Redesign settings - Githubissues

Currently the menu "Settings" is just a long list of various settings and I think as the list grows and grows, it should be better organized. There are in fact three types of settings:

general device settings: for all users, but only on the current device, e.g. Application language, Passcode for unlocking user interface, Synchronize navigation and locked/fullscreen state for online users
local user settings: editable for each user, but not synchronized, e.g. Preferred voice (shouldn't be synchronized, because available voices differ between devices)
synchronized user settings: most settings like input options, colors, convert mode of labels, ...

And there probably should be a separation of topics like:

Language
Appearance
Voice
Input settings
Settings like general options for the collection elements, see #284 (what category is this?!)
System / General (like notifications, activate ARASAAC API, passcode, ...)

My assumptions and questions:

I assume that System / General should hold all options which are independent from the user and all other options are user-dependent.
Probably it's not necessary to make it transparent to the user if it's a setting across devices or not, is it?!
should the input settings stay at their separated place above the grid in the main view or also move to the settings (or both)?
my first thought would be to introduce tabs to the settings page for the categories, similar to the tabs in the "edit element" modal:

Additional question: how to handle situations, where the same thing could be set globally, for one grid or one element (e.g. cell format options)? Maybe I would add an accordion "Advanced appearance options" to the "General tab" in edit grid item and put the suitable cell format options there along with other not often used options like "Don't add element to collect element" or "Toggle in collection element..." and maybe also "custom background color"

If we need the possibility to set options on grid-level, probably the way to go would be to add a menu item Grid options in this menu:

Maybe the "Change grid dimensions" could be changed to a more generic modal, where the grid dimensions and other grid-level options should be available, e.g. also deactivating the global grid, see #399

@arasaac-dga and @ms-mialingvo please tell me your thoughts.

We are happy that you are planning the development of this issue. It will be an advance in the usabilty, sure. We agree, in general, with your proposal, but due it's an important change give us some days (until next week) to think in how organice the option in tabs as you comment and prepare a visual proposal. We will reply too to other questions too.

Currently when right-clicking on a blank cell the option 'new' with various sub-options shows up. If you click on 'new element', a pop-up window appears with the different options for a new element. That's not the case for the other sub-options, there it just inserts the element end then you again have to click on edit to open the pop-up. So, suggestions here:

for clicking on 'new collection element' and 'new prediction element' also to show the pop-up window with the options specific for that element.
In the action tab of collect element only the speak collect element actions would be available.
In the action tab of prediction element only the dictionary selection would be available.
Similar for 'youtube player'.
And then an additional option 'special element' which would then include all the other possible actions.
Instead of having to right-click and choose from drop-down, clicking on an empty cell would directly open a pop-up 'choose new element' or so, with all the different element options (normal element, collect element, prediction element etc.)

Currently for the 'more' button, if no element is selected, the drop-down has the option to insert new element and various options mostly on (single-)grid level. Once an element is selected, it has options specific for an element but also still options for (single-)grid level. Suggestions:

instead of the 'more' button, have two separate buttons for grid, element (the pop-up window content would change depending on which type of element is selected as suggested above), possibly grid set
or automatically change the contents of the 'more' button depending on whether a button is chosen or not. In either case, there would be a strict separation of (single-)grid-level options and button-level options Not sure if this already would cover all the options, outside of the system settings. I started an excel to try to get an overview of the different options... https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pSU3CYc87yRee8xRVURigHcbe59rptymEExF9fAPvuI/edit?usp=sharing

Another suggestion, that would make accessibility better: fields instead of drop-downs except if not possible (like for example not for the language drop-down) or suboptimal due to amount of elements and less important feature (like for the color category). Something like this:

I assume that System / General should hold all options which are independent from the user and all other options are user-dependent.

Yes.

Probably it's not necessary to make it transparent to the user if it's a setting across devices or not, is it?!

Is there any user setting besides Preferred voice that is not synchronised? If not, maybe just a short remark at Preferred voice?

should the input settings stay at their separated place above the grid in the main view or also move to the settings (or both)?

It would make sense for me for them to be at the user settings, together with the other 'general input settings'

my first thought would be to introduce tabs to the settings page for the categories, similar to the tabs in the "edit element" modal

see excel

how to handle situations, where the same thing could be set globally, for one grid or one element (e.g. cell format options)? Maybe I would add an accordion "Advanced appearance options" to the "General tab" in edit grid item and put the suitable cell format options there along with other not often used options like "Don't add element to collect element" or "Toggle in collection element..." and maybe also "custom background color"

I think an accordion with a very clear title like 'overwrite default settings' or so. I wouldn't mix it with other options for clarity.

