[Potlatch-dev] [OpenStreetMap] #4219: Android usability issues

[OpenStreetMap]

#4219: Android usability issues
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 Reporter:  stevage    |       Owner:  potlatch-dev@…                
     Type:  defect     |      Status:  new                           
 Priority:  minor      |   Milestone:                                
Component:  potlatch2  |     Version:                                
 Keywords:             |  
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 Ok, so getting Potlatch2 working on Android phones probably isn't a big
 priority :) But I just tried on my Galaxy Note (1280x800 screen - so
 actually feasible). Currently it's not usable. Well, not with the standard
 browser anyway. But the Flash all loaded just fine.

 Issues I noticed:
 - the initial help screen can't be closed because the button is off screen
 and you can't scroll it.
 - since there's no keyboard, there's no way to do lots of useful things.
 eg, maximise: these could be shown in a dropdown menu.
 - since there's no keyboard, you can't really edit. no backspace is a
 killer: there needs to be a button or something.
 - since there's no real distinction between mousing over, dragging, and
 clicking, editing is a bit harder. thank god for the floating toolbox -
 otherwise there would be no way to stop extending a way.
 - speaking of which, the floating toolbox is too big and could turn into a
 dropdown box.
 - the side panel takes up a lot of space, and should probably become more
 or less modal: it's hidden except when you click it, then it fully
 expands. Once I'd fully expanded it, it's actually pretty usable - could
 choose all the options.
 - the stacked panel view works a lot better than the tabbed view, so could
 be the default.
 - typing into the advanced tab didn't seem to work. I could type entries,
 but they didn't stay after the keyboard went away. I think this might have
 to do with the autocomplete. You get a similar problem when using the
 "search for place" function - you type a word, but only end up with the
 first letter.
 - And the keyboard tried to exist with a smunched up tiny version of the
 map, which looked pretty bad and not useful.
 - for some reason, the address bar didn't hide automatically. (this can
 apparently be fixed in javascript).
 - can accidentally drag the floating toolbox out of reach - pretty hard to
 drag because the draggable area is so tiny.
 - pop up windows (eg, edit relation) are often too big for the display,
 making buttons out of reach. (Sometimes you can get around this by
 rotating back to portrait mode)

 All of that aside...I actually think there's a lot of potential. Pretty
 much all of these issues seem like little quirks that could be fixed with
 detecting user agent and making some changes to the HTML and/or
 javascript. And actually drawing ways with Samsung's stylus (sorry, "S
 Pen") is a joy. Yes, that's right - it's actually *better* than using a
 mouse.   Without a mouse it's still ok - accuracy was surprisingly good.

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Ticket URL: <https://trac.openstreetmap.org/ticket/4219>
OpenStreetMap <http://www.openstreetmap.org/>
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