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Alternate menu panel: questions concerning usage and settings
Answered
In v4, the "floating" alternate menu panel was introduced. I like it a lot because position is much better to reach with thumb when mobile is operated one handed. Neither here in help system nor in forum nor in documentation, I was able to find information on:
- How can I trigger seconday actions of buttons?
In bottom/side panel bar, it works via long pressing a button (see e.g. https://help.locusmap.eu/topic/using-long-click-for-right-panels-buttons-for-starting-a-function-without-an-additional-menu#comment-112809) but in "alternate menu panel", long press opens config of "alternate menu panel". That's maybe worth to change to the same system as in "quick settings", so long press "becoms free" and can be used for secondary actions of buttons. - Can I configure the panel somehow?
Based on the anser, I may open an idea:
a) Add possibility to define a few more tiles to get rid of the side and/or bottom panel which is very uncomfortable to reach in one handed use (see https://help.locusmap.eu/topic/28029-v4-gui-improvement-by-offering-more-freedom-of-panel-placement and/or the video)
b) Add setting for panel to not appear centered on screen but "pushed" a little more down (analogous to existing "shift map cursor"), so the top left item is easier to reach for right handed use (left & right inverted for left handed use). Could also be a possibility to move the panel on screen and it recalls the last used position. - How can I trigger the panel?
Only way I found is adding the according button (flash icon) into side/bottom panel.
Based on the anser, I may open an idea to open it by gesture – I'd love to use it like a gesture pie menu, i.e. to long tap the screen and move up/left/topleft/... (and maybe hold a moment to avoid unintentional calls) to do both at once, open the panel and also trigger the function in the tile of the according direction, similar to Firefox addon https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/easygestures-n/?src=search etc. - What's the idea behind the X in the center?
Closing the panel is possible by tapping anywhere outside the panel and also by device's back button, so a "closing tile" is redundand.
Based on the anser, I may open an idea to change "close panel" to be just one option in "change" menu like Share, Settings etc. which allows a) to place close button wherever user like it most and b) to use the tile for an actual function. Of course, when gesture pie menu (see 2) is implemented & used, the center tile shall better have no function to avoid unintentional triggering that action by a slightly too long tap.
The same question
Hi Georg,
thanks for the detailed questions about this small feature.
this menu is a tweak that should help mainly when controlling the device over some hardware controller. And well, also in case, you do not want to have full functions panel and need some alternative to the main app menu.
This should remain a simple and quick method how to display 8 custom buttons with a focus on the center button (quick close).
Anyway, an interesting idea is your third point. Currently best how to display this panel is thanks to intent called from for example "Tasker" app or any other app. In case, you will be able to setup a tasker to react to some gestures, it should work. What I see here is the interesting functionality where the user may directly pick a gesture that will trigger some function (like this panel) in the app ... hmm
Because of what I wrote above, no serious updates are planned here for now. I do not think that this menu is actively used by many people. Anyway if you consider any of your points as a top priority that may highly increase usability for users (not just you), I'm willing to discuss it of course.
Hi Georg,
thanks for the detailed questions about this small feature.
this menu is a tweak that should help mainly when controlling the device over some hardware controller. And well, also in case, you do not want to have full functions panel and need some alternative to the main app menu.
This should remain a simple and quick method how to display 8 custom buttons with a focus on the center button (quick close).
Anyway, an interesting idea is your third point. Currently best how to display this panel is thanks to intent called from for example "Tasker" app or any other app. In case, you will be able to setup a tasker to react to some gestures, it should work. What I see here is the interesting functionality where the user may directly pick a gesture that will trigger some function (like this panel) in the app ... hmm
Because of what I wrote above, no serious updates are planned here for now. I do not think that this menu is actively used by many people. Anyway if you consider any of your points as a top priority that may highly increase usability for users (not just you), I'm willing to discuss it of course.
Hi Georg,
thanks for the detailed questions about this small feature.
this menu is a tweak that should help mainly when controlling the device over some hardware controller. And well, also in case, you do not want to have full functions panel and need some alternative to the main app menu.
