PAUSE track record - new blinking button state is undistinghuishable
This is critical. I know You probably put some extra effort to introduce new blinking PAUSE button ( in track recording ), but this can even kill some users. Me for sure. Lets imagine: Im riding a bike, the sun is bright and it is flashing directly into my phone. I want to check if I started a track recoring. I need to put my hand to the display to cover it from sun. Sometimes it is not enough, I need to get my head closer to the phone to see antyhing. For these few seconds Im not controlling the situation on the road/path. This is very dangerous. ( That was also my reason to introduce zoom in/out by punching the phone). And now You introduced the blinking pause button which is undistinghuishable between "paused/not paused" state. User cant`s distinguish between pause states with only one throw an eye. He needs to stare on it for a few moments. This is against good GUI guidelines. It should be distinguishable instantly, with colour or with the size, or with the caption of the button.
The same problem 
Just kidding. isn`t it?
>"For these few seconds Im not controlling the situation on the road/path"
hehehe, you are funny
>This is very dangerous.
hm, i like it.
but wait..
...maybe i misunderstood:
you mean really this?...
http://www.oldboys.at/dl_tmp_files/pa...
Just kidding. isn`t it?
>"For these few seconds Im not controlling the situation on the road/path"
hehehe, you are funny
>This is very dangerous.
hm, i like it.
but wait..
...maybe i misunderstood:
you mean really this?...
http://www.oldboys.at/dl_tmp_files/pa...
No, im not kidding. This is serious, I already had some dangerous situations, because of spending too much time clicking(track recording, centering, zooming, scrolling) on the phone, instead of focusing on the road. This is not a joke. So my intention is to minimise the time and clicks count. In full, bright sun the LCD screen inside this: http://img19.allegroimg.pl/photos/ory... is totally unreadable. Like I said, I need to cover the screen with my hand to see anything on it. In the previous version, Ive seen at least that the active record/pause button was grayed. So it was easier to distinguish which one is pressed. Now, it`s impossible. There is no way I will see this slow blinking of a button, in a full bright sun. And Im riding a bike everyday, and Im recording my track everyday. Many times, Im pausing, unpausing, and saving the track. And when you are in a group of the people, you can`t just stop your bike every X minutes and tell them: "guys, wait for me, because I need to check something, which I cant really check when Im on the move, so I need to stop here and go to the shade". This occurs pretty often. Man, I just hate it, belive me. I hope the White Magic technology will bring some changes to that situation.
No, im not kidding. This is serious, I already had some dangerous situations, because of spending too much time clicking(track recording, centering, zooming, scrolling) on the phone, instead of focusing on the road. This is not a joke. So my intention is to minimise the time and clicks count. In full, bright sun the LCD screen inside this: http://img19.allegroimg.pl/photos/ory... is totally unreadable. Like I said, I need to cover the screen with my hand to see anything on it. In the previous version, Ive seen at least that the active record/pause button was grayed. So it was easier to distinguish which one is pressed. Now, it`s impossible. There is no way I will see this slow blinking of a button, in a full bright sun. And Im riding a bike everyday, and Im recording my track everyday. Many times, Im pausing, unpausing, and saving the track. And when you are in a group of the people, you can`t just stop your bike every X minutes and tell them: "guys, wait for me, because I need to check something, which I cant really check when Im on the move, so I need to stop here and go to the shade". This occurs pretty often. Man, I just hate it, belive me. I hope the White Magic technology will bring some changes to that situation.
hmm interesting
this was not spontaneous change! One ground (five people) tested me that track record panel and result was:
1. it`s not simple visible which button is active and what`s state of recording
2. on bright sun is NOT VISIBLE that button is disabled! Greyed background have low contrast and they almost always wasn`t sure if track is paused or not
that`s main reason why now you may be sure that recording is running. Question is only if is paused or not. I don`t think that such effect is against some guideline rules. Problem is here not blinking itself, but fact that even on bright sun is not visible exact state of pause button right?
hmm interesting
this was not spontaneous change! One ground (five people) tested me that track record panel and result was:
1. it`s not simple visible which button is active and what`s state of recording
2. on bright sun is NOT VISIBLE that button is disabled! Greyed background have low contrast and they almost always wasn`t sure if track is paused or not
that`s main reason why now you may be sure that recording is running. Question is only if is paused or not. I don`t think that such effect is against some guideline rules. Problem is here not blinking itself, but fact that even on bright sun is not visible exact state of pause button right?
