Custom push actions (gestures)
asked 2013-12-24 22:24:16 +0200
This is a bit of a complex one, so bear with me. The whole concept of the Sailfish OS sort-of puts pushes from screen edges as an OS-level way to control applications and move between screens. Although the defaults are pretty good and make sense, some users probably feel that they'd want to customise these actions in one way or another. So, what I propose is some kind of interface to remap these actions. Good values to use as defaults would probably be "move to screen X" (lock screen, home screen, notification screen, favourite ambiences screen), "move to last application (that is not currently visible)", "put phone to sleep", "launch application X".
Customisation would be separate for "built-in screen" and "application", each having one action for each direction (so, a total of 8 actions). The "move to screen X" options would act as "move to last visible view" if it's the current view already. "last application (not currently visible)" would be restricted to applications, and is useful to bind to an application push-action to quickly switch between two applications (say, paste a link in IM, chat some more, go back to browser, etc).
As an example, I've been complaining loudly about having to move my thumb all the way to the top of the screen (when holding the phone in one hand) in order to close an application. On the other hand, I haven't found too much use for 'notifications' yet (as I don't want facebook/twitter feeds in my phone, at least not yet). I'd probably prefer to remap "close application" to push-up, and perhaps I could move the notifications view to push-right as I'm rarely using that anyway.
One potential downside with this suggestion is that it makes Sailfish OS less "uniform" in that you can't just pick up any Sailfish device and expect it to have the same actions. Of course, most people probably won't remap the defaults (not too much, anyway), and the current behaviour would remain the default so it wouldn't impact the "average user" I think. I just like being able to customise my phone to have just the shortcuts I want it to.
I really like the original swipes, but it's best to give options for people who want them.
parasemic ( 2013-12-24 22:49:17 +0200 )editAgreed. I'm having real problems with one-handed use, which is the vast majority of how I use the phone. I'm especially having problems with top-down swiping with the thumb which interfears with pull-down menus as well.
msknight ( 2013-12-27 08:02:45 +0200 )editI was just about to write what you already have written :) How about if we break some different ideas on this into answers and start voting?
simo ( 2013-12-30 12:43:57 +0200 )editI like this idea very much and was thinking just the same. Ease of use could be improved, if user could arrange gestures by his/her taste and by which hand Jolla is operated.
Jolla095 ( 2014-06-03 23:05:07 +0200 )edit