This should remain a simple and quick method how to display 8 custom buttons with a focus on the center button (quick close).
Anyway, an interesting idea is your third point. Currently best how to display this panel is thanks to intent called from for example "Tasker" app or any other app. In case, you will be able to setup a tasker to react to some gestures, it should work. What I see here is the interesting functionality where the user may directly pick a gesture that will trigger some function (like this panel) in the app ... hmm
Because of what I wrote above, no serious updates are planned here for now. I do not think that this menu is actively used by many people. Anyway if you consider any of your points as a top priority that may highly increase usability for users (not just you), I'm willing to discuss it of course.
Hi Georg,
thanks for the detailed questions about this small feature.
this menu is a tweak that should help mainly when controlling the device over some hardware controller. And well, also in case, you do not want to have full functions panel and need some alternative to the main app menu.
This should remain a simple and quick method how to display 8 custom buttons with a focus on the center button (quick close).
Anyway, an interesting idea is your third point. Currently best how to display this panel is thanks to intent called from for example "Tasker" app or any other app. In case, you will be able to setup a tasker to react to some gestures, it should work. What I see here is the interesting functionality where the user may directly pick a gesture that will trigger some function (like this panel) in the app ... hmm
Because of what I wrote above, no serious updates are planned here for now. I do not think that this menu is actively used by many people. Anyway if you consider any of your points as a top priority that may highly increase usability for users (not just you), I'm willing to discuss it of course.
Hi Menion, thanks for your brain food 🙂
Now I understand the background/idea better, thus I understand the layout & behavior (8 directions because of 4 sides + 4 corner you can e.g. bend a micro-joystick to plus center for closing by pressing the button).
As far as I understood intents & Tasker, you wrote about how to open/trigger that floating panel from outside Locus – for example via gesture of tilting the mobile and Tasker reacting on that. Cool idea 💡😎 In contrast, my question was how I can open it from within Locus, as you also noticed. If that would be possible via thumb gesture (my point 3), it would IMHO not be a top priority in the strict sense (after all, I'm socialized in Germany...), but a great alternative to side/bottom/top panels and it would solve several issues at once, and it would strengthen the advantages of Locus v4 over v3. Seeing all of that, I'd bet a bottle of wine that much more users will use that slightly pimped alternate menu in the future than the existing one! 🙂 I detailed the idea in dedicated topic https://help.locusmap.eu/topic/28052-make-alternate-menu-panel-accessible-via-gesture-and-support-secondary-actions because 1) that is not any more a question 😉 and 2) we avoid a mix of posts on the question and the idea and 3) votes by other users can be clearly assigned to "I have th same question" or "I like this idea" instead of leaving it unclear.
Best regards, Georg
Hi Menion, thanks for your brain food 🙂
Now I understand the background/idea better, thus I understand the layout & behavior (8 directions because of 4 sides + 4 corner you can e.g. bend a micro-joystick to plus center for closing by pressing the button).
As far as I understood intents & Tasker, you wrote about how to open/trigger that floating panel from outside Locus – for example via gesture of tilting the mobile and Tasker reacting on that. Cool idea 💡😎 In contrast, my question was how I can open it from within Locus, as you also noticed. If that would be possible via thumb gesture (my point 3), it would IMHO not be a top priority in the strict sense (after all, I'm socialized in Germany...), but a great alternative to side/bottom/top panels and it would solve several issues at once, and it would strengthen the advantages of Locus v4 over v3. Seeing all of that, I'd bet a bottle of wine that much more users will use that slightly pimped alternate menu in the future than the existing one! 🙂 I detailed the idea in dedicated topic https://help.locusmap.eu/topic/28052-make-alternate-menu-panel-accessible-via-gesture-and-support-secondary-actions because 1) that is not any more a question 😉 and 2) we avoid a mix of posts on the question and the idea and 3) votes by other users can be clearly assigned to "I have th same question" or "I like this idea" instead of leaving it unclear.
Best regards, Georg
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