement.
The screenshot attached was made using glade and gimp.

Now I'll describe the components:

* Toolbar with some groups of buttons

- Navigation
  . Recent
  . Favourites
  . File system
  . Tags
  . Search
- Edit
  . Cut
  . Copy
  . Paste
  . Delete
  . Rename
- UI
  . Toggle list/icon view
  . Increase font size
  . Decrease font size
- Applications
  . Apps
- System
  . Network status
  . Battery status
  . System SubMenu
    o Time/date
    o Iliad settings
    o ... [1]

[1] consult jharker's comment #14 about System Dialog in thread https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30955

* Buttonbar
Like GNOME's one.
In search or tags modes, it will be replaced with an entrybox.

* Books view
2 views:
- notebook view
By default notebook with no scrollbar, with listview inside.
As many pages as needed.
Font size could be changed. 3 different sizes: small, medium, big.
For each entry there is a "selection" checkbutton, an icon representing document type, and 2 lines (big filename in upper line, comments/tags and size in bottom line)
- icon view


Regressions from current contentlister
- no "sort" button => system preferences?
- no "block", "pin" buttons => does anyone use them?
- no "show keyboard" button => only showed when needed


Additional comments
- toolbar icons should be bigger
- default font should be bigger
- instead filename, show title and author. But then we would hace to extract them, and not all docs provide them in an easy way to retrieve
- we should dettach keyboard handling from this contentlister



If you like the design I could start a proof-of-concept written in python.

What do you think? Any ideas, comments, suggestions?

Kind regards,
Iñigo

[jharker]

Here are a few quick comments, off the top of my head:

• I love, love, breadcrumbs. For me, breadcrumbs are a must-have, and I'm glad to see them in this mockup.
• I think we should probably try to continue positioning the toolbar at the bottom. Beyond that, I like the general concept of the icons. Do icons really need big solid borders around them a la iRex? Probably not, I think.

Beyond the UI, I'd like to address a lower-level question. Currrently the ContentLister administers all functions necessary to run the iLiad, and in addition it lists and opens files.

It seems to me that it might make more sense to keep the parts of the ContentLister that do system administration, and then write (or modify) an existing file manager/browser (like Nautilus) to act as the file browser on top. It might be easier to simply cut out the file-browsing code in the ContentLister and then add a new program separately... what do you think?

It also raises the interesting question, is there a decent file manager out there that could be modified to suit our needs?

[Iñigo]

Originally Posted by jharker

I think we should probably try to continue positioning the toolbar at the bottom.

I also spent some minutes on this, but couldn't find any good reason... Why do you think so?

Originally Posted by jharker

Beyond that, I like the general concept of the icons.

Another option to clean the interface is to have submenu buttons, like the proposed in the new iPDF, so we would have 1 menu-button for edit actions, other for view, and so on.

Originally Posted by jharker

Beyond the UI, I'd like to address a lower-level question. Currrently the ContentLister administers all functions necessary to run the iLiad, and in addition it lists and opens files.

I'd prefer to split the system functions from the file management. This could make the components swappable.
Btw, is there a complete list with all the functions ContentLister does now? file management, some keys handling, power management...?
In my head, we could have different daemons listening for these events and communicating through a bus system. Kind of dbus, but much lighter.

Originally Posted by jharker

It seems to me that it might make more sense to keep the parts of the ContentLister that do system administration, and then write (or modify) an existing file manager/browser (like Nautilus) to act as the file browser on top. It might be easier to simply cut out the file-browsing code in the ContentLister and then add a new program separately... what do you think?

As I've mentioned above, imo there should be different components, loosely coupled and communicating through a bus. Obviously, this means to rewrite lot of code, but we could reuse current components and only change the api.

Originally Posted by jharker

It also raises the interesting question, is there a decent file manager out there that could be modified to suit our needs?

I thought about it before doing this mockup, but I guess that the iLiad is so special that it would be better to have an "ad hoc" file manager. Anyway, if we achieve to split system features from file management, this last part is not so complex to develop.


Thanks for your comments.

[M@rcel]

- no "block", "pin" buttons => does anyone use them?

yup, I use them both. I block the keys during scribbling and during transport (my iLiad is only powercycled once a day, normally). The pin is used during trips when I have copies of my traveling documents on the internal memory (not on the cards obviously)

[CleverClothe]

I like a lot of the ideas in Iñigo's mock up.

Originally Posted by Iñigo

Regressions from current contentlister
- no "sort" button => system preferences?
- no "block", "pin" buttons => does anyone use them?

I would like to keep the PIN button. It might be useful for people doing work related activities (sensitive information).

I also would like the ability to specify sorting options on individual folders, eventually.

Originally Posted by jharker

• I think we should probably try to continue positioning the toolbar at the bottom. Beyond that, I like the general concept of the icons. Do icons really need big solid borders around them a la iRex? Probably not, I think.

I very much like the visual style of the content lister. Could themes be added, or at least make the content lister theme friendly?

[vblars]

Originally Posted by jharker

I think we should probably try to continue positioning the toolbar at the bottom.

Is there any problem with we self decide where we want the toolbar ?
I think a setup or anything like that.

Greeting

vblars

[joelypolly]

I think the tool bar at the top makes sense since the physical buttons are along the bottom. Like the way the older nokia phones use to work. You had all the status displays at the top and actions the physical buttons could perform on the bottom.

[nekokami]

I use the Lock button whenever scribbling. I would really like to see the ability to sort as well as search by different criteria within the Content Lister. There is an ongoing effort to collect feature requests for the Content Lister. Please see this thread: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30379

[CleverClothe]

I would prefer the toolbar at the bottom if it is to be horizonal. On the left if it will be vertical. This puts it closer to where I normally hold the device, where it is more stable.

[Napoleon]

To Iñigo:

I like your mockup, it is way better than the contentlister default, which is actually ridiculous. I think we should not waste time deciding if we like the pin button, or if the top bar should be at the bottom, or if the icons should be nicer, etc. All those are questions we should leave for later. For the moment
I think the problem is the contentlister... after all, that's the first thing you see after booting!

I'll say let's go forward with this idea, enhancements can always be done later.
I'm a python programmer so I am willing to collaborate with you to develop this project further. PM me so we can get it rolling.

Mark my words, you mortals:
"A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights."
Napoleon Bonaparte