Include intuitive button for preview pictures in chatbox and additional actions (export)

[EchedelleLR]

• Android version: Does not matter
• Device: Does not matter
• Delta Chat version: Does not matter
• Expected behavior: An icon is showed after choosing a picture and editing it in the chatbox to show more details and export it if needed.
• Actual behavior: The image in the chatbox must be pressed, which is not intuitive by default in order to access the preview and additional actions such as with the Pencil for edition.
• Steps to reproduce the problem: Choose a picture from the gallery and wait until it is showed in the chatbox. A new user could be incapable of detecting that by pressing the image a preview is showed with action to export it. Additionally, a pencil button appears for edition which may confuse some users when it is not also showed in a similar way for this case.
• Screenshots: Not needed
• Logs: Not needed

[r10s]

i see what you mean (for other readers: the "chatbox" from above is what we usually call the "draft area" or "staging area").

but not sure if that is really needed and worth cluttering the user interface.

• Delta Chat (as well as other messengers) does not have a special button for "enlarge image & options" for normally shown images in the chat as well.
  it is not unusual to tap a picture to enlarge it and get further options from there.

• so, currently, things are consistent - if we now add an extra button for "enlarge image & options" at some places, ppl may wonder why they are not used elsewhere :)

• the actions available from the preview are not primarily needed for most users, so, it seems fine if they are a bit harder to discover. also, as the "export" would not be obvious even if we would have an "preview" icon.

so, all in all, i think, the current approach already has a good set of tradeoffs.

[EchedelleLR]

I agree with the latest point, I don't know what to say about the middle (seems a bit pointless to me when it is something related to usability and accesibility) and I have mixed ideas of the first one.

About the first one:

it is not unusual to tap a picture to enlarge it and get further options from there.

This is what I was trying to discuss in the first post. It is not "usual" to the point that I was not aware of that until other user told me in a conversation about it and I have been using the app for more than 3 years.

The same have happened to other people in my environment who were not aware.

In the latest point, seems like a contradiction: you say that it is not unusual yet you recognize being a bit harder to discover (?). I am a bit confused.

Edited: My approach would have been just an "i" button next to the pencil and disable the preview by direct tap. This doesn't seem to me as having to add the button to several places... reminder we are speaking about the chatbox (where you write text) not the timeline of text bubbles.

I dont recognize any previous notion of tapping inside the chatbox to be able to access additional options in any content in any IM application before. In that sense, I would not see the point even of the pencil.

[r10s]

In the latest point, seems like a contradiction: you say that it is not unusual yet you recognize being a bit harder to discover (?). I am a bit confused.

sorry to be unclear here. i meant the "export function" with a "a bit harder to discover", not the enlargement of the image preview.

[EchedelleLR]

What is about removing the functionality if it is not worthy to be made accessible because of its niche and also because it is not a focus itself of the Delta Chat capabilities?

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With functionality, I mean showing preview of the picture in the chatbox.

[Hocuri]

Why should we put effort into removing a functionality, though? If we want to reduce code complexity / improve maintainability in DC Android, there would be easier things to do things with a higher impact.

[EchedelleLR]

The functionality is said to not serving higher purpose, so that is supposed to be a valid point to not making it usable/accesible.

I made an extra proposal to remove it, given that. But I now don't understand your point.

If you consider that the feature should be kept, why not making it usable/accesible?

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I don't see how my points are invalid about accesibility and usability as it was recognised that the preview was not easy to catch, plus the internal options inside it.

It was said that "was not unusual" in reference to tapping to preview, but I already replied to that and didn't get a reply back.

I am confused because the arguments given don't seem with weight enough to keep what is currently in your mind.

[r10s]

sorry if things get mixed, UX is a complicated thing :)

maybe a more general answer can shine some light on this:

not all options need to be discoverable equal.

(1) often used options are maybe available directly, eg. by a "button" (2) other options may follow general conventions, eg. a "double click" does known things. (3) less often used options may be hidden behind some menu or require further steps - it is okay and even wanted (user attention is limited), if a user does not see it directly, UX distinguishes between findability and discoverability here. in classic apps, this is eg. the "main menu".

the more options you have like (1), the less is each of these options visible. they share user attention.

the challenge is, that no "primary" options, that are needed to use the basic app's functionality, are hidden as (3).

so, of course, one could argue and discuss that an extra button to "preview" does not make things much worse. and of course, one can do things differently. but still, i do not see the need, even more this is true for "export". but that does not mean that the options are superfluous and can be removed.

one could do user tests for things like that, however, i there are far more important areas that would require attention :)

for now, i suggest to close this issue as there is no actionable item. however, of course, if we get more reports about that there is a button missing, we can think this over.

[EchedelleLR]

I don't understand the relation with the point, and maybe I was not understood properly.

I understand that my proposal of an icon could not be valid but I don't understand the obscurity of the functionality.

That makes it not equally accessible for different types of people and that was a part of my point all the time. The icon was my proposal to solve that gap between different users with different perceptions.

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Aside this, your second point seems to be a mention to "it is not unusual"-type of actions, which I still find without a proper reply for this case.

Even if I understand the discoverability of different options, this should not harm different type of users. Having to perceive it because a third party user in a spin off conversation mentioned it does not seem the best way to discover features.

Of course, I may tell this to other people and, maybe, create a network effect, but this is not automatic, that the perception over the chatbox is not public known information as it is for the chat timeline to consider this not unusual.

Could, at minimum, documentation be provided towards these things? Maybe I could even participate of that in a tips section or similar of the FAQ included with the app.

[r10s]

Could, at minimum, documentation be provided towards these things? Maybe I could even participate of that in a tips section or similar of the FAQ included with the app.

this is a good idea, we are about to update the FAQ these days anyway, so filing an issue at https://github.com/deltachat/deltachat-pages - or even do a pr there - makes a lot of sense.

[EchedelleLR]

I think this can be closed already. If anything wants to be added, can be reopened again.