Restructuring menu in Ebookdroid 2.0 interface


Regarding menus, I gave it a lot of thought, and I believe I've finally reached 
an optimal solution for the interface. This will require just a little bit of 
shuffling of the context, dropdown - popup and configuration menu, but it will 
make much easier for a newcomer to get the right command when neeeded.

The basic idea is to create a hiercarchical structure for the varios options, 
based on what they do and how often they are used. Yes, I've also read the link 
on Android interface developing andrei gave me and many of the changes I am 
suggesting comply with Googles directives.

The hierarchy is the following, and it for the most parts already implemented 
in the actual menu structure. It just need some reshuffling.
The main addition I am proposing to you is to separate Document Layout (how I 
navigate through pages) from Page Layout (how much of a page I put on screen).

    0. Interface
    =========
    (How the interface is configured: tabs, menus, taps, keys...)
    The Icon is that of cogs

        1. Catalog/collection
        ==================
        (How my book collection is accessed: 
         bookshelves, folders, cloud, opds, tags*...) 
         The Icon is that of an archive.

            2. Document Layout or flow
            ===============
            (How do I navigate through the document: 
             horizontal or vertical scrolling, single page,
             animation when I change page...)
             The Icon is that of a compass.

                3. Page Layout/Magnification
                =========================
                (How much of the page I see: 
                 Split pages, auto and manual crop, zoom to column,
                 zoom level...)
                The icon is that of a magnifier on a page or a frame.

Note on page layout - I strongly suggest to uncouple this from Document Layout 
becase it's really a different kind of settings: how I browse through the pages 
(document layout) relates on how I transtion between pages and is usually 
seldom set on a per book basis - it's more a matter of user preference on how 
to read most books. The options in Page Layout, on the contrary, are usally 
applied on a per book basis to overcame the problems of small screens.

                4. Page Appearance
                ===============
                (How the page appears to the eye:
                 exposure, contrast, gamma, colorization...
                The icon is that of a sun with half side lit and 
                the other dark.

                    Content Appearance
                    ==================
                    (how the content appears to the eye:
                     font, font size, font style and color...)
                    The icon is that of the two T's of text 
                    with different sizes.

Note on Content - Having this uncoupled as well from Page Appearance grants you 
enough space for implemententig future features, should you want to add fine 
customisation of FB2 and EPUB content. This set of options could specialize 
according to filetype and that would mean a configuration menu should have a 
lot of entries. There's no gain in putting page appearance settings here.

Some down to earth advice on how to restructure menu entries. Please do give it 
a try, it will pay off.

Restructuring the options menu
==============================
I will start with the options menu that comes up when reading a book - the one 
that in the current version of pdf and djvu viewer for android 2.3 has the 
following entries:

    Switch to service view...
    Navigation...
    View...
    Settings...
    About
    Close
    Exit

(Please be advised that I might inadvertently call it the context menu, since 
it has the appearance of a 'right mouse' context menu in Winduh) As a matter of 
fact, I have associated it with a double finger tap on the page as it's the 
menu most frequently used to get the pages right.

I suggest you that you make it this way (some of the changes are just new 
translation to reflect the hierarchical structure of the setting:

        Settings...
        Service... (I would translate that in Catalog...)
        Document Layout...
        Page Layout...
        Page Appearance...
        Navigation...
        Close...

Removing About and Exit because there are only wasting space. About can be made 
available elsewhere and Exiting ebookdroid can be done after closing the 
document with a single tap on the exit button. (Remember, this comes straight 
from Google directives :-) )
Also, note the hierarchical structure is reflected by the ordering of the 
options!

Here's what each entry will bring up (some of the options marked with and 
asterisk * are reserved for future - if ever - expansion) . I also give you 
some alternative names for the main options.

     0 - Settings...
     ---------------
     As it is.

