Editing Documentation/Maemo 5 Developer Guide/Porting Software/Redesigning From Maemo 4 to Maemo 5

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=== Limit of 10 items in the view menus ===
=== Limit of 10 items in the view menus ===
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The Maemo 4 application menu typically contains most or the full set of functionality of the application, organized in hierarchical menus. In Maemo 5, there is a strict limit of maximum 10 items in a view menu, and there is no menu hierarchy.
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The Maemo 4 application menu typically contains most or the full set of functionality of the application, organized in hierarchical menus.
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In Maemo 5, there is a strict limit of maximum 10 items in a view menu, and there is no menu hierarchy.
The Maemo 5 View menus are not application menus, in the sense that a view menu only contains commands relevant to that particular view. The only exception to this is the Root view menu, which additionally contains menu item(s) for application settings.
The Maemo 5 View menus are not application menus, in the sense that a view menu only contains commands relevant to that particular view. The only exception to this is the Root view menu, which additionally contains menu item(s) for application settings.
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=== Removal of tabs in dialogs ===
=== Removal of tabs in dialogs ===
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When designing dialogs in Maemo 5, the tabs of a Maemo 4 dialog are merged to a single tab-less dialog with the whole content area of the dialog being pannable. In practice this results in the user panning the dialog instead of switching between tabs.
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When designing dialogs in Maemo 5, the tabs of a Maemo 4 dialog are merged to a single tab-less dialog with the whole content area of the dialog being pannable. In practice this results in user panning the dialog instead of switching between tabs.
If additional semantic grouping is needed for UI elements within the dialog, then group titles can be used by utilizing <code>GtkFrame</code>.
If additional semantic grouping is needed for UI elements within the dialog, then group titles can be used by utilizing <code>GtkFrame</code>.
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While in Maemo 4 the different views are separate windows (and visible as such when switching between tasks), in Maemo 5 the views are designed as a “stack”, i.e. only one of the views is ever visible at any one time.
While in Maemo 4 the different views are separate windows (and visible as such when switching between tasks), in Maemo 5 the views are designed as a “stack”, i.e. only one of the views is ever visible at any one time.
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The Maemo 5 approach allows the design to avoid many concurrency problems caused by changes happening in several windows at the same time. On the other hand the design forces the views to always be closable. This means for example that in Maemo 5, the Editor view always automatically saves as draft, without further confirmation, when that view is closed.
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The Maemo 5 approach allows the design to avoid many concurrency problems caused by changes happening in several windows at the same time. On the other hand the design forces the views to be always closable. This means for example that in Maemo 5, the Editor view always automatically saves as draft, without further confirmation, when that view is closed.
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The UI flow of Modest in Maemo 5 follows the “drilling down” UI flow – Initially the most generic view is shown (Accounts) from which more detailed views can be reached (ending up in Viewer). The Editor view is not directly part of this flow, but instead can be accessed from any of the other views. Going back from the Editor view shows the previous view of the “stack”, i.e. the view from which the user opened the Editor view.
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The UI flow of Modest in Maemo 5 follows the “drilling down” UI flow – Initially the most generic view is shown (Accounts) from which more detailed views can be reached (ending up in Viewer). The Editor view is not directly part of this flow, but instead can be accessed from any of the other views. Going
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back from Editor view shows the previous view of the “stack”, i.e. the view from which the user opened the Editor view.
==== Accounts view ====
==== Accounts view ====
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The design of this view is simply to list the accounts that the user has set up on the device. Tapping on any of the accounts opens the Folders view of that account. In addition to the account name, also the time stamp of the last account refresh is shown on each list item.
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The design of this view is simply to list the accounts use has set up on the device. Tapping on any of the accounts opens Folders view of that account. In addition to the account name, also the time stamp of the last account refresh is shown on each list item.
The first item in the list is “New message” button, which is a convenience shortcut to quick write a new email in the Editor view.
The first item in the list is “New message” button, which is a convenience shortcut to quick write a new email in the Editor view.
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==== Folders view ====
==== Folders view ====
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This view lists folders related to the selected email account. Additionally, ''Local folders'' (stored on the device), and ''Archive'' (stored on external memory card if available) are shown in the list.
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This view lists folders related to the selected email account. Additionally also ''Local folders'' (stored on the device), and ''Archive'' (stored on external memory card if available) are shown in the list.
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The folder tree in Maemo 4 was a direct representation of the physical folder structure. In Maemo 5 the fingerable lists are flat and pannable, and expandable lists are not supported. These constraints required re-designing how subfolders are represented in the UI. A full-blown design of each-subfolder-is-a-subview was too navigation-heavy for an email application, and instead all folders and subfolders are shown in the same pannable list.
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The folder tree in Maemo 4 was a direct representation of the physical folder structure. In Maemo 5 the fingerable lists are flat and pannable, and expandable lists are not supported. These constraints required re-designing how subfolders are represented in the UI. A full-blown design of each-subfolder-is-a-subview was too navigation heavy approach for email application, and instead all folders and subfolders are shown in the same pannable list.
The depth of a folder is indicated by the amount of dots (<code>&middot;</code>) placed before the name of the folder.
The depth of a folder is indicated by the amount of dots (<code>&middot;</code>) placed before the name of the folder.
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==== Editor view ====
==== Editor view ====
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The basic layout and logic of the Editor view remains unchanged. However, due to increasing the UI elements to finger size, the following tweaks were made to this view:
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The basic layout and logic of the Editor view remains unchanged. However, due to increasing the UI elements to finger size, following tweaks were made to this view:
* “Send” button was moved to the right side of “from” picker button, in order to reserve the toolbar only for message formatting commands
* “Send” button was moved to the right side of “from” picker button, in order to reserve the toolbar only for message formatting commands
* Addressbook buttons were merged with the To, CC and BCC field titles to save screen space and increase usability – ''tapping directly on the content''. Also, CC and BCC fields are now hidden by default.
* Addressbook buttons were merged with the To, CC and BCC field titles to save screen space and increase usability – ''tapping directly on the content''. Also, CC and BCC fields are now hidden by default.
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The following tables compare the commands in the Maemo 4 and Maemo 5 versions of the Modest email client.
The following tables compare the commands in the Maemo 4 and Maemo 5 versions of the Modest email client.
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The Maemo 4 version duplicated most of the commands between the Application menu, Toolbar and Context sensitive menu.
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The Maemo 4 duplicated most of the commands between Application menu, Toolbar and Context sensitive menu.
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