Il giorno giovedì 26 novembre 2015 15:11:02 UTC+1, Enrico Ghiorzi ha scritto: > I also have something it's puzzling me, but I can't manage to put my finger > on it. Much has been said about an Android-style back button: there's even > even an add-on to add that to the homebar. Let's call this a 'navigation' > back button, as it brings you to the structurally-previous view inside an > app. Then there is the 'history' back button implemented in the browser. At > last, there is the 'Ctrl-z-style' back button, as described in > https://www.fastcodesign.com/3053406/how-apple-is-giving-design-a-bad-name as > a great feature Apple dismissed. Each OS has to implement (or dismiss) these > three kinds of back functions, which are somewhat similar but still > different. Is there a sensible way to implement this all in a structural way? > How this plays with FxOS and its agenda? I have no answer here, but maybe > some of you have.
After some thought I may have wrapped my head around this, so I'll try to articulate. Please bear with me if I say stupid/obvious things! I can think of four different kinds of "back/undo" action: a) Navigation back button, which brings you to the structurally precedent view inside an app. a') History back button, as it works in browsers. b) Return to the app you were using before the current one; or, in a browser, return to the previous tab. c) Undo last action, like "Ctrl-z" does on desktop. I think an OS should provide all of this functions when needed, in a structured and consistent way. First of all, observe that (a) and (a') coincide when the history back button is the only way to navigate backwards inside an app. This is already mostly done in FxOS: most apps use a back button on the left of the header which looks exactly like browser's back button. The single apps are responsible for using this back button consistently (and at present they mostly do that, I think). Secondly, the (b) functionality in FxOS is provided by the App Manager and the edge-swipe gesture (which, as others here noticed, has issues on its own which should be addressed). We are left then with the (c) functionality, which seems to be completely absent in FxOS. These are the use-cases I can think of: - Restoring deleted objects (such as messages, e-mails, contacts, pictures, videos, audio files, and apps) - Restoring default settings - Restoring deleted text I think most, if not all, of these scenarios could be subject to an ad-hoc solution managed by the involved app: whenever you delete a picture, there you have a "restore picture" button where the picture was before, and analogously with messages, e-mails, contacts, videos, audio files, and apps. Alternatively, a "trash bin" app could be implemented, storing deleted objects and letting the user restore them. The Settings app could have "Restore default settings" buttons where most needed, and so each app in its own settings menu. Finally, a "Ctrl-z" key could be added to the keyboard to restore deleted text. Long story short, I think that FxOS already implements most forms of "back/undo" in a structured way, provided that the back button inside apps is used consistently with the browser's "back in history" button. This function could be assigned to an Android-style homebar back button, but I see no particular benefit in that. App switching is an important form of navigation which should be improved even further, solving the issues that have been reported. What is still missing is an error recovery, "Ctrl-z" style back button. This can be done in different but equivalently useful ways. A beneficial effect of that, other than indulgently letting the user recover from mistakes, would be that "Are you sure you want to delete this" confirmation screens would no longer be necessary, making interaction faster. _______________________________________________ dev-fxos mailing list [email protected] https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-fxos