I must agree: the softly animated blinking button makes it absolutely impossible to view the track recording state with one single glance. Very unfortunate while moving.
And what`s even worse: It pushes the CPU usage of one of my cores to a constant 50%/500MHz(!) as opposed to almost-idle state (how it was before that change). Locus now eats a lot more battery when track recording is paused, actually way more than when track recording is enabled. That is not really a good idea.
Quick fix:
- remove the animation.
- use bright orange background and black "continue" text for the button in pause state.
Sometimes you have to drop "sophisticated design" for pure and raw visibility, especially in an outdoorsy app like Locus.
I must agree: the softly animated blinking button makes it absolutely impossible to view the track recording state with one single glance. Very unfortunate while moving.
And what`s even worse: It pushes the CPU usage of one of my cores to a constant 50%/500MHz(!) as opposed to almost-idle state (how it was before that change). Locus now eats a lot more battery when track recording is paused, actually way more than when track recording is enabled. That is not really a good idea.
Quick fix:
- remove the animation.
- use bright orange background and black "continue" text for the button in pause state.
Sometimes you have to drop "sophisticated design" for pure and raw visibility, especially in an outdoorsy app like Locus.
See status bar at top of image (57% and 500MHz). Thats not funny for a "paused" app :).
I can recommend the free app "Cool Tool" from Google Play Store if you`re interested in your phones internals. It can sit as overlay on top of every screen and you can configure it to show whatever you could possibly want to know. Makes it very easy to spot "misbehaving" programs at a single glance. Another choice would be "Micro Cpu Monitor".
See status bar at top of image (57% and 500MHz). Thats not funny for a "paused" app :).
I can recommend the free app "Cool Tool" from Google Play Store if you`re interested in your phones internals. It can sit as overlay on top of every screen and you can configure it to show whatever you could possibly want to know. Makes it very easy to spot "misbehaving" programs at a single glance. Another choice would be "Micro Cpu Monitor".
I am happy to find another cyclist in here. Sometimes I have the feeling that Locus user base is 99% geocachers :)
I am happy to find another cyclist in here. Sometimes I have the feeling that Locus user base is 99% geocachers :)
Nice to hear that. Hehe. Im cycling geocacher:) And to be honest, I started as maniac of track recording ( foot, car, train). I like to travel, and I always want to know where I was and what was the time of travel between places. Then I turned into map maniac - I started to explore GIS and prepare perfect detailed map. Then I started to use bike to explore some of these maps. And now I started to be a geocacher. So I can frankly say, that Locus changed my life. Thanks Menion.
Nice to hear that. Hehe. Im cycling geocacher:) And to be honest, I started as maniac of track recording ( foot, car, train). I like to travel, and I always want to know where I was and what was the time of travel between places. Then I turned into map maniac - I started to explore GIS and prepare perfect detailed map. Then I started to use bike to explore some of these maps. And now I started to be a geocacher. So I can frankly say, that Locus changed my life. Thanks Menion.
What app is showing this cpu usage in the taskbar?
What app is showing this cpu usage in the taskbar?
quite surprise about CPU usage for such stupid small animation ...
so what about this?
quite surprise about CPU usage for such stupid small animation ...
so what about this?
