Launch experience about osmand

[sonora]

Yes. I had raised this issue a long time ago for our project, at the time
phrasing it that "OsmAnd should be map-centric". But there are pros and
cons or our current splash screen, so let's discuss before we jump to
conclusions here.

One of the more prominent points in favor of our current splash screen is
that any new user can read the options, and immediately do what they
want. Looking at a map screen may take a lot more questions before
progressing ... :-) (See your comment in your other post where we just
have icons for show on map, directions, etc on the search results screen.,
to save screen real estate, but on a small screen it is not obvious what
they mean, while on a tablet the caption is displayed.)

Best,
Hardy

On Tue, Apr 15, 2014 at 1:58 PM, Jan-Christoph Borchardt <
[email protected]> wrote:

Currently when starting OsmAnd, what you see is not a map, but rather a
menu:

• Map
• Search
• Favorites
• Settings

Additionally they all seem to have equal importance because they are all
of the same size and layout.

Instead, the first thing you should see when starting OsmAnd is the map.
The map is the most important part of the app. That’s where I want to look
where to go, where I want to search things, where I have my favorites.

The search bar should be integrated in the map. Like at the top, how many
widely-used maps apps do. Or apps which offer a search, that is.

The favorites are displayed directly on the map. They should also be shown
as suggestions in the search if the search term is relevant. And in a menu.

The settings should largely be unnecessary to edit because they use good
defaults. An option to download region data could appear (non-intrusively)
when you browse over said area. Settings will always be available through a
menu in the main map view.

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com//issues/608
.

[jancborchardt]

Well, in the case of a maps/navigation app we can safely say that it’s a good call to at least loosely orient oneself at the most widely used Maps app there is: Google Maps.

They have an Android app, and it does show a map initially. There are ways of showing a meaningful menu. And the search bar is pretty obvious.
Apple Maps does it the same way.

I know there can be a lot of doubts and caution regarding redesigns, but if there are two big players like these which use nearly the same patterns then we can safely assume this is a generally good direction to go in.

[jancborchardt]

@sonora and thank you for the feedback! Glad it is/was considered. As I said, I’d really love to help regarding design/UX work on OsmAnd. And as the main pain points are such basic things as the initial experience and search (#607), I’d rather discuss it first with you folks from the project. :)

[hvdwolf]

I do not agree with the remark:
"Instead, the first thing you should see when starting OsmAnd is the map. The map is the most important part of the app. That’s where I want to look where to go, where I want to search things, where I have my favorites."

That is not how I use the app.
When I use the the app it is mostly because I get into the car and want to navigate. Sometimes I use a favo(u)rite, sometimes I directly search. I never use the map to scroll to some place I want to go. I type in a city, street, address (if available).

Almost NEVER I go to the map in first instance. I know that it works for a lot of users this way as it has been discussed extensively in the list (like Sonora mentions).
And there is also a big group that work the way you do.
My proposal is to have a setting in General Settings: a checkbox with "Start in Map screen".
This will satisfy both groups I think.

[sonora]

Jean-Christoph, how about a straw man in the form of some mock screenshots
or precise descriptions how you could envision things? I think if we run
this by a lot of folks in this forum, we could get a good discussion going
of where we want to get.

I am certainly all for using best practice, but would not want to blindly
copy other apps just because they exist or are popular. Same goes for other
project members, I assume.

Thanks for any input and discussion!

Best,
Hardy

On Tue, Apr 15, 2014 at 10:57 PM, Jan-Christoph Borchardt <
[email protected]> wrote:

@sonora https://github.com/sonora and thank you for the feedback! Glad
it is/was considered. As I said, I’d really love to help regarding
design/UX work on OsmAnd. And as the main pain points are such basic things
as the initial experience and search (#607#607),
I’d rather discuss it first with you folks from the project. :)

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com//issues/608#issuecomment-40533435
.

[jancborchardt]

@hvdwolf let me clarify. The map is of course not the only thing you see:

When I use the the app it is mostly because I get into the car and want to navigate. Sometimes I use a favo(u)rite,

Tapping into the search box could suggest the favorites, and recent searches. You could scroll through them. Typing one or more letters would drill down.

sometimes I directly search. I never use the map to scroll to some place I want to go. I type in a city, street, address (if available).

Then the search box works for exactly that.

Almost NEVER I go to the map in first instance.