     1 - Service... (or Catalog mode)
     -------------------------------
            Library mode -> goes to bookshelf
            Folder mode -> goes to local files
            * Cloud mode -> goes to files in the cloud
            * OPDS mode -> goes to opds mode
            Configuration mode -> Goes to All Settings
            (this last one can be removed - Settings... can do the same)

     2 - Document Layout (or document flow... 
                        or reading mode or document browsing)
    ---------------------------------------------------------
            Full screen
            Showtitle
            Single page
            Horizontal scroll
            Vertical scroll
            Force portrait
            Force landscape

     3 - Page Layout... (or Page magnification or
                         or Page Scaling)
     ---------------------------------------------
            Split pages
            Crop auto
            Crop manual
            Enable zoom to column
            Zoom
            * Set as thumbnail (could be moved here from Page Appearance)
Please note the hierarchical structure implied by ordering the entries.

     4 - Page Appearance... 
     ----------------------  
            Contrast
            Gamma
            Exposure
            Hue 
            (this can be implemented as a giant *highly transparent* highlighter as big as the page, with fixed transaprency saturation and other values but the hue)
            Daynight
            Set as thumbnail (can be placed here: it is nonetheless the appearance of the cover, right? Also the scaled preview of the page is exactly what we will see as a thumbnail.)

    5 - Navigation...
    -----------------
            Outline
            * Custom Outline 
            (created just like bookmarks, but set aside for this purpose or accessed when the book has no outline)
            Go to...
            Search Text

    6 - Close
    ---------

While I believe the Exit and About entries are unnecessary at this level, I'd 
suggest to add here, or at least under Settings the entry

    x - Enable EDIT with long tap

    this will avoid having the edit toolbar come up everytime the user inadvertently places the finger on the screen.
The reson for putting this here is that it's a frequent action needed every 
time the user has to start an edit session. The reason for disabling the edit 
interface is that sometimes it's nice to be able to put one's finger on the 
screen and keep reading. For example when you are in bed and you are keeping 
the tablet in strange ways.
I don't know if is possibile to have an action associated to a long tap and 
another (like doing nothing) associated to a veeeeeeeeery long tap.

Restructuring the POPUP menu
==============================
This is the menu that in android 2.3 come up from below when tapping on the 
menu icon of the android bar or when clicking the menu button on the device. It 
actally has the following entries, when in page reading mode:

        Book settings...
        Picture enhancements...
        Configure taps
        Configure keys
        Close

_i strongly believe that the configure taps and keys entries are misplaced here 
since they are not frequently accessed options. they are usually set once and 
for all the first time one uses ebookdroid. 
Conversely, what is sorely missing - at least in this version - are the 
navigation options. The ony thing that is frequently done when reading a book 
is flipping back and forth through the pages. Hence Navigation option should go 
right here, like in version 1.6.6.

        Book settings...
        Page Appearance...
        Go to...
        Outline
        Search Text

        if strictly necessary: Close
        but if there should be a spare position, 
        I'd put here "Enable EDIT", instead.

I believe I've already written too much, but of course the configuration menus 
should be restructured accordingly. It will require minimum reshuffling since 
most of the structure is already there. The main addition would be to rearrange 
the entry of the Book Settings menu changing the subsection names (the names 
with gray backgroud) to reflect the hierarchical structure, that is

BOOK SETTINGS CONFIGURATION MENU
=================================
the main entries: 

    Ddocument Layout
    ---------------
        First page offset
        Rotation
        View mode
            Page Fitting
            Page Transitions    

    Page Layout
    -----------
        Split pages
            Right to left
        Crop auto

    Page Appearance
    ----------------
        Night mode
            Positive images in night mode
        * Enable hue overlay (colorize page)
            Color selector for hue overlay 
            (might let the user specify the otherwise fixed parameters)
            this setting has to be on a per book basis, like night mode.

Attached is a text file that will have the right spacing and tabs.
Original issue reported on code.google.com by peltio on 7 Jun 2013 at 4:49
Attachments:
[Menu restructuring.txt](https://storage.googleapis.com/google-code-attachments/ebookdroid/issue-523/comment-0/Menu restructuring.txt)
pavanavvs / ebookdroid

Restructuring menu in Ebookdroid 2.0 interface #523