cute :) and as you can see, you`re changing Locus also ;)
cute :) and as you can see, you`re changing Locus also ;)
This looks much more better. You can also think about changing the labels depending on the pause state, eg: PAUSE/CONTINUE or PAUSE/PAUSED. And inelligent size of the button would be also not a bad idea. Pause button could be bigger ( so the Stop button would be smaller ) when it is paused, to make it more easily clickable. Because STOP and PAUSE functions are mostly used when you are staying in one place. And RECORD and UNPAUSE are very often used, when you are already on the move ( eg. because you forgot to start recording before you started moving )
This looks much more better. You can also think about changing the labels depending on the pause state, eg: PAUSE/CONTINUE or PAUSE/PAUSED. And inelligent size of the button would be also not a bad idea. Pause button could be bigger ( so the Stop button would be smaller ) when it is paused, to make it more easily clickable. Because STOP and PAUSE functions are mostly used when you are staying in one place. And RECORD and UNPAUSE are very often used, when you are already on the move ( eg. because you forgot to start recording before you started moving )
thanks. im using the Micro CPU Monitor, but to be honest, its so small im never looking at it:)
thanks. im using the Micro CPU Monitor, but to be honest, its so small im never looking at it:)
I`d prefer bright orange, but I can live with bright blue happily... as long as it`s really bright :)
I`d prefer bright orange, but I can live with bright blue happily... as long as it`s really bright :)
Thank You:) I really love this app. It is the best app I bought for Android. And I made it immediately when the free version turned into paid one. My best friend is also a traveller, but he have iPhone. He often says: "And he is saying: F*ck! This Galileo Offline Maps application is broken again!" And im always telling him: "Android is better then your shit, because I can have Locus on it" :)
Thank You:) I really love this app. It is the best app I bought for Android. And I made it immediately when the free version turned into paid one. My best friend is also a traveller, but he have iPhone. He often says: "And he is saying: F*ck! This Galileo Offline Maps application is broken again!" And im always telling him: "Android is better then your shit, because I can have Locus on it" :)
Hhehe. I was also thinking about some more visible colour:)
Hhehe. I was also thinking about some more visible colour:)
I totally agree that this blinking PAUSE just doesn`t work for all the good arguments mentioned by people above. Generally, blinking is a bad GUI since you have to keep looking for a couple of seconds to get the message. I used it at a hiking trip today and it was not good.
First I thought changing label between PAUSE and CONTINUE would do it (PAUSE and PAUSED are too close - you won`t get the difference at a glance).
But after thinking about it, I now find Menion`s suggestion above better: black PAUSE means running, blue PAUSE means paused. The actual state would be very easy to get at a glance. And it would be consistent with Locus`s use of blue on other commands to tell they are selected and active - like Center, Rotate, Zoom on the bottom command line. Consistency is a good thing.
I totally agree that this blinking PAUSE just doesn`t work for all the good arguments mentioned by people above. Generally, blinking is a bad GUI since you have to keep looking for a couple of seconds to get the message. I used it at a hiking trip today and it was not good.
First I thought changing label between PAUSE and CONTINUE would do it (PAUSE and PAUSED are too close - you won`t get the difference at a glance).
But after thinking about it, I now find Menion`s suggestion above better: black PAUSE means running, blue PAUSE means paused. The actual state would be very easy to get at a glance. And it would be consistent with Locus`s use of blue on other commands to tell they are selected and active - like Center, Rotate, Zoom on the bottom command line. Consistency is a good thing.
you should already check how you see if button is active or not (zoom lock, centering, ...). As svartbjorn wrote, this style is already used on many places and on all places, this mean that function is active. So here "PAUSE" is active.
If you don`t have too much against, I`ll leave it for now as on screenshot. After some field testing, you tell me if it`s enough or not. If not, I`ll change colour to little bit brighter (this will anyway change on all places)
you should already check how you see if button is active or not (zoom lock, centering, ...). As svartbjorn wrote, this style is already used on many places and on all places, this mean that function is active. So here "PAUSE" is active.
If you don`t have too much against, I`ll leave it for now as on screenshot. After some field testing, you tell me if it`s enough or not. If not, I`ll change colour to little bit brighter (this will anyway change on all places)
yeah. consistency. that`s why I knew the brighter colour would not fit into the Locus` theme.
yeah. consistency. that`s why I knew the brighter colour would not fit into the Locus` theme.
after a few tests: thanks Menion. now recording panel is cool again:)
after a few tests: thanks Menion. now recording panel is cool again:)
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