That’s why it’s not just the map, but also the search bar (incl favorites & recents). :)

[jancborchardt]

@sonora here you go. It’s a super-rough mockup (and only one screen and only one orientation), but this is how the initial screen could look like:

• The top part is fully reserved for search and finding stuff, no other things like compass or settings there.
• Tapping into the search field shows favorites as if they are suggestions. Maybe there can even be a dedicated button for it, but just showing it is more seamless.
• There will be suggestions-as-you-type, so at any point you can just choose a result (by tapping, or by using another input device with a directional pad or the like)
• compass and location will move to the lower part.
• settings will be in the bottom left »menu« thing. Actually they are there already! ;)

I can make this a lot more precise and I could provide lots more mockups, but for now I won’t (also because I need to sleep and do other work), mostly because: You would find that I will describe other maps apps, most prominently Google Maps (or Apple Maps).

I would actually love to hear more use cases such as @hvdwolf’s to see how we can adapt to things like these.

But really, do me one favor: Use the Google Maps Android app just once to see if it can fulfill the tasks you need doing with their design. If it can – that kind of proves this point. If it can’t then that’s even more interesting because it means that we can improve upon it.
The thing is that widely used apps, at least when it comes to something with more than 500 million users, have done something right. We open source software projects would do good in looking at that as free market research and usability testing – take the proven patterns from it, and improve further. :)

[hvdwolf]

I see what you mean and this might be a good option but we really have to think about the subsequent screen actions. When I have calculated a route and put in on screen I definitely don't want to see the (big) search bar on top of it. In google Maps it stays on top. When navigating it should definitely disappear. Also when doing the occasional browsing I'd like to see as much of the map as possible, that is: without the search bar. It should have a close/remove option.

W.r.t. Google maps: it is in first instance a browsing and searching tool, not a navigation tool. That is a different approach to a user interface. I have used many navigation tools a.o. OsmAnd, BeoOnRoad, Mapfactor Navigator free, Navigo, iGo, TomTom, Mio and a few others. The only navigation tool starting in map mode is Mapfactor (and I don't consider pc tools as due to the resolution they have much more screen estate).
Why do all these projects and companies start from a search/settings/route etc. screen? It doesn't mean that the map oriented approach is not good, but these companies already develop these apps for som many years.
So why does Google Maps start from the map screen? Maybe because it was born as pc software?

On second thought it might be a good action but lets discuss this (again) in the mailing list. What are pros and cons, what else do we have to think of, etc.

[vshcherb]

This is very disputed topic. On one hand I want to see the map immediately, on the other hand I know people who would like to see dashboard when they start. Also I know people who would like to see more actions on dashboard. Also there are people who constantly using dashboard after application started! However it is fully functional without dashboard.

Simply because dashboard is an "easy" way to navigate through the system for them. That's why we still have issues how to get back to dashboard from different screens.

And this is not about good search on the map, which obviously don't have and not clear when it could be done. This is about people would like to see their intent when they start. That's why there is a tremendous demand to see on the dashboard screen "Drive Home" and as an option "Drive favorite". OsmAnd is unique compare to Navigon/iGo because these applications are usually not used to "look around"/"find myself" in the city (where map based approach is needed).

[rododevr]

I would like to have a choice in the general settings, like:
On startup, show:

• dashboard
• map
• search
• favourites

[jancborchardt]

What about a small start: On startup, just show the last section which was open. Every time OsmAnd is started newly (after removing it from the app switcher for example, or restarting), I am thrown back to the dashboard.

[sonora]

Jean-Christoph,

this is in deed a strange effect we have in OsmAnd, I had noticed that,
too. If you by any means switch away from OsmAnd, like by pressing the
devices home button, for instance, OsmAnd would

• return to the very same screen you left it at when going back to is via
  the task switcher
• but would put you in the dashboard screen if re-calling it via a home
  screen shortcut etc.

I think this is by the very design Victor struggles with above, I sort of
got used to it, but it may not be the cleanest of solutions.

Regarding the general discussion: I am glad we collected all these opinions
here now, because as I said it is not easy. And we can all see the
justification of Victor's points above.

Regarding the strawman Jean-Christoph has poduced above: As Harry said, if
we wanted to take away the top bar from our map screen, we would have to
find a new home for ALL widgets it possible holds (like the street name
display, etc.), on ALL screens where they may appear (their new place at
the bottom of the screen is already taken for many situations ...)