I have edited the excel and I think it should now have all current and most possible future features. Collect element settings (default, as I do think individual is still needed for some cases) makes more sense in the 'grid set' settings than in the 'user' settings to me

instead of the 'more' button, have two separate buttons for grid, element (the pop-up window content would change depending on which type of element is selected as suggested above), possibly grid set or automatically change the contents of the 'more' button depending on whether a button is chosen or not.

...or: If nothing is selected, the "more" shows the text 'edit grid'. If a cell is selected the text changes to 'edit grid element' (or 'edit collect element' etc.). If multiple cells are selected it changes to 'edit grid elements'. editbutton

We present you our proposal with aprox to the options and distribution of them in tabs and for grid and cell edit.

SETTINGS

Diapositiva1 Diapositiva2 Diapositiva3 Diapositiva4 Diapositiva5

As you can see, and reply to one of your questions, we consider that "Input options" must be in both places (where is now and in a specific tab inside Settings).

On the other hand we consider that language/voice always must be together due their correlation. About to make transparent or not the voice sync perhaps an icon with a alt-text could be the less intrusive and clarify the voice depends of each device and that is not sync between different devices.

We have added a new tab called "Output options" where we add options related to the output (like accumulated phrase or text corrections with IA). Anyway, if you consider giving this tab another name we are open to discuss because we have no clear idea if this name is the best.

In General settings we consider it important to clarify with a header the lock/unlock (better than actual Miscellaneous) due many people ask about the passcode and don't know that is in general settings. So, a clearer header, perhaps, helps.

In appearance it would be interesting to make conditional the background or border configurations and only show the specific configuration when you select it in the previous menu. So, if you select a border in Color Mode, border settings are shown and reversed.

BOARD CONFIGURATION

Diapositiva6

We agree to transform the actual Grid Dimension window to configure the Grid appearance. We only considered the options included in our screenshot to give response to special boards like Keyboards. More options - More complex to users. So with Font-Size and Line-Height is enough.

We called it "Grid appearance" in the Menu but are open to other suggestions.

or automatically change the contents of the 'more' button depending on whether a button is chosen or not. In either case, there would be a strict separation of (single-)grid-level options and button-level options

...or: If nothing is selected, the "more" shows the text 'edit grid'. If a cell is selected the text changes to 'edit grid element' (or 'edit collect element' etc.). If multiple cells are selected it changes to 'edit grid elements'.

We agree with @ms-mialingvo with both things 1) More menu change options when you select or not a cell to edit to show only options needed in each case and 2) the button that proposes to be next to "Editing off".

CELL CONFIGURATION

Diapositiva7

Here we consider that an accordion in General Tab under the label is enough. We consider that, for text editing, only font-color is needed and background or border color (depends on the Color Mode configuration in Communicator Settings). More text configurations add complexity in our opinion.

Currently when right-clicking on a blank cell the option 'new' with various sub-options shows up. If you click on 'new element', a pop-up window appears with the different options for a new element. That's not the case for the other sub-options, there it just inserts the element end then you again have to click on edit to open the pop-up. So, suggestions here:

for clicking on 'new collection element' and 'new prediction element' also to show the pop-up window with the options specific for that element.

In the action tab of collect element only the speak collect element actions would be available.

In the action tab of prediction element only the dictionary selection would be available.

Similar for 'youtube player'.

And then an additional option 'special element' which would then include all the other possible actions.

We don't see the need to change it as @ms-mialingvo proposed because cells like youtube, text prediction,.... are special cells preconfigured and most of the people never edit them. So we don't consider that open edit when created is needed. Due to preconfigured actions (with the right action added) we don't consider that it is needed to limit the new action menu (showing only the action related to the special cell because, perhaps, it could be neccesary in the same case to add another action instead of the actual one.

Instead of having to right-click and choose from drop-down, clicking on an empty cell would directly open a pop-up 'choose new element' or so, with all the different element options (normal element, collect element, prediction element etc.)

We consider it more important that @klues create the cell where you make a right click than make click in order to create a new cell and select the kind of cell from a modal window. We don't consider that to save time. It's more problematic that the cell is not created where you have made a right click actually.

Another suggestion, that would make accessibility better: fields instead of drop-downs except if not possible (like for example not for the language drop-down) or suboptimal due to amount of elements and less important feature (like for the color category).

We only see this suggestion suitable for 2-3 options dropdown menus (like ARASAAC-OpenSymbols). For the action menu we don't see it. So, if there is some other 2-3 option drop-down menu it is posible to change it with buttons as @ms-mialingvo proposed.

We hope don't forget anything ;-)

asterics / AsTeRICS-Grid

Redesign settings #452