GUI Mockup ideas: remove old SLFPhone UX, built update packages for easy testing

[star-buck]

remove old SFLPhone UX, built easy packages for testing

[Elv13]

This issue is now mostly completed. The app is split in 2. The command ring-kde --phone will start the old SFLPhone UX. By default it starts the Timeline UX. There is a phone icon at the bottom right. Once clicked, it display the phone user interface with the dialpad and account list as requested.

As everything, there is still bugs, but they are quickly being addressed. For this feature, the main bug is that both window are always loaded because there is still a lot of code that expect the phone window to exist (as it used to be the only window). I already refactored most of the code, but there is still ~50 instances to fix (out of 200+).

@shadeslayer Can you run a cronjob to generate a new .deb everyday at 12:00 UTC?

[shadeslayer]

The CI doesn't do cron jobs. You need to tell it to poll a git repo to check if there were changes, and if there were, it'll build them.

You can trigger that with each git commit from your end as well using this command in a git push hook :

curl "http://dci.pangea.pub/git/notifyCommit?url=git://anongit.kde.org/ring-kde"

[star-buck]

I tried the packages built from @shadeslayer , but the program looks not right or at least different.

@Elv13 : Can you add some screenshots showing a fresh installed ring-kde client, PLUS have the screenshots in STANDRARD BREEZE (light version instead of dark black colors).

Alternatively, a video would also do, again from a FRESH installed ring-kde version with LIGHT themeing, where you showcase to register an account and how to add just 1 other contact and call that user.

This is needed to a) compare a fresh install with what I got compiled here b) define the client's look from the user-workflow to fresh install and start contacting another person as easy and intuitive from the current standard installation as possible.

[Elv13]

I moved the old interface out of the way so that the new one can take its place pieces by pieces until all features are available. It is in no means completed and final.

as you noticed by now, the old interface is still required for many operations, such as answering a call once the notification is gone. Actually calling someone without going through the maze of popups to add a contact is also something that has to be streamlined. Lets start with that. Here's 3 potential UI to fix this. None of them take too much time to implement, but it had not been discussed much until now, so I prioritized more "visible" changes like the timeline.

Please choose a solution from the list below or propose a new one:

Version 1

This one is the closest to the current UI, but replace add new call (doing nothing in the new mainwindow yet, adding a call in the old one...) with add contact. This triggers the popup (if that stays, I will replace the old popup with the new contact GUI).

I don't think it is very good, it takes too many steps and isn't pretty.

Version 2

A simpler version of the same concept would be to simply replace the central frame with a new a blank contact and add it on save. This is a lot more streamlined and intuitive.

Version 3

Finally, we could use the Firefox/Chrome solution and add a big bar to replace the ktoolbar and add a smart search that would locate:

• Registered names
• Current contact
• History

and behave like:

• open the contact page in the central frame when enter is pressed (on the timeline tab if there is elements, on the contact page otherwise)
• video call when ctrl+enter is pressed
• audio call when shift+enter is pressed

(light version instead of dark black colors).

Sure, from now on the screenshot will use breeze light instead of dark.

[star-buck]

Lets go version 1 with doing the following: 2 toolbar options next as simple popups which when saved or executed register a new entry in timeline or adressbook:

• call ring-user (simply name or number field and "call or cancel" buttons, adds call attempt to timeline)
• add contact (popup with only the most necessary infos, that is RING-name or ID, and slme more fields, the complete info can be filled out in adressbook once saved)

Lets also blend in the status bar again with my current selected ring useraccount name.

The goal is to make the current freshly installed interface daily useable ASAP without ever needing the old interface. That should be the biggest priority bar none at this point.

[Elv13]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fF3mYEHqE4

Not exactly pretty looking (yet), but as I said before, I wont choose the colors/style myself, my taste are very controversial as you mentioned in the other thread. I prefer to let the "raw QML" as is and have the VDG or anyone else set the style. Do you want me to contact them already or do you prefer me to set a proper style like Android material and move on (the QML Controls2 Breeze port isn't fully finished yet)?

As for the features themselves, the video is quite basic and the workflow still need work. It already worked, but was very awkward. Now it is a little bit less awkward, but still sub-optimal. That's a lot of steps to call someone. Are you sure you don't want option 3 described above? It would cuts the numbers of steps from 7 to 1 and the code already exists (there is an auto completion in the old main window and the widgets could the same of the left timeline). 7 steps to be able to call someone is a bit much. I think it will be very confusing to new users.

Finally, as you noticed and is very visible in the video, the phone UI is still necessary to see the current calls. Are you ok with that or do you wish to port even more features to the new main window? As discussed before, the easiest way to get rid of the hard dependency could be to integrate the video popup directly in the main panel of the new UI (as a new tab). Other suggestions are welcome. It will never fully replace the old phone UX as many advanced features are not worth it. Clogging the new UI with tons of buttons is very KDE3, but also not a very good idea.

Please keep in mind that last month I wrote a brand new application almost from scratch ;). While it's ready for testing, this is a lot of new code to polish. The timeline and contact edition features are something no other Ring client support. So there was a lot of groundwork and now it's time to polish all that. The video is rudimentary (read: ugly), but it looks a bit better once the timeline is well filled.

As for the statusbar, I got it working locally, it will be in tomorrow build. The bug where a contact can appear multiple time in the timeline if there is multiple phone numbers is also being fixed.

[star-buck]

lets close this here and evaluate each main screen in a seperate topic.