Also: As already mentioned: Google by ist very nature is search-centric,
that per se should not be a reason for us to simply copy this. I personally
would not need the search field in many situations where I use OsmAnd, so
it must alt least be hide-able, preferably auto-hide. But without popping
up at every zooming/panning operation... :-)

And having yet anothe rconfiguration seting also does not simplify things
too much for the new users ... In my mind it would be at least as complex
as what we have today: 2 keystrokes to go Menu/Search.

But the whole topic would be important only after we find a way to
combining the different search tabs of our current search screen into one
list of suggestions, I guess. And that will take some research and thinking
...

Best, Hardy

On Wed, Apr 16, 2014 at 5:17 PM, Jan-Christoph Borchardt <
[email protected]> wrote:

What about a small start: On startup, just show the last section which was
open. Every time OsmAnd is started newly (after removing it from the app
switcher for example, or restarting), I am thrown back to the dashboard.

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com//issues/608#issuecomment-40611517
.

[hvdwolf]

Please all stick to this github site topic when answering.
Only there the full comment cycle is viewable.
I miss quite some comments in the mail responses.

[hvdwolf]

Please all stick to #608 when
answering.
Only there the full comment cycle is viewable.
I miss quite some comments in the mail responses.

Harry

2014-04-18 14:21 GMT+02:00 Hardy [email protected]:

Jean-Christoph,

this is in deed a strange effect we have in OsmAnd, I had noticed that,
too. If you by any means switch away from OsmAnd, like by pressing the
devices home button, for instance, OsmAnd would

• return to the very same screen you left it at when going back to is via
  the task switcher
• but would put you in the dashboard screen if re-calling it via a home
  screen shortcut etc.

I think this is by the very design Victor struggles with above, I sort of
got used to it, but it may not be the cleanest of solutions.

Regarding the general discussion: I am glad we collected all these
opinions
here now, because as I said it is not easy. And we can all see the
justification of Victor's points above.

Regarding the strawman Jean-Christoph has poduced above: As Harry said, if
we wanted to take away the top bar from our map screen, we would have to
find a new home for ALL widgets it possible holds (like the street name
display, etc.), on ALL screens where they may appear (their new place at
the bottom of the screen is already taken for many situations ...)

Also: As already mentioned: Google by ist very nature is search-centric,
that per se should not be a reason for us to simply copy this. I
personally
would not need the search field in many situations where I use OsmAnd, so
it must alt least be hide-able, preferably auto-hide. But without popping
up at every zooming/panning operation... :-)

And having yet anothe rconfiguration seting also does not simplify things
too much for the new users ... In my mind it would be at least as complex
as what we have today: 2 keystrokes to go Menu/Search.

But the whole topic would be important only after we find a way to
combining the different search tabs of our current search screen into one
list of suggestions, I guess. And that will take some research and
thinking
...

Best, Hardy

On Wed, Apr 16, 2014 at 5:17 PM, Jan-Christoph Borchardt <
[email protected]> wrote:

What about a small start: On startup, just show the last section which
was
open. Every time OsmAnd is started newly (after removing it from the app
switcher for example, or restarting), I am thrown back to the dashboard.

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub<
https://github.com/osmandapp/Osmand/issues/608#issuecomment-40611517>
.

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com//issues/608#issuecomment-40804891
.

[sonora]

Yes, I notice that, too, after you point it out.

(I personally had simply replied to emails I had seen, and that sometimes makes it totally obscure where the discussion is actually happening ...). Discussions like this should really happen in our Forum, I think, not on github. We would reach a better spektrum of experienced and new users there ...

[vshcherb]

I move it to backlog to redesign dashboard and make transition between dashboard and map more natural. We still need dashboard, but much more functional and easy.

[jancborchardt]

@vshcherb if you move it to the backlog, why did you close this issue? We should keep it open as long as it’s not fixed, shouldn’t we?

[vshcherb]

I will just list some items to make it clear :

• github is not "official" tracker (we use googlecode for that). Github is only for pull-requests
• we keep open only items which will be actioned in 1-2 months and we are pretty full with them.
• we also clean "Good" bugs or items if we can't fix them by priority in nearest feature, we would like give "fair" picture what we are doing now
• the internal plan of new features is referencing this discussion so we can keep commenting or discussiing it.
• this is not an issue, but a discussion, there is no easy solution and there is no clear vision