search

edrlab / thorium-reader

A cross platform desktop reading app, based on the Readium Desktop toolkit
https://www.edrlab.org/software/thorium-reader/
BSD 3-Clause "New" or "Revised" License
1.78k stars 153 forks source link

"go fullscreen" is now "distraction-free mode" #2313

Closed danielweck closed 4 months ago

danielweck commented 4 months ago
Screenshot 2024-05-22 at 13 54 26
danielweck commented 4 months ago

"zen" mode currently offers zero graphical affordances other than the fullscreen icon button itself, and the "skip to content" blue link in the upper corner (reachable via keyboard tab)

Shouldn't we expose at least the previous/next buttons? In Thorium2 there was a timer to automatically hide GUI when the mouse cursor is immobile (we still do this for the mouse cursor itself)

Screenshot 2024-05-22 at 13 59 06
llemeurfr commented 4 months ago

I personally like the distraction free result. Most users, on a computer, user right-left arrows without thinking. I propose to wait for feedbacks on v3.0 and advise.

llemeurfr commented 4 months ago

Therefore I think this issue should be moved to a discussion.

danielweck commented 4 months ago

I agree about moving this issue to a discussion about the UX design of the "distraction-free" (previously "fullscreen") feature, which in my opinion is currently incomplete / ill-designed.

The current implementation is not usable by mouse-centric (pointing device) users, as the previous/next commands can only be invoked via keyboard shortcuts / key strokes. Touch screen support is not guaranteed so we cannot recommend finger swipe interactions as an alternative.

My recommendation is to display the arrow icons on the left/right sides of the content viewport, just as we do in the normal mode. The mouse cursor already auto-hides after a few seconds and reappears on mouse move, I think a similar UX pattern can be implemented for the icon arrow buttons on either side of the document content.