Thread: Help support Automatic Screen Rotation (Univeral Portrait support) for the N900
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nymajoak is offline nymajoak
2009-09-26 , 13:41
Posts: 199 | Thanked: 144 times | Joined on Sep 2009 @ gbg.se
#46
Originally Posted by Thor View Post
-The biggest problem here really is the desktop. The multitasking screen should be pretty straight forward as they are all windows of a fixed size. Just rotate and re-locate and that's done.
I think the multitasking screen might be tricky as well, as has been pointed out elsewhere (can't find the post right now). I don't remember the details right now but the windows are not just static screenshots of the apps, but dynamic. So when rotating the MT screen you have to switch all open apps to their other orientation. This might take a lot of resources (have no feeling for how demanding it would be, but a slow and laggy switch between orientations would be definite turn-off with an otherwise snappy device).

Also, all applications won't support both orientations (I think it would be a mistake to force them to, see below) which complicates it further. It might look a mess with windows in different orientations?

Originally Posted by Thor View Post
-Most applications will probably have to have a landscape and/or portrait UI. Is this how it is designed in the iPhone and Android phones? I'm not sure how the n97 one works as I don't have one, but I remember the home screen on my N82 does not rotate from portrait mode.
Personally I think it would be a mistake to force all applications to have support for both orientations. Besides increasing the load on app developers, I am pretty sure not all applications work "well" (as in being practical, intuitive, logical, usable etc) in both orientations.

But yes, there is in-built support for applications to have both orientations if I have understood it right. It's up to the developer.

Originally Posted by Thor View Post
-we can have a separate landscape and portrait homescreens/desktops but this would get confusing in everyday use if they all have different widgets/icons on them, essentially giving 8 homescreens.
I agree, with my proposal you probably could end up in situations when having two different arrangements of widgets in the two different orientations isn't enough to make them fit on the screen. So you would either have to live with the fact that some might overlap or have the possibility to have different amount of widgets on the two orientations, which essentially means two different versions of the homescreens. I think out of two bads the second option is the worst?

Originally Posted by Thor View Post
-One way to autorotate the desktop is to leave the resizing and require scrolling to get to the other side. This could apply in any application if autorotation is a requirement, but will leave "widescreen bars" at the top and bottom in portrait mode.
Noticed you suggested this elsewhere. Nice and simple, but personally I wouldn't like this. It would seem too much as an afterthought/homehack and I would prefer not to have rotation of the screen.

Originally Posted by Thor View Post
-Another way would be to allow resizing of widgets (probably manually by the user?) not just width but height as well, with word wrapped text, if it is updated dynamically. This will require vertical scrolling, but I think would be a great solution while keeping dynamic content.
That would probably help automatic treatment of the rotation, but I can imagine it would require a lot of thought and testing from widget designers and also support on OS-level?

Originally Posted by Thor View Post
-Another way would be to translate the landscape desktop to portrait mode using icons instead of dynamic widgets with a few excepts. I would think the likes of twitter, messenger IM, SMS, email icons would be similar to the blackberry. For example, when a new message arrives, put a star on the corner of the icon. It's very noticeable. Also, the number of unread messages can be listed next to it, such as 5 for 5 unread emails/IMs etc. This will end up with a bit more of an iPhone/Blackberry look, but will allow all icons to be on the portrait mode screen with no scrolling required. It would also assign a specific icon size and act as shortcuts to the main program. If you must see the dynamic content, tough, you will just have to access the program, or rotate to landscape mode. I think that could work.
Having square widgets/shortcuts etc (or rather forcing them to a grid with square slots) would solve the entire homescreen problem as far as I understand. Question is if it is worth the sacrifice. Without having used either blackberries, iphones, n97s or n900s I think I prefer the n900's homescreen system and wouldn't want to sacrifice the functionality. Also, it would mean redesigning the entire homescreen functionality and all widgets...

A quick disclaimer:
I am not a developer and have, as I said, no hands-on experience with touchscreen phones. All I write comes from trying to envision how I would like the device to behave..
Last edited by nymajoak; 2009-09-26 at 22:07. Reason: "Got" the eight homescreens bit...
 

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