[updated] Idea: 8 cover actions + close app using swipe only

Great idea! Jolla, please implement this asap. One of those actions could be "close app" so we wouldn't need this old fashioned "press x to close" thing. And I think long press + slide to desired action area would be better than swipe + tap (that way we wouldn't have to release touch but use only one smooth continous gesture).

You are right about one of the actions should definitely be "close app"! But you misunderstand one thing about how it's supposed to work -- no long press is needed -- you just activate the cover by swiping it, just as you do now, and the action areas appear. No long pressing, no tapping, just swipe!

The tap is needed for launching the action. I think it would be better to long press to open the possible actions and then just slide to the desired action icon or area. I think it would feel smoother, no need to release your finger before selecting the action. Swipe+slide works too. But no tapping.

Using whole screen estate doesn't seem to fit Jollas minimalistic aproach. It would also bring up some menu options which you don't already see before you start. So as a combination of getting more and keeping it minimalistic I suggest maximum of 6 gestures. Left, Right, L-Down, L-Up, R-Down, R-Up.

@jii Personally I really don't like the long press, it feels slow. Why would you want to long press instead of just swipe? But I agree on no tapping! With my idea, it is only one continuous swipe for activating cover and move to action, then release to select action. Swipe, release = fast :)

@MikkoZ The problem with "minimal" is that things'll get fiddly and crowded if you want many options. I've come up with an improvement to my idea for not having to move all over the screen to select options (it actually resembles your idea quite a lot!) that I'll edit into my question in a bit!

@gukke@MikkoZ I agree here with gukke, I too prefer simple and practcal over minimal. Style must not cripple usability. Beaty must be deeper than how things look. And I totally agree with swipe (to activate) + slide (to select) + release (to launch). That's the way to go. No tapping. Gukke, invent a way to get rid of tapping everywhere (including app grid).

This makes it too complicated. Not for geeks, but for users. And in the end, we want a phone that is suitable for people.

The big thing is that we need more functionality for the covers to really have the power of true multitasking, two actions isn't enough (you still have to openp the app most of the time). I think this would work great, not at all too complicated. Very powerful way to control the device, this could even be the new steering wheel!

This is really really really good idea! You could have haptic feedback once you "get into" one of the options, so this could be done without even looking at the screen a lot. I think we should keep the original 2 cover actions and place them in the left and right side of the "extended actions" view.

Eg. You want media player to turn on shuffle and then skip to the next track. First, you long press the mediaplayer and the extended view opens. Lets say the shuffle is in the top right corner. You move your thumb a bit to the right and feel haptic, then a bit to the top, feel haptic and release.

Then you just do the normal cover action swipe to change the track, and there you have it. I don't think keeping the old cover actions interferes with your idea, but just replace the "long press to close" with giving extended options.

You should do another entry with a lot simplified main text!

@gukke, please a) modify the title so that it describes shortly the idea, b) shorten the text and c) split different ideas to different posts. This would make following and voting much easier. @parasemic, put your idea to a new post, that sounds really something worth of more attention.

@pnuu, fine. i'll do it

@gukke, this is better than the original. I still wouldn't support it because of the first tradeoff you already mentioned. If I'm driving car while doing cover gesture, I don't want to pause and check the screen in between.

@gukke, However this could be the design for 'extended menu'. Extended menu could be set as cover action and after triggering (releasing) you would have to tap extended menu item. It's not so smooth, but might be good if you really need that many actions.

Made my own entry about the subject: https://together.jolla.com/question/5246/idea-extended-cover-actions/

@parasemic I'm glad you like the idea :) Like I said in my question, the behaviour of this idea using only two cover actions would be identical to the current cover behavior, and personally I really don't like the idea of a long press! I simply want to swipe, release, period!

@MikkoZ I've come up with a new idea to solve this without having to long press for extended actions. Working on it right now, will update in a while. @pnuu I will do my best, but it is a concept containing a few different parts that won't make sense by themselves.

"Which options should be where, and what happens if the active cover used is not the one in the middle?" I think the options should be locked so you can use them by muscle memory, and not looking at screen and if the movement needed by thumb is as small as one in cover actions, place doesn't matter

Also, I highly think biggest problem of this idea is the fact we lose the original swipe actions. That's why i'd prefer long-press to activate, as the additional actions aren't used as often as the main two.

@parasemic Ok so in your idea, you long press and then the app is automatically centered in the new extended menu? While that would enable all options to always be in the same place, the drawback och long pressing is just too great for me personally.

@parasemic What do you mean by we "lose the original swipe actions". Please explain what you mean to me, as I clearly state in the text that the original swipe actions will continue to work exactly as now. The only difference is the way it looks.

@parasemic And that could be fixed like this: swipe on cover left/right works and looks exactly as now, BUT if you start swiping vertically, the other six options appear. What do you think? And what do you think about user can choose between this and your alternative? (with yours as default)

How would you access the actions above and below? Swiping up or down straight from the multitasking covers is not possible, so what do you suggest?

You swipe left or right on a cover. If you want one of the standard options, you simply release to choose it. BUT if you want extended options, you don't release but instead start moving vertically, causing up to six other options to appear!

Yeah, but as there are one action on top, and one below the middle section, how do you suggest you pick those? Swiping straight to them is not possible, and swiping first to right or left, then top and then back to middle is complicated and hard.

That's why I want the long-press, as it removes the limitations of the main multitasking UI and you can unlock every swipe direction.

You would have two actions requiring one move (left/right), four requiring two (left/right then down/up) and two requiring three (either a c-shaped motion or for example left, up, up) Take out your phone and make a c-shaped motion with your thumb, it takes about 0.1-0.2 seconds!

I think we've come to the point where it's up to preference. Now, what do you think of the scaled up movement using a selection arrow to select far-away options using only small thumb motion? I'm wondering as you said "Your thumb is blocking part of one action, so it's hard to see."

I think it would be sufficient to have the two original icons for left/right actions, like now, and then say a plus sign representing additional available options. If you want to do something within an app, and it's not left/right action, you see the plus sign, swipe up/down and the actions appear.

I still think for choosing eg. upper action, swipe (left) + swipe (up) + swipe (right) + release is too complicated action vs. (pretty fast) long press + swipe (up) + release. I think the actions should be customizable so we can have 2 most used in cover and other after a long-press.