User Interface

[Zbig]

Hi

I've played a little with the free version of Locus yesterday and went for a paid one straight ahead. The multitude of features and options looks very promising and I'm eager to test them in the field. For one, I'm very happy it supports SQLite DB as I got a little bit tired of waiting for the Maverick developer to implement SQLite map storage engine as the "thousands and thousands of small tile files" approach seems completely unacceptable to me.

But there's one thing I don't particularly like in Locus: the user interface. It's full of custom UI objects, inconsistent with the Android developers' guidelines and established standards of how certain things should look and behave. For me, the overall "look and feel" of the app is much reminiscent of the "Windows shareware"-type applications from few years ago where each and every program made by small independent developers introduced its own unique UI concepts. I can understand that for the developer there's a desire to do everything his own way which he believes serves his project the best. But for me as an average user it looks a little messy. The behavior and look of the menu accessed with a "Menu" button is nonstandard, there are some strange shadows under the windows, there are Windows-style "close" controls in the windows' corners (you don't have these anywhere else in Android!), and so on, and so on. I'd personally  much rather have a standard Android experience there, consistent with what I'm used to see in majority of Android apps.

Best regards and keep up the great work
Zbig

[Menion]

heh, I'm searching for one topic and discovered this one ...

windows shareware you say? Are you kidding? . There is many many many opinion on design of Locus, and to be true, I don't care a lot about them. Anyway ...

nonstandard menu button
 - I don't like bottom android menu. Few versions before, I wanted to remove it completely but we discovered current method (can be displayed by bottom menu button or top left logo) which is fine for me

 - strange shadows ... yes, cute right?

 - close control ... did you worked for a while with this? For me, it's one of best features ... much faster then going with finger and searching for back ...

I'd personally don't change it! Enjoy

[Khaytsus]

I find the Locus interface a little cluttered, and I wouldn't go as far as saying it's like Windows Mobile like the OP, but it does have some tiny little buttons on smaller screens like my phone.  Usable, but small.  I have yet to get a chance to actually go geocaching with Locus, so I haven't yet seen how the interface holds up in bright light (ie: when I can hardly see it anyway), but IMO it could be a little less cluttered in some cases.

But I suck at UI, so I shouldn't throw any (small) stones

[vtgeopirates]

On the top bar where you can select "time, battery" displays the temp in fehrenheit but with a "C". Settings are for fehrenheit.

[Menion]

ah sorry, my mistake. it even display still in 'C' ... fixed, thanks

[vtgeopirates]

What is the temp from? Outside? My display reads 84f but here it is 24f now???

[Rob]

Small issue:
For downloaded maps for offline use, I want to edit some more tiles online , but its hard for me to find which was the basemap (e.g. OSM hike&bike or classic, ...)
Would like to have a "basemap indicator" in the personal maps overview.
So e.g.
Donauradweg
OSM Hike&bike Zooms: 8, 12,14

Instead of only

 Donauradweg
 Zooms: 8, 12,14

Or is there another way to find out the basemap?

[GOF007]

I find Locus UI works perfectly good ^^


I wonder about base map indicator for offline maps
I have multiple base maps mix together in an offline map lol. (Google Classic, Hybrid, Terrain ~~)

[Rob]

Would you tell me HOW you do?  if I download  a region with different  maps of same provider, e.g. google, I do not know how to switch between e.g Classic and Satellit
What I want to have indicated is e.g. OSM classic, Yahoo  classic , Google classic  which you cannot load into ONE db, as far as I understood.
Thx

[Menion]

Rob, this can be done by selecting "Shared SQL" on screen with choosing which zoom to download ...

- anyway provider used in map for calibration (even if more maps is store in one file, always only one online provider is used for calibration) is now displayed

[joeloc]

http://developer.android.com/design/index.html

this could be interesting regarding the original topic of user interface design. ics wants plenty things differently than locus i fear

[Menion]

thanks, I was already looking on it. Anyway these are design tips, not only possible solution. Current system of locus do not harm these "rules" a lot I think ...

[joeloc]

I'd call them "guidelines", not just "tips". And Locus is majorly different. The main menu itself is already something really strange to Android, as are basically all your "sub windows".

Doesnt bother me much just now, I havent even seen ICS yet. But Google is clearly trying to increase consistency in app usage in the future. This is not a bad thing in general. When more and more apps follow their new guidelines, Locus might look and feel quite alien.

Anyway... learning OpenGL is maybe more important

[GOF007]

Yeah. HW acclerated map and smooth map animation [zoom, rotate, point moving ~~] would be really really great ^^

[Menion]

I'm still not satisfied with current Locus design, but for now (by me) looks nice and useful, so I'll leave it be ... there are more important things to do