Hello folks
We have a pending ticket [1] for the upcoming Roundcube 1.1 release which asks for more space when composing messages. My proposition was to add a Zen mode as some of you might know from github. I have now implemented this in a separate branch 'dev-zenmode' in the Roundcube git repository and I'd like to hear your comments on this. So if you have a git checkout somewhere, please quickly switch to the 'dev-zenmode' branch and have a look.
Thanks! Thomas
It looks nice. Some observations. OSX latest chrome, firefox and safari.
Am I supposed to be able to change the subject? I cant seem to activate it so I can type there.
It's not immediately clear where im supposed to click to type the body, once it loses focus. Only feedback is that the mouse pointer changes. Once is loses focus, the 'message body' tag disappears making it even more difficult to know where to click.
Is it supposed to stay within a relatively small area in the center of the screen? I have a large monitor and tons of space around the sides. If you go all out, why not give people their entire monitor real estate? Actually, the original screen is much wider than the zen mode screen for me.
Cor
On 08/20/2014 10:50 AM, Cor Bosman wrote:
Am I supposed to be able to change the subject? I cant seem to activate it so I can type there.
I also found it confusing. I think there should be only body editing area, no other fields. That will be also in sync with HTML editor fullscreen mode.
It's not immediately clear where im supposed to click to type the body, once it loses focus...
In my opinion there should be only message body area and it should be in full page width and height (except small toolbar for buttons).
Is it supposed to stay within a relatively small area in the center of the screen? I have a large monitor...
No, I think we should not do "real" fullscreen, but the area should fit browser window size.
Additional issue, in html mode window resize breaks editor size, probably because of our resize event handler.
On Wed, Aug 20, 2014 at 4:30 PM, A.L.E.C alec@alec.pl wrote:
On 08/20/2014 10:50 AM, Cor Bosman wrote:
Am I supposed to be able to change the subject? I cant seem to activate it so I can type there.
True. It is displayed there to remind you what message you're currently writing but currently isn't editable.
I also found it confusing. I think there should be only body editing area, no other fields. That will be also in sync with HTML editor fullscreen mode.
So you suggest to remove the subject? I was rather considering making it editable, too.
It's not immediately clear where im supposed to click to type the body, once it loses focus...
In my opinion there should be only message body area and it should be in full page width and height (except small toolbar for buttons).
Is it supposed to stay within a relatively small area in the center of the screen? I have a large monitor...
The thing about the width is that writing (and copy reading!) over a wide area is not very comfortable. Therefore the width of the zen mode test area is still limited. I suppose outlining the text area should clarify things. Finally, the zen mode is more meant for those users with small screens.
No, I think we should not do "real" fullscreen, but the area should fit browser window size.
I agree to that.
~Thomas
On 08/20/2014 05:34 PM, Thomas Bruederli wrote:
So you suggest to remove the subject? I was rather considering making it editable, too.
Yes, remove the subject. The fullscreen is for body area which is problematic on small screens. The subject field is not problematic. We're not implementing mobile skin here.
More. There's a problem with spellchecker. It need to be deactivated when switching to fullscreen mode.
Here are some ideas to make this a more complete/unified solution.
- don't use TinyMCE fullscreen mode, implement our own
- add fullscreen button in toolbar
- in fullscreen display only the text area and small toolbar (it may use
the style of #topline bar). The toolbar should contain buttons (links): spellchecker (simple button, no languages menu), theme switch (may be only in plain text mode), Exit. It might also contain Responses and Save buttons.
On Wed, Aug 20, 2014 at 5:40 PM, A.L.E.C alec@alec.pl wrote:
More. There's a problem with spellchecker. It need to be deactivated when switching to fullscreen mode.
Here are some ideas to make this a more complete/unified solution.
- don't use TinyMCE fullscreen mode, implement our own
- add fullscreen button in toolbar
- in fullscreen display only the text area and small toolbar (it may use
the style of #topline bar). The toolbar should contain buttons (links): spellchecker (simple button, no languages menu), theme switch (may be only in plain text mode), Exit. It might also contain Responses and Save buttons.
Hmm, who said "we're not implementing mobile skin here." ?
On 20 Aug 2014, at 19:18, Thomas Bruederli thomas@roundcube.net wrote:
On Wed, Aug 20, 2014 at 5:40 PM, A.L.E.C alec@alec.pl wrote:
More. There's a problem with spellchecker. It need to be deactivated when switching to fullscreen mode.
Here are some ideas to make this a more complete/unified solution.
- don't use TinyMCE fullscreen mode, implement our own
- add fullscreen button in toolbar
- in fullscreen display only the text area and small toolbar (it may use
the style of #topline bar). The toolbar should contain buttons (links): spellchecker (simple button, no languages menu), theme switch (may be only in plain text mode), Exit. It might also contain Responses and Save buttons.
Hmm, who said "we're not implementing mobile skin here." ?
It can all happen in stages right? :) I dont really understand though why that button is there on large screens, if you're going to give me a smaller screen :) If I click that button on my 24" screen, i end up with a smaller edit area than in base roundcube.
If you dont want to fill the screen, then maybe dont put the icon there if the screen is already larger than what you're going to show. But I personally think that just filling the browser screen is fine. On smaller screens it will give them a larger screen, and on larger screens it just gives them an even larger screen to edit. Thats ok right? People are probably not inclined to hit that button anyways on large screens.
I do think Alec is right that a spellchecker would be nice.
Cor
Cor, Alec,
Thanks for all your feedback! I agree to your arguments and thereby I have to admit that the rather simple zen mode approach I just added doesn't suffice for whatever we consider a sustainable and high-quality solution for this requirement. This definitely needs some more care and a more in-depth implementation. I'll just re-schedule that ticket as this likely isn't going to make into the 1.1-beta release without delaying the schedule.
Best, Thomas
On Wed, Aug 20, 2014 at 9:35 PM, Cor Bosman cor@xs4all.nl wrote:
On 20 Aug 2014, at 19:18, Thomas Bruederli thomas@roundcube.net wrote:
On Wed, Aug 20, 2014 at 5:40 PM, A.L.E.C alec@alec.pl wrote:
More. There's a problem with spellchecker. It need to be deactivated when switching to fullscreen mode.
Here are some ideas to make this a more complete/unified solution.
- don't use TinyMCE fullscreen mode, implement our own
- add fullscreen button in toolbar
- in fullscreen display only the text area and small toolbar (it may use
the style of #topline bar). The toolbar should contain buttons (links): spellchecker (simple button, no languages menu), theme switch (may be only in plain text mode), Exit. It might also contain Responses and Save buttons.
Hmm, who said "we're not implementing mobile skin here." ?
It can all happen in stages right? :) I dont really understand though why that button is there on large screens, if you're going to give me a smaller screen :) If I click that button on my 24" screen, i end up with a smaller edit area than in base roundcube.
If you dont want to fill the screen, then maybe dont put the icon there if the screen is already larger than what you're going to show. But I personally think that just filling the browser screen is fine. On smaller screens it will give them a larger screen, and on larger screens it just gives them an even larger screen to edit. Thats ok right? People are probably not inclined to hit that button anyways on large screens.
I do think Alec is right that a spellchecker would be nice.
Cor
Roundcube Development discussion mailing list dev@lists.roundcube.net http://lists.roundcube.net/mailman/listinfo/dev
-
A.L.E.C -
Cor Bosman -
Thomas Bruederli